Urban Archives - Ambient Green

Recycled City Art Structure

HoustonUnited States

EcoCamp Natural Light Optimization

Puerto NatalesChile

Our camp is thoughtfully designed to take full advantage of available natural light, within our domes. Not only does this serve to save on indoor lighting, it provides for a magnificent outlook on our extraordinary surroundings.

LEED Building Green Roof

HoustonUnited States

The Houston Permitting and Green Building Resource Centers are housed within a certified LEED Gold building, which incorporates a large variety of sustainable and low-impact features.

This is a vegetated green roof that spans an area of around 1,720 square feet, and can be enjoyed through the windows of a large meeting room and other spaces. The roof system also serves to collect condensate in its troughs, which is practical in a location such as Houston, where a typically hot and humid climate can produce a great deal of moisture.

Overall, green roofs such as this are considered in credits toward LEED certification, due to their added benefit of minimizing possible building contribution to the heat island effect in urban areas. This involves the concept that dense cities tend to show a localized temperature increase, due to the heavy amount of human and industry activity over a small area.

While rooftop cooling efforts such as this are helping to decrease this effect, they may also serve to better insulate buildings, aid with stormwater runoff, and provide help in other aspects that make them a beneficial addition to many buildings.

Restaurant Work Station Composting

Ville de QuebecCanada

Residual materials are sorted at each work station. Here, the organic ones will be composted.

Urban Solar Parking Canopies

AustinUnited States

These solar canopies for parking lots not only help to provide electricity, but offer shade, rooftop protection, an efficient use of the substantial area allocated for parking space, and the option to introduce and power electric vehicle charging stations directly where they are needed.

Restaurant Electric Car Park

Ville de QuebecCanada

Our small car park is made up of four fully electric cars. We also have four charging stations, one of which is accessible to the public. The other three are being made available, as well.

Urban Cool Roof and...

HoustonUnited States

The Houston Permitting and Green Building Resource Centers are housed within a certified LEED Gold building, which incorporates a large variety of sustainable and low-impact features.

Its roof not only supports this large solar installation, but is designed to follow a ‘cool roof code’, as mandated for commercial buildings by the city. The code serves to reduce buildings’ contributions to the heat island effect (a localized increase in temperature around urban areas, created by their everyday activities).

This roof utilizes solar panels (which also act as additional barriers between the sun’s rays and the roof, helping to keep the building cool), as well as exhibiting a light-colored and more reflective roof material, and vegetated green roof on the building’s side. These features give the roof a very high solar reflective index (SRI) of 89/100.

Parking Garage Lighting System

GrapevineUnited States

DFW Airport has implemented a parking garage lighting system which serves to visually indicate open parking spaces as they become available. The design helps to minimize unnecessary emissions created by drivers as they search for an open space. Small LED lights at each space in the garage are visible from the ends of aisles, and allow drivers to quickly spot a free space without having to continually circle the garage.

The light sensors also communicate with exterior and aisle signage in real time, letting drivers who enter know which floors have open spots, and preventing further unnecessary driving. As an added benefit, open designated spaces such as accessible and 1-hour parking spaces can also be distinguished by color-coded lights.

This system not only improves the overall efficiency of parking flow and operations, but may serve to provide less opportunity for driving aggravation and accidents within the garage.

Low-Water Raindance Showers

PragueCzech Republic

Our hotel/hostel has installed special Raindance showers, which use up to 60% less water than others. They are designed to limit flow and adjust to differing water pressures, using only 1.5-2 gallons of water per minute, while maintaining a full shower experience.

Restaurant Energy Smart Lighting

LondonUnited Kingdom

All of our restaurants are fitted with Energy Smart LED lights, with back of house spaces being sensor sensitive so they switch off when there is no one around.

University “Solar Garden” Installation

MartinUnited States

These solar flowers were co-designed by students from UT Martin’s Engineering and Visual Arts departments.

Fully Integrated Aquaponic Ecosystem

Half Moon BayUnited States

The entire way we produce our vegetables is sustainable. Our farming methodology is chemical-free, 15x more land efficient, and 20x more water efficient than traditional soil agriculture, requiring 95% less water. We occupy 1/3 of an acre with 7000 sqft of actual grow space, and can produce as much as 5 acres of soil. An integrated 30,000 gallon fishery provides the nutrients used to grow the crops.

Water is constantly recycled and reused over and over again, meaning that the vast majority of usage goes toward transpiration, and very little is lost to evaporation. Because nutrients and water are brought directly to the plants roots, they grow 50% faster, can be planted up to 10x more densely, and only use 2-5% of the water required for soil. Plus, you have a protein source in the fish. Our farms serve as a fully integrated ecosystem that brings perishable foods closer to the consumer and maximizes freshness and nutritional value.

Apartment Recycling and Sorting

SeattleUnited States

My apartment building offers a composting option in addition to the general waste and recycling bins.

EcoCamp Composting Toilet System

Puerto NatalesChile

Our camp uses a composting toilet system, which requires very little water and is excellent for soil regeneration. Such a system utilizes decomposition and evaporation to process waste. What is not evaporated, we mix with wood chips. This remains an active process in which aerobic bacteria transform the waste into fertilizing soil.

Due to the important contribution of the bacteria, the final product is non-harmful and safe to use. This is why we spend a great deal of effort to ensure a hospitable and warm environment for the process, especially through our very cold weather.

Hotel Grey Water System...

PragueCzech Republic

Our hotel/hostel utilizes a well designed grey water system with heat recuperation- the second such system in the world. Through this, heat may be harnessed from previously used water, allowing for a decrease in energy necessary for heating further incoming water. The system saves around 4,000 liters of water daily. In addition, heat recuperation is also used in our air, ventilation, and cooling processes.

Further information:

As seen here, our basement houses a recycling and regenerative unit- AquaCycle- which was tested and installed by Pontos Company. This system filters grey water in three cycles. We use the water for flushing the toilets, watering the plants, and washing the floors. This technology serves for the heat recovery from the recycling of grey water.

The water heating process is carried out in three steps. After cold water turns from 5°C to 25°C, heat recuperation from cooling heats the water from 25°C to 35°C. Then, our rooftop solar panels help us to heat the water from 35°C to 60°C. If the solar panels collect much energy during midday which is not used, the system stores the hot water (90°C) in an accumulating pot, and it is used toward any event rush.