Page 8 - Green Builder Magazine Sept-Oct 2017

Green Building NEWS

The Latest on Sustainability and Renewable Energy

Busy Building Year Ahead in East, Midwest

Consumers’ No. 1 planned

upgrade is their kitchen.

EARLY 1 IN 6 AMERICANS plan to renovate
their homes within the next year, and the most
likely candidates are those living along the East
Coast or Midwest, according to the 2017 Home
Hearth Renovation Survey. One in three of the
respondents who lived in Hawaii and Kansas
Nplan such upgrades, as do 1 in 4 of those survey
participants in Montana, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Utah. CREDIT: JEREMY LEVINE/FLICKR
Michigan, Connecticut, Missouri and Maine rounded out the top
10 states, with each recording resident renovation plans of more
than 20 percent. Changes on tap. When it comes to renovations, consumers have
The phone survey of 2,000 homeowners also found that, if money their sights set on their kitchens above anywhere else in their
were no option, the kitchen would be the thing most likely to be homes, according to a new homeowners’ survey.
renovated (38 percent), more than twice as likely as the bathroom by 1 in 3 survey respondents in Alaska and Delaware, and 1 in 4 in
(15 percent) and three times more than the living room (12 percent). New Jersey, Rhode Island and New York, according to the survey.
Credit cards are a popular way to pay for renovations, preferred The full survey can be accessed at www.gethearth.com. GB

Earth’s First Really Green City Takes Hold in China

THE AIR-CLEANSING ‘FOREST CITY’ COULD BE THE FIRST OF MANY WORLDWIDE.

HE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA has broken ground on a
new city that will literally be green. When completed in
2020, Forest City near Liuzhou in Northern China will
be home to 30,000 people, with all buildings covered
T by nearly 1 million plants of more than 100 species. The
greenery will be capable each year of absorbing nearly 10,000 tons of
CO and 57,000 tons of pollutants, and producing 900 tons of oxygen,
2
according to Italian architect Stefano Boeri.
Boeri, whose firm designed the development, says Forest City
will help decrease the area’s average air temperature, improve local CREDIT: STEFANO BOERI ARCHITETTI
air quality and biodiversity, create noise barriers, and generate
numerous natural habitats. The 175-hectare (0.67-square-mile) city
along the Lijiang River will “have all the characteristics of an energy
self-sufficient urban establishment,” such as geothermal energy for Taking root. Liuzhou, the world’s first “green city” with almost
interior air conditioning and solar panels over the roofs for collecting 1 million plants, offers a new approach to resilience.
renewable energy,” according to Boeri. an example for green city design elsewhere in the country and
The city will be entirely Wi-Fi enabled and will include commercial around the world.” The architect should know: His 2014 project,
zones, residential areas, recreational spaces, a hospital and two the Vertical Forest in Milan—two residential towers that featured
schools. Residents may travel from Forest City to Liuzhou by a fast as many trees as could be planted in a hectare of land—is being
rail line for electric cars. replicated in cities such as Sydney, Seoul, Sao Paulo, Nanjing,
Boeri notes that if the project meets all expectations, it will “set Shanghai and Shenzhen. GB

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