The government doesn’t have the best track record when investing directly in sustainable companies, but there is a lot it can do to create an environment conducive to real innovation. This is how it should do it in Obama’s second term.
Obama’s second term is the chance to turn lemons into lemonade. America has a lot of experience with that: Like rebuilding the U.S. infrastructure after WWII; or using the space race in the 1960s to drive innovation (we even had the side benefit of Tang). The big challenges now are mobility (transportation), energy (electricity), and water. That means they are also the big wealth opportunities. Why? At the core of each is insatiable consumer demand. We need look no further than Hurricane Sandy to see our dependence upon transportation fuel, electricity, and drinking water.
While we have just experienced two years of gridlock in Washington, there is a clear role for government, particularly in infrastructure. In the new bipartisan effort to compromise on the fiscal cliff in order to stimulate growth and create jobs, the question is, “How can the government now push us forward with 'controlled chaos’?”
Created with industrial designers in mind, Energy Trumps is a set of informative cards to let them know exactly how much energy the products they’re making took to produce.
When we think about energy, we tend to think of the energy we consume directly: the fuel we take at the pump, or what heats or lights our homes. But, from an environmental point of view, just as important is the energy "embodied" in the stuff around us: what went into producing that lamp on your desk, that chair you’re sitting on, that light fixture overhead.
Estimates show that "stuff" accounts for about 35% of the energy we consume. And yet there’s relatively little discussion, or useful information, about that slice of the pie. You might know the miles-per-gallon number for your vehicle, or the efficiency of your boiler. But it’s unlikely you know the energy-embodied value of, say, your fridge.
Alessi partnered with a few designers to create the new AlessiLux Portable Table Luminaire Collection. The line, which was developed in collaboration with LED lighting company Foreverlamp, consists of three cordless lamps that can be used for everything from emergency lighting to camping, or even an extra light by your bed. They utilize energy saving LED bulbs mounted on a lamp base that houses a powerful rechargeable battery. Each lamp has a dimmer and when powered on high, the battery lasts a full 10 hours and if used on a dimmed setting, it can last for days.
The Lumiere Flame (first image also) was designed by Giovanni Alessi Anghini and Gabriele Chiave and gives the feel of those old candles with its glowing bulb.
Also designed by Giovanni Alessi Anghini and Gabriele Chiave, the Lumiere Abatjour features a different bulb than the Flame but with the same classic candleholder base it resembles.
The Ricordo, designed by Frederic Gooris, is an updated and modernized oil lamp.
UFO was also designed by Frederic Gooris, and its whimsical design screams one happy little alien, doesn’t it? Available in four different colors, the adorable design is perfect for a kid’s room.
Combs, lighters and babies’ dummies are among the hundreds of objects found washed up on British beaches and then hung in the atrium of a new London cancer centre by designer Stuart Haygarth. (more…)
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2012-11-24 02:31:05 UTC
NEWS FLASH - The outright world speed sailing record was smashed this afternoon (November 24) by Paul Larsen in the Vestas Sailrocket 2 with the astonishing time of 65.45 knots. It's the third time in eight days that Larsen has piloted the Vestas Sailrocket to a new outright world record, raising the bar from 55.65 knots to 65.45 knots. It has been a spectacular week for sailing in general, with more than a dozen world speed sailing records broken at two different venues in Namibia. The outright speed sailing records for both 500 meters (initially 59.23 then 59.38 and now 65.45 kts) and one nautical mile (55.32 kts) were set in Walvis Bay by Australian Paul Larsen and the British-designed, inclined-rig hydrofoil Vestas SailRocket 2. Simultaneously, 600 km away, the annual Luderitz Speed Challenge has seen nine world outright speed records for sailboards established in just a week, including surpassing 50 knots (92.6 km/h) and 60 mph (52.14 kts) on a sailboard. The breaking of world records is almost certain to continue over the coming weeks, with Larsen now seemingly capable of pushing the outright record within reach of the 70 knot barrier and the now legendary Luderitz Speed Challenge continuing until December 16, with kiteboarders joining the event on December 3...
Continue Reading Sailrocket runs 65.45 knots (75 mph) to smash World Speed Sailing Record
In 2010, NYC added 54 million metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere. This video shows it as a big, blue ball pit.
Last week, thousands in New York and millions at home watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, an annual, multi-hour affair that fills the streets of Manhattan with characters like Pikachu and Snoopy in the form of massive, inflatable balloons. This video is a little bit like that--except instead of cartoon characters, the objects filling the streets of NYC are huge blue spheres, and instead of making kids smile, they’re intended to visualize the massive amount of carbon dioxide the city pumps into the atmosphere every day. Snoopy, you might want to hold your breath.
The clip is based on a piece of data that showed up in a report published by the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability last year: In 2010, New York City added 54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. At a moment when our national debt is in the trillions, the number of people in poverty around the world is in the billions, and when we’re all getting, like, a million emails every day, it’s easy to let a number like that pass by without much interrogation. So to give New Yorkers a better sense of the scale of that atmospheric pollution, the emissions-centric graphics outfit Carbon Visuals rendered it as something that’s perfectly easy to understand: a bunch of massive, aquamarine balls.
At standard pressure, assuming a temperature of 59 degrees, a metric ton of CO2 gas would fill a sphere with a diameter of 33 feet--about half the size of the biggest floats in the Macy’s parade--with a new bubble popping up every 0.6 seconds or so. The video shows what that output would look like if all those emissions emanated from a single point on the island.
Unsurprisingly, they add up fast! In just an hour, the unruly pile is already about half the height of the Empire State Building. After a day, the pile tops the building’s apex, engulfing dozens of city blocks. And after a year, well, things look pretty bad. The pile of blue spheres is now something more like a mountain, its peak among the clouds and its summit spanning from the Financial District all the way up to the southern border of Central Park.
It’s a terrifying picture--but not necessarily the whole one. For one thing, emissions don’t pile up quite so cleanly; the problem is as big as the video shows it to be but not nearly as localized. But more important to keep in mind, as some observers like WYNC’s Robert Krulwich have pointed out, cities actually fare way better than suburbs in terms of CO2 emissions per capita. Even the New Yorkers floundering here in their carbon dioxide ball pit are roughly three times more efficient than your average automobile-dependent American. But the idea that cars are the big problem is a bit off the mark, too--75% of New York City’s emissions in 2010 came from buildings, not vehicles.
That means, to hit its ambitious target of a 30% reduction in emissions by 2017, the city will need to focus not only on smarter transportation but smarter living and working spaces in general. And it also means we probably won’t have to put the parade on the carbon-cutting chopping block anytime soon.
CalStar Products makes brick with a proprietary manufacturing process and a binder of fly ash. By using fly ash, the company diverts waste from the landfill (37% recycled content) and eliminates energy-intensive firing — these bricks are cured overnight at temperatures below 200° F, according to CalStar. To give the market comfort with their sustainability claims, CalStar obtained a lifecycle analysis (LCA) from Perkins + Will and published the results in an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
It turns out cradle-to-gate (raw material extraction/transportation and manufacturing) CO2 emissions for a single CalStar brick is 0.13 pounds, compared to 0.81 for a single clay brick. Cradle-to-gate embodied energy is 1,203 BTU of energy for the CalStar brick versus 6,251 BTU of energy for a traditional clay-fired brick.
In other words, that’s 81% less manufacturing energy and an 84% smaller carbon footprint delivered with the CalStar fly ash brick. The CalStar brick is available in modular and utility sizing and a palette of earth tones.
Perkins + Will finished the LCA using data sets from GaBi 5.0 software, while the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability verified the EPD under the SMaRT Certified rating system, according to a CalStar press release.
There is water in the air around us at every moment. While this may not seem very significant if you live in a water-rich area, this untapped resource could benefit everyone from athletes on the go to people living in arid areas of the world. Taking a cue from the Namib Desert Beetle, scientists have developed a water bottle that can fill itself up by harvesting water from the atmosphere.
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2012-11-22 20:13:35 UTC
Designed by a group of young French architects from Studio 1984, the “Nest” is a compact home concept that is reminiscent of a traditional barn. The eco-home, which was conceived as part of the Archi<20 competition for low-cost, environmentally-friendly architecture in France, incorporates a simple quadratic structure that has been built using pastoral materials such as straw and wood...
Continue Reading Eco-home made from straw and wood should please the Three Little Pigs
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-30 08:01:59 UTC
What do these consumers have in common?
90% of Americans have purchased a green product, but haven’t continued to do so.
Half of Americans said they ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-29 15:09:51 UTC
Fair Wear Foundation (FWF) is an independent, non-profit organisation that works with companies and factories to improve labour conditions for garment ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-28 07:38:37 UTC
AirRenew™ Gypsum Board is for use in interior walls and ceilings and is specially designed to offer a healthier living and working environment by improving ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-27 17:49:01 UTC
Herewith the conclusion of 2 days of Sustainable Innovation workshops in October 2012; What are the trends at this moment?
# Great transformation ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-26 16:23:36 UTC
The Green Chemical Alternatives Purchasing Wizard is intended as a tool to reduce the hazardous waste profile in research labs, an effort that ultimately ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-23 18:16:46 UTC
With Mosstile you can make a maintenance free vertical garden in your home. No need to water, give fertilizer, pruning. They don't even need natural ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-22 17:14:30 UTC
Waacs is not promoting itself as a "green" design agency but is alway looking with customers what options are. In this case the goal was to create ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-21 08:54:44 UTC
On D4S there is much focus on physical product design but Product Service Systems can have a hugh impact on peoples live as this case of Nokia shows. ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-19 08:19:06 UTC
Gioia Mondo is truly unique using playing children as a starting point for design. The brand knows exactly how to combine this with fashion and quality. ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-18 08:32:54 UTC
Bagasse is a byproduct form sugarcane production and besides being used for energy production it can also be used as a material for making paper or ...
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