Inhabitat

LAST CHANCE TO ENTER: $50,000 Energy Efficiency Makeover

If you own a home in the Bay Area, don’t miss your chance to turn your abode into a lean green energy-efficient machine. Sponsored by local news radio outfit KGO, Flex Your Power, ABC7, Sustainable Spaces and Lowe’s, the $50,000 “Energy Efficient Home Makeover” contest ends this Wednesday, January 31st!

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INTERVIEW: Ed Mazria from Architecture 2030

[Image: Ed Mazria, photographed by Doug Hoeschler for Metropolis].

Last year, Ed Mazria and his New Mexico-based non-profit organization, Architecture 2030, released the 2030 Challenge to get the building industry completely carbon neutral by the year 2030.

Buildings are the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions, worldwide. As Mazria states in the following interview: “48% of total US energy consumption… can be attributed to the building sector, most of which… can be attributed just to building operations.” By 2030, to prevent “catastrophic” climate change, the building sector must become carbon neutral ‐ reaching that state is the 2030 Challenge. If this sounds impossible, Architecture 2030 reminds us that “these targets are readily achievable.”

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SUSTAINABLE STYLE: Swap-O-Rama-Rama

Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing. It grew out of a small swap party that was held by Wendy Tremane in her apartment to events that have now taken place from Vancouver to Israel. So if one of your New Year’s Resolutions was to clean out your closet, why not participate in a swap?

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ASK INHABITAT: Which gadgets are the greenest?

Our first week’s ASK INHABITAT focuses on green electronics — and to deal with this often complex subject matter we’ve brought in Jennifer Van Der Meer, product designer, research consultant, chair of O2-NYC and sustainable electronics guru extraordinaire…

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PERFECT ORGANICS: A Green Company

We included Perfect Organics in our recent Holiday Gift Guide for Her not only for their all-natural, so-good-you-could-eat-them body products, but more importantly for the company’s holistic green approach to business operations, production, and packaging. Many companies tout the green qualities of their products. But Perfect Organics values environmental responsibility at every level of the business- from their products’ ingredients to their waste-reducing packing techniques, the design of their Virginia headquarters office space, and the fixtures installed in their retail stores.

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PREFAB FRIDAY: New LivingHome by David Hertz

David Hertz, the always-crafty architect and principal of Syndesis, has impressed us before with his homes constructed from everything from dismantled airplanes to refrigeration panels. And now, thanks to a partnership with Steve Glenn, he’s the designer of LivingHomes’ newest prefab design, aptly named the LivingHome by David Hertz. Between CEO Steve Glenn’s commitment to the highest green standards and David Hertz’s forward-thinking design concepts, it’s no surprise that the newest LivingHomes design is at the vanguard of environmentally-friendly, livable, modern architecture. Built using a panelized aluminum system, the home measures a spacious 2,650 square feet with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a green roof, and a slew of other green materials.

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CHRIS BURTON’s UPCYCLING: Yield Shelving

This morning we touted Chris Burton’s Repose Lounge as an example of his “upcycled” furniture, made from a variety of construction site waste and other miscellaneous dumpster detritus. His equally-ingenious Yield shelves provide a modular shelving system based on the order of an equilateral triangle. Yield’s various vessels are made from plywood, various wooden off-cuts, and even drywall, giving a unique texture and tactility to each unit. The Yield system was featured, along with the Repose Lounge, as part of Burton’s recent student exhibition at Savannah’s Red Kite Studio gallery.

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CHRIS BURTON’s UPCYCLING: Repose Lounge

The next time you pass by a construction site, take a closer look… you may find designer and Savannah College of Art and Design MFA student Chris Burton scouring through the debris, hunting for material for his next chair or table. His recent exhibition at Savannah’s Red Kite Studio, entitled “Upcycle of Waste,” features clever designs that utilize construction waste, dumpster debris, and other urban detritus as raw material for some lovely pieces of furniture. His Repose Lounge chair, for example, is “designed to utilize all lengths of wood used in construction.” It combines plywood with PVC piping cut-offs, which form the slats of the seat and back. Despite the discarded materials, Burton is clever in his material applications, making the most of the PVC’s flexible nature to provide a surprisingly comfortable seat.

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FIRE FURNITURE by Schultedesign

For those of us who aren’t blessed with Southern California weather, there’s nothing more comforting in the dead of winter than a fire to warm our frigid hands. German furniture company Schulte poses a clever and well-designed solution to the winter’s chill with its Fire Furniture line, in which a small fireplace is integrated into a wood and stainless steel coffee table and pedestal. Plus, the fire is produced using a liquid that is both smoke and emission-free. The Fire Furniture collection debuted at the IMM Cologne furniture fair, which ended this past weekend.

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ECODESIGN: The Ultimate Source Book

Long gone is the myth that eco-friendly and sustainable design comes at the sacrifice of style. EcoDesign (fully revised and updated) is the ultimate one-stop resource for all those looking to completely immerse themselves in an eco-conscious lifestyle, or those who just want to pick-up a few new green-friendly pieces. With more than 700 product listings from clothing, kitchenware, electronics, and furniture in an easy-to-navigate, color-coordinated collection, ecoDesign is an incredible catalog and resource for both seasoned professionals and the everyday consumer.

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AIRSTREAM & FORD’s CROSSOVER VEHICLE

One piece of extra-shiny eye candy at the recent Detroit Auto Show was Airstream and Ford’s “crossover” concept vehicle. While more car than livable trailer, the stunning, modern, and inhabitable vehicle is nevertheless a great example of mobile living and sleek design. The partnership between the two automotive companies resulted in a vehicle centered around the idea of the American Journey, roadtrips, wanderlust, and adventures. Its greenest and most cutting-edge feature is the newly developed HySeries Drive, an efficient powertrain technology that operates under electric power at all times while yielding a combined city/highway fuel economy of 40 miles per gallon. Its interior truly has the typical road-tripper in mind, with a rear “lounge” area and screen for entertainment and games. The screen also works as a light source, providing ambient mood settings or even a virtual fireplace.

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LIVE BUILDING: Recycled Architecture

Having come to the end of its useful life, it’s not uncommon for an old building to be unceremoniously bulldozed in advance of new development. Officials at the University of California at Riverside had another — more sustainable — idea for the doomed Wurms Building, however.

UCR enlisted artist Jason Middlebrook to create Live Building, a performance art project in which he harvested and recycled all usable materials in the structure prior to its demolition on December 16th last month.

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FIRST GREEN CONVENTION CENTER in Pittsburgh

In a city that’s seen a remarkable urban resurgence in the past decade, Pittsburgh’s David Lawrence Convention Center stands along the Allegheny River as a beacon of both beautiful architecture and innovative green design. Designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, the waterfront building is certified with a Gold LEED rating, and is both the largest “green” building and first “green” convention center. Aside from its eye-catching aesthetic, Viñoly’s design boasts an impressive list of green architectural elements and high-tech systems, from large glass curtain walls that admit consistent daylight (over 75% of the center’s exhibition spaces are naturally lit) to a state-of-the-art water reclamation system that reduces potable water usage by almost sixty percent. And the list goes on…

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SCINTILLA FIBRE OPTIC CHANDELIER by Neues Licht

Classical, highbrow lighting is given a modern twist with Neues Licht’s exciting new optical chandelier, the Scintilla 60. Utilizing energy-saving fibre optic technology, designer Simon Brunner draws upon the cool simplicity of state-of-the-art materials in order to conjure up the heightened intimacy of an atmosphere historically associated with the presence of a traditional chandelier. Elegant and fragile, this design is also available in a larger version, Scintilla 100.

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UFO FIBEROPTIC CHANDELIER by Neues Licht

Neues Licht means “new light” in German, and we can’t think of a more appropriate name for this innovative lighting design company which creates futuristic lamps with fiber optics. Neues Licht wowed visitors at last week’s Cologne Furniture Fair with this fabulous UFO Chandelier made with fiberoptic cables arranged in a floating, glowing ring. Designer Simon Bruenner describes his celestial chandelier as “simplicity from another planet.”

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ASK INHABITAT: Your Green ‘Dear Abby’

This weeks marks the launch of a new column here at Inhabitat in which we answer your questions about all things eco-design, in a public forum on our site. While we normally do our best to respond to reader feedback via email, we’d like to extend to readers the specialized expertise of our team of writers, all of whom work within the green design world as architects, interior designers, fashion designers, furniture / product designers and green consultants. Starting this week, ‘Ask Inhabitat’ will become your green ‘Dear Abby’ (or ‘Dear Habby’ as the case may be). So no matter what your question, from green roofs to sustainable fashion to “that green insulation product whose name you just can’t remember,” we’ve got you covered.

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SUSTAINABLE STYLE SUNDAY: Gypsy and Loïc Menswear

Gypsy and Loïc, a fashion design duo based near San Francisco, produces an appealing line of casual menswear made from equally-appealing materials. Their clothing is full of original details that set them apart without overwhelming their designs. The company also gets high marks for their sustainability efforts. About 50% of the line is organic cotton, hemp and bamboo. Their dyes are non synthetic and environmentally safe, and all of the clothes are manufactured in the US and/or fair trade factories.

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GREENTEA RECLAIMED WOOD FURNITURE

We love to see designers using reclaimed wood in their products – it’s more beautiful, interesting, and of course more environmentally-friendly than virgin wood. A great example is GreenTea Designs, an online furniture store that sells Asian-inspired contemporary furniture made from recycled and reclaimed wood.

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PREFAB MOBILE FRIDAY: Airstream Bambi Trailer

For all you modern-design-loving, wanderlusting nomads, Airstream’s Bambi trailer may be just the ticket. The 75-year old company has long been known for their sleekly-designed, fully-loaded travel trailers, and the Bambi is no exception. One of the smallest models in their product line, Bambi doesn’t skimp on quality, offering a happy marriage of economy and efficiency, wrapped up in a well-designed package. Its interior boasts quite the list of amenities for such a compact space, from a full kitchen to pull-out sofa and bunkable beds. The International CCD Model owes its genius design to Christopher Deam, who has designed many a mobile design concept over the years.

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LIVING HOMES LEED PLATINUM Reception

Photo by CJ Berg / Sunshine Divis

This past Tuesday, Steve Glenn opened up his LivingHomes model home to celebrate the acceptance of the first-ever LEED Platinum plaque for Ray Kappe’s prefab Living Homes design. The invite-only event brought out the usual designer crowd, the suits, the jeans, and the eclectically-stylish, with appearances from Ray Kappe himself, Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcettie, USGBC CEO Rick Fedrizzi, Enterprise Community Partners’ Senior Vice President Stockton Williams, and quite a few TV personalities. The diversity of the crowd is an encouraging indication for the future of green building, and with NBC News on hand to cover the scene, it is apparent that a wider public audience is starting to take notice. Good thing too, because LivingHomes made news with several exciting partnership announcements…

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STUART HAYGARTH’S TIDE CHANDELIER

London-based designer Stuart Haygarth knows now to turn mass amounts of trash into awe-inspiring treasure. With training in design and photography, Haygarth conceived of the Tide Chandelier while collecting debris that had washed up on the shores of the Kent coastline. The enormous light fixture, measuring nearly five feet in diameter, is composed of a cornucopia of clear plastic refuse, from water bottles to sunglasses.

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RENT YOUR OWN SOLAR PANELS

While the advantages of solar power are profound and many, some homeowners continue to shy away from the installation of residential photovoltaic cells due to high upfront costs and long “payback” timelines. But now, a rental program called REnU is making all that money talk a moot point. Delaware-based Citizenre, a renewable energy development group, will rent solar panels to US residents on a per-kilowatt basis on a one, five, or twenty-five year contract. With only a $500 deposit, paid back at the end of the contract WITH interest, homeowners can easily and inexpensively make the switch from local utilities to solar power. What’s more, Citizenre acquires all necessary permits for residential installation, making the process easy as pie.

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ROBO-BUILDER LAUNCHING IN CALIFORNIA

We wrote about Behrokh Khoshnevis’ awe-inspiring, rapid-prototyping “robo builder” in 2005 when it was still a work in progress. But now, the University of Southern California professor’s contour crafting machine will be put to the test; it’s scheduled to erect its first house in California within the next few months. The two-story house will built in less than 24 hours out of only concrete and gypsum — and without the help of a single human hand. Khoshenevis’ groundbreaking robo-builder has caused some raised eyebrows and dropped jaws within the architectural community, as the machine provides a new model for construction that drastically cuts building timelines, material, manpower, and most importantly, waste and carbon emissions.

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HAVALEENA LED TORCH

We’ve long expounded on the beauty of LED lights: they are extremely energy efficient, don’t get hot, and tend to come in cute little portable packages, since they take so little power to light up. Now, clever design company Tayo has come along with the Havaleena LED torch – a glowing LED stick which resembles a gigantic pen with a glowing cap. The simple cylindrical shape of the Havaleena Torch makes it both portable and flexible in its uses and display.

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ILLUMAWALL by DUO-GARD

Meditation Room in Blacksburg VA, Virginia Tech Design Team for ABC’s Extreme Makeover

We’ve been singing the praises of daylighting and translucent architecture ever since we began preaching the green design gospel here at Inhabitat. Using translucent daylight panels, you can fill your house with diffused sunlight during the day — aiding your health and well-being, and cutting down your electricity bills at the same time. There are plenty of building companies that have been making polycarbonate, nanogel-filled “Daylighting Panels” for awhile now, but Duo-Gard is the first company to push the envelope to its logical conclusion by bringing colored LED lights into the mix.

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PATRICK BLANC’S VERTICAL GARDENS

Vertical Wall on Jean Nouvel’s Musée du quai Branly

Plants have found a home on walls for centuries, but are sometimes incongruous with architecture, often breaking down the structural integrity of a building’s facade. Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Garden System, known as Le Mur Vegetal in French, allows both plants and buildings to live in harmony with one another. The botanist cum vertical landscape designer is probably best know for his gorgeous living wall on the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris (shown above). But Blanc’s Vertical Garden System can be implemented anywhere: indoors or out and in any climatic environment.

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ELT EASY GREEN LIVING WALLS

Our first encounter with a “living wall” was the giant installation in the atrium of the University of Guelph in Canada. Everyone’s always asking whether they can get a similar wall of greenery for their own home, and now we have an affirmative answer. ELT (Elevated Landscape Technologies) Easy Green has designed a modular indoor/outdoor living wall panel system for residential consumers.

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VENTURI ECLECTIC: World’s First Energy-Autonomous Vehicle

The insanely-innovative and carbon-neutral French automotive company Venturi has recently announced the production of Eclectic, a solar, wind, and electric-powered vehicle that will make your Prius look like a gas-guzzling Hummer. The zippy little compact auto relies on a combination of solar panels, wind turbines, and electric recharging, making it THE low-consumption, no-emission vehicle on the road.

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VEGAN FASHION HITS THE NY Times

The vegan debate is back! We’ve been covering the vegan fashion tip for awhile now – hoping to convince more environmentalists to go vegan, and more vegans to go green – and it seems the Times has picked up this concern in a recent article about vegan fashion called Uncruel Beauty >

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SUSTAINABLE STYLE SUNDAY: Carga Bags

Our newest admiration for form and felt… Carga Bags. The recycled felt bags come in three models and seem a perfect choice for laptop, briefcase or carryall tote. Designer Mauro Bianucci hand crafted the first bag for himself out of industrial wool felt left over from a previous project. The bag caught the eye of a client who ordered a few, and soon a collection was formed. The bags are currently hand assembled in Buenos Aires, using recycled industrial felt sourced in Brazil. Instead of brand logos, all bags come with a serial number hand embossed on a discreet disc allowing the design to speak for itself.

Via hopingforhappyaccidents

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ALCHEMY GOODS RECYCLED BAGS

STYLE AND FUNCTION MEET IN THE RECYCLE BIN
Waste equals food for Eli Reich and his company Alchemy Goods, which turns old bike tire tubes, advertising banners, and seat belt straps into messenger and tote bags. Reich started the company in a quest to create a hip, stylish, waterproof, and environmentally-friendly bag after his old messenger bag was stolen. Alchemy Goods espouses a “turning useless into useful” tagline, and denotes the recycled content percentage (by weight) within the Ag label on every product, ala the periodic table.

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