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Category: Systems Science

  • Crowd-sourcing college housing: repurposing the McMansions

    Increasingly I’ve noted the rise in the rental economy in the USA as the previous ownership mentality of many Americans traumatized by economic collapse and wealth inequalities is replaced by one of access. One interesting example of this is college students who, according to a slew of recent articles, are now taking over McMansions which…

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  • Yestermorrow: Hands on Training in Sustainable Building and Design

    This school in Vermont provides hands on training on sustainable design. They will show you how to build all sorts of things including tiny homes as shown. Certificate in Sustainable Building and Design. Related articles Green Star Workshops and Courses (ecocitizenaustralia.com.au) Zero Carbon Solar-Powered Long Studio Sits Gently Upon the Earth in Rural England (inhabitat.com)…

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  • The Rise of the Tiny-House Movement

      Great article on Tiny Houses in the New Yorker.   The Rise of the Tiny-House Movement        Related articles   Rise of the Female Gun Nut (nymag.com) Op-Ed: Downsizing the American dream (bostonglobe.com) How To Build A Tiny Home – And Where To Put It (earthtechling.com) Size matters: Small trumps big every…

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  • The promise and perils of cities

    Cities have been the engines of civilization for millennia, serving as places where the arts, commerce, and ideas flourish.  But as we are reminded in a recent article, the close social interactions that make a city so productive also proved ideal for tuberculosis, measles, the plague, and many other diseases. In European capitals, circa 1800,…

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  • Black Coral Capital: Private Equity Fund Investing in CleanTech Space

     Another link from Jay. Black Coral Capital is a fund investing in the alternative energy / cleantech space. The fund can invest in a wide variety of cleantech arenas, both directly and through funds. Black Coral was formed in late 2008 and is presently building out its presence in North America. Black Coral Capital –…

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  • House Hunters International: Rustic Village Homes in Portugal

    These shows are beginning to follow a new plot line. In contrast to earlier years, involving McMansions and posh lifestyles, more and more people, broken from the economic downturn, and inspired by books such as a  A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle decide to purchase a fixer upper in the country and raise sheep. But…

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  • BU Executive Leadership Center: Leading Clean Energy Ventures

    Nice new center that will work to build clean energy ventures. Executive Leadership Center: Leading Clean Energy Ventures. Related articles United States Aims To Win Clean Energy Race (earthtechling.com) The New Sustainable Energy Factbook: A Strong Case for Consistent Policy (thinkprogress.org) Department of Defense: Clean Energy Tied to National Security (climateandsecurity.org) Greenpeace report urges 100%…

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  • The $200 Micro-house

          The $200 Microhouse – NYTimes.com.     Related articles Dermapen Finalizes Agreement with Micro Needling Training and Certification Company NeedleLogics (prweb.com) MicroGrid Market to Grow at a CAGR of over 17% to 2022 Says A New Research Report on Micro Turbines, Renewable Power Generation & Solar PV at ReportsnReports.com (prweb.com) REMI Predicts…

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  • HomeAway: Crowd-sourcing travel lodging

    Homeaway has emerged as a controversial and disruptive player in the growing market for online, crow sourced vacation lodging. The complaints coming in are similar to those of other sites such as Airbnb and usually involve a less than thorough homeowner leaving his house in disrepair, however the upsides vastly overcome that, opening a whole…

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  • Exploration Architecture: Sustainable architecture, Biomimicry

    This place designs buildings to mimic nature. Amazing. Exploration Architecture, Sustainable architecture, Biomimicry Related articles Cell Wall Structures – ‘Contouring Climatic Porosity’ is an Exercise in Architectural Biomimicry (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com) Biomimicry: An Increasingly Popular Sustainability Strategy (greenresearch.com) Sustainable Architecture (lucagiordanobioarchitettura.wordpress.com) Sustainable design 2.0: new models and methods (guardian.co.uk) A statistical analysis of Hassani’s Mine Kafon…

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  • Airbnb and the rise of the rental economy

     Airbnb has popularized what is becoming an increasingly common tendency for people to rent their belongings online. I have used it and it is quite effective and often lodging are superior to the hotels one might get in an area at a fraction of the cost and with many social and environmental perks. In this…

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  • 3D Printing: A More Biological Approach to Manufacturing

    3D printing: The printed world | The Economist. Related articles Inhabitat’s Week in Green: LED wine sellar, a ‘Breathing Bike’ and 3D-printed embryonic stem cells (engadget.com) personalfactory: “For 3D printing we are developing a… (seattle-gadgets.tumblr.com) 3D Gun-Printing Technology is Getting Worryingly Better (gizmodo.com.au) The end of the Oyster Buffet: eventually 3D printing might kill all…

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