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Google's BIG + Heatherwick-designed Bay View HQ campus opens

2022-05-17T18:55:00-04:00

Google has announced the opening of its new Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, with the neighboring Charleston East project in its final phase of construction. Together, they form the latest additions to Google's headquarters.

Photo: Iwan Baan, courtesy of Google

The web giant celebrates the first time it led the concept and construction of one of its own major campuses, boasting an extensive list of human-centered, sustainable features.

According to Google's project announcement, Bay View is an all-electric, net-water-positive facility with the largest geothermal installation in North America. Both projects report being the largest buildings in the world to pursue LEED-NC v4 Platinum and the largest to pursue elements of the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) Living Building Challenge (LBC) Petal Certification.

Photo: Iwan Baan, courtesy of Google

Designed in collaboration with Bjarke Ingels Group and Heatherwick Studio, the campus officially broke ground in 2...

New York's roofs may get a lot greener soon

2020-03-19T08:00:00-04:00

Local Laws 92 and 94, which went into effect on November 15, 2019, require all new buildings and major roof alterations to be capped with a green roof, solar panels, or some combination of the two. If successful, the new policies could transform New York’s skyline.

In their publication Urban Omnibus, The Architectural League of New York asked experts from the Green Roof Researchers Alliance to elaborate on the implications of NYC's ambitious decarbonization legislation, the Climate Mobilization Act, which — since November 2019 — requires all new buildings and major roof alterations to feature either a green roof, solar panels, or a combined solution.

Green roof live cam on Javits Center. Stream via Javits Center on YouTube.

"Green roofs are so important for New York City in the changing climate," explains Danielle Spiegel-Feld, an urban environmental law and sustainable energy policy researcher and professor at New York University School of Law, in the interview. "They’re so important for stormwater mitigation. They’re so important for water management, which becomes increasingly crucial as rain flows become heavier in the summer. They’re so important for the urban heat island effect. They’re a critical part of our adaptation strategy, so we ...

New Tesla patent seeks to improve the look of its solar roof tiles

2019-01-24T13:56:00-05:00

As noted in a recently published patent application, Tesla is developing a system that would allow the company to improve the aesthetics of the solar shingles even further. [...] Tesla notes that in prior art BIPV roofing systems, the active solar portions of a roofing module end up being visibly different in appearance compared to inactive parts of the roof.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduced the glass solar tiles as part of the automaker's growing range of energy products back in October 2016.

Let's get technical: image from Tesla's patent application to improve the aesthetic performance of its solar roof tiles.

"Various embodiments provide a new and improved approach to manufacturing solar tiles as a roofing surface," explains the summary of the recently filed Tesla patent application. "Some aspects have improved aesthetics that reduce the visual differences between solar and non-solar portions of the roof and between active solar portions and other portions of a roof tile." Read the full document here.

MIT startup creates camouflage solar panels

2017-02-24T14:17:00-05:00

Founded at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Sistine creates custom solar panels designed to mimic home facades and other environments, with aims of enticing more homeowners to install photovoltaic systems. Sistine’s novel technology, SolarSkin, is a layer that can be imprinted with any image and embedded into a solar panel without interfering with the panel’s efficacy. Homeowners can match their rooftop or a grassy lawn.

The product caters to the growing "aesthetic solar" market which tries to attract homeowners that are considering going solar but fear the aesthetic impact of the traditional, bleak-looking dark solar panels on their home's appearance. Just last fall, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a line of glass, photovoltaic cell-embedded roof tiles that mimic (currently) four common roof covering styles.

Here a few more examples of Sistine's SolarSkin technology that allows—so the company claims—the panels to either completely blend in with the existing roof or display any desired image, like business logos or advertisements.

All images via Sistine Solar's website.

Say goodbye to clunky solar panels, and hello to Tesla's sleek new glass solar roof tiles

2016-10-31T15:09:00-04:00

While solar panels have been subsidized in many cities for a while now, the blocky, rectangular panels aren’t heavily implemented in part because they tend to appear as, well, an addition, rather than a constitutive element of home design. That's about to change, as Tesla has announced a (potentially) revolutionary new intervention in the development of self-powered homes.

At a press event at Universal Studios, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a line of glass, photovoltaic cell-embedded roof tiles. And they look strikingly like old-fashioned roof tiles, coming in a four distinct styles: “Textured Glass Tile”, “Tuscan Glass Tile”, “Smooth Glass Tile” and “Slate Glass Tile”. From above, the glass is transparent to the sun. From street-level, the solar cells aren’t visible.

Tesla states that the tiles will cost less than traditional roofing when energy savings are factored in. Manufactured out of durable, long-lasting tempered glass, the roof tiles will “last longer than the house”, Musk ass...