Sustainable Development Focus
Fortune - Jul 11 Over the past half decade, the solar market has boomed thanks to falling solar panel prices. Now the same thing is happening with technology for storing energy. Lithium-ion battery prices have started to drop, helping to create a market for developing, financing, and selling battery systems to building owners, corporations, and utilities. The batteries are important because they can store energy produced by solar panels for use at night, help utilities better manage the power grid, and help building owners save money on their energy bills. The latest evidence of batteries becoming a bigger business opportunity: traditional financiers are getting into the mix. On Monday, a San Francisco-based startup called Advanced Microgrid Solutions, which builds battery farms, announced that Australian banking powerhouse Macquarie Group plans to fund $200 million worth of its battery projects. The money will help Advanced Microgrid Solutions build battery projects around Los Angeles and in dozens of office buildings (some using Tesla batteries) around greater Southern California.
Renewable Energy World - Jul 12 When it was time to build its Americas headquarters in Fremont, California to LEED Platinum and net-zero standards, power management solutions provider Delta looked to a geothermal exchange system for the building's heating and cooling functions. The new building, which opened last fall, also features solar PV generation and energy efficiency solutions that are helping reduce — and will ultimately eliminate — the energy load required from the local utility. Ongoing growth in the coming years for the commercial and residential geothermal exchange industry in the U.S. is all about securing federal tax credits now, according to Douglas Dougherty, president and CEO of the Geothermal Exchange Organization. Geothermal exchange installations currently have a 10 percent investment tax credit for commercial applications and 30 percent income tax credit for residential installations through the end of the year.
MultifamilyBiz.com - Jul 6 The Bascom Group of Irvine and Village Partners of Newport Beach have formed a joint venture called Village Partners Ventures, LLC, which will target transit-oriented and mixed-use multifamily development opportunities in Southern California with plans to invest $200 million over the next four years. Village Partners Ventures will capitalize on the region-wide shift towards expanding public transportation in Southern California, filling the current market gap in transportation-oriented multifamily development.
East Bay Times - Jul 11 The new Korematsu Middle School in El Cerrito has "living roofs" on two of its buildings. The roofs that crown the school's gymnasium and multipurpose rooms consist of layers of drought-tolerant sedum plants above a waterproof lining that channels rainwater runoff into storm drains. Sedum is a leaf succulent with water-storing leaves that act as filters for the rainwater to eliminate pollution and reduce runoff by 65 percent to 90 percent in the summer and 25 percent to 40 percent in the winter by holding more water for evaporation.
Inhabitat - Jul 11 The world’s tallest Passive House building is steadily rising in New York City. When complete, Cornell Tech’s super energy-efficient residential building is expected to save 882 tons of CO2 (the equivalent of planting 5,300 new trees) per year thanks to its ultra-tight envelope and on-site geothermal and solar energy systems. Cornell Tech Residential will provide housing for 536 of the school’s students and faculty on their new Roosevelt Island campus. The building is designed to meet the requirements of the stringent Passive House standard, which focuses on the use of airtight building envelopes in order to achieve a 60 to 70 percent energy usage reduction compared to traditional construction.
