We spotted this fancy multi-tasking toilet/sink by Roca at the London Design Festival. It’s obviously compact and perfect for any loft space or small apartment, and its sleek design houses a nifty self-contained greywater system that is capable of reducing water use by up to 25% compared to a standard 6/3-litre dual flush toilet. It’s a much trendier and elegant solution to existing sink to toilet greywater systems, and we’re excited that high design has embraced waste-water management.
Imagine a design exhibit design that’s completely recyclable. Transpose that vision to a set of artfully-arranged cardboard structures framing a large warehouse space, in a sunwashed wharf in glimmering Copenhagen. And that’d be ShowHow, one of the most genuinely sustainable of the many exhibits on display for Copenhagen Design Week.
Oregon-based Studio Gorm has created a complete kitchen in which energy is conserved and cooking waste is recycled and used to grow plants. Dubbed the flow kitchen, the design successfully integrates nature and technology into a system where drying dishes helps water plants and composting food waste helps to fertilize them.
Atmospheric Water Systems of San Luis Obispo has released their Dewpointe® Atmospheric Generator, a device that taps humidity in the air to provide a steady source of clean drinking water. The unit is about the same size as a standard water cooler (44.5″ tall), has on-demand hot water, is CE and WQA certified, runs quietly, and is capable of producing enough drinking water for an entire household even in desert climates (maybe)!
Xeros Ltd. is on the verge of saving us a LOT of water. Their new washing system (prototype stage) uses nylon beads to tumble wash clothes with 90% less water than conventional washers. The machine also uses significantly less detergent and eliminates the need for tumble drying. They claim that if all the homes in the US switched to their system, the carbon offset would be like taking 5 million cars off the road and it would save 1.2 billion tons of water per year – the equivalent of 17 million swimming pools. Dang!
Think humankind discovering fire was revolutionary? How about a cardboard box that uses the sun’s rays to cook without burning firewood? That’s precisely what the Kyoto Box, a cardboard solar cooker, can do. Made out of basic, 5th-grade-science-experiment type materials, the Kyoto box solar cooker offers a life-altering solution for thousands of people: the ability to cook and heat water without burning wood. So how does it work? Inventor John Bohmer says the box uses “the greenhouse effect for something good.”
Soil naturally contains energy conducive metals like zinc, copper and iron, and microbial fuel cells (sometimes referred to as an earth batteries) are capable of converting electrolytes in soil into usable energy. Dutch designer Marieke Strap’s Soil Lamp uses conductive plates made from copper and zinc buried within the soil to provide constant and (nearly) eternal light for an LED bulb. Maintaining a Soil Lamp is as simple as watering a plant – just feed it a splash of water every now and then to keep the energy flowing.
Household cleaning is a murky area for consumers who want to be environmentally conscious. Of course we can assume that reusing cloth rags for cleaning is greener than buying paper towels, but household cleaners are not required to list their ingredients under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act – so they don’t. And even if they did, who knows by heart which chemicals are materially damaging? Maid Brigade is a green cleaning service that has adopted a green cleaning protocol at all of its 400+ locations that includes product scrutiny and staff training to make the service “as green as possible in today’s world”. Recently we caught up with Cloud Conrad, vice president of brand strategies to see if Maid Brigade’s green standards are as high as yours.
HP has rolled out a system that identifies eco-friendly features of its products to customers. It’s called the Eco Highlights label, and it provides quick facts about the product that may or may not convince the customer that it’s environmentally friendly. But as a company inextricably tied to the paper industry, how can HP promote sustainable consumption? We caught up with Michelle Price, HP’s worldwide environmental strategic marketing manager, to ask her a few questions about HP’s latest green initiatives.
Thinking about making some energy-saving upgrades to your house? An EnergyStar washer perhaps? If so, you might want to consider making that purchase before the end of the year. Come December 31st, you will no longer be able to receive the $500 credit from the US Government for purchases on high-efficiency furnaces, water heaters, windows and insulation.
The UK’s first fully dimmable energy efficient light bulb was launched today, as part of a Greenpeace initiative at 100% Design London. Greenpeace commissioned top designer Jason Bruges to create an interactive garden of light, which responds to human movement through “touch pads” dotted around the installation. This is the first lighting project of its kind in the world to use fully dimmable, compact fluorescent bulbs.
Yesterday evening saw the final day of Tom Dixon’s low-energy light installation, in London’s Trafalgar Square, and the day ended with a bang when the designer gave away 1000 of his eco GLOWB lights to 1000 lucky Londoners. The whole London Inhabitat team was there (and 8th in line to score a GLOWB!) for the 5pm light-giveaway. Powered by a renewable energy source the lights have been lit for 3 hours per day from 7pm – 10pm Monday and Tuesday, and yesterday Wednesday 19th from 5pm – 10pm. See more photo’s from The Great Light Giveaway!! over on Flickr.
Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark have invented a new method of magnetic cooling technology that brings a whole new meeting to refrigerator magnets. Scientists have been able to drop the temperature of a room from 20° C to 11° C by taking the heat energy from opposing magnetic fields and thermodynamically reversing it to a cooler temperature. DTU researchers will use this technology to create a prototype refrigerator that cools itself using only magnets. According to research from Risø National Laboratory, magnetic refrigerators would be silent and their cooling cycles could be up to 60% more efficient than traditional refrigerators!
Overall, coffee machines and espresso makers are not the greatest energy drains on our monthly electric bill, so the green options are more subtle and complex than choosing a washer/dryer or refrigerator. For larger, energy-consuming devices, the EPA provides the Energy Star system and manufacturers themselves provide detailed specifications and product back-story to explain efficiency enhancements in design. Coffee makers are not evaluated by Energy Star, nor by Consumer Report’s Greener Options website. Additionally, there are few companies that promote the eco-impact of their coffee making machines.
The dishwasher is a modern convenience that saves us hours of cleaning and drying time, not to mention pruny dishpan hands. But is the dishwasher an extravagance in our eco-conscious age? You might be surprised! The answer is no – and that’s a win-win for those who believe that technology can lead to a greener, more prosperous future.
While the concept of dry-cleaning isn’t foreign, a waterless (and detergentless!) home washing machine sure sounds too good to be true for the green-minded consumer. Enter Airwash, the “waterless washing machine for the home of 2020,” one of the winners of the recent INDEX Awards: Design To Improve Life Competition. Innovative in both form and function, the design was submitted by two students from Singapore, Gabriel Tan & Wendy Chua, after it won the prestigious ElectroLux Design Lab Award back in 2005. Using negative ions, compressed air and deodorants to clean clothes, the gracefully shaped and eco-friendly appliances will have your whites whiter and colors brighter in a matter of minutes.
Turns out riding a bike can have more benefits than simply exercise or green-transportation… these days your pedal power can provide juice for your cell phone, the TV at your gym, and now even your washing machine. Pedal your way to cleaner clothes – and save energy and get fit in the process!
We’ve enjoyed covering the surging interest in eco-fashion at Inhabitat – particularly new designers experimenting with bio-based materials and organic sources, produced with green and socially conscious methods. But the next time you covet the latest NaturevsFuture corn-based dress or Linda Loudermilk bamboo and silk trousers, consider this: the majority of a garment’s ecological impact occurs during the washing phase. So with that in mind, this week’s installment of our Green Your Appliances series focuses on your washer and dryer.
This summer with our new special series we’ll be investigating four different home appliances to learn about efficient energy use, green design, and eco-friendly choices. First stop on our green appliances tour: the refrigerator.
Despite the convenience that home appliances provide (like not having to handwash dishes or laundry), your favorite electronic household helpers are actually one of the largest energy-suckers in your home. Not including heating and cooling (which comprises a whopping 44% of residential energy expenditures), household appliances account for approximately 30% OF AN AVERAGE HOME’S ENERGY USE.
So with those staggering statistics in mind, Inhabitat is pleased to bring you a new summer series called Green Your Appliances, starting next Wednesday, August 15th, sponsored by green-minded appliance manufacturer Bosch.
LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!
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