The idea of reuse embodies the goal of guiding our society to a more sustainable reality. Efforts of recycling, or even upcycling, are continuing to gain strength with how we can utilize resource streams that were once thought of as only waste. Recycling efforts have taken hold at the municipal and state level across the country to help mitigate the amount of waste that is headed for landfills, but it is rare to see the idea of reuse applied to infrastructural systems that offer a reconditioned life for extended service. Continue Reading…
Archives For Wind Turbine
To date, the success of renewable energy production in the U.S. has been intrinsically tied to the availability of subsidies that help to make the younger and cleaner forms of power more financially competitive. As we near the end of 2011 the industry players are becoming antsy as the future of subsidized aid for renewables comes into question once again. An increasing public focus of trimming an ever-growing federal deficit, a stagnant job market and the financial woes of European economies on the other side of the Atlantic make for a challenging backdrop for the next phase of clean power. Will renewable energy fall into another trough of its historical boom-and-bust cycle or has its recent, successful years helped to cement itself into necessity in the greater American economy?
Our country’s effort to support renewable energy is still in its early stages of development and ripe for adjustment. The maturing of the renewable industry can positively affect job growth, technological innovation and increased efficiency, but there are a number of ways we can be doing those things, even within the umbrella of sustainability (smart grids, alternative transit infrastructure, electric cars, building systems,etc.) The real goal of governmental support for renewables should be getting more clean megawatts attached to the grid. If that is the goal, then we should be retooling our system of incentives to make that goal a reality rather than dilute its effectiveness due to a lack of focus.
Collaboration between professions can yield new, uncharted perspectives that lead to fresh ideas and in doing so, Grimshaw Architects has pushed the boundaries of what the perceived role of an architect actually is. With international engineering firm ARUP, Grimshaw has helped to design a new conceptual model of an offshore wind turbine dubbed the Aerogenerator X. The design is not only an example of what complimentary industries can accomplish together, but how the face and appearance of sustainability can be re-imagined beyond the icons that we are used to.