Driving through Southern Utah, there are three things that always catch my attention. The red rock terrain, the green golf courses, and the heat. Just last week, my wife and I drove through St. George and it was probably 85 degrees...in April. Temperatures start to average in the mid 80's starting in May and usually last till October, getting to the upper 90's and 100's in June, July, August and September. The heat provides the perfect opportunity for residents to embrace green building...and that seems to be the case in St. George. A housing panel is weighing plans for the construction of a green housing development aimed at households earning between 60% and 110% of the area median income. The Flats at South Point will save residents 50% or more on heating and cooling costs and will have a targeted home value between $180,000 and $230,000 . An affordable green development in the ballpark of $135 per square foot. That's awesome! The first phase of construction is slated for completion around July 2008.
++The Flats at South Pointe [website]
++Eco-Aspects of The Flats at South Pointe [website]
++Housing Group Hears About 'Green' Project [The Spectrum]
When it comes to going green, the hotel industry is a little behind the commercial and residential movements but they are definitely trying to make a comeback. Part of the problem was the cost involved to retrofit an existing hotel with green components. Sometimes its just easier to start from scratch, integrating the energy efficiencies into the structure from the beginning. But as the cost to green continues to decline, hotels are finding a treasure at the end of their of income statement in the form of higher rents and lower operating costs. Even Kimpton Hotels are joining the green fray with their EarthCare program, which focuses on using environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, recycled paper, and energy and water conservation (visit their website 
2007 has been the year of many changes and a lot of progress in the energy sector...green seems to be on everyone's mind. The New York Times Magazine recently uploaded Drawing From New Sources...an animated short on ways to save and generate energy. Pretty interesting...I definitely think 2008 is poised for some major advances in green technologies and clean-tech. Check out the video 
Rogey Davey has huge plans for solar power. His company, EnviroMission in Australia, is in the final feasibility stage of a Solar Tower project that would reduce more than 900,000 tons of greenhouse CO2 gases from the environment while generating enough electricity to power around 200,000 homes. EnviroMission holds the proprietary rights to Solar Tower technology based on simple fundamentals of physics--hot air rises. A single 200MW Solar Tower will stand 1000 meters (3,300 feet) in the air... more than double the height of the Empire State Building. 
I have done quite a few posts on wind turbines but this is the first one on water turbines. I was watching a TV program called "Big Ideas Small Planet" and one of their interviews was with Trey Taylor. His company in New York, Verdant Power, has developed a water turbine and has actually installed it in the East River, New York City, along the eastern shore of Roosevelt Island! New York has some amazing water currents and its awesome to see a company take advantage of that for renewable resource purposes. Its called the RITE project and Verdant is using a tidal-powered Kinetic Hydropower System (KHPS), which they developed and patented. The project is slated to eventually run rows and rows of water turbines in the East River generating enough renewable energy to supply power to 8,000 New York homes. 
