February might have swooped us in a frenzy of love and romance (Either that or increased awareness of singlehood), but that’s no excuse to miss out on some of the interesting stories that made headlines this month.
These are a few of our favorites, non-green building and green-building news alike. Dig in!
Plans Resume for the World’s Next Tallest Building, the Kingdom Tower
Proposed Kingdom Tower: ambitious, brave, and might not be so crazy after all.
Developers of the much delayed, much controversial skyscraper in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia have turned to an outside consultant to begin testing of the construction materials, specifically steel and high-performance concrete, as well as the tricky logistics of pumping concrete at such dizzying heights.
Inadequate Snowfall Forced Sochi to Make Artificial Snow
Not all that glorious snow we saw in the Sochi Winter Olympic Winter Games was real—a lot of it had to be artificially made, owing to stunted snowfalls caused by climate change. Yes, that.
Used Plastic Bags Will Soon Run Our Cars
After all, plastic bags are essentially petroleum products because of their polyethylene component. With a staggering 100 billion plastic bags thrown by Americans each year, it’s about time someone put them to good use.
Vitamin E & Selenium Increases Risk for Prostate Cancer
We’ve always thought these supplements did their job in preventing cancer, but not so according to the latest study in which 35,000 men participated.
The U.S. and China Lead the List of Renewable Energy Index
With 12 GW of solar power installed by China last year, the nation gets close to beating the U.S. in the renewable energy race. A win-win scenario for everyone.
An App That Challenges You to Ignore Your Smartphone to Give Clean Water to Needy Kids
UNICEF urges us to refrain from touching our phone in exchange of clean water for 3rd World countries.
You say you can’t live without your smartphone, but elsewhere kids have to contend without clean drinking water all year. This app by UNICEF is pretty much straightforward—install it, put down your phone, and for every ten minutes you don’t hold it, UNICEF donates funds to provide clean water to them.
The Top 10 States in the U.S. with the Most Green Building Space
Last year, Illinois headed the list. But since green building is always a healthy competition among cities and nations, shuffling that list is okay, and new entrants are more than welcome.
The Nuclear Winter in China
In Norse mythology, fimbulvetr is the “awful, great winter.” Now scientists are saying the smog pollution in China has become so bad it is starting to resemble a nuclear winter.
Cracking the Gobbledygook That Is the Voynich Manuscript
The head-scratching nonsense of the Voynich Manuscript continues to puzzle everyone.
For centuries, the Voynich Manuscript, with its undecipherable writing and strangely weird drawings by an unknown author, have baffled cryptographers and scientists alike. Now, a linguistic professor thinks he may have an idea what all this nonsense is all about.
WhatsApp Had Better Be Good for Facebook
Yeah, yeah, Mark Zuckerberg’s pockets are that deep. But how exactly do you justify its $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp?
