Energy-saving

Studio Gang Architects has unveiled the renders for a new residential tower slated for Miami. The firm is targeting LEED Gold status for the project and hopes to complete it in 2016.

When there's something that we're trying to conserve, we don't just put it down the drain. For those of us who are trying to save power, however, that's just what happens when we let hot water from our showers run straight into the sewer. The EcoDrain is made to address that problem.

Honeywell has announced a new thermostat, Lyric, that tracks the user's location via their smartphone and adjusts the temperature of their home accordingly. It figures out when a household is empty and when residents are on their way home. Users can expect reduced energy usage and costs.

Tado Cooling is a Wi-Fi-enabled unit that turns any air conditioner controlled via infrared remote control into a smart device. Measuring 100 x 100 x 10 mm (3.9 x 3.9 x 0.4 in) the wall-mounted box essentially replaces the AC's remote and hands its functionality over to a smartphone.

The Empowerhouse won first prize in the Affordability category of the 2011 US Solar Decathlon and was redesigned to become the first house in the city of Washington, DC built to Passive House standards. Its first family speak of a brighter future in their ultra-energy-efficient home.

Illawarra Flame is a net-zero house, but wasn't always that way. The environmentally-friendly house was formerly an energy-inefficient "fibro house" – that is, until students from the University of Wollongong got hold of it.

A new lightweight elevator-hoisting line known as UltraRope could make kilometer-high elevators possible.

Romanian non-profit Justin Capra Foundation for Sustainable Technologies and Inventions (or FITS) has unveiled its Soleta zeroEnergy range of sustainable off-grid homes.

The “Like a Houseboat” property by Shipley Architects sports steel stilts which enable it to sit upon poor-quality soil once home to a landfill.

Edgeland Residence is a modern dwelling which draws inspiration from the Native American Pit House.

The second generation of Tony Fadell's Nest Learning Thermostat will be shipping soon.

Drywall boards containing paraffin microcapsules can reportedly reduce a building’s energy consumption by up to 40 percent.