Image source: West Coast Green

Image source: West Coast Green

The first draft of sustainable biofuels standard may open up opportunities and kick-start R&D into a wide range of ethanol and biofuel feedstocks with an even wider range of potential benefits. One nomination: agave for biofuels in Mexico.
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One of the world's shortest escalators

Housing in San Francisco is expensive, and one way to make units cost less is to make them smaller, particularly if there is restrictive zoning and you can get more units in the same building envelope. Now they have squeezed units down to 250 square feet, smaller than most hotel rooms. George Hauser, the architect, notes that they aren't for everyone-

Now under construction, 23 Marina sets a new bar for wretched excess: 57 of its 288 apartments have private swimming pools on the balconies. They are not huge at 5.2 meters (17 feet) by 2 meters (6-1/2 feet) but multiply that by 57 and you have a lot of surface area evaporating fresh water into the dry desert air. One of these puts paid to all the so-called "green" buildings going up in Dubai.

Photo chad_k @ flickr

It only takes five minutes in the city of Copenhagen (especially when arriving by train) to wonder why all cities aren't developing in this same mold - plenty of open streets with wide pedestrian and bike lanes, bikes to easily rent at a number of venues, and a wealth of organic food at the corner stores.

Density defying?

The Panhandle Bandshell built in San Francisco’s Panhandle Park is built from nearly all reclaimed/repurposed materials. With the goal of educating about recycling, creating a free performance space, and installing a working piece of art the Bandshell truly wears many hats.