The Revolution of Green Building

It's hard to miss that the conversation around green buildings has gone mainstream, but the implementation of LEED and sustainable practices is still struggling to catch up. We spoke with David Kaneda, Founder and Principal at Integrated Design Associates(IDeAs), about the standardization of green building practices, the need for communication among architects, engineers and contractors, and the technologies that will enable the green building revolution.

Q. Do you see the move towards green building as an “evolution” or a “revolution” for the industry?

"The concept of integrated design comes up a lot when you’re talking about green buildings.  What it means is that architects and engineers need to really closely understand the interplay between different pieces of the design.  In many cases the architect does his thing and essentially throws a set of drawings at the electrical engineer and says, 'Here, put your system into my building.'  To achieve the most efficient results what you want to do is sit down with all the players and have a discussion where you ask, 'If I do this, what does it mean for you?'"

Read the Full Interview

Phylonix: Zebrafish Assays for Drug Screening

Phylonix, a Contract Research Organization providing in vivo zebrafish assays for drug discovery and screening, recently contracted GreenMountain to assist in the development of hardware and lab tools for their novel research technology. The zebrafish embryo is increasingly being used in pharmaceutical and biotechnology research because it is particularly well suited for studies in genetics, development, and cell biology.

Zebrafish currently rival mice and rats as a popular laboratory animal model due to several inherent advantages, including the short experimental time needed to provide access to all developmental stages, easy maintenance and drug administration, transparency that permits visual assessment of development and the statistically significant number of results per test they provide. Because of these advantages, zebrafish bioassays are cheaper and faster for drug screening than mouse assays.

More about Phylonix

Darfur Stoves

To most, the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan that has left over 200,000 dead and 2 million in refugee camps is simply a depressing reminder of the severity of the world's problems and the average person's seeming inability to do anything meaningful. For three GreenMountain engineers, it presented the opportunity to use their skills to actually make a difference. Through their ongoing work with the San Francisco Professionals Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), Tyler Williams, Max Davis and Keith Gazda contributed to the design of a wood burning stove that holds the promise of significantly improving the safety and quality of life of millions of Darfurians.

Due to the inefficiency of traditional cookstoves, women at refugee camps are forced to travel up to seven hours away from the camps, often risking attack from rebel militias, in search of a dwindling supply of wood. In many cases people are starving not from of a lack a food, but rather a lack of wood to cook with. To combat this, a team from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), in conjunction with Engineers Without Borders-USA, and CHF-International have developed and conducted on-site trials of a stove that requires 75% less wood than traditional campfires. In addition, the stove has an upper rim that interfaces snugly with various sizes of cookware, a wind collar that provides smooth airflow to fuel a steady flame, and a sturdy base for safe operation in the often windy camps. The project is now developing a manufacturing process that can be executed with simple tools and local techniques for construction in Sudan.

For more information visit LBNL or EWB-SFP

22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
September 3-7
This year's EUPVSEC, the largest Solar PV conference, will take place the first week of September in Milan, Italy. Two GreenMountain representatives will be in attendance. To schedule a meeting please contact bizdev@greenmountainengineering.com.

Solar Power 2007
September 24-27
America's laragest solar energy event will bring over 200 exhibitors, 125 speakers, and 10,000 attendees to Long Beach, CA at the end of September. GreenMountain's Founder and President Tyler Palmer is scheduled to speak on the panel entitled Concentrating PV (CPV): Getting More from Less

COMSOL Conference 2007
October 4-6
The 2007 COMSOL Conference will take place this October at the Marriott in Newton, MA. The conference gathers engineers from a broad spectrum of industries to convene on the state-of-the-art in multiphysics simulation.

20th NREL Industry Growth Forum
November 6-8
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will host the 20th NREL Industry Growth Forum this November in Denver, CO. The forum is America's largest venture event focused exclusively on companies developing clean energy products.

GreenMountain Engineering, LLC is the leading design engineering consultancy serving renewable energy and other cleantech companies. GreenMountain is known for innovative approaches to new products and new manufacturing equipment, specializing in the design of new devices, products and production systems. GreenMountain Engineering offices are located in San Francisco and just outside Boston in Somerville, Massachusetts.

GreenMountain is hiring!
We are actively seeking talented professionals who are committed to making a difference in the world and environment with their work. For more information and to see full descriptions, visit the Careers Page.

Mechanical Engineer • Electrical Engineer