Solar Pavement: The Future of Sidewalks?

Onyx Solar recently teamed up with Butech to launch a new line of photovoltaic paving stones made from ceramic and glass. The streamlined solar stones are manufactured using a process that produces less CO2 and uses less energy than traditional pavement, making this energy-generating material even better for reducing the environmental impact of building projects. Onyx and Butech hope to release the tiles to market by the end of this year, making them the first PV pavement system available for purchase. Though the pavement is not suited for vehicular traffic, it is well suited for human traffic and can support furniture as well.

"Double Skin" Computerized Facade Allows Skyscraper to Breathe

The engineers of the Westarkade, a colorful high-rise that officially opened in Frankfurt in July, show that you don't need to seal yourself in to live green.

The 15-story glass tower glows with natural light and offers windows that open—a comfort that can wreak havoc with energy efficiency. But the Westarkade's first-of-a-kind "pressure ring" facade and sophisticated, sensor-rich control scheme promise to consume no more than 100 kilowatt-hours of energy per square meter per year. That would make it a world-class energy miser, using half as much energy as a conventional office building in Europe and as little as a third of the U.S. average.

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