Green & Passive
I was recently told that I sounded a lot like a book Called "Cool It" by Bjorn Lomborg. So, I got the book and I am reading it currently. We do sound rather similar in the beginning, both believing that Global Warming is occuring. Where we depart though, is that his approach is, "Do not panic! Do not panic!" My approach is a bit more proactive, "You can help the Earth and save money at the same time."
Passively Green is doing things naturally that will ultimately run without much human intervention, merely as a function of the laws of Physics. If you put glass along the South Facing wall of a house in the Northern Hemisphere, the Sunlight will shine through and warm the house inside. Do the same thing on the North side of the house and you will wind up with a cooler house except for a short period in the very early morning and the very evening around June 21st when the Sun will be wrapping around the house slightly.
When I designed my house 30 years ago, I showed about 300 square feet of South facing glass on the first and second floors. When the built was built in 1985, an overhang was added which extended outwards 1/3 the distance between the overhang and the bottom of the window. This resulted in the sun being shadowed from the glass in the Summer and full coverage in the Winter. We added some vertical nightime blinds from Penny's with a "Lifetime" warrantee that was honored for the first 5 years (I guess they don't live very long at Penny's!) On very cold nights we pull the shades down to prevent dark body radiation back out the windows. As a result my house is slightly cooler in the Summer than the Winter. And I have a great view out those Sunny windows.
A number of interesting passive systems have been tried. Anything that has some mass to it, such as a brick, cinder block, a rock, a plastic bottle filled with water, and a large piece of metal (like my pipe organ pipes) make up something that can smooth out the heat and cold cycles. The problem (and advantage) with passive is that it is by nature slow acting. Often a small fan will make a big difference by making the passive mass exchange its heat or cold faster. So what I wound up with was a semipassive system.
While this topic is not specifically Green, I would recomend some simple steps that will make your house, school, Computer Center, or Church more quiet. When my current house was built 22 years ago, all the internal walls were built with 2 X 6 top and bottom plates instead of the usual 2 x 4s. Then 2 x 4 studs were placed on 12" centers instead of the usual 16" centers, and these 2 x 4 studs were alternated fore and aft between the top and bottom plates. Just before the drywall is placed on the walls, 3 1/2" fiberglass insulation is weaved horizontally between the studs. After the drywall is attached to the alternating studs on the resulting 24" centers the end result will be a very soundproof wall. The fore and aft 2 x 4s prevents the sound from coupling through the solid portion of the walls. The kids could play loud music, or babies can cry with almost complete silence resulting. We also drilled oversized holes for the copper plumbing to go through studs and pack the space with pipe foam insulation so that there is no sound coupling when a toilet, shower, sink or pump runs. All faucets have air dams on the hot and cold water supply lines. Most of the faucets still have the original gaskets on them and do not leak, because the air dam lets the water decelerate when a faucet is turned off suddenly instead of having the pipes go "Bang". These measures will cost slightly more due to the extra material used, but it has paid for itself many times over in the quiet achieved.
If you thought passive was interesting, look at: Green & Active