Monthly Archives: September 2006

Smart, Ever-Changing Buildings

Building green has been mentioned here before, and now there are buildings that are green and move. Buildings can be a lot more efficient and sustainable with this new technology, decreasing energy consumption.

“Shape-changing envelopes offer architects the ability to produce buildings that condition themselves in very simple, natural and sustainable ways,” says Sterk. “They enable buildings to be conceived of as systems that change shape to improve the way people live.”

Sterk said there are other advantages. Imagine a high-rise tower that braces itself against sudden strong winds by distributing stresses. Or a home that shakes the snow from its roof.

Dating Volunteers

hand and heartEd Igoe writes in to tell us about a way to help people while helping yourself (if your single):

There are, scattered around The United States, a group of organizations who have found a win-win-win situation. They are the Single Volunteers.

These groups act as a loose liason between single (as in unmarried) adults and organizations in need of volunteers to run events like charity walks, public television fund drives, and community events. They have no operating budget, no elected officers, and no offices. Volunteers pay nothing to join or participate. Their administration exist strictly in cyberspace. Volunteers check a web page (edited by a volunteer) and send e-mail to a (volunteer) team leader to sign up for events.

Win #1: The single adults get to work alongside other single adults.

Win #2: Events get staffed with free helpers.

Win #3: Charities benefit from the free help and events.

This is definitely one area where the news is good. People working for others. The web page I list above is just one of the “SV” (Single Volunteers) groups, this on being based in the Baltimore/Annapolis area of Maryland.

Car Sharing in Toronto

logosThe Torontoist has a great look at two car sharing companies that are fighting it out on the streets of Toronto. Car sharing has been around for years and is quickly becoming a staple of the urban experience. Yet, in North America car sharing is not nearly has strong as it is in Europe.

The Torontoist looks at the benefits of car sharing and how the two companies have slightly different strategies. I like how there is now competition in this market in Toronto because it has made more people aware of car sharing. Ever shared car equals to about 10 less cars on the road!

Spare a few computing cycles?

ThingsAreGood is proud to announce a new team on the World Community Grid!

The world community grid helps you make use of your computer’s unused processing time. Let your computer crunch numbers for social good when you’re not surfing the web, playing games, or hard at work.

From the www.worldcommunitygrid.com website:

World Community Grid’s mission is to create the largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Our work is built on the belief that technological innovation combined with visionary scientific research and large-scale volunteerism can change our world for the better. Our success depends on individuals – like you – collectively contributing their unused computer time to this not-for-profit endeavor.

To join the ThingsAreGood team, simply create an account at www.worldcommunitygrid.com.

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