] Windows could trap the sun's energy to heat hot water.
] Sensors that measure the carbon dioxide exhaled by people
] in a room could determine whether the air conditioning
] needs to be turned up.

This is Janelane's area of expertise, and has gotten my interest in recent months. Its foolish to think capturing more oil reserves or discovering a new energy source is a sustainable way to live. We need to not only reduce consumption, but make what we use much more energy effecient. So many processes we depend on (ie internal compustion engine) lose so much energy in heat, that even a few percentage points of improvement will drastically change things for us.

Smart buildings gain momentum