Many internal corridors of buildings do not have natural lighting due to a lack of windows. Skylights have provided natural lighting for years, but light tubes (or solar tubes) offer a new option for bringing outside light into buildings. The technology, discussed briefly in a post earlier this year as part of the Science Channel’s [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Ecopolis’
A Bright Idea: Solatube – Innovation in Daylighting
November 14th, 2009 
Eric Wilson Part 2: New Belgium Brewery’s Sustainability Efforts
June 13th, 2009 Eric Wilson Thursday’s post about New Belgium and the triple bottom line provided background information on the brewery’s sustainability efforts. Today’s post focuses on their energy policy. As mentioned in an earlier post, New Belgium Brewery has an anaerobic digestor on their property. This piece of equipment cleanses water and produces methane as a by-product, which they [...]
Ecopolis Series Finale: Solar Energy Wins Out
March 5th, 2009 Eric Wilson The Science Channel’s 6-part series “Ecopolis” recently came to a close. The series is hosted by Dan Kammen, Professor in the Energy and Resources Group and Director of Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab (RAEL) in Berkeley, California. For each of the first five episodes, Kammen focuses on a different concern facing future cites – Food [...]
Posted in Clean Technology, Eric Wilson, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Development, Transportation 
Tags: Ecopolis, Energy, Food, Photovoltaic, Solar Energy, Waste, Water 
No Comments »Ecopolis Part 5: Energy
March 1st, 2009 Eric Wilson In episode 5 of Ecopolis, host Dan Kammen reviews four projects to replace current energy sources. By in large, the need for renewable energy sources is abundantly clear throughout the series, but in this installment Kammen focuses solely on energy concerns. One futuristic energy source that has been researched for years, nuclear fusion, Kammen discards [...]
Posted in Clean Technology, Eric Wilson, Local Energy/Food, Renewable Energy Tags: Ecopolis, Energy, Photovoltaic, Solar Energy No Comments »Ecopolis Part 4: Buildings
February 28th, 2009 Eric Wilson In the fourth installment of Science Channel’s Ecopolis, host Dan Kammen reviewed four projects dealing with buildings. The major environmental issue facing structures, both commercial and residential, is the exorbitant amount of energy these units consume. According to Kammen, buildings consume two-thirds of all energy. The main culprits are heating, cooling and lighting. Kammen looked [...]
Posted in Clean Technology, Eric Wilson, Green Building, Renewable Energy Tags: Ecopolis, Energy, Photovoltaic, Solar Energy No Comments »Ecopolis Part 3: Waste
February 25th, 2009 Eric Wilson Episode three of Ecopolis deals with the waste from cities. Journalist Elizabeth Royte published her treatise on waste in 2005’s Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash. Royte takes an in depth look at our trash, where it goes and how it is handled. In the third installment of Ecopolis, four projects are considered [...]
Ecopolis Part 2: Transportation
February 23rd, 2009 Eric Wilson In the second episode of the Science Channel’s Ecopolis, host Dan Kammen reviewed four proposals to deal with the issue of transportation. For a brief background of the program, please see the previous post on Ecopolis. In the transportation episode, Kammen considered the following carbon dioxide reducing concepts: 1) a blended wing plane 2) oil [...]
Posted in Clean Technology, Eric Wilson, Renewable Energy, Transportation Tags: Biomass, Diesel, Ecopolis, Electric Vehicles, Public Transit No Comments »Science Channel’s Ecopolis Part 1: Food and Water
February 22nd, 2009 Eric Wilson Last month, Science Channel’s 6-part series “Ecopolis” came to a close. Dan Kammen, a professor in the Energy and Resources Group and Director of Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab (RAEL) in Berkeley, California, hosted the thought-provoking series. For each of the first five episodes, Kammen focused on a different concern facing future cites; Food and Water, [...]
Posted in Eric Wilson, Local Energy/Food, Sustainable Development Tags: Ecopolis, Food, Water No Comments »
