Fortune has an interesting feature about futuristic green buildings that behave more like an ecosystem than an environmentally-unfriendly steel fortress.
Buildings consume 40 percent of our energy and can have life spans longer than humans. Because we live, work and associate with others in buildings, they form part of the fabric of human life—and thus have an enormous effect not only on the quality of individual lives but also on the state of the earth.
In the pages that follow, we have configured a structure that is not just kind to nature; it actually imitates nature. Imagine a building that makes oxygen, distills water, produces energy, changes with the seasons—and is beautiful. In effect, that building is like a tree, standing in a city that is like a forest.
The article describes multiple aspects of these futuristic buildings including solar power, productive workspaces, recycling waste and heating and cooling. These green buildings are very much unlike the skyscrapers of today.
