A study by the Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland finds that straw bale buildings are carbon neutral. Engineer Adrien Chaussinand conducted extensive testing of ECO-46, a straw bale building that houses the Department of Parks and Gardens in Lausanne.

He conducted a life cycle analysis of the building, which accounted for all the energy that went into its construction — from planting the grass to the eventual destruction of the structure. “If all of the b...

Spend five minutes in humid Ho Chi Minh City and you'll probably be running for cover into the nearest air-conditioned refuge.
In the Vietnamese city -- and many developing subtropical countries across Asia, such as Indonesia and the Philippines -- air conditioning (AC) is increasingly being considered a necessity.
But one architecture firm is advocating a different way to keep cool.
T3 Architecture Asia, which has offices in Vietnam and France, specializes in back-to-basics "bioclimatic archite...