Men covered in clothing from head-to-toe and wearing protective breathing masks have been wandering the premises of some Tybee Island city buildings. But the buildings - which include city hall, the fire department's administrative office and the YMCA - have not been contaminated by some dangerous toxin.

Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology’s Building (estimated to have eight floors and two basements) has been approved by City People's Committee to be built in accordance with the green building model of Lotus standards to become a model for the city.

The reason for this situation is that investors do not pay attention to energy conservation methods and their advantages to the socio-economic development. According to the architect Nguyen Tan Van, the chairman of the Vietnam Architect Association, we are not clearly aware of “green architecture” benefits. Therefore, when building, investors do not take advantages of natural conditions and the ancestors’ experiences in the field of construction in tropical region. We need to create a friendlier architecture.

As one of few four star hotels at international standards in Hanoi, Fortuna Hotel, which is located in a bustling street with many office buildings, has become ideal accommodations for many domestic and foreign customers. Apart from modern and luxurious architect and professional services, Fortuna Hotel attracts a variety of customers thanks to the motto of doing business combined with protecting the environment and conserving energy.

A plan to install solar energy panels on two Reigate council buildings is set to save money and reduce carbon emissions, a councillor has said. Councillor Julian Ellacott said the solar panels could generate electricity worth hundreds of thousands of pounds over their 25-year lifespan.

The heat radiating off roadways has long been a factor in explaining why city temperatures are often considerably warmer than nearby suburban or rural areas. Now a team of engineering researchers from the University of Rhode Island is examining methods of harvesting that solar energy to melt ice, power streetlights, illuminate signs, heat buildings and potentially use it for many other purposes.

A star-rating system, similar to that used for electrical appliances, will now be a mandatory part of advertising for lease or sale of office space. The scheme is designed to make climate change a more important consideration in corporate decision-making, in part by naming and shaming companies with office space in energy-hungry buildings.

To meet customer needs and keep pace with the development of tourism and services, Dong Xuyen hotel has been constantly upgrading, improving and renovating facilities, and enhancing service style. Along with that development, the demand for electricity of the hotel is also increasing. Monthly average power consumption of the hotel is about 75 thousand kWh of electricity.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the contests have attracted more than 100 buildings, 77 among which meet demands of organization board. Thirty three buildings of those have given domestic prizes and five won the prizes at ASEAN level. In the past, most of buildings were in the south. This year, many of buildings including schools and hospitals are located in the north.

The Metropolitan building (235 Dong Khoi, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), with the main function of an office for rent, was built in May 1996. Since 2004, seeing the importance of saving electricity in terms of economy as well as environment, the Directorate of the building has invested in renovating energy using equipment to save costs and meet development demand. With investment solutions, the annual power consumption of the building has been reduced by about 11.9%.

heo Bộ Kinh tế tri thức Hàn Quốc, nhiều công ty công nghiệp lớn của nước này như Công ty Công nghiệp nặng Hyundai (Hyundai Heavy Industries), Công ty Đóng tàu và động cơ thủy Daewoo (Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering) sẽ thực hiện dự án có kinh phí đầu tư 9.200 tỷ won (8,2 tỷ USD), bao gồm 500 tuabin gió với công suất 2.500MW điện.

The Abu Dhabi Distribution Company (ADDC), which supplies electricity to the city and surrounding areas, will have installed digital electricity meters in all buildings by the end of this year, its deputy managing director Abdulrahman al Dhaheri said yesterday. The new meters not only calculate power usage, but also allow consumers to sell their own solar-generated electricity back to the grid.

Works such as leveling an area of 251ha, building bypass road south of Hau river, compensating and site clearing, resettling 315 households… have been completed. The constructions of roads, electricity system, water supply system, embankments along Hau river in the plant construction site and coal slag dumping area ... are being expeditiously implemented to be completed on schedule.

It is not that unusual for offshore oil to develop offshore wind technology. The two share some of the same technical and engineering issues. Stat-Oil in Norway is also investing in offshore wind development, because many of the engineering solutions found to develop offshore oil, are also applicable to the development of offshore wind, like building platforms in deep sea.

The park, which will have its grand opening on October 22nd, has been built to showcase SANYO’s energy solutions to customers and to demonstrate efficient energy utilization. With the Kasai Green Energy Park, SANYO, a member of the Panasonic Group, will help reduce CO2 emissions all over the world, promoting ‘energy solutions for entire homes, buildings and cities’.

California has topped the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy (ACEEE)’s state energy efficiency ranking for a fourth year in a row. The State Energy Efficiency Scorecard ranks each region on its energy efficiency policies, programmes, transport policy, building performance codes, combined heat and power and appliance standards.

The consortium, which includes Oak Ridge National Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California-Davis, The Dow Chemical Company, Honeywell and General Electric, will receive $12.5 million from the US Government, matched by at least $12.5 million from the partners, and $25 million from Chinese counterparts over the next five years.

On the afternoon of October 14th, People's Committee of Hanoi discussed with the Chairman of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan and theMinistry of Natural Resources and Environment about preparing for the implementation of the project "Building a system to treat waste of power industry" in an area of 1 ha of Nam Son Waste Disposal Complex, Soc Son district.

Getting the real prototype built has been a challenge. Kitegen Research had to abandon the initial plans of building the first prototype near the town of Berzano, not far from Torino, in Italy, after almost a year of trying to persuade the local NIMBY contingent. That has generated almost one year of delay; since everything had to be moved to the new site and a completely new set of permits had to be obtained.

Great efforts have been made to improve public awareness about energy savings. Energy efficient appliances have replaced power consuming equipment. Millions of compact lamps and solar water heaters have been used, while many power saving models have been applied to factories and smart/green buildings.