PLAYFUL PV IN ROME

At the Children's Museum of Rome, a partly see-through photovoltaic (PV) roof brings new levels of meaning to everyday childhood experience of playing in the sun.

One of the museum's central mandates is to heighten awareness of the quality of urban life through "a transparent guided itinerary" of everyday activities. Its new photovoltaic roof, designed by Abbate e Vigevano Architetti, gives form to this mandate.

AMSTERDAM GASWORKS REBORN

In recent years there has been a growing concern about "brownfield" projects. As these abandoned industrial sites are converted back into productive use, governments and local communities must often work together to mitigate the polluted environment and revitalize the surrounding neighborhoods.

In many brownfield projects the property is sold as real estate to be redeveloped. Buildings are torn down and a whole new development constructed, leaving no trace of the site's past.

RECYCLING CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS

With $100 billion in new construction each year in the United States, and $126 billion in renovations, the recovery of materials from construction and demolition (C&D) has important economic and environmental implications.

To the extent that the debris from construction and demolition can be reused or recycled rather than thrown away, demand for virgin resources is reduced, the embedded energy in these materials is recaptured, and the need for increasingly limited landfill space is reduced.

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