If you were at West Coast Green this past weekend you would have surely noticed the elegant bamboo structures along the waterfront surrounded by beautiful native landscaping. What you may not have realized unless you looked closely is that the structure was actually supporting hanging gardens of marsh grass and was a way of preventing and remediating pollution from water runoff. A collaboration of The Natural Builders, Design Ecology, Floating Islands and Bertotti Landscaping, the installation was the talk of the trade show and highlight for us at Inhabitat.
While scientists work to increase the efficiency of photovoltaics, designers are striving to make them sleeker, more adaptive, and easier to install. Case in point: SRS Energy’s Solé Power Tile, a beautiful solar shingle that is designed to fit into standard Mission style roofs while generating electricity. We caught up with these ingenious modular solar panels at West Coast Green this year, where they stole the show alongside several other innovative solar designs.
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.
WEST COAST GREEN 2009: Day 1 Roundup
by Ariel Schwartz, 10/02/09Each 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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Win a Free West Coast Green Tradeshow Pass!
Heads up all readers in the San Francisco Bay Area! West Coast Green is just one week away, and we’re giving away free tradeshow floor passes to 20 lucky readers! These passes are your gateway to over 280 exhibitors and 12 demo sessions showcasing the greatest green building developments around, and they’re good for all 3 days of the event. All you have to do to win is:
1. Sign up for the Inhabitat newsletter
2. Leave a comment below with your full name telling us why you’d like to go!
The first 20 responses win a tradeshow pass, so get cracking!
PREFAB FRIDAY: Recycled Shipping Container Harbinger House
Recycled shipping containers are becoming more and more popular as a viable sustainable building material, and this year’s West Coast Green show house highlights this growing trend. The showroom highlight of this year’s event is Lawrence Group’s SG Blocks Container House, fashion out of five shipping containers and a plethora of other eco-friendly building materials. As a prefab, the home is affordable, cute, and easy to assemble — demonstrated by the fact that the model at West Coast Green was erected in less than 5 hours.
SG Blocks Container House Debuts at West Coast Green
West Coast Green kicked off this morning and we’re excited to reveal this year’s stunning show house: the SG Blocks Harbinger prefab! Composed of five recycled shipping containers, the home features a durable steel envelope that is capable of withstanding hurricanes in Florida and earthquakes in California. A paragon of sustainability, the Harbinger house also features FSC-certified woods, solar panels, rainwater recycling, and an Agilewaves resource monitoring system. Designed by the Lawrence Group, the prefab was fabricated in a month and assembled on-site in just 4 hours and 47 minutes!
ANNOUNCING: Our West Coast Green Contest Winners!
With West Coast Green right around the corner we’re excited to announce the winners of last week’s conference pass giveaway! With over 380 exhibitors and an extensive lineup of speakers, this year’s conference will be bigger and better than ever before, so we’ve chosen two talented readers to join us as Inhabitat correspondents. See our winners after the jump!
WEST COAST GREEN CONTEST: Win Free Conference Passes!
WIN A FREE PASS TO WEST COAST GREEN!
The last weekend of September is right around the corner, which can only mean one thing – we’re gearing up for West Coast Green, the nation’s largest green building expo! Inhabitat will be on the scene in Silicon Valley to bring you the latest and greatest green building innovations, and we’re looking to bring two lucky readers in on the excitement. That’s right, we’re giving away two full conference passes, worth $575 each. Read on to find out how you can get a free pass to this fabulous conference >
ANNOUNCING: West Coast Green 2008!
Later this month Silicon Valley will be opening its doors to West Coast Green, the nation’s premier exposition of sustainable building, business, and design. Taking place from September 25-27th in San Jose, this year’s event will feature more than 380 exhibitors showcasing the latest and greatest in sustainable materials, technology, and practices, as well as an incredible lineup of speakers including Al Gore, David Suzuki, and Sarah Susanka. Inhabitat will be on the scene to bringing you coverage of all the cutting-edge developments – last year’s show-stopper was the unveiling of the Michelle Kaufman’s stunning MKLotus prefab, so we can’t wait to see what’s in store for this year!
PREFAB FRIDAY: Michelle Kaufmann mkLotus VIDEO!
At the recent West Coast Green conference in San Francisco, we were lucky enough to not only get a sneak peek of the new Michelle Kaufmann mkLotus prefab house, but also to speak with the designer herself to get the low-down on the sleekly-designed zero energy home. Check out the video to learn all the details about the energy, water, and materials packed into this compact sustainable home.
PREFAB FRIDAY: Zero-Energy MkLotus debuts!
No more renderings necessary, Michelle Kaufmann’s gorgeous new eco-prefab home has just debuted and been installed on the grass in front of San Francisco City Hall. The lovely zero-energy prefab is open to the public as part of the West Coast Green show at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza. We were lucky enough to get a sneak peak of the house as it was getting set up in the past few days, and we can tell you firsthand that the renderings don’t do it justice. The home is compact and stunning, with gorgeous xeriscape landscaping, and the most high-tech green materials and sustainable systems available,including a greywater recycling system, green roof, solar panels, and even a spot to plug in your electric vehicle for charging!
WEST COAST GREEN STARTS TOMORROW!
The biggest and baddest green residential conference in the country kicks off TOMORROW, and this year promises to be better than ever, running from Thursday September 20th to Saturday Saturday 22nd. From the exciting launch of Michelle Kaufmann’s new mkLotus to a lineup of speakers that will rock your sustainable world, West Coast Green is one green event not to miss. And Thursday at 2pm, Inhabitat’s own Jill Fehrenbacher and Emily Pilloton will be presenting our Top 5 Great Green Homes and speaking about green design from around the globe. It’s not too late to register, or you can register at the door. See you there!
WEST COAST GREEN STARTS THURSDAY!
The biggest and baddest green residential conference in the country kicks off THIS THURSDAY, and this year promises to be better than ever, running from Thursday September 20th to Saturday Saturday 22nd. From the exciting launch of Michelle Kaufmann’s new mkLotus to a lineup of speakers that will rock your sustainable world, West Coast Green is one green event not to miss. And Thursday at 2pm, Inhabitat’s own Jill Fehrenbacher and Emily Pilloton will be presenting our Top 5 Great Green Homes and speaking about green design from around the globe. It’s not too late to register, or you can register at the door. See you there!
GREAT GREEN HOME: Björkbo Summer Cabin
About two hours outside Stockholm lies this little green cabin with all the eco-friendly charm you could ask for. Sisters Thérèse & Louise Kristiansson designed “Björkbo” as a nature-laden summer home for their clients. Built out of wood from the forest it stands in and reused windows, the small dwelling opens its doors to the west to face a picturesque lake. Our favorite part? The forest is built right into the house, with two trees growing right through the roof!
PREFAB FRIDAY: MkLotus at West Coast Green
Michelle Kauffman, prefab designer extraordinaire, is at it again. Her newest mkLotus design, a zero-energy prefab home with a long list of green features, will debut at next week’s West Coast Green conference in San Francisco with a full-sized showhouse for visitors to ooh-and-aah at to their hearts’ content. The mkLotus features a green roof, LED lighting, green building materials, and the same indoor/outdoor living integration featured in her Glidehouse and Sunset Breezehouse.
SEARCHING FOR GREEN HOMES AROUND THE WORLD!
ATTENTION GREEN DESIGNERS AND GREEN HOMEOWNERS!
If you live in or have designed a clean green eco-machine, we want to hear from you!
At the upcoming West Coast Green Show in San Francisco (Sept 20th-22nd), Inhabitat’s Jill Fehrenbacher and Emily Pilloton will be giving an interactive presentation on Green Home Design, and we are looking to showcase global examples of the best of the best of sustainable residential design. We know we have a lot creative, smart and accomplished readers out there who own or have designed green homes, and we want to hear from you! Inhabitat is looking for stunning examples of green homes demonstrating energy efficiency, sustainable and reclaimed materials, innovative daylighting or solar systems, and of course, beautiful design.
MICHELLE KAUFMAN’S NEW PREFRAB: The MkLotus
Michelle Kauffman, prefab designer extraordinaire, is at it again. Her newest mkLotus design, a zero-energy prefab home with a long list of green features, will debut at next week’s West Coast Green conference in San Francisco with a full-sized showhouse for visitors to ooh-and-aah at to their hearts’ content. The mkLotus features a green roof, LED lighting, green building materials, and the same indoor/outdoor living integration featured in her Glidehouse and Sunset Breezehouse.
LORAX’S “GREENEST HOUSE IN SAN FRANCISCO”
I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.
— Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
You may remember Dr. Seuss’ legendary tree-protector and earth-lover, the Lorax. Five years ago, Mike Kerwin, Pat Loughran, and Joel Micucci founded Lorax Development with a Seussian mission “to build environmentally responsible homes with renewable materials, energy efficient systems, and smart technologies.” Today, they are doing just that.
WEST COAST GREEN DAY 2
West Coast Green is abuzz again today. With eight different speaker tracks, it’s impossible to see everything, but they’re doing a great job of recording and documenting to keep everyone fully-informed. Here are some quick shots from the exhibitor floor. We love the YOLO Colorhouse booth — a beautiful design of a great product. Their collection of interior paints exceeds Green Seal environmental standards for VOCs and comes in a lovely, earthy palette.
After the jump are some shots of Green Fusion Design Center and Ecoterric, both supplying goods for home interiors, and of course our forever-fave, Rana Creek.
SOLAR 2 ECO-CENTER IN NYC
It’s no secret that buildings account for a tremendous amount of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Between the energy they consume during operations, and the resources and materials necessary to build them, there are fewer culprits more guilty than buildings in the current climate crisis. As a response, the AIA and Architecture2030 made official the 2030 Challenge, with the goal of achieving carbon-neutrality for all new buildings by the year 2030.
Though that date sounds like it’s a ways off, the goal is ambitious and the outcome would be dramatic. But there are numerous committed builders and designers who have made it their business to hit the target much sooner. Kiss + Cathcart Architects, for example, are working on Solar 2, the new visitors’ center for the New York-based sustainability and community hub, Solar One.
WEST COAST GREEN
For those of you who are in the San Francisco area this week, we encourage you to join Inhabitat at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium where we will be making our way around West Coast Green, a huge 3-day conference and expo on residential green building.
Inhabitat will be covering the entire event live, with ongoing follow-up from a number of speakers and exhibitors. Managing Editor, Sarah Rich, will also be hosting web-cast interviews that will be posted here in the following weeks. Be sure to check back for more information.
WEST COAST GREEN
This fall is packed with conferences about sustainability and green living – a testament to the movement’s strength. If you’re having trouble deciding which to attend, let us recommend West Coast Green.
West Coast Green promises to inspire industry professionals and consumers alike. There will be a full expo hall, in addition to many fantastic speakers, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the NRDC, Ed Mazria of Architecture 2030, and …
LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!






































































































