Zaha Hadid Architects recently broke ground on the Guangzhou Infinitus Plaza, a modern mixed-use campus that combines intelligent technologies with environmental sustainability. Designed with the sweeping curvaceous lines and futuristic appearance that the architecture firm is so well known for, the project is one of the final works architect Zaha Hadid worked on before her death early this year. The eight-story complex features a layout inspired by the symbol for infinity “∞” and integrates many green building systems, including rainwater collection and smart energy monitors.
Located in Baiyun New Town of Guangzhou, the 167,000-square-meter Guangzhou Infinitus Plaza will serve as the new headquarters of Infinitus (China) Company Ltd. The campus will comprise a collection of modern facilities that include a new global R&D center, a Chinese herbal medicine research and safety assessment center, as well as a corporate exhibition center and gallery. The buildings are arranged in a series of “infinite rings” wrapping around the central atria and courtyards to emphasize open communication, connection, and collaboration…
Read the rest of the article by Lucy Wang in Inhabitat.
With Quantino electric vehicles, a Liechtenstein-based company want to prove that its nanoFlowcell® technology can free mobility from its dependence on fossil fuels and current battery systems. It doesn’t plug in to recharge the way electric vehicles do (which are not as green as you think). It runs on flow cell technology – a battery that uses salt water solutions to store electrolytes that can undergo reactions to produce electricity.
Able to travel 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) for 14 hours on a single tank and reach speeds of 200 km/h, Quantino cars are electrical, silent and give off zero harmful emissions – unleashing a new energy storage within the new field of electric mobility. Two ionic fluids generate electricity by means of a chemical process. One holds a positive charge and other, negative…
Cone shaped spinning solar cells generates 20 times more electricity than flat solar panels. Every now and then a design comes along that just turns he whole world upside down with a claim so fantastic it’s hard to believe. But yes, from everything we’ve been able to find on this device, this the real deal.
It’s a conical shaped collection of photovoltaic cells arranged in an angular array. The array is designed to be the most efficient way to capture the sun’s energy. In traditional solar arrays with flat panels, one must adjust the angle of the solar panels individually. This design takes advantage of a conical shape which is conducive to collecting maximum sunlight from any angle at any time of year.
On Friday evening as the sun descended over the old Hollywood set of “Desperate Housewives,” Elon Musk took to a stage and fired up his presentation about climate change. It was a strange scene, with hundreds of people crowded into the middle of a subtly artificial suburban neighborhood.
It wasn’t until about a minute into the speech that Musk casually let the crowd in on Tesla’s big secret. “The interesting thing is that the houses you see around you are all solar houses,” Musk said. “Did you notice?”
The answer, in short, was no. Like everyone else, I knew we were there to see Musk’s new “solar roof,” whatever that was supposed to mean. But try as I could as we walked in, I didn’t see anything that looked like it could carry an electric current. If anything, the slate and Spanish clay roofs looked a bit too nice for a television set. This is the future of solar, Musk proclaimed. “You’ll want to call your neighbors over and say ‘check out the sweet roof.’ It’s not a phrase you hear often.”
The roof tiles are actually made of textured glass. From most viewing angles, they look just like ordinary shingles, but they allow light to pass through from above onto a standard flat solar cell…
Read the rest of the article by Tom Randall in Bloomberg.
The world’s first tidal energy farm could power 175,000 homes
Off the northernmost tip of Scotland, in an area called the Pentland Firth, the world’s first large-scale underwater energy farm is being built.
Whereas wind turbines use the movement of air to turn the blades and generate power, the new set of submerged turbines will be turned by the ocean’s tides.
The project, called MeyGen, is expected to have a power generation capacity of 398 megawatts – enough to power 175,000 homes in Scotland, according to Atlantis Resources, the developer of the project. The first four turbines are expected to be installed by the end of 2016 (though that’s contingent on tidal and weather conditions), and projected to start delivering power by early 2017.
An iconic, world-first infrastructure project in South West Wales
Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will be the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant.
A tidal lagoon is a ‘U’ shaped breakwater, built out from the coast which has a bank of hydro turbines in it. Water fills up and empties the man-made lagoon as the tides rise and fall. We generate electricity on both the incoming and outgoing tides, four times a day, every day.
Due to the incredible tides on the West Coast of Britain, by keeping the turbine gates shut for just three hours, there is already a 14 foot height difference in water between the inside and the outside of the lagoon. Power is then generated as the water rushes through 200ft long draft tubes, rotating the 23ft diameter hydro turbines.
Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon received planning consent in 2015 and will comprise 16 hydro turbines, a six mile breakwater wall, generating electricity for 155,000 homes for the next 120 years.
The 320MW pathfinder project provides a scalable blueprint for our programme, opening up the option of a fleet of larger UK tidal lagoons to generate renewable electricity at a scale and low cost not seen before.
Our aim is to start construction works on site in 2017, with the marine works (construction of the breakwaters/bund walls) commencing in early Spring 2018. Construction of the entire project will take a maximum of five years to complete.
Tidal energy represents a large energy potential and is a predictable and environmentally friendly energy source. Compact design and solid composite material provides low weight, low cost and easy installation. The system is inherently buoyant allowing the systems to be towed to site, submerged and easily installed. There are no moving parts in the turbine. The system is self regulating and operational over a large range of tidal stream velocities. The system also has limited environmental impact, with a slow moving turbine.
The minimal turbulence created by the Flumill systems and the lack of cavitation means that Flumill tidal parks can be far more concentrated than e.g. horizontal axis turbines.
A more concentrated park setup will first and foremost result in greater power outputs from smaller areas of seabed, in addition to reduced costs through reduced number of cable meters needed.
The Flumill system can operate in tidal streams as low as 1 m/s flow.
This information comes from the website of Flumill.
Carnegie was the first wave energy company to generate both power and freshwater onshore as part of its Perth Wave Energy Project at Garden Island in Western Australia.
Carnegie is an ASX-listed company based in Perth, Western Australia. Carnegie is developing its 100% owned CETO wave energy technology. The CETO technology has been under development for over 10 years at the company’s corporate office and their unique Wave Energy Research Facility at Fremantle.
Named after a Greek sea goddess, CETO offers the potential to revolutionise power and water production globally. CETO harnesses the enormous renewable energy present in our ocean’s waves and converts it into two of the most valuable commodities underpinning the sustainable growth of the planet; zero-emission electricity and zero-emission desalinated water.
The CETO system is different from other wave energy devices as it operates under water where it is safer from large storms and invisible from the shore. The fully submerged buoys drive pumps and generators that are contained offshore, within the buoy itself, with power delivered back to shore through subsea cables to power desalination plants as well as for export into the grid.
CETO differs from other wave technologies under development globally by being fully submerged and generating power onshore rather than offshore. CETO has been proven at pilot scale and is now in its commercial demonstration phase.
This information comes from the website of Carnegie Wave Energy.
