The 'sun king' who built a solar city in China

Apartments at Front Flats, a new residential building in Philadelphia, is powered by 492 solar panels that are wrapped around the building. The point: to demonstrate that developers can design buildings that are energy-efficient and be built at an affordable cost. It’s not clear yet if the building is “net zero” in terms of producing as much energy as it consumes, but residents are paying only $40 a month for utilities.

More and more commercial real estate projects are popping up around the United States that are focused on “deep green” building. This movement suggests that it’s not enough to just make a building out of renewable materials, but they can also be self-sustaining. For example, the Watershed, an office building in Seattle, has a slanted roof that collects rainwater that is then used in toilets. These types of projects can be more complicated and expensive to build, but developers can save money in the long run with the improvements.

In 2014, Apple reached a milestone by turning their Nevada data center into a 100 percent renewable energy-powered structure thanks to the implementation of solar farms. Just four years later, the company has just reached another milestone - all of its facilities are powered by renewable energy. This step is all part of their efforts to spearhead a focus on environmental initiatives in the tech industry.

Rotterdam, a port city once at the center of trade and commerce, is now threatened by climate change. The city has responded to this threat by totally transforming itself into a hub for sustainable design. It embraces crazy, environmentally friendly solutions. From a floating dairy farm to a home enclosed in a greenhouse to basketball courts that soak up rainwater, Rotterdam has established itself as a leader in sustainable urban design. By 2025, the city plans to be completely climate-proof.

Harnessing body heat provides energy-saving heating to commercial and residential buildings. The Stockholm Central station in Sweden and the Mall of America in Minnesota both capture body warmth to provide some of the buildings' heat. Each has over 100,000 daily visitors during non-coronavirus times, generating substantial heat that can be captured by energy-efficient construction. Body heat is also utilized in residential spaces, where thermal insulation helps keep the warmth inside. Using body heat requires energy-efficient building materials and generally cannot provide all of a building's heating needs.

Pennsylvania law is preventing a Philadelphia neighborhood from converting an empty lot into a solar farm, but community members are working to fight against this by citing neighboring states that are seeing positive impact from similar projects. One such project is in Massachusetts where shared solar energy systems is helping to offset "80 percent of the power needs of a nearby assisted living facility, an affordable housing development, a family-owned hardware store and a non-profit serving those with disabilities."

After the homeowners association denied his request to install solar panels on his roof due to their aesthetic, Indianapolis-resident Joey Myles used SolarSkin to disguise the panels to look like asphalt shingles. The company Sistine Solar makes these films that coat solar panels in various images that can be used to blend in with roofs or other forms of artwork. The panels with skins only generate about 85 percent of energy as those without skins, but they can withstand extreme weather.

A municipality’s ability to collect data and implement small changes can mean cost savings, increased efficiency, and improvements to daily life. By incorporating the ‘internet of things’ into thousands of streetlights, San Diego is able to collect and disseminate data on street usage, parking spots, and traffic optimization.

New York City black tar roofs cause a number of environmental problems, including air pollution, heat absorption that raises energy consumption, and storm water runoff in the sewer system. Efforts to turn these old roofs into green spaces cool the buildings, enable the containment of more rainfall, reduce sewer discharge, generate energy, and absorb carbon emissions. New York City has a pilot program offering financial help for green roofs.

A team of Finnish engineers havevinstalled the first commercial battery made of sand, which can store green energy in it for months. Solar panels or wind turbines generate electricity, which is then stored as heat in the sand battery. When needed, the battery can discharge hot air to heat up water which is then used to heat homes, offices, and a swimming pool. This solution may be difficult to scale, but it’s a low-cost storage idea that could be useful when it’s cold and energy is more expensive.