Next boom in cleantech; Future of Green Prefab Homes; First energy-positive office building; Make It Right Unveils House That Floats; First Device Partner for Google PowerMeter

Is the next boom in cleantech? Our economy sure could use the Next Big Thing. Something on the scale of railroads, automobiles or the Internet — the kind of breakthrough that emerges every so often and builds industries, generates jobs and mints fortunes. Let’s hope so!

Q&A: Michelle Kaufmann on the Future of Green Prefab Homes As I have mentioned before, Michelle Kaufmann is my favorite green “prefab” designer/builder, so I was pretty excited to see this Q&A with her. Check it out.

First energy-positive office building Elithis Tower, located in Dijon, France, has surpassed the net zero energy ideal to become the first energy positive office building, meaning it creates more power than it uses. Now that is progress!

Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Unveils House That Floats We’re used to Brad Pitt’s green building foundation, Make It Right NOLA, revealing some new takes on sustainable design, but a house that floats when it floods? Now that’s something that truly raises the bar for sustainable and functional design in the face of adverse elements!

TED 5000 Is First Device Partner for Google PowerMeter Google has secured its first device partner for PowerMeter, which monitors electricity consumption in real time and offers feedback on how to reduce consumption. Starting Tuesday, anyone in North America can purchase and install the TED 5000 from Energy Inc. It will include the Google PowerMeter software tool, which will provide personal home energy data from anywhere you can access the Internet.