Housing
October 23, 2007 Parking is the cause of much stress in any major city around the world and New York is definitely no exception. The tiny island of Manhattan has a land area of just 22.96 square miles (59.47 km²) but is home to more than 1.5 million people. With limited space and residents needing somewhere to park their cars, one property developer is planning to take to the sky to accommodate residents. Read More
October 8, 2007 IKEA has accepted applications from potential homeowners for the first release of Boklok houses in the UK. Gizmag has been following the progress of this innovative housing development that aims to create affordable and sustainable housing to offer space and flexibility to low income families. Read More
Hydrogen based power offers green alternative for homes
September 7, 2007 In a development that marks another step towards the vision of a sustainable, clean future for home power generation, UK company ITM Power has announced the upcoming release of a device which can generate hydrogen in the home to fuel central heating boilers and cookers while drastically cutting CO2 emissions. Set to go into production next year, the ITM electrolyser is designed to utilize off-peak or renewable electricity sources to create its own hydrogen fuel which can then be stored and used as a conventional gas to burn in central heating boilers as well as a fuel for cooking. Read More
August 22, 2007 Australia will again be celebrating sustainable housing at this year's Sustainable House Day to be held on Sunday 9 September 2007. The event, organized by the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society, is a national open house day for sustainably designed houses and will take place only in Australia this year. Read More
August 15, 2007 Work has now begun on the first BoKlok "flat-pack housing" development at St James Village in Gateshead, UK. Previewed in Gizmag in May this year, the project aimed at delivering fast, affordable, energy efficient and stylish housing has just moved into its construction phase. Read More
August 13, 2007 A rural family home built recently in Massachusetts has used, among other eco-friendly technologies and systems, insulating glass units that will significantly cut the amount of energy used in the home. The Heat Mirror insulating glass unit from Southwall Technologies is a solar reflective film applied to a window’s interior that prevents the loss of radiant heat through the window at least three times more efficiently than double-pane glass. Read More
June 14, 2007 It's just so hard to find the right home for your family of 6, 168 cars and 600 full-time personal staff. India's second-richest man, Mukesh Ambani, decided the only way was up. His 60-storey high vertical palace in Mumbai, to be completed in 2008, tells an epic tale of excess - and the locals aren't happy about this ostentatious display, some calling it the "dawn of a new age of vulgarity". Read More
October 10, 2006 As technology evolves, our ability to create remarkable temporary living and working environments has grown considerably, as can be evidenced by our recent stories on relocatable structures such as the off-the-grid home, the Sphere House, the Nackros Villa, the Free Spirit Sphere, the LoftCube and the first mobile hotel room. Now we can add to that the KitaHaus Pod which is designed as a stand-alone accommodation or temporary office and can also be interlink to create unique temporary or permanent living and working environments. The KitaHaus legs are adjustable so it can be situated in almost any site including normally unusable sloped and wooded areas. The construction is of sustainable materials using glulam frame, over boarded in 12mm ply and insulated using Actis super 9 fabric. The entire surface is then tiled using larch timber shingles which will eventually turn a silver grey colour. The pod’s main usage is envisaged as a holiday retreat but clearly it has many possibilities with an anticipated cost of GBP 50,000 to GBP 75,000 depending on volumes. Read More
