World-renowned architect Sir Norman Foster seems to be making a lot of friends in the former Soviet Union, with news of new Foster design proposals in Russia and Central Asia being approved almost every month. Kazakhstan’s capital city Astana already features two Foster designed marvels: a stunning Palace of Peace and Reconciliation pyramid structure and another tent-like development called Khan Shatyry Entertainment Centre soon to be completed late next year. Now, if plans are approved, Kazakhstan will soon see the development of two gigantic twin towers in Almaty, thanks to the iconic British architect.

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What would you do if someone told you that you could help the environment by purchasing a bottle of vodka? That’s exactly the message America’s oldest continuously operating distillery, McCormick Distilling, is trying to spread with the launch of their brand new product 360 Vodka, as it enters the highly competitive market of ultra luxury vodkas. With this new launch, the company’s recently formed Earth Friendly Distilling Co. division also hopes to establish new sustainable product development and packaging standards in the distilling industry.

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The historic city of St. Petersburg in Russia will soon be home to the tallest tower in Europe. The UK-based architectural firm RMJM was given a go by the Russian gas giant to build the new Gazprom Neft headquarters in the former Russian capital. Officially called the Okhta Tower, the eco skyscraper is promising to be “one of the most environmentally sustainable high rise buildings in the world,” according to the RMJM’s press release.

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The designers at New York City based Fluxxlab studio have come up with an ingenious sustainable energy harvesting idea that makes you wonder why no one else has thought of it before. Their Revolution Door manages to capture otherwise wasted human energy from the revolving doors we all see at various large buildings. If you think about it, this concept is quite similar to a turbine spinning somewhere deep inside a hydroelectric dam or within wind turbine to generate renewable electricity.

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The city of Madrid soon plans to add a striking new structure that will “climatically transform” its urban architecture. Designed by Urban Ecosystems, the Air Tree pavilion is to be built from recycled materials and will be 100% energy self-sufficient. Using photovoltaic cells, the Air Tree produces a substantial amount of energy, which is then sold back to the local electric companies, the profits being used for maintenance of the structure. The second byproduct is of course oxygen - hence the name ‘Air Tree’!

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Solar power might be the most up-and-coming renewable energy source, but one of the biggest drawbacks to solar power plants is their inability to generate electricity at night or during cloudy days. But now, a new venture called SolarReserve hopes to change all that using salt! Their program would save and store captured solar energy in molten salt, the new solar plant will produce up to 500 megawatts of peak power — comparable to what a regular coal power plant can produce, only with no greenhouse gas emissions.

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Moscow’s rapidly growing skyline will soon feature an eye-popping new addition: Crystal Island, which will be the world’s biggest building when completed. Sir Norman Foster’s mountainous 27 million square feet spiraling “city within a building” will cost $4 billion and it is scheduled to be built within next 5 years.

The Crystal Island will be Lord Foster’s second large scale project in the Russian capital, and his third new building design that resembles a volcano (we’re talking about his two mountainous buildings in Astana, Kazakstan). Although many people are calling this design the ‘Christmas Tree’ of Moscow - we can’t help but be reminded of the utopian and also rather volcanic X-Seed 4000 design for Tokyo. Unlike that pipe-dream project, however, Foster has a track record of getting buildings built, so the likelihood is high that we will see this striking structure towering over the Kremlin within 5 years time.

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