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"  1. Hawaii Gateway Energy Center The Idea: Whole-System Design  Lovins and the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) take pride in helping to design energy-efficient buildings that cost less than wasteful ones. The 3600-sq.-ft. Hawaii Gateway Energy Center in Kailua-Kona is a net-zero energy facility. The building forms a thermal chimney: Sun-heated air flows up and out stacks in the sloped roof, pulling air that&amp;#039;s been cooled by 45-degree seawater into the work space below--no fans or conventional a/c is needed. Condensation from the cooling process supplies water for toilets and a garden. Smart architecture does away with the need for daytime electric lighting. And the center makes the electricity for its seawater pumps and other equipment with a 20-kilowatt photovoltaic array.  2. Wal-Mart Truck Fleet The Idea: Drilling for &amp;quot;Negabarrels&amp;quot;  Wal-Mart is aiming to double the fuel economy of trucks entering its 6800-unit fleet, using ideas from Lovins and RMI--cabs have small auxiliary engines so drivers don&amp;#039;t need to idle their main engines for heating and cooling during stops. Trailer side skirts cut wind resistance. Single, wider tires replace some double tires to reduce rolling resistance, while swapping a conventional rear axle with a tag axle (one not linked to the drivetrain) cuts weight. Lovins also focuses on auto technol-ogy beyond the trucking industry, particularly on ultralight, aerodynamic car designs. Less weight can lead to smaller car engines, and further weight savings. Lighter parts also reduce shipping costs. Lovins has dubbed oil saved through efficiency &amp;quot;negabarrels.&amp;quot; Double the efficiency of all U.S. vehicles, he says, and &amp;quot;it will be like finding a Saudi Arabia under Detroit.&amp;quot;  3. Texas Instruments Chip-Fabrication Plant The Idea: Big Pipes and Small Pumps  Lovins and his RMI team helped design a Texas Instruments chip-fabrication plant, located in Richardson, Texas. The process provided a lesson in how to slash building costs and resource usage through what Lovins often calls old-fashioned &amp;quot;Victorian engineering.&amp;quot; For instance, chip plants, or fabs, typically move water for climate control with a vermicelli of small pipes that require big, expensive, power-gobbling pumps. The new plant was designed with wider, straighter pipes and smaller pumps. Smaller pumps save energy and also reduce waste heat. Plus, a more efficient HVAC sys-tem that harnesses what waste heat is created allowed the team to eliminate a 1600-ton chiller and at least four boilers. That meant they needed to spec fewer rooftop cooling towers to dispense the waste heat. This change, in turn, reduced capital costs--and will help save 47 million gal. of water per year and eliminate some pumps. And the cascading benefits go on from there. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a2148/4224758/>