One of the latest developments in urban design are rooftop gardens and landscaping walls.
Architects all over the world are proving that sustainable, urban agriculture can be economically valuable in the city.

Image from www.canpages.ca. Green Roof Garden.

Image from www.good.is.
Portland’s Vertical Garden on Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal building.

It is green roof gardens that allow bringing vegetation into cities in a big way. The concept is surprisingly as simple as growing various plants up the outer walls and on rooftops. Remember one of the captivating wonders of the ancient world – Babylon Gardens?

Modern architects use concept of “Semiramida Gardens” allowing buildings to reduce heat island effects and to use less energy, saving on annual energy costs.

In the past green roof gardens were attractive and practical, but not edible.
This was until someone with a creative spark decided to make green roofs twice as useful and productive and use rooftop gardens as a source of fresh produce. Now green roof gardens are tied to restaurant businesses. And what could be more ingenious? The food that is used in exquisite culinary creations in the kitchens below grows right on the rooftops of restaurants all over the world!

Let’s take a look at some of the restaurants that implement green roofing produce in their everyday menus…

Image by Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago – Uncommon Ground restaurant rooftop garden.

Uncommon Ground restaurant in Chicago has a 2,500 square-foot rooftop garden. The executive chef tells the Chicago Sun-Times: “We just used the peppers from the garden and stuffed them with chorizo. When things from the farm are ready, we’ll incorporate it however we can. I come up once a day to see what’s ripe and ready.”

Image by Bonnie Alter. Toronto – Fairmont Royal York green roof.

In Toronto, at the Fairmont Royal York, twelve apprentice chefs grow a vegetable and herbs garden, also keeping bees on their roofs.

Image by Blueberry Farmers T&F. Ginza, Tokyo – bees on the roofs.

In Ginza, Tokyo an NPO, Ginza Mitsubachi Project manages to keep some 150 thousand bees with 260kg of honey gained each year. The honey is used in sweets by a celebrated confectionery shop.

Image from www.treehugger.com. New York City – Hydroponic Farm.

New York City’s First Rooftop Hydroponic Farm has been installed and is expected to produce 30 tons of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs annually from its rooftop garden.

Image by NYBTA. The Science Barge.

Sun Works, the people who built the Science Barge – An Urban Farm that Floats and Grows in NYC, state that New York’s 14,000 acres of unshaded rooftop could feed as many as 20 million people a year, far more than the whole population of the city.

Image from Architects Newspaper. Rooftop garden in Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, architect Alexis Rochas has put a rooftop garden on an old Holiday Inn that was converted to a condominium. See him talking about this project below.

These are just a few examples of creative uses of rooftops and walls gardens. Technology is moving forward and with a little bit of good will and a whole lot of imagination, there is hope for a wonderful and green future for our cities.

Everyone is familiar with the practical everyday use of renewable solar energy in a form of solar panels on roofs, solar garden lights and various solar gadgets.
Did you know that for many years now scientists around the globe have been working on a concept of implementation Solar Sail technology for space exploration?
The future is here!

Image from Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

If everything goes well, a new Japanese weather probe and its solar sail are scheduled to take off on May 21 2010 for a six-month journey to study Venus.
The launch requires a specific time window each day in order to accomplish a successful course toward Venus.
Watch this event broadcast live HERE.

World’s first interplanetary solar sail spacecraft IKAROS, sail spreading CG image.
Read more about Japanese solar sail concept testing here.

1,100-pound Akatsuki spacecraft, which means “Dawn” in Japanese, won’t take off unaccompanied. Along comes a solar sail named Ikaros (700-pound Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) as one of five smaller secondary payloads. The four remaining payloads represent small Earth satellites and experiments constructed by private universities and corporations.

Solar sails (also called light sails or photon sails) are a form of spacecraft driving force using the radiation pressure of light from a star or laser to push enormous ultra-thin mirrors to high speeds.
Theoretically solar sail crafts can reach speeds of 20% speed of light, if given enough size and area.
NASA has successfully tested deployment technologies on small scale sails in vacuum chambers.
No solar sails have been successfully used in space as primary propulsion systems before, research in the area is continuing. It is noteworthy that both the Mariner 10 mission, which flew by the planets Mercury and Venus, and the MESSENGER mission to Mercury demonstrated use of solar pressure as a method of attitude control, in order to conserve attitude-control propellant.

Solar Pressure-Powered Sails. NASA “Destination Tomorrow” Segment explaining how solar pressure-powered sails may be used to propel spacecraft deep into space.

Image by RAFAA Architecture & Design.

This solar energy generating tower is going to be located on the coast of Rio de Janeiro. It is one of the first buildings that are being designed for the 2016 Rio Olympics. This solar energy generating tower looks like an enormous waterfall. The Solar City Tower is designed by Swiss (Zurich-based) company – RAFAA Architecture & Design. It features a large solar system to generate energy during the day and a pumped water storage system to generate energy at night. RAFAA’s goal is that a symbolic tower such as this can serve as a starting point for a global green movement and help make the 2016 Olympic Games more sustainable.

Image by RAFAA Architecture & Design.

The Solar City Tower is a solar power plant. It is designed to create renewable energy for use in the Olympic Village as well as the city of Rio. A large solar power plant generates energy during the day. Any excess power not used during the day is utilized to pump seawater into a storage tank within the tower. At night, the water is released to power turbines, which will provide nighttime power for the city. A special feature of the building is the urban waterfall. Water is pumped out to create a waterfall over the edges of the building, which Rafael Schmidt of RAFAA says will be “a symbol for the forces of nature.”

Image by RAFAA Architecture & Design.

Access to the eco tower is gained through an urban plaza and amphitheater 60 meters above sea level, which can be used for public gatherings. On the ocean side of the 105 meter tower (behind the waterfall) is a cafeteria and shop. An elevator takes visitors up to the top floor where an observation deck offers 360 spectacular views of the ocean and Rio. At level 90.5, there is a retractable bungee platform for daring guests. Let the games begin!

View at the tower from the coast of Rio de Janeiro.
Image by RAFAA Architecture & Design.

A solar-charged light might seem like just another green gadget to the average American, but for families in rural Africa, it could prove revolutionary.

One or two Solar Pebbles can provide enough light for one home, as houses in rural Africa are generally small.
Image from timo-aim.com.

Product design consultancy Plus Minus Design is trying to replace unsustainable and potentially dangerous lanterns in the homes of off-grid Africans with the Solar Pebble. Engineered with the economic constraints of developing-world citizens in mind, the Solar Pebble will provide one hour of LED light for every two hours of charge, and will cost only $2.70 to manufacture.

A fully charged Solar Pebble can provide up to 22.5 hours of LED light.
Image by Plus Minus Design.

Plus Minus Design, based in Leeds, U.K., was founded by three undergraduate students at the University of Leeds. While studying product design and engineering, Adam Robinson, Henry James, and Tom Eales were given the opportunity to work with SolarAid, a charity in the U.K.

SolarAid, which works to fight poverty and climate change, worked with the students to develop a solar-powered alternative to kerosene lanterns. Those lanterns, commonly used in rural Africa, draw 20 percent of an average Malawian family’s income, SolarAid said, and pose respiratory health problems, as well as create fire hazards.

Image from i.pbase.com.

The undergrads spent months researching life in Malawi to design a product that addressed the needs of rural families, but also took environmental, economic, and lifestyle factors into consideration. Local maintenance, potential for the development of children’s education, and adaptability to charge other devices were the team’s key requirements.

Though mobile phones and portable radios are common in rural Africa, individuals must travel to locations with mains power for charging. With this issue in mind, the engineers designed the Solar Pebble to charge phones and portable devices in addition to providing light.

Plus Minus Design was also able to address the need for local maintenance with a simply designed product assembled through snap-in parts and repairable with basic tools.

The Solar Pebble provides light and a means of portable charging, but its implications are even greater. The lamp will ship partially assembled, providing jobs for locals who would finish assembly. Furthermore, Plus Minus Design hopes the lamp will increase radio usage, providing rural African families with HIV/AIDS prevention information.

According to Robinson, the Solar Pebble will launch in Uganda and the U.K. by midsummer.

Article by Sharon Vaknin.
Read more at Green Tech.

Lasting from May 1st to Oct 31st 2010, the Shanghai World Expo will be the biggest event in its history, with 192 countries and 50 International organizations having confirmed participation. 70 million visitors are expected from both inland and abroad to attend this world event. More than 20,000 cultural shows will be held during the Expo.
Themed Better City, Better Life, the 2010 World Expo Shanghai conveys a common wish of mankind for a better future and better city life.

World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

A dream team of talented and renowned designers, architects, artists, environmental and technology professionals from near and far are coming together for the upcoming World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China.

With 12 pavilion groups covering 5.28 square-kilometers, the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion is bound to be one of the highlights of the Expo experience!

To say the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion is eco-friendly, is putting it mildly. The Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, designed by Atelier Feichang Jianzhu, embodies sophisticated elegance using environmental technologies both inside and out.

Often referred to as the Dream Cube, the pavilion’s exterior is constructed out of polycarbonate transparent tubes made out of recycled plastic. CD cases to be exact! Once the Expo is over, the tubes can be recycled. Those in attendance at the ground breaking ceremony in April, poured recyclable granules into the tubes which will be used on the building’s exterior.

Shanghai Corporate Pavilion. The Dream Cube.

Multi-colored LED lights, controlled by a computer system, will transform the building’s exterior in an array of color.
The Pavilion also features a solar energy system. The “ultra-low temperature power generation technology,” will generate electricity using solar power. 1,600 square-meter solar heat-collecting tubes on the roof will produce hot water, generating energy for everyday use.
The rainwater will be stored and recycled. The filtered rainwater will be utilized for everyday use and for a special mist system. The mist will regulate the temperature in the building and purify the air.
The misters will also dazzle visitors entering the entrance hall in an array of patterns, creating special effects “mist shows.”
Construction of the pavilion, themed “My City, Our Dreams,” is expected to take about 10 months to complete.

Construction of Shanghai Corporate Pavilion.

Looking forward for an exotic escape? The Swiss pavilion (check out video below) features a 4-minute chairlift ride above a rooftop alpine meadow.
The United Arab Emirates has a pavilion shaped like sand dunes, Israel’s mimics a sea shell (see video below), Romania’s a green apple, Macao’s a jade rabbit lantern.

Outside the Expo site, the city has built a new airport terminal, subway lines, expressways, tunnels and bridges to accommodate hundreds of thousands of extra visitors a day.
More than 70 million people are expected to visit the Shanghai World Expo 2010 which takes place from May 1st through October 31, 2010. Electric vehicles will be used during the event to transport those in attendance.
It brings great pleasure and new hope for a better future for humanity to witness an eco-friendly themed event of this scale.

Check out this video on Shanghai 2010 World Expo Official Preview.

For those of us who will not be able to personally visit and see this wonderful world event, have a guided tour through the world expo with this video:

Israel at World Expo 2010.

Swiss Pavilion – World Expo Shanghai 2010.