Japan's First Solar Powered Condo

"They could plant some more instead of that sea of asphalt around the building"

One of my pet peeves of Tree Hugger - nothing is ever good enough. We should cheer this development. I would suggest that the "asphalt" has a much lower CO2 footprint than creating a parking garage that would be required to get the panels at the same height of the other buildings so the panels don't get shadows cast on them. Also, a garage like this would also block views (making it less desirable) and possibly block some passive solar heating.

If everyone moved into this sort of complex, our CO2 levels would drop quickly. Focus your critical energy on people NOT doing things for the environment.

horray for sense, people cant walk through cedars and grass cant handle high volumes.

@Brian:

I agree with you somewhat. Put parking garages aren't bad at all. A parking garage can take up a lot of cars all in one space. For a surface parking lot to take up as many cars as a parking garage, it would have to expand longer distances, which could destroy more green space, and kill trees and wildlife, and what not. Plus surface parking lots means you have to walk farther if you park farther. So surface parking lots aren't cool at all.

What would be cool though is an underground parking garage. That way, it would solve both problems.

The Japanes ad copy reads, in my rough translation:

"Because the electricity is sun made, there is zero burden on either the Earth or the house plan."

Thanks for giving me an excuse to practice my Japanese.

On the surface, looks great. But anyone who has lived in Japan for any length of time (I've been here 11 years) knows that home builders and property developers here couldn't care less about the environment. What they're very good at is designing complicated white elephants, while avoiding basic solutions. Example: I can almost guarantee that this 'eco-friendly' apartment block is partially or wholly uninsulated. The vast majority of homes and apartments here have NO insulation. Result: enormous energy consumption in the winter to heat these closet-sized hovels because the heat escapes straight through the walls, and enormous energy consumption in the summer to cool them because the outside heat penetrates the walls immediately. No vapor barrier, no insulation. The basic level of technology is generally primitive, but they're very good at slapping hight tech gadgets on top of structures that have changed little since the 1950s.
If you want the low-down, read 'Dogs and Demons' by Alex Kerr.

'One of my pet peeves of Tree Hugger - nothing is ever good enough. We should cheer this development. I would suggest that the "asphalt" has a much lower CO2 footprint than creating a parking garage that would be required to get the panels at the same height of the other buildings so the panels don't get shadows cast on them. Also, a garage like this would also block views (making it less desirable) and possibly block some passive solar heating.'

Quite right. Nothing is ever good enough. In no sphere of life is anything 'perfect', whatever one defines perfection to be. I do a lot of construction projects and landscaping things, and I always strive for perfection knowing it is unattainable. So why strive for perfection then? Because you only achieve great things when you strive for perfection. You achieve mediocre things when you strive just for greatness. I always keep in mind at the end of a project the imperfections that I have left behind. Imperfections I hope one day to fix if I manage to get the time I need, or the materials, or the tools, or the labor,. or the money, etc. I don't ignore the imperfections simply because the project turned out nicely. The same goes with the environmental aspects of buildings, or projects, or businesses, or vehicles, etc. Another example which might be easier to understand: if one is a good citizen and never goes around killing or raping people, does that mean one has the right to say something like 'People are never satisfied' when they complain about that individuals shoplifting? No. We shouldn't have to praise the individual for not killing and raping, and we should be complaining about his shoplifting. Just like we should not need to praise developers for doing the right thing - it should be so commonplace that people should only notice when someting green is missing and not when it is there. And we should complain about what is missing - liike the trees. Of course, I think it good to point out all the good green things businesses do to encourage others to do likewise because green is not yet so common. But we should not ignore the bad while praising the good. It is simple - praise the good, criticize the bad. We do it in other areas of life. It should be no different here.

As for the asphalt, the author is right. There is no need for so much of it devoid of trees and plants. It is completely possible to make parking lots filled with vegetation and still have virtually the same amount of parking space. And all those trees would serve to shade both the cars and the asphalt. Futhermore, there is no real need for asphalt either. There are products on the market, discussed previously here at TH, that can be used as a substitute for asphalt which allow for both the growth of grass AND heavy traffic. I don't remember the name of the products, but there are several on the market and they work just fine.

I like that last posting about how you can plant trees and grass and still have a parking lot. And if there's material which you can which on and still park... Wow. Yah. Do it up! Buildings should reduce their the damage these cause, like with the solar panels, and also give something back, such as with trees and green roofs. Plus, well, who wouldn't want to have a view of greenery from their window? Who wouldn't love to walk through a little park like area when they walk from their car to their front door? Me, I live across from a gas station. And it twists my stomach everytime I walk out of my building to a sea of concrete. When I'm in neighbourhoods with trees and lawns, I feel calm and wonderful. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen was when I was in a part of Miami recently that had HUGE lawns and parks all over the neighbourhood. Apparently it's an expensive area. But wow. It was like a Utopia. And as we returned to downtown, I felt my stomach twist up again upon being re-surrounded by concrete. Plant some trees and flowers and grass around that Japanese condo and people will be more willing to live in the solar-powered building. They'll be happier. Healthier. They'll be reminded why solar power is important. They'll be reminded what it is we're trying to save.

Wow - they build the 1st solar powered condo in Japan (allegedly) and your prime concern in this thread is the parking lot?? Are you guys for real? I mean seriously... Shouldn't this discussion be: How much sunlight is in this location? Is this system off the grid? If not, how often and how much power is pulled from the grid? What is the average square footage of these apartments? Is 1500w enough power for a condo in the US or elsewhere? How much did it cost the builder to do this/Is it cost effectrive, WHO BUILT THE SOLAR POWER SYSTEM (Would be nice as I am a building renovator and found this site while looking for companies that do this type of instalation/work - more difficult to locate then you think). Basically I would think you would like to know if this is the 1st of many more to come.

Anyway - as "tree huggers" you should all learn how to enjoy a win...and you are winning it just took some time (and cheaper technology costs)