Industrial design lab GR recently launched a clever new product called the ‘Aqua Jar’ that transforms any plastic bottle into an easy-pour pitcher. Formed from biodegradable and recyclable plastic, the attachment perfectly fits the universal coil of any plastic bottle, creating an attractive and sturdy mount allowing for water to be served anywhere with ease. Available in orange, graphite and frost, the Aqua Jar for Balvi was launched as part of the ZOCO exhibit at last month’s Valencia Design Week. Now if only they could come up with something for the orange juice carton!

+ GR Lab

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Post tags: aqua jar for balvi, gr, green design, Recycled Materials, Recycled Water bottles, sustainable design, valencia design week, water bottle pitcher

Practically every household in America has its own tool set, drill, and ladder… but why? Most people don’t use these things on a daily basis, and due to their hardworking heritage these items tend to last forever; when’s the last time you wore out a hammer? Enter NeighborGoods, a service that seeks to cut down on redundant consumption and save households the cost of buying their own toolshed by enabling networks of borrowers. Perfect for those times when you need a drill for a day, or a saw for a few hours — plus you’ll actually have a chance to meet your neighbors and benefit your community. NeighborGoods was recently launched publicly in Los Angeles, and we hope to see borrowing hubs popping up everywhere in the months to come.

+ NeighborGoods

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Post tags: borrowing service, community, green design, lending, neighborgoods, social networking, sustainable design

What if you could design your own lighting fixture in the time that it takes to unscrew a light bulb? That’s the premise behind Daniel Becker’s Spark system, a series of energy-efficient LED bulbs that can be linked together to form beautiful light sculptures.

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Post tags: daniel becker, energy efficient lighting, green design, Interiors, LED lights, Products, sparks, sustainable design

An abandoned bowling alley finds a second life in this beautiful series of furniture by LA-based designer/woodworker William Stranger. Crafted from reclaimed strips of wood salvaged from a local defunct Tava Lanes Bowling alley, the collection springs to life in a variety of forms including a series of wall hangings and a low coffee table.

Read the rest of Recycled Bowling Lane Furniture is Right up Our Alley

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Post tags: Bowling Alley, Furniture, green design, Interiors, reclaimed furniture, Recycled Materials, second life, sustainable design, William Stranger

A lot of us can recall spending hours upon hours of stacking colorful Legos into shapes and sizes that tickled our imagination as children. While some of us outgrew that phase, thankfully some of us didn’t forget the charm of the little Lego man’s smile or the amazingness contained within every little block. As Parisian designers Simon Pillard and Philippe Rosetti have proved with their chromatic Munchausen Lego Kitchen: you’re never to old to play with Legos!

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Post tags: diy design, green design, Interiors, Kitchen, lego kitchen, Munchausen Lego Kitchen Simon Pillard and Philippe Rosetti, Recycled Materials, Renovation, sustainable design

If you’re like the rest of us, you’ve got a pile of chargers left over from retired cell phones. You can’t use them with your new phone, but finding an innovative way of recycling the tangled up mass of wires can be difficult — quite the ecophile’s conundrum. Luckily, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) aims to revolutionize the cell phone industry. The UN group recently unveiled its Universal Charging Solution, a charger that can be used in all future cell phone makes and models — as long as cell phone companies comply.

Read the rest of Europe Approves Universal Cell Phone Charger

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Post tags: eco-friendly cell phone, GSMA, International Telecommunication Union, universal cell phone charger, Universal Charging Solution

Pesticides. Genetic-modification. Mistreated animals. It could just about kill anyone’s appetite to hear about all the horrible news about food production. Fortunately, the emerging food revolution focuses on both health and re-establishing the connection between people and the food they eat (making it harder to abuse our food sources). Designers are both leading and answering this shift in interest. Philips Design has begun an investigation called ‘Food Probe’ that looks at current social trends and how this may affect the way that people will eat in the future — and how this will manifest in design. Their investigation includes three parts: a self-contained farm for the kitchen, a nutrition farm and a high-tech cooking device.

Read the rest of Philips Design’s ‘Food Probe’ Promotes Healthy Eating With 3 Concepts

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Post tags: aquaculture, aquaponics, city farms, food production, food systems, futuristic food systems, healthy eating, hydroponics, nutrition, urban agriculture, urban gardening

With so many slick electric motorcycles on the horizon, it’s getting increasingly difficult to justify the use of polluting, petroleum-powered older models. But instead of sending old Vespas to the trash pile, Spanish design studio Bel & Bel has a more creative solution: turn the stylish relics into snazzy pieces of furniture!

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Post tags: bel and bel, Furniture, upcycling, vespa

The kitchen of the future was going to be so high-tech. Frigidaire’s Dream Kitchen of Tomorrow had it all; an IBM punch card recipe file, automatic dispensing and online TV ordering. And that’s not all – read on as we take a look at several extraordinary retro-futuristic kitchens to see how they’ve withstood the test of time.

Read the rest of The Kitchen of the Future Today

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Post tags: Green Building, green design, interior design, kitchen of the future, Products, sustainable design

With fall here and winter on the horizon we’re bundling up for brisk weather, and fortunately Zegna is heating things up with their brand new solar-powered Ecotech Jacket. This sharp technical shell is constructed almost entirely from recycled plastic, and it features a set of photovoltaic panels capable of charging your ipod, cell, or even an integrated heating system. Perfect for sunny days on the slopes yet minimal and chic enough for a night around town, the Ecotech Jacket will keep you toasty in the most inclement weather.

+ Ecotech Solar Powered Jacket

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Post tags: fashion and accessories, green design, renewable energy, solar powered jacket, sustainable design, sustainable style, zegna ecotech jacket

If we were stuck on a desert island with only one book, this recently unveiled solar e-book would be at the top of our list! Designed by LG Display, the sleek reader features a wafer-fin photovoltaic cell that provides it with a steady stream of solar energy. Whereas most e-books run the risk of losing juice mid-sentence through your next novel, this solar reader’s omnipresent energy source makes it a winning design in our book.

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Post tags: e-book, electronic book reader, green design, green gadgets, lg display, solar e-book, sustainable design

One of the most exciting new products we found at West Coast Green this past weekend is the latest innovation by Lemnis Lighting, the Pharox 60 LED Dimmable Lightbulb, that uses just 6 Watts and has the equivalent luminescence of the traditional 60 Watt incandescent bulb. The Pharox 60 fits a standard sized household light fixture, is made of recyclable material, and is the most energy efficient bulb of comparable light quality on the market today with a light output of 300 lumens and a warm white light of 3000K. A patented heat sink keeps the bulb temperature low (we think it’s the aluminum housing surround) and it is the most environmentally safe option on the market as well, containing NO lead, mercury, or wolfram, unlike it’s compact fluorescent competitors.

Read the rest of New Super Efficient Pharox 60 LED Bulbs Last for 25 Years

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Post tags: energy efficient lighting, green design, light bulb, pharox, pharox 60, sustainable design, west coast green

Each year, West Coast Green brings together the largest conference on green innovation for the built environment with leading sustainable businesses and an eclectic group of green technology and exciting design exhibitors. This year’s batch of booths focused mainly on natural building materials and alternative energy, with a few futuristic electric vehicles thrown in. Many of the products are already available, but some, including Armageddon Energy’s solar panels and the Stak Block, are still in the testing stages. Check out all of our fantastic finds after the jump.

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Post tags: corniche carpet, fort mason, green ray, imiev, liveroof, raintube, San Francisco, wcg, west coast green

We posted about the exciting release of Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People, a few weeks back, and now it’s time to celebrate! Join author Emily Pilloton (founder of humanitarian product design coalition Project H Design and Inhabitat Senior Editor) on Tuesday October 6th, 6:30pm, at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City for a panel discussion with Cooper-Hewitt curator Cynthia Smith, Metropolis editor-in-chief Susan Szenasy, and Core77’s Allan Chochinov, followed by a reception and book signing. Register for the event via the Cooper-Hewitt site here ($10 members and students/$15 non-members).

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Post tags: design revolution, Emily Pilloton, green design, humanitarian design, project h design, social design, sustainable design

The London Design Festival is in full swing, and Inhabitat has been on the scene to give you the scoop on the dazzling examples of sustainable design presented at this year’s event. Read on for our favorite products and innovations that we spotted this year.

Read the rest of Inhabitat Reports from London Design Festival 2009

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Post tags: "lighting design", art installation london, eco-art, eco-friendly products, green design, industrial design, London Design Festival 2009, London Design Week, sustainable design, sustainable industrial design