Like we always say… ‘it’s all for the kids’. Well, this time that statement may be true if reports are correct that Bradford University in the U.K. has built the greenest student housing building ever.

The cost of the new green dorm was about $63 million with several apartment buildings and townhouses making up 1,026 bedrooms. The universities website states that their dorm has received the “highest BREEAM rating ever, at 95.05%, for any building.

According to the BBC video (which I’ve posted below) each building has all kinds of devices for controlling and monitoring energy usage. The buildings also use solar power to heat their hot water. In the design they of course made sure that the buildings were very well insulated and airtight so no heat was lost in the cold months and the buildings remain cool in the hotter months stating, “it will only take about 100 watts of electricity to heat each bedroom.”

Now all they need to do is get the students really excited about saving energy and being green to ensure the project is a complete success. Creating an iPhone or Android app that allows students to monitor their energy I think would really get the students engaged. The school could even include some incentives. I’m sure in no time iPhone’s new artificial intelligence assistant, Siri, could have a few suggestions. She’s currently a little rusty currently, even creating some funny things that Siri says websites and has got a lot to learn but knowing Apple, this thing will be controlling the world in a matter of years! (Sorry, I just got the iPhone 4s today and it’s bizarre to me what this Siri assistant can do)… back to being sustainable and the new Bradford University green dorms!!

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As part of the major Empire State Building retrofit project, the building now has refurbished windows that are four times more thermally efficient.

The 6514 new windows will reduce solar heat gain by more than 50% and will reduce the building’s energy costs by more than $400,000 a year. All of the renovating was done on-site to reduce the energy and cost of transportation.

The retrofit is being funded and operated by the Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls, Jones Lang LaSalle and the Rocky Mountain Institute. The entire project is expected to reduce energy consumption by 38 percent, CO2 emissions by 105,000 metric tons over the next 15 years and to cut energy costs by $4.4 million a year. The project will cost about $20 million and should be completed in 2013.

Habitat for Humanity International (which has built over 300,000 homes) and The Home Depot Foundation are now working together to build 5,000 energy efficient homes over the next five years. The $30 million Partners in Sustainable Building program will issue grants to Habitat affiliates for homes built following Energy Star, LEED or other nationally recognized green building guidelines.

In 2009 and 2010, 1,500 sustainable homes will be built by 120 Habitat affiliates in 45 states. The program will grant $3,000 per home built to Energy Star standards and $5,000 per home built to a higher standard, like LEED.

In a pilot program tested in 2008, the sustainable features led to energy savings of 15% to 30%. For those that were built to LEED Platinum standards, energy savings have hit 50%.

The Sears Tower is getting set to undergo a massive 350 million dollar green overhaul, and will be installing wind turbines, solar panels and roof gardens to help complete the task. The five-year project would reduce the tower’s electricity use by 80% and save 24 million gallons of water a year, according to the building’s owners and architects.

“Our plans are very ambitious,” said John Huston of American Landmark Properties, who represents the building ownership. “Our plans to modernize and transform this icon will re-establish Sears Tower as a leader, a pioneer.”

This eco-friendly project includes the installation of solar panels on the tower’s 90th floor roof to heat water used in the building. A number of different kinds of wind turbines will be positioned on the tower’s tiered roofs and tested for efficiency. Around 35,000 square feet of roof gardens will be planted.

“This endeavor is incredibly important as a role model for others to follow,” architect Adrian Smith said. “We see this as a groundbreaking opportunity.”

She may have the biceps to match her giant ego, but the fact of the matter is, Madonna is doing great things for the people who are affected by AIDS in Malawi.

Madonna’s new documentary that chronicles her efforts in Malawi, I Am Because We Are is now available with limited commercial interruption on Hulu.com.

Madonna, who also narrates the film, said this about the experience: “To say that this film is a labor of love is trivial. It’s also the journey of a lifetime. I hope you all are as inspired watching it as I was making it.”

Madonna co-founded Raising Malawi with Michael Berg. Malawi is also one of the poorest countries in the world, suffering from famine, drought, extreme poverty, and diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis and as a result, children die from preventable illness, while millions are orphaned.

I Am Because We Are documents the extraordinary challenges faced by Malawian children in the wake of AIDS.

Famed progressive thinker and Google co-founder Larry Page is working out the details as he plans his new 6,000-square-foot, eco-friendly house on an acre sized lot in Palo Alto. The Google house will include solar panels, materials that do not emit toxic chemicals, and paving that allows the rain to seep through, which is a major plus in California, where water planners are looking to fill up aquifers.

The exterior of the house will have zinc cladding and plenty of enormous windows, including a wall of sliding-glass doors in the back. Page is also working with an arborist to replace some trees in poor health with those that use less water.

Building this eco-house adds to Page’s forward thinking work in areas such as alternative energy companies (he was a major investor in Tesla Motors, which developed the Tesla Roadster, a 220-mile (350 km) range battery electric vehicle.) Larry Page, with the help of Google’s philanthropic arm, promotes the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric cars and other alternative energy investments.

One of the most important factors in making your home more energy efficient, and therefore cutting your energy bill bin half, is having your house properly insulated. Thoughtfully ans sustainably designed homes that utilize insulation, thermal mass design and sustainable energy alternatives, such as solar panels, can save some homeowners up to 50% on their yearly energy consumption.

There are lots of great, green alternatives when looking for home insulation. See if you can find ceiling insulation made from sustainable materials, such as Goldenfleece wool insulation. All natural wool fibre has great insulating properties, with the CSIRO claiming, “wool insulation performs better because of it’s ability to rapidly absorb moisture from the air.”

A company called Bonded Logic has developed an eco-friendly insulation that is made from 85% post-industrial recycled denim leftover from the manufacturing of blue jeans. This scrap material is collected and layered into panels and then treated with a solution that acts as a fire retardant, mold, mildew and pest blocker. This eco-friendly insulation is a zero-waste product since it requires very little energy to make and uses materials that were likely headed for a landfill.

There are also many do-it-yourself add-ons you can consider during the colder months to conserve heat and save money on those energy bills. Seal draughts with door snakes or utilize thicker curtains on your windows to keep out the cold air. If you live in a particularly cold climate, installing and maintaining your caulking and weatherstripping is an easy and affordable way to keep heat in, and energy costs low. In one bedroom apartments, direct your heat with the use of room dividers.

Properly designed and well installed insulation is a key factor for an energy-efficient home. With a recently heightened awareness of the global economic recession and of the importance of reducing our carbon footprint, eco-friendly insulation will be one of the ways homeowners upgrade to ensure their home meets these new eco standards, and, as an added bonus, save them money during these difficult times in our economy.

Brad Pitt met with President Barack Obama yesterday to discuss green rebuilding efforts in New Orleans through his charity organization, Make it Right NOLA. After Hurricane Katrina, Pitt began by working with Global Green to sponsor an architecture competition aimed at generating ideas about how to rebuild sustainably in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, which inspired Pitt’s successful project, Make It Right.

Pitt met with Obama, as well as Democratic congressional leaders including Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

“I just want to say thank you to the Speaker for opening up her doors for us to come in and discuss the rebuilding effort, the current rebuilding effort going on in New Orleans and how we can expand this idea of affordability and sustainability, because we think we have a model that works,” Pitt said.

Want to help Pitt build sustainable homes in New Oleans? You can go to the Make it Right website and click on the plans for the latest house. There, you can donate anything in the house – everything from shower heads to solar panels.

I become more convinced every day that the internet can be as a force for good in the world. Some eco-minded geniuses with a penchant for Google Maps have put together this eye-opening website called PlanetHazard.com The site uses data from the EPA’s National Emission Inventory Database to allow interested users to check out the nations worst pollution terrorists on a national, state, county or city level. Not only can you inform yourself of the the names and locations of the over 80 thousand listed polluters, but you can find out the the exact pollutants being emitted and their quantities are listed for each of these companies.

The website includes a list of the top ten polluters in the nation with Regional Sanitation District, based in Elk Grove, California, taking the top “prize” with almost half a billion tons of emissions annually.

Sanyo, one of Japan’s largest electronics companies, has come up with an innovative and beautiful architectural design that allows a large solar power facility to exist within Japan’s need for clean aesthetic. The Solar Ark, in Gifu, is over 1,000 feet wide and 120 feet tall. The Solar Ark’s outer surfaces are covered with more than 5,000 active solar panels which generate over 500,000 kilowatt-hours of green energy in ideal weather conditions.

The Solar Ark’s subtle design and unique features make it a truly stunning example of eco-architecture .The Solar Ark has a gentle curved design that turns up at both ends. A modified space frame and cantilever engineering make it lightweight yet exceptionally strong, so it is capable of withstanding typhoon winds and earthquakes.