The Green Building

The Green Building

  The Green Building also known as sustainable building refers to both the structure and the procedure that are environmentally responsible and resource efficient throughout a building's life-cycle. 

  The similar concept is Natural Building which means the material comes from the neighbouring area. Modern green building does not simply mean the building, but includes materials and construction methods. The definition of green building expands from the past 'Earth consumes minimal resources, manufacturing minimal waste building' to 'Ecological, energy-saving, waste reduction and healthy buildings'. It is clear from the definition, we can find nine indicators:

• Increased biological biodiversity indicators
• The amount of green building index
• The water-base indicators
• The daily energy-saving targets
• Carbon dioxide reduction index
• The use of automated waste reduction indicators
• Indoor health indicators
• Water indicators
• Sewage and waste reduction indicators

  From the above definition, we can indicate that the green building is a kind of sustainable building that may be beneficial to the urban development. As we know, the sustainable development is organizing principle for sustaining finite resources necessary to provide for the needs of future generations of life on the planet. And the green building may save energy, so it must be helpful for the urban sustainable development.

  If all our designers and planners would use green building concept to construct, I believe that our earth will be more clean and beautiful.

Picture from the following website:

http://ecoopportunity.net/2013/03/the-complex-issue-of-green-building-certifications-is-leed-no-longer-relevant/

Please Appreciate What We Have-Food Security

Please Appreciate What We Have-Food Security

  Food always is a global topic that many countries concern about the supply and demand. And the food price increases which draw attention of the world's policy-makers and news media to food security. How serious the situation is, we should understand this first. This blog will focus on this and provide some probable solutions for this global issue.

  

What is food security? 

  Food security has a various meanings, and the most common one is that food security is a condition related to the supply of food, and individuals' access to it. To be more specific, the food security does not mean that food which may be poisonous, but means food shortage. Concerns of food shortage have existed throughout history. At the 1974, World Food Conference defined the term 'food security' as an emphasis on supply. 
  This kind of global issue even occurs in the ancient China which was a large country of grain production. Food insecurity is not necessarily a lack of food, but is underpinned by a lack of accessibility to diverse produce, and the implications that has. In another words, the food shortage should include the diversity of food and nutrition.

Why there is food security?
  One of the reasons is agricultural industrialization. Using pesticide or chemical fertilizer may deteriorate the soil texture and pollute the underground water system. Increasing reliance on chemical fertilizers in agricultural production leads to declining crop yields, exacerbating global food crisis.

How to mitigate this issue?

  In order to mitigate this issue, we should find another way out to replace the agricultural industrialization. Some think that genetic engineering is a method to solve this problem, however there are also some drawbacks of this method. In contrast, there are some methods called 'Intelligent Farming' which includes the tillage methods may be beneficial to the biodiversity.

http://www.odishanewsinsight.com/odisha/odisha-launch-food-security-mission-soon/
http://www.safefoodltd.com/Pesticide-Residue

We Need to Embellish Our City-The Urban Landscape Architecture

We Need to Embellish Our City-The Urban Landscape Architecture

The most important role of a city is to provide shelters for people who live in the city. And there are other three basic functions of a city;

• Political                                                         
  

         -Security 
         -Stability
         -Relative Calm

• Economic

         -General Commerce

• Social Welfare

        -Religious
        -Learning
        -Health
        -Recreation
        -Overall Quality of Life

  The urban landscape architecture is a kind of recreation for a city, and it is very important in the urban development. Although the basic function of a city is offering shelters for residents, people do not only need a house to live in, they also need some nourishment for the mind, and some spaces for entertainment and relax. The urban landscape should provide this kind of role for residents.
  Industrial Revolution brought a new design aesthetics, which focus on the machine. The machine was thought as a universal thing, therefore, coming out the Le Corbusier's rapid urbanisation model holding that a city was designed for the machine, and eventually turned into a machine. However, city is not a machine, it is a container. People who live in the city need space to entertain and relax after hard works. So the city need to provide some places which is open space for this reason. The only open space is not enough for residents, the space need to be decorated with trees and landscape.
  Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, it contains botany, art, design, and even some policies. A successful landscape design not only can improve the visual standard of a city, it even can improve the quality of residents' lives. The people who live in this city will feel comfortable and enjoyable.



Pictures from the following websites:
http://www.landezine.com/index.php/2011/08/mediacityuk-landscape-architecture/

Solar Car-A New Method of Transportation

Solar Car-A New Method of Transportation 

Solar car of the University of New South Wales

Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYtWl0TtaKU

  

  As the video shows, the solar car made by the University of New South Wales is called Sunswift. The shape of the car is similar to a normal private car with four wheels and a steering wheel. And this kind of new car is used for land transport.

  Solar cars combine technology typically used in the aerospace, bicycle, alternative energy and automotive industries. There is a severely limitation of amount of energy input into the car. It depends on a solar array that uses photovoltaic cells (PV cells) to convert sunlight into electricity. Like a electrical car, the solar car also uses the electricity as the power.

  In this video, the UNSW students build the solar car with the solar array on the surface of the car to catch the sunlight. This must be a environmental friendly design for the future transportation. The conventional cars use fossil fuel as the power, the emission of these cars are harmful to our environment. Although there is another kind of car named electric car, the solar car can create electricity during its running, while the electric car need to be charged before it runs on the road.

  However, there are some drawbacks of solar cars that the designers need to find out the solutions. First of all is the efficiency. It is acknowledged that the efficiency of solar panels is not very high, to be more specific, the rate of the converting is low and the power provided by the electricity is lower than the burning the fossil fuel. Secondly, the speed limitation is another problem should be solved in the future. If the speed is too slow, the solar cars may lose its competitive power. As the result, the consumers won't choose the solar car as their transport tools. Thirdly, if it is easy to recharge the solar car?

  Only when those limitations are having been solved, the solar car can be the best choice of a land transportation. And I know that in the future, the solar car will replace the conventional car because of the environment and energy resources.

The Ghost City

The Ghost City

  As a planner, I am concerned about the whole plan of a city if its aggregate planning is appropriate. And I just heard of a news which attracted my eye on it which is the Detroit Bankruptcy. The city of Detroit, Michigan, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on July 18, 2013.

  In my opinion, the city of Detroit was famous for its automotive industry, and it is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the largest city on the United States-Canada border. 

  Because of the federal bankruptcy, the Detroit became a ghost city with few people lived there. The housing price in this city is extremely low same as the social security. This kind of issue obviously has adverse impact on the whole country's development, and it violates the sustainable development.

  The reasons for abandonment can be defined as the following aspects:

• Economic activity shifting elsewhere
• Human intervention
• Disasters, actual and anticipated
• Disease and contamination

  The city of Detroit became a ghost city because of the economic activities. And I think this is the main cause of forming a ghost city. In China, there are also some ghost area which are caused by the economic activities such as real estate transaction. 

  In many Chinese cities, especially those second-tier cities, the governments do not consider the practical situation of the demand of housing, they just want to gain more political achievements in their official careers, so they construct more houses which exceed the demand of the city. Those houses or apartments are abandoned. 

  This kind of issue is also a result of unsustainable development. This phenomenon is a social issue that impact citizens' daily life. The specific reason why the Detroit bankruptcy is the shortage of manufacture. Without manufacture, people have no chance to get jobs, so they move to another cities to find jobs, the city of Detroit bankruptcy. Similar with the Detroit, Chinese cities which lack the industries providing jobs and necessity of daily life, the city is easier to become a ghost city. Another factor is infrastructure. A developed service system can help to attract people to live in the city and provide a better life quality.

  From the case study of the city of Detroit, the elimination of ghost city is not complex. If the government can provide the factories which means the job opportunities, thus the people can live, the city won't be a ghost city then.

Pictures from the following websites:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/18/detroit-bankruptcy_n_3618572.html

http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1975397_2094492,00.html

Renewable Energy vs. Fossil Fuel Energy

Renewable Energy vs. Fossil Fuel Energy

  Recently, the conflict between renewable energy and fossil fuel energy becomes more and more intense. Some argue that renewable energy needs high technology and the production of these energies may be harmful to our environment. The other hold the viewpoint that renewable energy has high efficiency . As my opinion, I think that renewable energy may replace the fossil fuel energy someday.
  There are several benefits that I insist on renewable energy. 
  First of all, from the resources of these energy, renewable energy is generally defined as energy that comes from resources which are naturally replenished on a human timescale such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat. However, fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. We can find that renewable energy, to some extent, is inexhaustible, and we can find those resources from anywhere. 

Secondly, from the efficiency aspect, renewable energy has the domination. 

  According to the graph, we can see that the solar energy is the highest efficient. Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels in four distinct areas: electricity generation, hot water/space heating, motor fuels, and rural (off-grid) energy services.

  Thirdly, the renewable energy is more environmental friendly than fossil fuel energy. Most of the production of fossil fuel energy are harmful to our environment such as carbon dioxide which may be the main cause of greenhouse gases. However, the renewable energy can mitigate this problem with its production is clean.

  Although, today, the most of the energy such as electricity and other power come from the burning of fossil fuel energy. Fossil fuel energy has its limitations. As we know, fossil fuel energy may run out of someday and it may have adverse impacts on our environment. For our future generations, we have to find the way out to solve the energy crisis by using renewable energy. And the renewable energy has the potential to help human beings to live a clean life.

Pictures from the following websites:

http://www.farmertronics.com/actueel/renewable-energy/

http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/fossil.htm

Water Shortage

Water Shortage

See the video from the under website:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRGZOCaD9sQ

  According to the video, we can see that the water shortage is a worldwide issue that most countries are suffering. The water here is not the total water volume on the earth, but the fresh water that can supply the activities of human beings. The main crisis comes from the fresh water scarcity and water pollution.

  There are several adverse impacts causing by this issue;

• Impact on health

According to the UN, there are 2.6 billion of people have no sufficient water for health purpose (such as sewage treatment). Many children in developing countries die from diarrhea which caused by contaminated water.

• Impact on biodiversity

  Vegetation and wild animals rely on the fresh water. With the population increase, many wet lands used for construction, thus those animals would lose their habitats.

  A promising method which may help to mitigate this issue is desalination of the sea water. Although, this method needs high technology, the cost of this technology decrease a lot, and many countries use this facilities as a major method to solve this world problem.