World Cup Stadium to Feature Green Design

 There’s hasn’t been an abundance of sustainability coverage for the upcoming FIFA World Cup South Africa. Perhaps the excitement around the first-ever hosting of the World Cup on African soil has monopolized the media coverage; or perhaps there just isn’t a lot of sustainability initiatives to report on.
Regardless of the reason, we did find it worthy to highlight a few programs, most notably the design of the newly-built Durban stadium.
Construction of the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban was completed in 2009 and is set to host  70,000 spectators for one of the semi-final matches and numerous group matches.
The design called for a “state-of-the-art landmark sports facility with excellent amenities and a sustainable recreational and multi-disciplinary sporting venue.”
The stadium is stunning in design. Its most notable feature is a large 150-meter arch rising high above the stadium center. A SkyCar funicular system transports visitors to a Skydeck, allowing a birds’ eye view of the stadium, city and nearby coast.
Though large scale event-driven construction is always heavy on resource use, the builders of the Durban stadium minimized construction and demolition impact by utilizing recycled materials from the old stadium. More than 30,000 cubic meters of concrete demolition material from the old stadium was used for construction of the new stadium.

The PTFE-coated roof membrane allows 50 percent of sunlight to filter through while protecting the stadium from glare and rain. The stadium also features a rainwater collection system, water-saving installations, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems and natural ventilation design.
When the World Cup comes to a close mid-July and South Africans find themselves in a sort of post World Cup hangover, the ten beautiful stadiums spanning the country, five new and five updated, will still be standing. The Durban stadium, among others, was built to Olympic standards in the hopes of hosting a future Olympic Games in South Africa.

 Related Articles





Share

Gucci Goes Green

 Gucci is going green. The Italian luxury brand has announced that it is going to make a few green changes, including redesigning their packing to be eco-friendly, using 100 percent recyclable FSC Certified paper.
The Italian label will now forgo the usual plastic laminate surfaces found in their tissue paper, bags and boxes. The ribbon and garment bags have been switched to cotton from the original polyester material.
They will be packing their shoes in one flannel instead of two. They will also give out gift boxes only when requested.
Also, Gucci is replacing all of its mannequins with a new version, designed by Frida Giannini, which is made with shockproof polystyrene and finished with water-based paints.
Creative director Frida Giannini was quoted by vogue.co.uk as saying, "This project proves hat you sacrifice nothing creatively when working with environmentally friendly materials."
"The new packaging is very beautiful and evokes perfectly the combination of Gucci's values and the traditions for which is has become renowned since Guccio Gucci founded the company in Florence nearly 90 years ago."
"I believe we have a collective responsibility towards future generations to minimize our impact on the environment."
The initiative will be introduced in all of its 284 stores starting this month.

Share

Duke Energy Center gets highest 'green' designation

Wells Fargo & Co. said yesterday that the Duke Energy Center  has been certified at the highest level of environmental certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The 48-story building, which opened in January, is the first and tallest office tower to receive the certification.
The building initially was meant to be the new headquarters for Wachovia Corp. But after Wells Fargo bought the collapsing Wachovia in late 2008, Duke Energy Corp. took over the naming rights to the tower.
Among the center's green attributes are recycling rainwater, and a roof that reduces heating and cooling costs.  The Duke Energy Center is located in Charlotte, North Carolina.







Share

Ceremonies Launch Clean Energy Venture

Two gentlemen from Ohio inked a partnership Sunday that they say could help create more than 2,000 sustainable jobs over the next decade in the Mahoning Valley. Today, the pair will affix their signatures again, this time on a document co-signed by an incubator in Israel that will work with them to enhance technological innovation in Northeast Ohio.

Scott, president of Applied Systems and Technology Transfer, Utah, and Garvey, president of M-7 Technologies, Youngstown, signed the agreement during a press event at Youngstown State University's Moser Hall. Their new partnership, Ohio Clean Technologies Group, is designed to facilitate and bring to market high-tech applications related to alternative and "clean" energy.

"There's a tremendous need for companies looking for industry partners, government contracts and final validation for their technology," Scott said. "Our company identifies these companies and works with them to get the resources they need, find the assistance they need to take those technologies to commercialization and to create jobs here."

Scott explained that the relationship with LN Technologic -- the Israeli incubator that Ohio Clean Technologies will sign a cooperative agreement with this afternoon -- began in January when the pair visited Israel as part of a delegation that included the mayors of Youngstown and Warren, local business leaders and representatives of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.

"Some of the most innovative technologies we've seen have come out of Israel," Scott said. "What they've done is partnered with their defense department." That relationship, he continued, has helped create new technological applications that transcend military use and are adopted by the private sector rapidly. "Their defense department is key to the development and commercialization of technology," he said.

Advances in laser technologies, remote sensors, wind and solar cells are among the initiatives under development at LN Innovative Technologies. "We want to create a link with the Israeli incubator companies and identify and transfer those technologies back here," Scott noted.

The goal is to incorporate the expertise at nearby universities such as YSU, Akron University and Kent State University, and the cluster of small technology companies housed in the Youngstown Business Incubator.

Ohio Clean Technologies is in the final stages of negotiating a lease for 20,000 square-feet of office and manufacturing space at the Ohio Works Business Park, which would serve as an interim location until the group constructs a building of its own, Scott said. The long-term objective is to acquire 10 acres next to M-7 Technologies at the park and build a multipurpose center to test and help bring to market alternative energy efforts.





See Full Story

Share

Environmental group calls on Obama to support clean energy

 Ahead of President Barack Obama's third visit to oil-hit Louisiana, the head of the oldest US environmental group called Thursday for him to develop the coastal industry into a hub for sustainable energy.

"We stand in support of the 35,000 oil and gas workers in Louisiana who are trying feed their families," Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, told AFP. "It's not the fault of the workforce that America has become dependent on dirty sources of energy," he said.

As crude from a sunken BP-leased oil rig continued to devastate the Gulf's fragile wetlands, Brune urged Obama to redirect 10 billion dollars in annual federal incentives from oil and gas interests to developing a new energy economy based on wind, solar, and geothermal power, among other alternative sources.

"Places like Venice and the Gulf of Mexico... areas that have been the backbone of the industrialized fossil fuel-based economy, need to be the first places where we create a clean energy economy," Brune said.

"Knowing that we're not going to end all oil drilling tomorrow... we have the opportunity to aggressively phase in clean energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal (power)," he said.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal pointed out earlier this week that a prolonged moratorium on offshore drilling championed by Obama would threaten thousands of jobs in the state.

 See Full Story

MassDOT Creating A Clean Energy Economy for Massachusetts

The Patrick administration today said it is remaking the state Department of Transportation into one of the most green-focused in the nation, a plan they are calling "GreenDOT."

“By making this commitment, MassDOT has declared its contribution to creating a clean energy economy for Massachusetts,” Governor Deval Patrick said in a statement. “In the coming years, we will see the results in smarter growth, cleaner vehicles, and jobs devoted to building a lower carbon transportation system.”
According to the administration, the major change will be in the department's value system – GreenDOT will look for ways to cut greenhouse gases, boost the search for "healthy transportation options'' and push "smart growth'' where economic development is concentrated around mass transit systems.

The administration said the greenhouse gases would be cut over the next several years by "balancing highway system expansion projects with other projects that support smart growth development and promote public transit, walking and bicycling.''

In the future, for example, streets would be designed to include bicycle and pedestrian accommodations as they are built, avoiding the sometimes costly effort to retrofit narrow streets and roads to allow motor vehicles and other modes of transportation to safely coexist.

 

Share