How To Create Exciting New Green Technologies

Green communities and residential buildings are gaining popularity across the nation. As the green movement gains momentum in the housing, developers and architects are deploying exciting new green technologies and features. Below are four communities that are changing the environmental movement for the better.

1. Streets and sidewalks Porous
Pringle Creek, a housing development of 132 in Salem, Oregon is being built with completely porous streets and sidewalks. Porous surfaces allow 90% of rainwater to run into the surrounding soil. This dramatically reduces the negative effects of polluted stormwater runoff can have on rivers and lakes. The community also captures the excess rainwater in storage tanks for use in community gardens.


2. Homes made from recycled steel frame
Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park, California, is taking a completely new approach to housing. The community site will have a solar power installation in house frames are made of recycled steel. Each community of 1,900 homes will use the equivalent of 6 SUVs recycled steel and save up to 40 trees.

3. Living completely off the grid
Quay Valley, a 50,000 home community still in the conceptual stages in Kings County, California, have established a special plan for the power. Quay Valley aims to be the first development powered entirely by solar in the world. They hope to achieve this by building three, 100 acres of solar panels. The developer community estimates that the panels actually produce excess electricity to be sold to neighboring municipalities.

4. Maximize sunlight
Enso, a stunning new tower 19-story condominium in downtown Seattle, Washington, aims to take advantage of natural sunlight. Each unit has floor to ceiling windows with a great wall "curtain". The window wall is designed for light to heavy in apartments without overheating through the use of insulating glass and a retractable curtain. Maximize exposure to sunlight can help keep your units much warmer in the winter months and dramatically reduce the need for artificial lighting.