Awesome Green Innovations

       Green technology is constantly growing and it is becoming hard to keep up with the newest innovations. From windows that absorb solar energy to apartments made from used shipping containers, the green revolution is taking shape.


1. Windows that double as solar panels. Solar company Konarka has developed a transparent solar cell that it hopes will be built onto electricity-generating windows. The advantage of these flexible cells is that they can be used for a wide range of applications, such as power-generating military tents, portable chargers for electronics, and sensors.

2. Green Roofs are systems of living plants and vegetation installed on the roof of an existing or new structure. Benefits of green roofs include reducing heating and cooling usage, reducing rainwater runoff, filtering pollutants, enabling agriculture growth in areas that were traditionally unable to grow vegetation, and creating habitats for wildlife. 



3. Structural insulated panels is an insulating layer of rigid polymer foam  between two layers of structural board. The structural board can be Oriented Strand Board, sheet metal, plywood, or cement.

4. Buildings created from used shipping containers. This building technique can be used to design anything from offices, to restaurants, to office buildings.  It prevents the containers from sitting in a dump and cuts down on materials typically required for new buildings.

5. Low or no VOC paints which are beneficial by lowering the amount of potentially harmful chemicals released into the air during the painting and drying process.






6. The Kill a Watt is a tool that measures the energy use of any electronic device plugged into it. Enabling the user to see exactly where the energy in the home is being used the most. For the average cost of $30 this tool will easily pay for itself several times over in electricity savings over the lifetime of the device.