Earlier this year Inhabitat’s Emily Pilloton highlighted the insightful video ‘The Secret Life of Cell Phones’ produced by environmental nonprofit INFORM, Inc. Now we are pleased to announce the launch of their latest video, The Secret Life of Paper. It explores the environmental impact of the paper production industry, focusing upon forest destruction, global warming, and the complexities of paper recycling.
Ever wished you could charge your cell phones and laptop on the go - in your car, on a train, or just walking around? There are many new gadgets for mobile renewable energy: from solar gadget chargers, to kinetic energy chargers, to mini portable wind turbines. Check out this video to learn a bit more about some of the companies behind the most future-forward new mobile renewable energy devices.
Mary Lou Jepsen’s keynote presentation of One Laptop Per Child at our Greener Gadgets conference was without a doubt one of the highlights of the event.
“By trying to do the right thing and by designing for the poorest people in the world, we’ve made the greenest laptop in the world. And that’s not just the color!”
The OLPC laptop, known as XO or the $100 laptop, is a feat of energy efficient engineering, consuming just 2W of energy - whick makes it able to be powered through solar cells or hand cranks. In the video above, Mary Lou illustrates how the XO laptop is a new model for energy-efficient electronics, and inspiration to look at new ways of powering our devices.
Despite it’s suspicious name, the Hymini really has nothing to do female naughty bits! Instead it is an extremely promising new portable wind charger. One of the biggest crowd-pleasers at our Greener Gadgets conference last month, we love this cute little portable renewable energy gadget and think you will too. Check out this video from Treehugger on the HYmini. We’ve covered the HYmini before here, but learning about the fab little device at Greener Gadges only made us love them more! Thanks to George Spyros for the video.
+ HYmini
+ Greener Gadgets
+ Inhabitat Greener Gadgets Event Coverage
GREEN DEETS 013 Greener Gadgets Wrap from George Spyros on Vimeo
Since we’re on a video rampage today, we’d love to point you to a fabulous video of our Greener Gadgets Conference that we just spotted over at Treehugger. Check it out above, and pop over to Treehugger to read the full write-up >
+ Treehugger Greener Gadgets Video
Thanks George for your slick editing and deft cover up of how exhausted and fried we were when we shot this!
Following his inspiring keynote at the first ever Greener Gadgets Conference, we were lucky enough to sit down one-on-one with photographic artist Chris Jordan to talk about his work, e-waste, and the future of mass consumer culture. In his conversation here with Jill Fehrenbacher, Chris talks about whether or not we will be able to stem the growing tide of consumerism, and the issues of collective versus individual responsibility for environmental problems. Hear Chris Jordan’s provocative thoughts in this great interview video.
We have a ton of other great Greener Gadgets videos as well, including Opening Remarks, the Greener Gadgets Competition winner selection, and Chris Jordan’s Keynote. And more to come!
Our recent Greener Gadgets Conference featured speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Not only did we invite inventors, engineers, and representatives from the world’s biggest consumer electronics manufacturers, but we also made a conscious decision to spice up the Greener Gadgets dialog with artists, educators and environmental advocates. Nowhere was this diversity better represented than in the Greener Gadgets opening keynote presentation from environmental artist Chris Jordan, whose presentation you can watch in the video above.
Although our short video sadly doesn’t do justice to Jordan’s massive, mind-boggling photographs, (which take up entire walls in galleries), the video provides insight into the vision behind the art, and the innovative method Jordan uses to visualize statistics as fine art. Watch the full-length version of Chris Jordan’s inspiring keynote here, and be sure to check out our other Greener Gadgets videos as well >
(New videos are being added daily).
Drumroll please…. Many of you have been asking for videos of the groundbreaking Greener Gadget Conference - which was held last week in New York City - and here they come! We’ve got a bunch of interesting video shorts coming down the pipeline, and the very first one we have for you (to whet your appetite for the most exciting stuff) is our overview and introduction to the Greener Gadgets Event.
Stay tuned for the highly entertaining Design Competition video coming in a couple hours, and the rest of the videos (Chris Jordan, Mary Lou Jepsen), coming next week.
You can download a podcast of this video here >
(or here if you don’t have iTunes)
Check out our latest video interview of Miami architect Chad Oppenheim, designer of the stunning green COR Tower for Miami. In this video he discusses Miami as a booming real estate and construction economy, and his take on sustainability as a factor in that growth. And of course, details on his futuristic-looking Cor Tower, which we can’t wait to see completed.
Video by Scribemedia
READ MORE >
With our Greener Gadgets Conference a few weeks away, and CES launching today, we thought it fitting to (re)show this great video about the One Laptop Per Child/XO Laptop. Check out the latest video interview from Scribemedia of designer Yves Behar talking about the design. Also known as the $100 laptop, the cute and socially innovative computer will be one of the topics of discussion at our upcoming Greener Gadgets conference.
+ Video by Alexandra of Scribemedia
Anyone who reads Inhabitat with regularity knows we love shipping-container architecture, and are big fans of the creative NYC architecture firm Lot-ek. We’ve raved about their Recycled Airplane Library and prefab homes made from reclaimed shipping containers. If you are curious to see the faces behind this brilliant work, check out this fabulous presentation given by the iconoclastic Italian design duo at the recent Postopolis event in NYC.
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!
A few weeks ago, Inhabitat put together an event about recycling and reuse in design, called Reclaiming Design. This event at HauteGREEN in New York was a big success, thanks to the thought-provoking design and insightful discussion from Dwell Editor-in-Chief Sam Grawe and designers Carlos Salgado of Scrapile, Tejo Remy of Droog fame, and Matt Gagnon. Our conversation touched on a variety of issues surrounding the concepts and processes behind using reclaimed materials in different scales of design, and its implications for both environmental sustainability as well as more conceptual and cultural themes.
For those of you who are really into this stuff, the full-length video of the entire discussion can be found here >
READ MORE >
Tom Dixon, design pioneer and all around renaissance man, was one of the big hits of the recent HauteGREEN festivities, where he spoke about issues, concerns and contradictions in sustainable design, including materials, production, recycling and economics. Thanks to the video producers of Scribemedia, we have a great video of his conversation with design journalist Julie Taraska, in which he discusses his own work, sustainability, and his brilliant new Second Cycle initiative for Artek.
This video is just a quick snapshot of his thought-provoking talk. For those of you who are interested, watch the entire, unabridged version here at Scribemedia >
This isn’t a new idea by any means: we’ve showed you expandable honeycomb folding chairs before from Molo and Charles Kaisin Design. However, the joy of watching this video makes us realize that it takes motion picture to really express the beauty of this great design idea - photos just don’t do justice. The panache with which this dude unfolds and refolds the chair in the video (plus the funny canned “oohs and aaahs” of kids in the background) make this particular foldable honeycomb chair very appealing. You must watch the video!
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.
At the recent Dwell On Design conference in Palm Springs, I had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with Leo Marmol of Marmol Radziner about prefab architecture and sustainability. I asked him about his trajectory as a designer, and what opportunities he sees for prefab to have a larger impact on a wider, more affordable market. His response was thoughtful and optimistic, and provided some great insight into the mind of a forward-thinking and increasingly green designer.
Click on the image above to watch the interview or read below for the full interview transcription.
We love the work of Jennifer Siegal’s Office of Mobile Design, and at this past weekend’s Dwell On Design conference in Palm Springs, I had the opportunity to talk to her in person about green architecture and her prefab designs. The recent completion of her ShowHouse serves as a great example of efficiently and effectively executed prefab construction combined with a seamless integration of green materials and technologies.
Watch the video here or read on for the interview transcription.
We love treehouses here at Inhabitat, and are enamored with eco-architect Mitchell Joachim’s visionary ideas about how to grow living treehouses from ficus molded around frame structures. We’ve covered these brilliantly playful architectural ideas before on Inhabitat, but now we have a video from Mitchell Joachim explaining the details of how they work. Joachim does much better justice to his future-forward ecological designs than we are able to do in a mere post, so if you have any interest in living treehouses (and we know you do), check out this fascinating video above.
And if you enjoy this 5 minute and want to see more, check out the full-length video of TeReForm’s many cool projects, over at ScribeMedia >
Our last Prefab Friday article featured Michelle Kaufmann’s latest design, the mkSolaire. That same day, I had a chance to sit down with her at West Coast Green and ask her about her innovative green, modern, modular housing. Michelle has a very deep knowledge of the principles and practices that underlie the green building revolution, and a profound commitment to making green living accessible.
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