For this week’s installment of CMYLK, we’ve done something a little different. Instead of artwork and rooms, we’ve created Colourlovers palettes for four rugs from Spartanburg, South Carolina-based floor covering company Milliken. These abstract designs are works of art in and of themselves.
Currents era makes use of latest technology for successful accomplishment of routine task. Computer is most important and widely used technical device for every decisive job whether it is banking, internet connectivity and data accumulation. Computers have evolved as completely indispensable tool of life. With a subsequent increase in the demand of more enhanced device, it is now a major concern to protect the world from energy consumption and downsides of technically advanced devices.
In past few years, green computing has evolved as completely different approach through which companies endeavour to achieve necessary growth of business without harming environment. Green Computer is of great use to atmosphere as companies have taken initiative to throw away electrical dissipate in an effective manner. Electrical waste can be referred as electronic products, which are extremely dangerous to environment. These perilous materials are a threat to both health of humans and environment. Most of the popular companies manufacturing computer parts include some applications making use of harmful chemicals, plastics, metals and toxic materials in great amount. These waste materials when disposed by burning contaminate water, air and even soil, which are essential components for a person to live in. So, it becomes very imperative to manage and execute countless options to protect the environment from harmful effects of electronic waste.
Why green computer is an eco-friendly approach?
Green computer is a crucial requisite for safe and harmless upshot, as it is environmentally manageable computing. Green computing opens up ways for users to be more eco-friendly and technically prolonged way of computing. Leading purpose behind the launch of green computing is to reduce the use of harmful materials, increased kin energy efficiency and make people accustom to the benefits of recycling.
GreenQloud Has Comes Up With A Boon
According to the Gartner Study released in the year 2007, IT industry can alone produce a huge amount of greenhouse gas that is almost equivalent to complete aviation industry. This is the leading cause why Eiki Hrafnsson together with Tryggvi Larusson established the foundation of “GreenQloud”. GreenQloud is first cloud opened to public and powered by 100% renewable resource of energy. GreenQloud is Iceland-based public cloud that runs solely on renewable energy. On the other hand, Iceland also runs on 70% hydroelectric and 30% geothermal energy. Currently paired with three high-capacity data cables, GreenQloud connects North America, Europe and Iceland. With this public cloud, you can have a perfect blend of green cloud, which can surely gratify the requisite of demanding clients in two data-heavy continents of world.
Compute Cloud Dashboard Of GreenQloud
When the company is just about come out of open beta at “DEMO Fall 2012 Conference”, you can have some decisive tractions. According to a report given to VentureBeat by CMO Paula Gloud, GreenQloud released its program for beta signup in the month of July 2012. Since the launch of Beta Signup, company is receiving accolades from superior and top-notch industry outlets like Greenpeace. Moreover, GreenQloud has registered and certified beta users of more than 61 countries.
GreenQloud offer IaaS or “Infrastructure as a Service” that includes storage resource, computing and network. All of them entirely depend on open-source technology and product hardware. Company is running in partnership with database vendors, hardware, software and platform so that it can seamlessly present DBaas, Saas or Pass service. In addition to this, company guarantee ease-of-use for environmental friendly clients dealing with transfer of data. According to GreenQloud, its services are Amazon-Compatible to simplify the computing process lined up with Amazon. Green energy is a matter of concern for most of the enterprises as per the statement of Dan Dodge, an advocate of Google developer. GreenQloud not only provide environmental benefits but it is also cost-effective, attractive and beneficial for both businesses and investors.
Matt Meyers is a 7th Grade teacher at middle school by the name Robert R. Lazar and the school is based out of Montville. Re-cycling projects and Green ideas have been Meyers priority for long now. Meyers has always strongly advocated his students to have a green way of thinking. He often gets together his students, faculty and parents in order to educate them about recycling. In his endeavor to educate people on environment protection and he has also started an Environmental Club at Lazar school.
What does the ‘Environmental’ Club Do?
The club often does sessions with parents, students and faculties on recycling. The participants are educated about recycling, its benefits, what it means, what all can be recycled. The importance of giving back to the environment.
He counsels people to improve the green initiatives already in place. The initiatives include turning off lights when rooms are not in use, turning down air conditioning when the school day is over, making compost for his outside classroom with discarded materials from the café.
As an example Meyers often comes to school on his bicycle, thereby making people realize the difference such small steps can make. He encourages his students as well to make use their bicycles for coming to school.
Contribution made during the ‘Green Apple Week’
Matt Meyers leads the ‘Environmental Club’ at the school and thus contributed significantly to the ‘Green Apple Week’. As the head of the school club students undertook a lot of Eco-friendly initiatives under the guidance of Meyers to make a contribution towards the ‘Green Apple Week’.
One of the activities that was done during the week was to measure the weight of the recycling containers and the garbage containers after every lunch period through the week. The purpose of the exercise was to make students aware of the amount of waste and trash generated by students, teachers and the staff everyday.
Under the ‘Green Apple Week’ initiatives students at the Lazar school also learned that how some of the waste material could be recycled and put to good use. This was an eye opener for the students as earlier quite a lot of re-useable trash was earlier simply discarded.
All the recycling containers and garbage can measures were carefully recorded and a proper data has been maintained for these at the school club.
The data that has been collected will be used to see whether the entire exercise done during the ‘Green Apple Week’ has resulted in more recycling of trash.
The club members have also worked towards introducing the new single stream recycling being conducted in the district this year.
In this manner Meyers and his school have made a significant contribution to the ‘Green Apple Week’. Basis his good work Meyers has been nominated for the Grassroots Award. It is nice to see so many people contribute to the cause of saving the environment and going green. The way things are moving, our generation next will be more careful and aware of the environmental hazards. Matt Meyers efforts are simply commendable and he truly deserves to be nominated for the award.
The work being done by Meyers is a great contribution to the society and mankind at large. He is preparing an entire generation aware of the hazards posed to the environment and what all can be done to lower the impact of such hazards. He is making an entire generation equipped with Green practices and the green way of life. The effort is small but will make a huge difference.
Wooden construction ideas for urban living initiated by ACSA competition
From thousands of years, wood has been one of the most used products for construction. However, whenever it comes towards the development of urban area, cities are based on concrete and steel. Nevertheless, as the development is increasing at a rapid pace, more and more eco friendly methods are being adopted for development of homes so that it is easy to save the environment. It has been rightfully stated that, wood is one of the best green material for urban construction, but it has to proved to the public so that they can take use of it for the development process.
Reasons for holding the competition
For generating interest and understanding in the lives of people about wood as a green material for urbane construction, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architectural and Binational Softwood Council along with Parsons the new school for design have decided to start up a competition for new designs for urbane construction that involves wood. The new concept that has been brought into light is taken excitedly by the students, as they would be able to show their talent and working skills in new models and designs with use of wood. The students who are participating in this event are stating that, it is a lifetime opportunity for them to show the world how good wood can be for building homes even in the urbane area.
The faculty and the expert professionals who are involved in this competition have stated that, timber or wood is the best eco friendly option for developing the residential and commercial area. In addition, they also stated that, it is easy to design the wood and take use of new designs and patterns that can give a new look with ease. Wood is considered one of the safest options for construction. Some of the major cities are already concentrating on the use of wood as the construction material and new projects are being initiated for the development. One such project has been handled by the professionals who in result have provided one of the tallest residential buildings made of laminated wood panels.
The tasks assigned for the competition
The teams or individuals who will be involved in the competition have to design mixed use and mid-rise complex for a site. The site that has been decided is situated in Brooklyn waterfront of Red Hook. Although this place is a flux, it would be an opportunity for the students to show their skills and knowledge involved around wood. The teams or individuals who will be involved in the competition will have to regenerate the manufacturing sector of the urban area. In addition, they have to scrutiny the development needs of residential and commercial area and give solutions accordingly. In addition, they have to build affordable housing sections, bike repair and sharing joints, distribution centers and manufacturing units with use of wood.
New construction systems are to be proposed by the entrants with use of different wood technologies that are into existence. The design and patterns that will be done has to be there in the proposal for the urban development. In addition, characteristics of wood that would be taken into use for the development has to be there in the report so that it is easy for the panel of judges to decide upon the winner of the competition.
The reward to the winner
Winner of this competition will be eligible to get a sum of thirty thousand dollars along with which their project proposals would be highlighted in the annual meeting of ACSA in Miami and convocation of the American institute of architects in Chicago in the year 2014.
A new book addresses the many misconceptions of the environmentally conscious packaging movement.
I remember the first time I saw a piece of produce shrink-wrapped at the grocery store. I was infuriated that big industry had decided to waste plastic on something nature had already managed to protect just fine. And I, like many others, was entirely wrong in this assumption. That shrink-wrap is actually a net gain for the environment.
Newton’s old pulp shoebox--actually worse for the environment than their new, more traditional recycled box printed in soy-based inks.
It’s one of many lessons I learned in Why Shrink-Wrap a Cucumber: A Complete Guide to Environmental Packaging (Lawrence King, 2012). It’s a completely readable introduction to the environmental impact of the consumer goods industry, touching on everything from Heinz’s eco-friendly plastic squeeze container to telltale signs of “greenwashed” products. And of course, the titular cucumbers.
As authors Laurel Miller and Stephen Aldridge explain, an unwrapped cucumber will lose 3.5% of its weight after just three days of sitting out. Shrink-wrapping slows evaporation, keeping the cucumber fresh longer: A wrapped cucumber loses a mere 1.5% of its weight over two weeks.
In the U.K., a third of all food is simply thrown away. We all buy produce with good intentions, but often it rots before we remember to fish it out of the fridge for dinner. For cucumbers, shrink-wrapping prevents food waste. It means less fertilizer, water, and pesticides are used growing more cucumbers to replace wasted ones. It means less fossil fuels are spent transporting additional harvests, and less methane is produced by landfills where rotted produce is tossed.
This Boots reading glasses package is a single piece of polypropylene, folded over to be distinctive enough for a store shelf and strong enough to double as your glasses case.
As the book documents, these facts didn’t stop the Daily Mail from launching a nationwide campaign against the prepackaged cucumber. The newspaper convinced a major supermarket chain, Co-op, to instead pack cucumbers in a large, plastic-lined box that would lengthen their shelf life without the shrink-wrap.
The catch? In practice, the individually wrapped cucumbers stay fresher longer, the authors say. And those new plastic-lined boxes? They’re not reused like many produce crates can be.
It’s an excellent lesson in environmental packaging. On one hand, lightening an environmental footprint is generally good business. On the other, if the consumer doesn’t understand the logic behind a packaging redesign, the best ideas can completely backfire.
The book is full of other interesting insights: Most of us assume glass is environmentally superior to plastic, but its footprint is generally far worse than recyclable plastics. Plastics can be tough to dispose of, but creating them is relatively environmentally friendly: The process is a byproduct of existing fossil fuel production (in the same way chicken nuggets find a use for every last scrap of the bird). And things are getting better, often invisibly: The modern beer can weighs one quarter what it did in the 1960s.
If you’d like to read more, the book is available now for about $40.
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2012-11-16 11:21:59 UTC
North Dakota siblings Heather and John McDougall have created an eco-toothbrush which according to them “will be the first toothbrush you will actually care about.” Having grown up with a dentist as a father, the pair have merged their backgrounds in design and policy to create the Bogobrush, which they claim to be “100 percent biodegradable.”..
Continue Reading Eco-toothbrush made from bamboo to hit the market early 2013
As a design freelancer, you can be pretty divorced from the effects of your work. I've done many a project where after e-mailing in the files, I never heard again about that object or knew if it even got made, although I'd continue to correspond with the client about future projects. I imagine it's the way a hit man for the mob feels, disconnected from the rewards or repercussions experienced by his capos in the inner circle.
But if you're a design firm staffer or an in-house, you get to see more of the process and hopefully the aftermath. It has to be gratifying to hear that your design work increased the client's sales/yield/efficiency/safety rating, et cetera. And it is people like you whom the IDSA is interested in hearing from.
Design firms, client companies, academic institutions or any other interested parties may nominate a design success story worthy of study, documentation and preservation. There is no restriction on dates in use, production or distribution. Above all, the submission must clearly demonstrate the positive impact of industrial design and how it raises the visibility of design's global effectiveness in delivering value to businesses, communities and society.
If you're one of the lucky few that's got a good story, you have until January 18th to get the submission in. I'll pretend I'm not jealous as I sit here doing the design equivalent of making foam cut-outs to hold sniper rifle parts in a briefcase and waiting for my fax machine to go off.
The Spark Socket takes a modular approach to internet-connected home automation, one bulb at a time.
We should live in the Jetsons era by now, but despite all our innovations in computing power and the cloud, our houses remain pretty dumb. That’s because most specialized, contractor-installed home automation systems are a very expensive proposition. But a new wave of cheaper, networked gadgets may let us skirt the top-down approach, building automated homes one device at a time.
We’ve seen this concept applied to heating and cooling with the Nest, and now, it’s here for our lighting with the Spark Socket. New to Kickstarter, the Socket, designed by Scot Herbst, is a Wi-Fi adapter that fits in any light socket and allows you to control the light bulb with your iPhone.
In a movie filmed by Alice Masters for the Designers in Residence exhibition at the Design Museum, Oscar Medley-Whitfield and Harry Trimble explain how they turned clay dug from the muddy banks of the river Thames into ceramic tableware. (more…)
Using an age-old water bath marbleizing technique, Danish artist Pernille Snedker Hansen creates marble wood that can be used for flooring, wall decor or other applications.
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-16 11:16:14 UTC
Currently about 34% of global energy consumption is caused by inefficient climate control systems. Addressing this issue Tado strives to be the market ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-14 16:21:10 UTC
Boffi recently brought a redesign of it's sixties minikitchen. Cooking, cooling, storage all integrated in a compact movable unit. Coming in handy ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-10 23:05:47 UTC
The original Tide chandelier is part of a larger body of work based on the collection of ' man made' debris washed up on a specific stretch of Kent ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-09 11:09:42 UTC
Embrace has developed an innovative, low cost infant warmer for vulnerable babies in developing countries. Over 20 million low-birth-weight and premature ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-07 13:56:13 UTC
GOOD DESIGN Award for Ben in Bad! from The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art design ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-05 11:28:16 UTC
Vestergaard Frandsen, established in 1957, is a Europe-based international company specialising in complex emergency response and disease control products. ...
by: Design 4 Sustainability, 2012-11-01 13:19:30 UTC
Three dutch organisations De bouwkundewinkel (translates as Architectureshop), Stichting Natuurkampeerterrein (the association of natural campsites ...
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