For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jason Sahler, and for the last year and half I have been behind the scenes of Inhabitat making sure it runs as smoothly as possible. Now the time has come for me to say farewell and I wanted to thank Jill, the Inhabitat team and YOU, the readers who make Inhabitat the awesome website that it is today. It has been a truly remarkable experience and I have learned so much from Jill on green design and how to run a website, as well as the passion that the design community has for smart, sustainable design. I will not forget all this and will bring everything I have learned with me as I move onto my next adventure, SustainaBrew.

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Post tags: Green Beer, jason sahler, Sustainable beer, sustainable design, Sustainabrew, The Sustainable Side of Beer

Its never to early to get your kids thinking about where their food comes from, and you can do just that with these cute and cuddly soft food toys from our favorite organic textile company, Looolo. Whether playing with “organic” hamburgers, PB&J sandwiches, or bagels and lox, these soft toys will give your kids a chance to learn about eating sustainably while playing restaurateur!

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Scientists at Genomatica Inc. recently announced that they have developed strains of bacteria that are able to produce plastic without the use of oil or natural gas. The sustainable process utilizes little more than sugar and water to produce butanediol (BDO), which can be manufactured into everything from plastics and fibers to pharmaceuticals. Genomatica estimates that within a year the energy-efficient process will cost less than current hydrocarbon-based processes – a revolutionary development since close to 3 billion pounds of BDO manufactured each year.

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Post tags: bacteria plastic manufacturing, BDO, bio-manufacturing, butanediol, carbon-free plastic, e coli genetic engineering, genetic engineering, Genomatica, genomatica inc, plastic producing bacteria, plastic producing e coli

The Solar Stik™ is a small-scale energy generator that is capable of providing clean, green energy wherever it is needed most. The versatile system takes advantage of both solar and wind turbine technology and is quick to set up, making it perfect for applications ranging from boating and recreation to providing emergency relief and humanitarian aid.


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Post tags: "sustainable energy", alternative energy generator, emergency generator, portable solar generator, renewable energy, solar generator, solar panels, solar stik, wind turbine generator

Ah, science – constantly trying to make the world a better place. Although air quality may not be first and foremost on your mind when there are bombs going off, you’ll be glad to know that scientists are striving for “greener explosives“. Failing to see the inherent irony in an “environmentally friendly” unit of destruction, scientists have gone and developed safer explosives by adding “unique green solvents” and improving the quality and purity of their materials. The resulting explosions may be more stable and precise, but can we really call them “green“?


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Post tags: clean explosives, green bomb, green explosives, Green Rant, Greenwashing

Ahh, the art of camouflage. As technology becomes ever more ubiquitous in our lives we have begun to try and hide it, and blend it in with our surroundings (perhaps you have seen those cell towers that pose as trees). Well now the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Mitsubishi Corp and Tokki Corp have developed an organic thin film solar cell that takes the shape of a common leaf.


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Post tags: AIST Mitsubishi Tokki, alternative energy, leaves, photovoltaic plant, plant camouflage, renewable energy, solar plant, Solar Power, solar thin film

Whereas standard maps offer an approachable means of visualizing the world, Worldmapper’s striking cartograms work the other way, de-stabilizing the earth as we know it while focusing upon some of the planet’s most vital topics. From population density to oil consumption and CO2 levels, these radically redefined maps incorporate data and figures to create a shifting series of unfamiliar landscapes that form excellent visual metaphors of their content.


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Post tags: earth, globe, green graphic design, map, planet, visualization, world visualization, worldmapper cartograms

As students return to campuses across the country for the start of another semester, colleges are starting to showcase some serious strides in sustainability. Some are investing in wind power and other alternative energies to help lower their carbon footprint, while others are endeavoring to green their facilities. Penn State is leading the charge with its gorgeous LEED Gold Stuckeman School of Architecture.

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Green Building, LEED gold, penn state school of architecture, pennsylvania state university, rainwater recycling, stuckeman family building

It’s been an exciting month as we’ve seen green transportation records set on the ground and in the sky, so naturally we are taking the next step and bringing you to the sea with the Earthrace, a 78 ft tri-hull “wavepiercer”. The biodiesel boat recently completed a carbon-neutral tour of the globe in an incredible 60 days and 23 hours, besting the previous world record by 14 days!

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Post tags: bio-diesel boat, carbon-neutral, earthrace, green transportation, peter bethune, record breaking, world record

Nine years ago on March 20th 1999, Bob Schumacher set the wind powered land-speed record in a boat called the Iron Duck, “sailing” at blistering pace of 116.7 mph. Now, since records are meant to be broken, two men are vying to beat that world record. Eco-entrepreneur Dale Vince of Ecotricity and engineer Richard Jenkins are setting up on the salt flats at Lake LeFroy in Western Australia, hoping to catch the right breeze and make history in their sleek wind-powered vehicle, the Greenbird.

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Post tags: alternative energy, bob schumacher, ecotricity, energy efficient vehicle, greenbird, land-speed record, richard jenkins, wind-powered vehicle, world record

We often cover alternative cars and other vehicles for Transportation Tuesday, and while they are making advances for their respective industries, they still require some type of fuel and are resource intensive in their production, which brings their sustainability into question. So when we can feature a truly sustainable transportation alternative, we jump at the chance. Enter the Dry Leaf skateboard by Lets Evo, a sweet eco-ride that is almost entirely constructed from sustainable materials and socially responsible labor practices.

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Post tags: Dry_leaf_full, eco skate, eco skateboard

Earlier this summer we introduced you to Freegreen and their efforts to bring green prefab design to the masses. Recently Lloyd Alter from treehugger conducted an excellent interview with David Wax from Freegreen and architect Greg La Vardera whose smart modern home designs can be found on Houseplans.com. Lloyd looks at the issues facing consumers who decided to go the prefab route, exploring the different approaches to design taken by David and Greg. The interview elicits some great responses from each participant, and sums up what their respective design paths mean for consumers. Head on over to treehugger to check it out!

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Post tags: Ben Uyeda FreeGreen, Cornell University solar decathlon, Cornell University zero-energy home, custom designed green homes, Dave Wax FreeGreen, Dave Wax Independent Energy Homes, free green home designs, FreeGreen green homes, FreeGreen Suburban Loft

One of the many barriers that impedes us from living a greener life at home is the lack of any simple and reliable way to gauge how much energy we are consuming. We can turn off our lights and computers, but we are still kept in the dark as to our true levels of our consumption. As price and demand for energy continue to climb, it becomes that much more important to have access to vital information about our energy use, which is exactly what the EnergyHub hopes to provide.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", energy gadgets, energyhub, green gadgets

When it comes to striking good looks and serious sex appeal, many eco-friendly cars end up short. Not so with Ronn Motor’s first production vehicle, the Scorpion. Featuring streamlined curves backed by a hydrogen fuel injection system, this powerhouse convertible boasts an emission-free top speed of over 200 mph!


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Post tags: alternative energy vehicle, eco-friendly car, green car, Green Transportation, hydrogen car, scorpion

Carbon sequestration has been a hot topic lately, with various methods being proposed to help cut down on the amount of greenhouse gases spewed into our skies. Many past solutions have focused on capturing CO2 and simply storing it away – an out-of-sight, out-of-mind answer to a much more difficult question. Now California-based Calera has found an constructive use for waste carbon – transform it into usable concrete!


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Post tags: calcium, calera, carbon sequestration, cement, CO2, concrete, magnesium, moss landing, Renewable Energy