In our days skyscrapers construction isn't surprising, especially in Asian countries. Whereas most skyscrapers aim to stand out from crowded skylines, South Korea architects managed to bring something new in skyscraper construction planning Infinity Tower which will stand apart by blending in as the world's first "invisible" tower. GDS Architects are in the early planning stage of building what will be known as the world's first invisible tower, reported GDS architectural studio's official site. To be located near Incheon International Airport, the tower is meant to be a gateway to South Korea's bustling cityscape, symbolizing the region's rising power through a self-diminishing "celebration of the global community" - though this passive approach is somewhat offset by the unabashedly phallic design of the super tower. The tower itself appears to disappear through a unique optical technology. The key to making the tower invisible is the architects use of optical technology, with this ingenious development, the crystalline tower is expected to be completely see-through, which makes this project very impressive. The main developer of this project is the "Korea Land Corporation and Cheongna Organization". The completion of project schedule for 2014. Nevertheless the project is only in its planning stage. The main budget and date for the beginning of construction aren't announced. The 450 meters tall tower will land 145 thousand square meters area. It will also house retail areas, a water park and other ecological activities. The tower also planned to have the second tallest observation deck in the world at 385 meters high.

Buried deep underneath the mountains near Stavanger, Norway, the Green Mountain Data Center is quite possibly the greenest data center in the world. Powered by renewable energy from nearby sources and cooled with water from the adjacent fjord, the cavernous data center is all about energy efficiency. The center dramatically reduces its cooling costs and energy use by tapping into the 8 degree Celsius water from the fjord. As reported by Inhabitat.com, Green Mountain Data Center has about 21,000 sq meters of floor space inside the mountain and it is the collaboration of three Norway companies - Smedvig, Lyse Energy and Ergo Group. This includes facilities for administration, warehousing, a quay, and 9 halls to house data servers. As servers pump out of a lot of heat while storing and processing digital data, a powerful cooling system is needed to keep them from overheating. A number of data centers around the world are working towards more energy efficient systems, but the Green Mountain Data Center may have hit upon a jackpot. First, the center is buried underground, which means it uses the earth and the surrounding rock as moderators. Then it uses water from the neighboring fjord in a closed loop ground water heat exchanger and the cold efficiently cools the underground space. The center also sources all of its power from a number of very close renewable energy providers, which makes it totally carbon neutral. Combined with energy efficient design inside, the center is promoting itself as an environmentally friendly server farm. With a variety of close power sources nearby with a high level of redundancy, the farm is also promising a 99.9997% availability. Most of the data center's business will come locally from Norway, but they may also attract clients from Europe and the US because of their eco-friendly offerings. Development of the mountain halls and server rooms is going on now and they expect to be up and running sometime in late 2012. A fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs with thousand meters high, created in a valley carved by glacial activity. The length of fjord is in ten times bigger than the width. There are 4 most famous fjord areas in the world located on the west coast of Norway, Chile, New Zealand and North America.

According to Desertec Foundation company's press release, project developer Nur Energie and its Tunisian partners, including Desertes Foundation plan to construct concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) plant in the Saharan deserts of Tunisia. The project, which called "TuNur" will construct in several phases. The first phase is expected to begin in 2014 and the first electricity exports are set to reach Europe by 2016 via a new low-loss transmission line to Italy. The project has been designed to reduce water requirements to a bare minimum by using a dry, air-based cooling system. It will ultimately produce 2 Gigawatts of electricity, roughly double the average nuclear power plant. The number of jobs created directly and indirectly over the project's construction and operational period will come to around 20 thousand. Around 825 thousand flat plate mirrors and steel structures known as heliostats will be needed for the project and can be manufactured locally. Using heat storage tanks, "TuNur" can produce electricity on demand day and night, delivering enough clean electricity to power 700 thousand European homes. Desertec Foundation was established in 2009. It is an international consortium, whose goal is to provide Europe with solar electricity. The consortium includes such major European companies, as ABB and Siemens, Deutsche Bank, insurance company Munich Re, energy company RWE and so on. Desertec Foundation reported, that investors are willing to invest about 400 billion euro in solar electricity. They plan to construct solar power plants in Africa and the Middle East and to occupy about 15 percent of European electricity market.

As a measure to save energy, the new Molecular Engineering and Sciences building at the University of Washington melts in the heat of day, reported The Tecca. The outer structure of the futuristic building is, of course, structurally sound. But to save energy in cooling costs, scientists have developed a special all-natural phase-changing gel that they've encapsulated inside the walls of the building. As the temperature rises, the gel in the walls will melt, helping to keep the building cool. The brilliance of the vegetable-oil-based gel is that it takes advantage of a basic thermodynamic principle: As a substance changes phases from solid to a liquid, it absorbs energy without changing in temperature. During the day when temperatures are high, the gel in the building's walls will melt, absorbing energy without changing in temperature. At night, the gel in the building's wall will solidify due to the colder air, readying the walls to absorb more energy the next day. The net result: Less air conditioning will be needed, reducing the building's energy needs. The phase changing material is just one of many innovative cooling techniques currently being tried by scientists to reduce energy usage. And though these gels are not widely used today, researchers believe that over the next decade, phase change material manufacturing will grow into a multi-million dollar industry.

Construction is set to begin early this year on the European Extremely Large Telescope, a nearly US$ 1.4 billion project in Cerro Armazones, Chile, reported Constructiondigital. The instrument, which will be the world's largest ground-based optical telescope, will give sky enthusiasts and astronomers the world over an unprecedented view of the cosmos, allowing for the discovery of earth-like planets, insight into the mysteries surrounding dark matter and dark energy, and one of the deepest views into the known universe. The project, headed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), will break ground early 2012 as crews prepare access roads to the remote site within Chile's Atacama Desert and begin preparation of the telescope's five mirrors. The primary mirror will measure a staggering 42 meters across - more than 30 meters larger than the Keck Observatory in Hawaii (10 meters). The telescope's incredible size will allow for 15 times more light collection than the biggest telescopes currently in operation. The ESO hopes to have the telescope operational within the next decade."The E-ELT is starting to become reality," said ESO Director General Tim de Zeeuw. "However, with a project of this size it is expected that approval of the extra expenditure will take time. Council at the same time recognizes that preparatory work must start now in order for the project to be ready for a full start of construction in 2012."