neoli

LEED Emerges as the Preferred Green Building Certification for All GSA Buildings

It’s a triumphant week for USGBC and the entire green building movement. Three months after the General Services Administration (GSA) sought public input on LEED takes the lead once again for all GSA buildings in the U.S. which green building…

neoli4 May 2013

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Acoustics and Soundproofing in LEED Green Buildings

In film school we were made to watch Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola (which was adapted from Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness). I forgot how both the film and book turned out, but I remember one important detail…

neoli27 April 2013

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How to Really Celebrate Earth Day

We’ve been celebrating Earth Day for forty-three years now since its launch in 1970, and yet despite everyone’s efforts, the threat of climate change still looms on us. Does that mean the world’s combined efforts haven’t been enough? Maybe not,…

neoli21 April 2013

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On Algae and Other Plants for Green Building

Arup’s latest foray in incorporating plants for green building involves algae. Yes, algae—that simplest, most basic organism that crosses the fine line between “plant” and “animal”. Plants for green building: Algae is the unlikely hero of this apartment building in…

neoli18 April 2013

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LEED for Healthcare: The Two Years So Far

LEED for Healthcare (LEED HC) has just turned two this April. How’s the adoption rate these past two years? Well, a quick search at Gbig.org, USGBC’s project database website, turns up only 113 published activities under LEED HC v2009, out…

neoli15 April 2013

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News on Solar Panels Turns Sunnier Each Day.

Today we’re rounding up the recent news on solar panels over the past few weeks—mostly optimistic ones. It’s certainly high time that these breakthroughs in solar panels come in, considering the threats of global warming, caused no less by our…

neoli4 April 2013

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Wooden Skyscrapers Coming to a City Near You.

We’re used to having our skyscrapers built out of concrete and steel, but wood?—Not really. Wood is meant for floors, paneling, and furniture, not as a major building material especially for skyscrapers. And yet, there’s new focus on wooden skyscrapers…

neoli20 March 2013

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Concept Buildings and the Future of Skyscrapers

eVolo Magazine recently announced the winners of its 2013 Skyscraper Competition, and judging from the concept buildings entries this year, each one is more ingenious (and dare we say ambitious) than the next. Taking First Prize is Derek Pirozzi’s Polar…

neoli15 March 2013

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Of Beautiful Malls, Wind Farms, and Displaced Birds

Every afternoon just before dusk, thousands of birds flock together outside a popular shopping mall in Quezon City, Philippines. Some of the birds (known locally as Tarat, in the shrike family) roost on power lines, or under the mall’s eaves,…

neoli6 March 2013

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Self-Healing Cement Just Got Better

Self-healing cement that seals up its own cracks and magically repairs itself seems like the stuff of science fiction. After all, concrete’s not supposed to do that once it sets into a hard, permanent mass. But there’s really nothing sci-fi…

neoli4 March 2013