We love seeing eco-upgrades that increase the efficiency of existing vehicles, but a select few are taking their customization to a whole other level. These cars and trucks may have slick paint jobs and fancy rims, but they also have some experimental features that are a far cry from your typical hybrid or biodiesel. Read on for our list of the Top 5 Pimped Out Eco Rides, featuring the most incredible souped-up vehicles that serve to promote alternative fuels!

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Post tags: biodiesel, car, conversion, eco ride, green design, Green Transportation, pimped, retrofit, suped up, sustainable design

There has been a lot of talk about green jobs, but if becoming the next in line for the desk of the Green Czar in the Whitehouse is a bit too constraining for you, then maybe a hands-on eco career is a better option.  As a part of the recovery stimulus package, $60 billion dollars has been earmarked for creating green jobs. In addition, reports have also shown that future changes in federal regulations, such as the initiative to decrease our energy usage 25% by 2025, will create hundred of thousands of jobs. This all sounds great, but what if you are not the type who enjoys office work? If you dread the thought of jammed copiers, computer malfunctions, and wearing ironed slacks, you will want to take note of our Top 5 Coolest Green Jobs that are NOT Desk Jobs.

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Post tags: career, green careers, green collar, green economy, jobs, top 5, top 5 green jobs

The concept of harvesting energy from river waves to power New York City just got more enticing. Earlier this year we brought you GRO Architects notable concept, which stood out among the entries for Metropolis Magazine’s 2009 Next Generation Design Competition. Brian Novello, one of the partners in the project, also has a beautiful design to expand these modular docking stations in energy-collecting floating houses, and it looks so cool that we had to spread the news.

Read the rest of Flood Harvesting Housing Brings Tidal Power to New York City

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Post tags: Architecture, brian novello, concept, flood harvesting, GRO architects, hydropower, new york city, Next Generation 2009, richard garber, river turbine

If the Cash for Clunkers incentive wasn’t enough to curb your unsettled feeling about owning a new gas guzzler, you might want to start saving for one of these truly awesome air-powered eco-rides. Sometimes called PHEV (pneumatic-hybrid electric vehicle), these cars are most typically powered by a compressed air engine combined with an electric motor. The engines are similar to steam engines as they use the expansion of externally supplied pressurized gas to perform work against a piston. Don’t settle on a fuel/electric hybrid or a biofuel burning vehicle before you take a look at our list of top 5 air powered vehicles that will soon be available in the United States.

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Post tags: air car, air powered, aircar collage, automotives, clean, concept cars, electric hybrid, fuel-less, phev, pneumatic, Technology, united states production, vehicle, zero-emissions

Awe-inspiring design may not grow on trees, but it sure can dress up walls! Last year, architecture and product design group Nendo Studio completed the renovation of this gorgeous Moss House private residence in the Ebisu area of Tokyo, Japan. Taking inspiration from the plant life that scales the walls lining the nearby Shibuya River, the Nendo designers used dried moss to cover the interior walls with vine-like patterns. This custom wall treatment has a vivid color, a rich textural quality, and gives the starck white corridors a sense that the are alive.

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Post tags: artistic installation, ebisu japan, green Interiors, moss house, natural pattern, Nendo, Shibuya River, wallpaper

Online auctions are an easy way to browse for a dream residence without the use of your four-wheel gas guzzler, but the recent sale of a particular mobile home is far from your ordinary listing. A lucky Australian bidder just won the ownership of a portable, yet grandiose, “log” cabin – literally made to emulate an enormous log. The auction winner paid AU$14,000 (just over 12k USD) for what is essentially a trailer measuring just over 42 feet in length that provides over 450sq ft of living space. The auction listing explains that the log is mobile – sitting on a truck bed equipped with wheels and brakes for easy towing – but that left us wondering about the unit’s green credentials, and exactly where did a huge log on wheels come from in the first place?

Read the rest of Mobile Treehouse: Log Cabin on Wheels Sells for $12K on eBay

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Post tags: Architecture, australia, building materials, is it green, log cabin, mobile home, online auction, tasmania, tree house

Wow those around you by transforming any old household object into a lamp with this “LED Pin” by Korean designer Sungho Lee. To create this subtle, yet awe-inspiring illuminating accent Lee stylized and whitewashed the form of a traditional clothespin. The refreshing take on a familiar design successfully turns the object’s dollar-store stigma into a museum store find, but it’s the techy twist that makes it even more notable.

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Post tags: clothes pin, DIY, Green Lighting, illuminate, Korean Design, led light, repurpose

You don’t often hear about a wall being an object of desire, but that is exactly what Gitta Gschwendtner’s Animal Wall is for residents of all species in Cardiff Bay, UK. This 50-meter wall includes 1000 houses for birds and bats, and also acts as a textural and geometric sculptural divider between a residential development and a river front. Commissioned by Charles Church Developments, the wall took two-and-a-half years to construct, which is the same length of time it took to complete the housing that the wall shields.

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Post tags: achitecture, animal wall, bats, birds, ecological, habitat, riverfront, UK design, woodcrete

At first listen, it sounds like something that would go against the core beliefs of any eco-expert, but recent research shows that air polluted skies are helping plants to reduce global warming. A study from 1960 to 1999, led by Dr. Lina Mercado from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, was published earlier this year in the Nature scientific journal reporting that plants stored 23.7 percent more CO2—the leading greenhouse gas causing climate change—thanks to more efficient photosynthesis in plants shaded by smog. Does this mean that burning fossil fuels might actually be the solution to cooling the earth?

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Post tags: air pollution, Climate Change, CO2 emissions, global dimming, haze, photosynthesis, plants, reasearch, smog, study

Inspiration for this rant landed on doorsteps in my area a few weeks ago, and has been sitting there, becoming increasingly soggy and unsightly ever since. Digging around the internet I found that many other people are also upset about the massive yellow and white phone books forced upon them. Some areas even have four or five phone directory companies distributing books to each residence! Maybe the contract companies hired to drop off the books do not have the resources to consider individual addresses in metropolitan areas like Philadelphia, where I reside, but the litter created globally by the mass amounts of unwanted phone books seems inexcusable. Wanting to know who I could point a finger at, I set out to find the root cause of the issue.

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Post tags: book, directory, litter, phone, phonebook, superpages, trash, Waste, whitepages, yellowpages

This modular, mobile Snuggles hotel allows you to shack up in pods for an artsy camping experience not dissimilar to staying in oversized hamster cage tunnels. The project crosses the boundaries of temporary architecture and public art with its linkable framework, configurable platforms, and waterproof textile coverings. Able to be set up on a beach, in the forest, or in an urban environment, Snuggles offers a fun experience that’s on par with even the trendiest hostels.

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Post tags: Architecture, berlin, concept, Eco Textiles, german, hotel, mobile, modular, public art, raumlabor, snuggles, Urbanism, vertical living

Skateboards these days are amazing examples of graphic design, and some are practically objets d’art – what a shame that they should to go to a landfill after the boards have lost their pop! Thankfully, Pennsylvania-based Deckstools is here to keep art from the trash heap and to add style to your pad with their striking line of furniture made from reclaimed skateboards.

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Post tags: Art, craft, deckstool, green furniture, jason podlaski, philadelphia, reclaimed wood, repurposed, skateboard, skateboarding, skating, stool

Dutch artist Geke Wouters has created a stunning collection of paper-thin bowls made from carrots, peppers, beet root, leeks, tomatoes, and other vegetables. Each delicate piece of edible art is made using a proprietary drying and forming process that converts organic materials into the paper thin layers, giving you the sense of a microscopic view into their intricate cellular structure. True to their natural materials, no two of these vegetable bowls are exactly alike.

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Post tags: Art, Biodegradable, bowls, dried, dutch design, edible, geke Wouters, Green Materials, mossi, Netherlands, vegetables

Not since the advent of the tin can telephone have we seen such an ingenious use for cast-off cans! Designer and recent graduate of Northumbria University Jack Bresnahan has created a set of nine lids that will turn any ordinary can into an industrial-chic container that looks like it came from a museum store. Made from biodegradable plastic, the sterile-looking white lids will transform a can into a vase, soap dispenser, sugar caster, tea and coffee canisters, toothbrush holder, money box, or desk organizer.

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Post tags: Bresnahan, can, container, graduate student, industrial, ingenuity, lids, New designers 2009, recyclable, repurposed, tin can

Although they may hold nostalgic value for some, cassette tapes are bulky, have poor sound quality, lack large format album artwork, and a stacked up collection of them just doesn’t have the je ne sais quoi as a crate full of vinyl. To keep this 80’s technology out of the landfill, ooomydesign has used old cassette tapes to create a series of gorgeous glowing lamps.

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Post tags: cassette tape lamp, Green Lighting, music media, ooomydesign, retro, upcycling, vintage