Century-old Japanese townhouse reborn as Blue Bottle Coffees first Kyoto location

Japanese architecture firm Schemata Architects has unveiled Bay Area-born Blue Bottle Coffee’s first outpost in Kyoto housed in an artfully renovated century-old building. Following the aesthetic of the previous Schemata-designed Blue Bottle Coffee cafes in Tokyo, the newest outpost features a minimalist and modern design that takes inspiration from the surrounding urban fabric. The two-story structure was carefully overhauled to allow for new functionality while preserving and exposing historic...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building https://inhabitat.com/century-old-japanese-townhouse-reborn-as-blue-bottle-coffees-first-kyoto-location
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Mars Australia to go to 100% renewable energy in just over one year

One of the largest manufacturers in Australia is going green. Mars Australia recently announced they'll match 100 percent of their electricity use with clean power by 2020. The company's goal is to completely eliminate greenhouse gases from their operations by 2040. Related:

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building https://inhabitat.com/mars-australia-to-go-100-renewable-energy-in-just-over-one-year
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Pilot whale dies in Thailand with more than 17 pounds of plastic in its stomach

A small male pilot whale found last week unable to breath or move in a canal in Thailand has died as a result of twenty pounds of plastic clogging its digestive system, rendering the animal unable to eat.

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building https://inhabitat.com/pilot-whale-dies-in-thailand-with-more-than-17-pounds-of-plastic-in-its-stomach
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Transforming the Aral Sea's dead zone into a forest could save lives

Once, the Aral Sea provided fish for the Karakalpak people of Uzbekistan. Today, it has dwindled to a mere 10 percent of its old size, according to the BBC. Toxic chemicals in the sea bed, now exposed, have endangered human health. Saxaul trees could prevent wind from carrying contaminated sand into the air, and forestation specialist Orazbay Allanazarov told the BBC, "One fully grown saxaul tree can fix up to 10 tonnes of soil around its roots." The plan is to cover the whole sea bed — millions...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building https://inhabitat.com/transforming-the-aral-seas-dead-zone-into-a-forest-could-save-lives
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Solar-powered multi-generational home offsets its energy consumption

Toronto-based architecture firm Williamson Williamson has completed a stunning home that embraces aging in place with a sustainably minded footprint. Located in the Ontario town of Hamilton, the House on Ancaster Creek comprises two distinct residences—one for the clients and the other for their elderly parents. The multigenerational home also reduces its energy demands with a 10KVa solar array, daylighting techniques, and low-energy fixtures throughout. Conceived as a high-density...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building https://inhabitat.com/solar-powered-multi-generational-home-offsets-its-energy-consumption
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Bee Saving Paper "works like an energy drink for bees"

Urban development and industrialization hasn't been great for bees — they have to fly longer distances to find plants and exhaustion has played a role in their declines, according to the initiative City Bees. Their Bee Saving Paper project offers a juicy solution: biodegradable paper designed to save bees that functions like an energy drink. They say it's "probably the first paper nature would love you to drop." 222 out of 469 bee species in Poland are threatened with extinction — and...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building https://inhabitat.com/bee-saving-paper-works-like-an-energy-drink-for-bees
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Climate change has transformed much of Alaska over the past three decades

Climate change disproportionately impacts the Arctic, where rising global temperatures wrought by the burnng of fossil fuels have brought rapid, fundamental changes to places like Alaska. In a new study published in Global Change Biology, researchers conclude that 67,000 square miles of land in Alaska, thirteen percent of the total, have been affected over the past three decades by what the study calls 'directional change,' in which a location has experienced fundamental change in its ecology from...

from Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building https://inhabitat.com/climate-change-has-transformed-much-of-alaska-over-the-past-three-decades
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