When most of us think of convention centers, we think of big empty spaces that are certainly not very environmentally friendly. That’s not the case for the next generation of centers — case in point, the very cool looking Qatar National Convention Center. The striking 177,000 square meter structure is seeking a LEED Gold Rating, a first for a building of its type in the region. When it’s completed next year the center will boast 3,700 square meters of solar panels in addition to a host of other resource-saving features.

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Still have no idea what to wear on Valentine’s Day? Well, let us say that it’s what’s underneath all those clothes that really matters! We’ve teamed up with PACT to giveaway a sexy set of his-and-hers organic cotton skivvies to two lucky winners. Practical, seductive and organic – what more could you ask for?!

ENTER TO WIN AT ECOUTERRE >

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Imagine if you could kick, bunt and play your way to clean clothing. Well Swirl, an innovative new concept for easy laundering on the go lets people do just that. This colorful ball (which we wish had been entered into the Greener Gadgets design competition) designed by German-based designaffairs Studio lets people fill it up with dirty clothes, water and soap and then the rotational motion of soccer and play does all the work. This could be especially effective in developing nations where water sources are located a far distance from homes making hauling and washing clothes a real drag. Just be prepared to fend off the mobs of kids lining up and begging you to help you with the laundry!

There is only one thing on the Earth that is more sexy than a person who cares for the environment, and that’s a person who cares for the environment in silky, barely there eco-lingerie! Simultaneously clean up the planet and dirty up your sweetheart’s thoughts with the sultry and sumptuous selection of eco-undies in our Green Guide to Sustainable Skivvies that are sure to cause a different kind of climate change in the bedroom.

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For a while, when I was a student, I had an attic bedroom that was heated by a small coal fire, with a relatively short chimney up to the roof. I learned, fairly early on, that in starting the fire you needed a fairly high velocity air flow across the coals, and underlying firewood strips. And to get this I would rest a shovel over the front of the fireplace, and try and seal off the sides. I kept a small bellows beside the fire to help when this wasn’t particularly successful. When you are starting a fire underground the provision of air is critical, but when you are trying to burn the residual coke that is left, after the heat has cracked the rest of the oil and caused it to flow away, keeping that air flowing at a high enough rate to sustain the high-temperature burn becomes somewhat critical to most efficient operation, particularly if the air has to get through a sand layer to reach the fire.

Below the fold is a guest essay from a friend of mine who is an internal medicine M.D. practicing in East-central Minnesota. (He posts on The Oil Drum as ‘Rock climber’). The post is a shortened version of a longer essay on the interrelationships between health care, human health, human happiness and resource use. As the healthcare sector makes up fully 17% of the GDP of the USA and therefore represents a significant fraction of our resource throughput, this is a very important topic in discussions of more sustainable systems. If medical care is as inefficient as Rock climber thinks, healthcare policies focusing on basics might save considerable energy and other resources.

Racking up miles? Maybe not.

Within a few years, a driver who pulls up to the gas pump may pay two bills with a single swipe of the credit card: one for the gas and the other for each mile driven since the last fill-up. That may be the result of what many transportation experts see as an inevitable revolution in the way Americans pay for their highways.

The flow of the gas tax pipeline that has poured cash into one of the world’s premier highway systems has slowed as some people drive less and others choose more fuel-efficient vehicles. Maintaining that aging network and tackling the rush-hour congestion afflicting most cities will require billions of dollars.