Big news out of Madrid, Spain: French university Team Rhône-Alpes has won the 2012 European Solar Decathlon with their stunning solar Canopea House! Leading the Solar Decathlon competition since winning the Architecture and Operations prizes, this compact home is topped with a 10,7 kW array of photovoltaic panels that produce enough energy to run all of the electricity on both floors and charge up a mini electric vehicle at the same time! The Canopea house was designed for modularity and was specifically engineered for stacking into ‘nanotowers’ for higher density housing, addressing the need for sustainable urban housing in the alpine corridor.
The sixth annual Lexus Eco Challenge has launched, giving young students a shot at winning part of $500,000 in grants and scholarships. More than 22,000 middle school and high school students have been included in past programs, where more than $3.5 million has been awarded to students, teachers and schools. Last year, for example, Lexington, KY’s “One-Towel Wonders” team was a grand prize winner by showing how big an impact using just one towel per person per week could have on the environment.
Lightlife is making it easier and tastier than ever to enjoy protein-packed meatless meals by introducing four new frozen vegetarian burgers: Kick’n Black Bean, Backyard Grill’n, Mellow Portobello Mushroom and the Farmer’s Market Veggie Burger. Eliminating meat from your diet, even occasionally, is one of the easiest ways to make a huge impact on the health of the planet, as emissions produced by the meat industry are one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues. Lightlife’s clever video on what a vegetarian farm would look like is a must-see for animal lovers.
French Minister of Industrial Renewal Amaud Montebourg wants his nation to be considered the world’s electric-vehicle leader. “France can guide the electric revolution. We want electric vehicles to be for everyone,” he said during the recent welcome-home ceremony for the Citroen C-Zero driving team that finished an eight month, 15,535 mile road trip on $300 worth of electricity, the Electric Odyssey.
Happy International Coffee Day! For this year’s International Coffee Day we’re focusing on… the coffee grounds? Turns out, used coffee grounds don’t need to be thrown away but can be used to deodorize, fertilize, and even intensify your hair color. Celebrate today by starting to save your coffee grounds and turn them into one of our top 7 uses for them!
It’s been another month, and here’s another outline of coverage from September. From newly published posts this month, I noticed that our articles about net-zero energy Grow Community and the not-so-big timber-frame home were the most popular. For a visual look at what’s being shared, also make sure to check out Jetson Green on Pinterest.