Imagine if sitting at a stoplight created ambiance instead of idle time. This idea, together with the desire to divert old traffic lamps from landfills, is the vision behind Greenlight Concepts’ beautifully recycled traffic-light lamps. Crafted from reclaimed traffic lights, these fixtures tap into the waste stream to bring “Yielding Yellow” and “Go Green” a whole new meaning.
We’ve recently featured the 787 Dreamliner airplane from Boeing, and the Ecojet prototype from Easyjet as examples of environmentally-friendlier air travel innovations. And now comes news from the beautiful land of New Zealand that its biggest airline, appropriately known as Air New Zealand, in conjunction with Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation and Boeing, is testing the waters for a new fuel made from the algae found in pond scums, which could have the capacity to reduce the entire carbon footprint of the airline industry to zero.
It’s easy to get googly-eyed by the onslaught of amazing green design out there these days. But it’s also important to look back a bit at some of the architectural precedent and acknowledge a building like Shigeru Ban’s Paper Church as the forward-thinking innovative design that it was. Built in 1995 and disassembled in 2005, the Nagata-Ku church in Kobe, Japan was built by church volunteers whose house of worship was destroyed by the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Using 58 paper tubes, the church is simple in its elliptical shape, but a dramatic spatial experience that turns low-tech materials into spiritual space.
You wouldn’t expect turtles to have the need for solar power and internet access, but some of the critters are now getting all wired up for a research experiment, according to scientists from the University of Massachusetts. In an ecological experiment taking place along the Deerfield River in western Massachusetts, two teams of researchers including computer engineers and biologists have begun testing a new wireless communication network to track wildlife: cheekily named the Turtlenet.
Well, it seems everyone is up in arms. We knew it wouldn’t take long before traditional environmentalists would want to rain on the eco-chic consumer’s parade. The recent NY Times article, “Buying Into the Green Movement” begs the question “is eco-minded consumerism the best solution?” and was apparently the most emailed article the day it ran. I myself received it in multiples – specific quotes on the futility of fashion highlighted. Just when you convinced yourself that you were doing your part to save the planet, that nasty image of polar bears without ice resurfaces. It is time to come down from that eco-luxury cloud, my neo-green brethren, there is more that needs to be done. I am just wondering, “what is wrong with wearing organic jeans to the crusade?”
One of San Francisco’s most exciting green projects is the construction of the new California Academy of Sciences building, designed by renown architect Renzo Piano, to be topped by an undulating, functional, not-to-mention HUGE living green roof. Construction is underway, and they’re making huge headway on the roof, engineered by Rana Creek in collaboration with Piano. Not only will this roof provide all the sustainable benefits that living roofs bring to a structure, but it will be visible from within the exhibition spaces, connecting inside and out, and engaging the context of San Francisco’s flora-filled backdrop.
Despite Google’s corporate commitment to going green with their solar panels and carbon neutrality, it turns out their all-white search engine isn’t the most energy efficient. In response to this, Heap Media, an Australian global online services company, launched Blackle – the black Google – as a more energy-efficient version of the white-colored Google that we all know and love. Blackle comes in response to a blog post in January written by Mark Ontkush, a frequent contributor to Treehugger, entitled “Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year.” The estimate is based on the difference in average watts it takes to display a white web page versus a black web page, essentially 74 to 59, and weighs it against how many times people “Google” something in a day (roughly 200 million hits).
We often get comments about how difficult it would be to live in some of the Prefab Friday homes that we have featured, and none have received more criticism than the Micro Compact Home (m-ch) which we recently featured in our Top 5 Tiniest Prefab Homes post. But the proof is in the pudding, and in 2006, the Technical University of Munich in Germany installed a small village of seven of these homes for six students and a professor to live in for a full year.
Via JetsonGreen
Ever imagine a building could be built from water? Brick, wood and steel are the materials one normally thinks of when it comes to creating buildings – hard substances that don’t flow, change or move over time. That’s why we are amazed by the creativity and ingenuity of some architects from MIT who designed a building which is composed in large part by water. Water makes up the walls and even the roof of this amazing new “Water Pavillion” from MIT.
(EPCOT agriculture intern shows off specially grown Mickey-shaped pumpkin)
Anyone who’s ever been to Florida has probably visited Walt Disney World, and if you have – you’ve hopefully visited EPCOT center, which is by far the most interesting part of the behemoth theme park that covers Orlando, FL. EPCOT stands for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” and was originally intended to be a futuristic model community based on utopian modernist ideas of communal living, no cars and no private ownership. Much of the design of the park is lifted straight from Buckminster Fuller’s ideas and drawings, including the massive geodesic sphere which now houses theme park rides. Sounds like it would be right up Inhabitat’s alley, right?
Volksware’s Meterware scrap tables bring new meaning to “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Not only do we love the endearing combination of mis-matched table parts, but we love the way in which the tables are produced and distributed: discarded tables are assembled as an infinitely long table, then on request, a piece of the table is sawed off to the customer’s desired length. It’s like Bounty’s ‘Select-A-Size’ paper towels- for furniture! Like Volksware’s clothing carpet, the tables are part of Volksware’s METERWARE Shop.
Next time you’re making a trip to the Salvation Army to donate those old clothes, consider Silke Wawro of Volksware’s alternative approach: her scrap clothing carpet is literally a fabric journal, made from “the cloth consumption of a persons’ lifetime.” The carpet is sold by the meter, off a roll, so you can order just enough and have cozy clothing keeping your toes warm in no time.
If you want to see a beautiful example of environmentally-minded public art, hoof it down to Arlington County in Virginia before September 1st. In this stunning public-art installation, five-hundred twenty-two solar-powered LEDs on rods, each topped with a reused plastic bottle, light up the Rosslyn traffic island between North Lynn Street and Ft. Myer Drive in Arlington County – looking a bit like luminescent reeds. This temporary environmental public artwork, aptly named CO2LED by artists Jack Sanders, Robert Gay and Butch Anthony, was designed with Arlington’s environmental initiative FreshAIRE (Arlington Initiative to Reduce Emissions) in mind.
Discovery’s new eco-lifestyle channel Planet Green is partnering with actor and avid environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio to help launch the channel early next year with a touching environmentally-friendly project. DiCaprio is set to executive produce “Eco-Town,” a 13-part reality series which will follow state and local officials in their quest to build an ecologically—and economically—sustainable town in Kansas, aptly named Greensburg.
There are very few LEED Platinum homes in the country, but Los Angeles seems to be amassing a small collection of homes which have received the coveted distinction of sustainable design. Following in the footsteps of Ray Kappe’s Living Homes design, Project7Ten is expected to receive its LEED Platinum rating upon completion in the fall. From FSC-certified lumber and locally-sourced interior materials to solar panels and greywater recycling, this gorgeous abode promises be quite the green machine.
In the future you might painting your home not with standard paint, but rather, with a nice coating of energy-generating solar cells. In one of the most interesting developments in solar panel technology so far, researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology, directed by Somenath Mitra, claim to have developed a way to create a solar cell that can be painted on flexible plastic sheets.
If you live in a large city, such as Sydney, New York, or Paris, odds are that you have faced the very serious problem of automotive congestion in the downtown areas. There are a few solutions that so far have been implemented to try and solve the problem, the most famous one is the one introduced in London, where one has to pay to bring in their vehicle to the downtown district. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried proposing a similar system for his city, only to find himself unable to bring it to fruition. Well, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe , has decided that another way to solve this problem is to provide to people access to cheap alternative, mass transportation, the Velib Bike System.
Designer Anne Salvatore Epstein cut her fashion teeth at well-known companies such as Marc Jacobs, IISLI and Elie Tahari, but it was her pregnancy that set her on a path towards starting her own line, Beau Soleil. She and her husband began an effort to simplify their “overly excessive” New York City lifestyle into one that is “Simple. Modern. Organic.” They moved into a green building, increased their trips to the green market, and made conscious everyday living decisions to do their part in saving the planet. It wasn’t long until this new mindset opened her eyes to how the manufacturing process of the fashion industry impacts the environment. Soon after she made the decision to strike out on her own with in order to design with the environment in mind. Beau Soleil uses fabric made out of bamboo, vegetable-dyed organic cottons and vintage, recycled leather trims.
One of the most eye-catching designs we spotted at ICFF this year was Mixko’s 100% wool felt butterfly lamps called “Delight”. Inspired by nature, these truly delightful lamps are soft, playful, beautiful, and sustainable to boot due to their smart and efficient use of felt. When lit, the cut-out butterfly silhouettes cast playful shadows on the walls and ceiling.
Continuing California’s quest to decrease dependence on fossil fuel-based power plants, the largest solar array farm in the world will be built in the Golden State, providing zero emission electricity to Central Valley residents.
Michelle Kauffman, prefab designer extraordinaire, is at it again. Her newest mkLotus design, a zero-energy prefab home with a long list of green features, will debut at next week’s West Coast Green conference in San Francisco with a full-sized showhouse for visitors to ooh-and-aah at to their hearts’ content. The mkLotus features a green roof, LED lighting, green building materials, and the same indoor/outdoor living integration featured in her Glidehouse and Sunset Breezehouse.
Singapore’s Housing and Development Board has unveiled designs for what will be the first eco-friendly residential project on the island. While this is not the greenest residential project we’ve seen to date, it is a step in the right direction, as over 80% of Singaporean households live in HDB apartments and they will soon have a more environmentally friendly living option. Treetops@Punggol embraces nature and utilizes green technologies including solar panels, roof gardens and grey water recycling systems for effective energy, water and waste management.
Merging green living, camping, and comfortable suburban residence, Frohn & Rojas’ Wall House in Santiago de Chile is a feat of both aesthetics and engineering. The small-scale home rejects traditional building approaches, providing an interesting take on the wall as a more qualitative and complex element, addressing our relationship with the outdoors, and inspiring social interactions within the home. Not to mention its super-cool and very high-tech “energy screen,” typically used in greenhouse construction, which yields diffused lighting and a regulated interior climate zone.
At the recent Postopolis event in NYC designers, architects, and bloggers came out to discuss issues surrounding architecture, urbanism, sustainability and a slew of other topics. If you were reading Inhabitat during this event, you might have recalled that Inhabitat’s founder Jill put together a panel discussion about sustainable design featuring Graham Hill of Treehugger, Susan Szenasy of Metropolis, and Allan Chochinov of Core77. You may also recall that we asked YOU – our readers - to submit questions and discussion ideas, which we used to shape the conversation. We finally got our video back and edited from the fascinating event, so check it out!
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all? Well, as far as mirrors go, Paul Loebach’s Mirror Mirror – which we spotted at this year’s HauteGREEN show – may very well take the cake. Its intricate design is gorgeous, but even better is its clever and uber-efficient use of wood, which produces two mirror frames in a single cut (one is the removed piece of the other).
Once again raising the bar on avant-garde green architectural icons in the furthest corners of the world, Sir Norman Foster has just revealed his designs for a new ecological tower in Khanty Mansyisk, Siberia. Similar to his entertainment center in Kazakhstan, the stunning tower will combine a cloud-piercing aesthetic with mixed-use functions and some of the most cutting-edge green building technologies.
Last week we brought you news of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the art aircraft designed to reduce the greenhouse emissions and provide more sustainable air travel. But there’s another green plane as well: Easyjet, the low cost short haul European airline, is coming out with it’s own fuel efficient airplane: The Ecojet.
We’ve seen wind turbines fit for backyards, balconies, even oceans- and now pioneering wind-power engineers are looking to take wind turbines to new heights—15,000-30,000 feet in the air! Harvesting just 1% of the energy from jet-stream winds could produce enough power for everybody on the planet. Sky WindPower and Magenn Power are just two of the companies in the race to develop flying generators for high-altitude winds.
Regular readers of Inhabitat will know that we don’t often get into our personal lives here on this site – but when sustainability news overlaps with family ties, we feel that its our duty to step up and announce to the world. On that note, I am very excited to announce that my sister Katie Fehrenbacher has just launched a new sustainable technology blog, called Earth2Tech, with GigaOm’s Om Malik. Katie has been blogging for GigaOm for the past year and decided that there was a need for a blog focused on the intersections between the tech industry, the business of green, and startups that will use technology and innovation to combat climate change.
As solar panels and wind turbines become more and more commonplace in homes, it appears that green energy is finally moving into mainstream. But lest you fear that solar power is becoming too played out, there are still plenty of TRULY ALTERNATIVE energy sources to out there to sink your trendspotting teeth into. From kinetic energy to sound-power and even natural waste (yes, poo), there are more and more creative, weird, and super-promising ways to deliver all the power you need from renewable energy sources all around us. Here are our top 5 Really Alternative Energy Sources…..
Since the hottest months of the year are also the sunniest – the idea of using solar energy to power your air-conditioner makes perfect sense. In fact we’re frankly amazed that its taken so long to develop such an obviously good idea: SolCool’s super smart Millennia air-conditioner uses solar power to cool you down during the height of summer steaminess – cleverly making use of the summer heat instead of blindly fighting it. In fact, Inhabitat HQ could really use one of these right about now…
Designer Jenny Hwa began Loyale with a small yoga collection. Luckily for eco-fashion, she has branched out and grown her collection to include easy-wearing separates and breezy summer dresses. Made in the U.S. from sustainably sourced materials, such as bamboo and organic cotton, Loyale fits the bill this summer for your trip to the beach, backyard bbq, or slip on the slinky full-length Calexico dress for a more sophisticated approach to a warm evening outing.
Green is glamour for Sarah Hood, whose jewelry “is a constant exploration of the natural world. I hope to showcase the ordinary in extraordinary ways.” Her Organic line of necklaces and rings does just this, transforming the ordinary leaf, seedling, or acorn into an eye-catching piece of living adornment. The Seattle-based jewelry designer collects organic forms that interest her in their form, color, or texture, and turns them into unique pieces of art/jewelry that are fit for a (green) queen.
For all you graphically-minded designers out there, here’s your chance to shine: DesignBoom recently announced its latest design competition, Love Your Earth, which asks graphic designers to create a graphic artwork to raise awareness on global issues affecting the planet. The deadline is September 8, 2007, three winners will be awarded cash prizes, and a shortlist of honorable mentions will be featured at 100% Design Tokyo this fall. Check out DesignBoom for all the details and put those graphic design caps on!
The Clean Hub, “a new prototype for sustainable infrastructure” conceived by Shelter Architecture in collaboration with Architecture for Humanity, and designed and built by architecture students from the University of Minnesota, is a breath of fresh air in an often-luxury prefab world. One of the finalists in American Express’ Members Project (vote for the Clean Hub here!), the freestanding module delivers completely off-the-grid infrastructure, from clean water and sanitation to renewable power to disaster areas or rural locations without access to such resources.
LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!
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