With their excessive fluorescent lights and gigantic energy-sucking coolers, convenience stores are at the bottom of the green building totem poll. But 7-Eleven Japan found success with an eco-friendly store prototype that they will now officially open in 100 different locations by the end of the month. The green stores use LED lighting, solar-powered electricity, and reflective flooring to reduce the need for harsh overhead lights.
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Do you ever get so frustrated at work that you just want to throw all your papers in the garbage? Well, soon you could be able to flush them down the toilet — literally. Japanese company Oriental invented a machine that recycles office paper into toilet paper right in your office. All you have to do is put paper and water in the machine and 30 minutes later, out comes a roll of TP.
"Jugaad" is a Hindi term referring to the ingenuity of citizens living in resource-constrained environments, a concept from which New Yorkers might derive some enlightenment. Enter Jugaad Urbanism: Resourceful Strategies for Indian Cities, an exhibition created with the help of curator Kanu Agrawal that opens at New York's Center for Architecture next week.
The exhibition is "design by the people, for the people, of Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Pune," says Agrawal, and showcases everyday innovations of slum-dwelling residents and the designers and architects who work around them.
Agrawal, a Delhi native, studied at New Delhi's School of Planning and Architecture under the acclaimed Achyut P. Kavinde, and later completed his Master's in Environmental Design from the Yale School of Architecture. Kavinde was one of the first to bring modern design to India. But the jugaad exhibit presents a different take on modern urbanism in India--that of the everyman.
Slum-dwellers inhabit 1.5-meter-wide slivers of spaces between factories in Mumbai on multiple levels, and still find ways to allow for light and air to reach lower levels. "That's how urban density is dealt with by migrants," says Agrawal. There's also the example of the chandelier in Mumbai made from bottles and tied with wires--a creative way to light up Mumbai's streets with recycled materials and with attention to aesthetics.
Since New York shows draw a global audience, Agrawal expects the exhibition to resonate with diverse groups. "Dealing with shortages of resources is global," Agrawal says. "So the show presents ways for designers and laypeople to think about such situations."
Aside from opening up discussion about living conditions in India, the exhibit also aims uncover innovation in challenging circumstances. "There's always this narrative of failure and tragedy when one discusses Indian urbanism," Agrawal says. "So instead of doing that, it sort of represents solutions. People respond creatively where there are shortages of resources."
by: Reuters: Green Business News, 2011-02-03 00:09:06 UTC
LONDON (Reuters) - All but five percent of the world's energy needs could be met from renewable sources by 2050, a report by conservation group WWF and energy consultancy Ecofys showed on Thursday.
Developing nations still face electricity crisis and ideas like using solar power for lighting up their spaces is a well thought initiative. Three engineering students from the University of Michigan have come up with an apt solution to tackle such a problem, which will make life easier for developing nations. They have prepared a portable solar panel named Emerald, which not acts as a light source but at the same time functions as a cell phone charger.
Though products based on same lines have come up before as well but what makes it stand out of the crowd is its efficiency to light an area for eight hours when charged. Also, its quality to charge a phone at the same time makes Emerald an instant pick. An idea to sell this product at a reasonable price to its customers in the developing nations for less than 20 bucks is also quite commendable.
The UK's greenhouse gas emissions fell by 8.7 percent from 2008 to 2009, with CO2 falling 9.8 percent -- the biggest dip since 1980. While this is great news, the reason is unfortunately not a major growth in renewable energy of environmental policies, but the correlating economic recession.
As the UK economy sank into a recession, heavy-emitting industries like construction or transport lost a lot of business and subsequently stopped emitting so much greenhouse gas. A similar benefit to the economic recession happened in China where air pollution dramatically decreased with the downturn.
The good news is that if the UK government and corporations capitalize on this head start towards their emission-reduction goals, hitting the target of a 35 percent reduction by 2020 and more aggressive targets later on will be much easier and possibly ahead of schedule.
by: TreeHugger Design, 2011-02-02 13:35:00 UTC photo: Matthew McDermott
I don't normally write pen reviews, nor product reviews, nor really cover recycling--Lloyd is TreeHugger's resident recycling pundit. But when I got an email from Pilot Pen asking if I'd be willing to meet with them to talk about their new Bottle 2 Pen project (that's B2p), "the world's first recycled pen made from plastic bottle!", I somehow said yes. Considering that I do like a good pen and am quite particular about them, it seemed appropriate. A few days later I... Read the full story on TreeHugger
by: TreeHugger Design, 2011-02-02 19:20:00 UTC Tin-can earrings from the Czech Republic are among the recycled goods for sale on Yiuco. Photo: REforma.
The website Etsy has become wildly popular by connecting consumers with small-scale craftspeople making original jewelry, artwork, home-décor items, and other goods -- many of which are more environmentally friendly than their mass-produced counterparts. Now a new site based in Read the full story on TreeHugger
by: TreeHugger Design, 2011-02-02 17:50:02 UTC Image: author
Yesterday's milk purchase came with a bit of surprise: the skinny packaging which we featured popping up in Asia three years ago has arrived at our table. Although it is heartening to see the spread of a good idea, it is a mixed blessing: one that strikes at the heart of the questions of what is green and which good green ideas have what it takes to survive. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-26 02:52:50 UTC
ECOCARAT tiles, made by INAX known for it's paperless toilet, contains a mineral "Allophane". It's natural clayey mineral contained in the volcanic ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-25 01:47:06 UTC
The Biodegradable TinCan is a green resolution for the future.
* Thermal double wall: it is safe for serving hot and cold drinks. You can microwave ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-24 01:01:42 UTC
Ceracasa introduces one of the most significant product innovations of recent years. The tile body is reduced to half of the thickness ( the 11 mm ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-22 00:21:38 UTC
This kitchen brings back into view everything that one normally hides away these days. It thus contrasts a lot with the usual modern-design kitchen ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-20 07:36:52 UTC
Danish design duo Komplot is the first to create an industrially produced chair made strictly from textile. The chair Nobody is molded in one piece ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-19 09:51:41 UTC
This product changes the user into a co-designer. It comes in a flat pack and can be changed into any shape, again and again. The shade can take whatever ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-18 05:19:49 UTC
With colored polypropylene bodywork and recycled-steel trestles, the chairs in the Catifa 53 and 46 collections may look like any other chair but ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-18 04:23:08 UTC
BIONICTILE ® by CERACASA is a porcelain tile with the capacity to destroy harmful nitrogen oxides (NOx) which are in the air. These NOx are present ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-18 03:50:41 UTC
Flex/the Innovationlab helped We Beat the Mountain with their go-to-market strategy and product design.
We Beat the Mountain:
VISION
We Beat ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2011-02-17 01:37:56 UTC
SL17 BASKETBIN is a waste-paper basket with a small integrated rubbish bin, which is hooked into the mounting of the larger waste-paper basket and ...
Slum-dwellers inhabit 1.5-meter-wide slivers of spaces between factories in Mumbai on multiple levels, and still find ways to allow for light and air to reach lower levels. "That's how urban density is dealt with by migrants," says Agrawal. There's also the example of the chandelier in Mumbai made from bottles and tied with wires--a creative way to light up Mumbai's streets with recycled materials and with attention to aesthetics. 
photo: 
Tin-can earrings from the Czech Republic are among the recycled goods for sale on Yiuco. Photo: 
Image: author
Yesterday's milk purchase came with a bit of surprise: the
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