Maybe the most devastating aspect of styrofoam packaging is that it’s useful for a matter of days or hours--say, while a product ships--but it lasts for a millennium. Plastics like styrofoam currently take up between 25% and 30% of our landfill space, and a single cubic foot of styrofoam has the same energy content as about one and a half liters of gasoline. That’s a lot of impact for just a little bit of value.

And that’s precisely why college pals Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre established Ecovative, which grows cost-effective alternatives to plastic insulation and packaging. While they were students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Bayer and McIntyre experimented with mycelium, the network of vegetative filaments in mushrooms, and realized that it could be used to form incredibly strong bonds. Essentially, the substance functions like a glue that you can grow and use to form agricultural byproducts like plant stalks and seed husks into natural alternatives to styrofoam packaging and insulation.

"It turns out that mycelium is actually a living polymer," says Bayer, who graduated in 2007 and co-founded Ecovative that same year. "I like to think of it as low-tech biotech."

After graduation, he and McIntyre continued working with mycelium and soon earned grants from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. Larger awards followed from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the EPA; these allowed them to hone their concept and bring it closer to market. Bayer even performed a TED talk in 2010.

They’ve replaced toxic products--styrofoam and insulation--with superior proxies that are biocompatible with the planet (meaning they’re compostable). And perhaps the most compelling fact about Ecovative is that--like the product itself--the company continues to grow. What began as a bright idea between two college students is now the driving force for a company of more than 50 people. They’ve got a fully operational New York office and hope to open a 40,000-foot facility in the Midwest this summer. They’re even working on growing a house entirely out of the fungal materials. Ultimately, they’ve unearthed a natural solution to a consumer problem.

"All of our clients came to us because they have a problem," said Bayer of styrofoam-based products. "They had to get out of plastic, either because their CEO said they’re not going to do any more plastic or because their customers called up and asked them to stop sending plastic waste with their products."

Ecovative products use what Bayer calls a "whole-organism approach," meaning that everything they grow goes into the final product. "There’s no extraction in the approach. The feedstock and the organism become the final product. This means our yield rates in comparison to every other company are phenomenal. It’s a tremendous challenge to replace a plastic like styrofoam--which is really cheap--at the same price and performance. It’s really hard; that’s why no one’s done it. But we’re thrilled to be able to get there. "

Researchers turned to the human skin for inspiration behind new moisture-wicking fabric.

Biomedical engineers are unveiling a new type of fabric that, much like human skin, can turn excess sweat into droplets that simply fall away on their own accord.

"We intentionally did not use any fancy microfabrication techniques so it is compatible with the textile manufacturing process and very easy to scale up," said Siyuan Xing in a school news release. Xing is the lead biomedical engineering student on the project at the University of California, Davis.

An article in the journal Lab on a Chip describes the fabric's microfluidic platform. Multiple woven threads suck droplets of water off the human skin and into the fabric. Those droplets then drain along the threads and are expelled from the fabric's exterior -- in effect, making the fabric water-repellent.

What's more, this expelling action continues to work even after the fibers are totally saturated with water, thanks to the pressure created in the surface tension of the droplets. Also, because the fabric is designed to control where sweat is collected, versus where it drain... [Read more]

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Your old plastic bottles no longer are useless when they’re being made into the felt that forms the Torbuschka family of bags by Kaaita. Each Torbuschka comes with two slightly smaller bags fitted into the largest one giving you a trio of totes handmade exclusively in Slovenia.

The durable bags aren’t just for carrying around, you can use them as storage around your crib for things like toys, firewood, newspapers, linens, etc. It’s available in three versions – Torbuschka L (wearable edition), Torbuschka L (furniture edition), and Torbuschka XL (king size furniture edition).

There are no homes without electric bulbs these days. Besides, a light consumes 10 to15% of the electrical energy in a household. The use of standard electric light bulbs is a major drain on energy within the household. Lighting is said to account for between 10 and 15 percent of the energy use of a household. The old style bulbs are not reliable and energy efficient, and one of them includes incandescent bulbs. As the incandescent bulbs are quite inefficient in converting the energy which they receive the demand for these bulbs has decreased. However, there are some people who still using these bulbs. With the advancements made in technology the scientists have come up with the best alternative to the incandescent lamp.

Which is the best alternative to incandescent lamps?

These alternative bulbs include CFL’s. The CFL bulbs are very efficient and reliable. These energy saving bulbs are long lasting uses a very less energy to produce light. Thus, the household budget of a person has decreased in a great way due to the usage of these bulbs. In fact councils are also saving lots of money by using these eco-friendly bulbs. As we all know that Paris is famous for Champs-Elysee lighting each Christmas. It is revealed that over 70% of the energy is saved on using these CFL bulbs. Government has also started using these energy efficient bulbs to save the power. Besides, you need not change the bulbs often as these are much reliable when compared to all other bulbs.

LED bulbs: Though the LED bulbs are quite expensive they are very long lasting. Besides, it consumes a very less energy to convert the energy into light, whereas an incandescent lamp uses the consumed energy for both wire heating and production of light. Thus, you can save lots of energy by using an LED bulb.

Eco-friendly light bulbs:

The new generation eco-friendly bulbs are available in all the stores these days. Besides, most of the people are choosing these bulbs due to their high energy efficiency and low intake of power. Moreover, these bulbs are offered at a very low price in most of the stores. However, it would be always better to choose the energy star products. Both U.S department of energy and U.S environmental protection agency have started this emery start program to assist the people in saving their money. This energy star will only appear on the products which are of high standard and eco-friendly. All the energy star products will at least work for minimum 2 years. This is one of the reasons why most of the customers usually prefer energy star products.

But still many people are not using the eco-friendly lights as they don’t look stylish, where as the incandescent bulbs look stylish. People should realize the benefits of the energy efficient bulbs and start using them to save your money from paying to electricity departments. Besides, there are some people who give their utmost preference to style. Such people have to wake up now and start using the energy efficient bulbs as many manufacturers have designed some stylish bulbs. As these power saving bulbs are now available in various styles you need not worry about the style. Besides, the light from incandescent bulbs causes certain diseases too. This it is always suggested for you to use the eco-friendly bulbs to protect your health and also to save your money. There are many online stores which are offering these bulbs now-a-days. Thus, you could buy directly from online if you want a stylish eco-friendly bulb. You can find numerous styles in online stores within a matter of seconds. So, give a shift to eco-friendly bulbs today!

Green Products

In the past few years there are many products that have hit the market that claim to be green products. However what makes a product green? What are its environmentally friendly attributes and how does it help save the environment. These are very important questions about the products that need to be asked if we want to buy or sell responsibly. One must be serious about saving the environment and conserving it for our future generations. This is because saving our environment and our planet is of utmost importance today.

Need to Save our Environment

Our environment has suffered a lot in the past century. Over pollution, over use of natural resources, depletion of forests and ozone layer, depletion in oxygen as trees decline and climate change are some of the problems facing our planet today. A more sustainable and eco friendly living is the order of the day. There are many products in the market today that claim to be eco friendly. But what makes a product eco friendly. The following are some of the things that make a product eco friendly and qualify it as a green product:

• The first stage is the raw material that is used to make the product. If the raw materials used are renewable in nature and bio degradable then the product can say it has used green raw materials to make the product. Also products that are made from recycled material and waste are green as it helps to conserve the environment by using the same materials again and again as the need for more raw materials is reduced.
•  Another aspect of this is that the raw materials must be responsibly and sustainable sourced.  Always buy products like furniture from companies who sustainably source raw materials like wood.
• Many companies nowadays have eco friendly manufacturing sites. They use renewable sources of energy, do not use harmful chemicals in the manufacturing process and also conserve energy and reduce industrial waste and reduce pollution of air and water in manufacturing processes. There are many innovative techniques that can be used in manufacturing process that reduce the negative impact on environment and also reduce costs of production at the same time. A streamlined production process helps conserve energy and avoid waste.
• People like to reduce transportation of essential consumer products and buy products that are made nearby. This helps in reducing the pollution caused by transport of goods from one place to another.
• Another type of eco friendly product is organic products. The fruits and vegetables are organic if the agriculture is done using natural methods and no pesticides and chemicals are used in the agriculture.
• Another aspect one must keep in mind about green products is that green products when used should not cause any harm to the environment. They must be eco friendly in their use also.

As we saw above there are many parameters that have to be met in order to call a product eco friendly or green. Each product has a set number of parameters that need to be met in order to be green. However the basic principles of being green or eco friendly are conservation of environment, avoiding wastage, using eco friendly raw materials, avoiding pollution of air and water and recycling whatever is possible to converse the natural resources that are limitedly available to us. There are many products in the market today that meet the requirement and qualify as green products. So while making a green product and calling a product green the above parameters need to be kept in mind.

Traditionally, researchers have thought of "placebo effects" as something phony. Placebos are drug study controls, not the real treatment. And, the idea of sugar pills as effective medicine was almost an affront to science.

Recently, though, attitudes have changed. Amid evidence that placebo effects are strengthening, researchers have started looking at the phenomenon as something more positive. They’ve shown the experience can produce physiological effects, and can even be beneficial when patients know what’s going on.

Daniel Jacobs also wants to use placebos for good. His new app, which he’s crowd-funding on Indiegogo, is an attempt to take the placebo out of the doctor’s office and into your home. He hopes it will make people feel better, and contribute further to placebo research.

You start by setting a goal: say, more joy or love in your life. Then, you choose someone to give you the placebo (maybe a friend or family member), what you want it to be (a pill, say), and where you want to take it (maybe a forest where you go running with a friend). You then "take" the placebo whenever you want to, following a pre-set ritual built into the app.

The point is to replicate what’s important about the placebo effect, which isn’t the pill itself, but the experience. "If we think about placebo as a transformational symbol, then people get to choose what placebo they want," says Jacobs. "It can be a pill, magic wand, holy book, communion wafer, or herbs. It just needs to be meaningful for them."

Up to 100 people have tested it so far, and, according to Jacobs, almost all them have felt better afterwards. He says if people don’t feel an effect, the app can adapt and serve up a different experience next time.

The Placebo Effect project is backed by several reputable names, including a senior executive at American Institutes for Research, and a principal at Deloitte Consulting. Jacobs hopes to use the $50,000 from the campaign to develop a production app for iPhone and Android, and eventually to put the app through a full clinical trial.

"It would be great if lots of people use it and it works really well," he says. "But it would be even better if we can prove that it works, and if we can support others doing next step experiments."

Most people who share, do it because they want to make the world a better place, according to a new national survey commissioned by AirBnb.

The sharing economy has an estimated $26 billion value, including online platforms that make it easy to do everything from renting out spare rooms in your home (AirBnb) to carsharing (Zipcar), clothing swaps (ThredUP), even sharing extra portions from homecooked meals ( Shareyourmeal, of course).

This new survey gets at the motivations behind sharing, as well as the future of the market. Not surprisingly, adults under 35 are the most digitally savvy and therefore the most likely to have participated in sharing or renting online rather than owning. Most people (77%) see the sharing economy as a great way to save money, but among those who have actually tried it, the plurality, 36%, said their motivation was philosophical, not financial. Listing extra goods or a spare room online was seen as a way to help others and, for one in four, to promote sustainability as well.

It’s interesting to speculate on what these findings might mean for the future growth of sharing. On the one hand, any product or service that offers emotional benefits and becomes positively linked with one’s sense of self is likely to have staying power, producing strong brand loyalty. Over half of those who had participated in the sharing economy said they would recommend it to others.

On the other hand, if the sharing economy becomes too linked to a particular philosophy or outlook on life, it could be doomed to remain a niche activity or a passing trend. Research on self-identified "green" consumers, for example, indicates that interest dipped after the 2008 economic crash. In order for the sharing economy to move beyond true believers, these brands may want to stick to being the smart thing to do, instead of just the right thing to do.