Read the rest of Blackbody Shows Off Beautiful Life-Size OLED Trees at ICFF 2013

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Post tags: "green furniture", Alessandro Dolcetta, ambient lighting, Blackbody, Blackbody OLED, Bruno Dussert-Vidalet, eco design, eco furniture, eco lighting, energy efficient lighting, green design, green lighting, ICFF, icff 2013, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, javits center furniture show, new york design week, sustainable design

Read the rest of The Sugar Lab 3D Prints Sweet Geometric Sculptures From Sugar

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Post tags: 3d printer, Architecture, Art, California, confection, geometric, Los Angeles, molecular gastronomy, silver lake, sugar, the sugar lab

As news breaks that global carbon dioxide levels are at an all-time high, one scientist is developing “artificial trees“ to help cleanse the air and reduce greenhouse gas pollution. Columbia University’s Klaus Lackner has developed a carbon dioxide capturing material that acts as a powerful sponge – and it’s able to soak up CO2 faster than plants!

Read the rest of Klaus Lackner’s Artificial Trees Soak Up CO2 Emissions Faster Than Plants

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Post tags: artificial trees, carbon dioxide sucking plastic resin, carbon emissions, Columbia University Mudd Building, eco design, green design, greenhouse gas, Klaus Lackner, sustainable design

These days, 3D printers can create just about anything – from human organs to deadly weapons. But one innovation we haven’t previously seen in 3D printing? Printer filament made from of planet-friendly materials rather than Earth-damaging plastics. That’s changing however, with design firm Emerging Objects‘ recycled and recyclable 3D printing materials. Using materials like salt, concrete, wood and paper, they are putting the green in 3D printing.

Read the rest of Emerging Objects Creates Eco-Friendly 3D Printing Materials

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Post tags: 3d printing advances, 3d printing technology, Emerging Objects, Emerging Objects 3d printing, Emerging Objects printing material, environmentally friendly 3d printing, environmentally friendly printing materials, recyclable 3d printing, recycled 3d printing, renewable 3d printing, renewable printing materials

Can technology save the world? In short: No, not by itself. A sweeping set of changes in the way we interact with the planet is needed to stabilize our rapidly deteriorating biosphere and avert a bleak future. Technology is simply a tool to help us achieve these changes. A dangerous argument, however, is when decision-makers and influencers say our impact on the planet is not a concern, and changes in our behavior are not needed in the near future, or ever, because technology will save us. Sounds ridiculous, but various forms of this argument are commonly invoked in government and international forums, particularly when profits and votes come into play.

Read the rest of Can Technology Save the World?

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Post tags: can tech save the world, drones, eco-innovations, environmental damage, genetic engineering, global issues, life saving inventions, recycling, tech solutions for a changing world, technology and climate change, technology and global warming, water issues

So far we’ve showcased paper artwork, robots and USB drives here on Inhabitat – and now researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam-Golm have utilized sheets of paper to create targeted conductive structures. Using an inkjet printer, the team was able to deposit a catalyst on paper and heat it, turning the surface into graphite that is able to conduct electricity. The team, Led by Cristina Giordano, is now pioneering the field of carbon electronics.

Read the rest of Researchers Use an Inkjet Printer to Create Electrically Conductive Paper

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Post tags: carbon, carbon electronics, catalyst, cost effective, cristina giordano, Electricity, graphene, graphite, inkjet printer, lightweight, max planck institute of colloids and interfaces, minerva, origami crane, Paper, potsdam-golm

Many people around the world rely on cash crops to create extra income for their families. During the dry season, shallow wells and drought are challenges that reduce crop yield – and extra income. In order to produce a bountiful harvest during this season, farmers rely on pump irrigation to keep the water flowing. The only problem is that pumps can be costly to buy and to maintain – so the folks at International Development Enterprises (iDE) developed SunWater, an affordable water pump system that uses the power of the sun.

Read the rest of SunWater Gives Farmers an Affordable Way to Pump Water Using Solar Power

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Post tags: green energy ideas, green power, Indiegogo projects, International Development Enterprises, irrigation for poor areas, irrigation for poor farmers, solar power applications, solar power technology, solar water pump, SunWater, third world irrigation, water pump for irrigation

Last year, the Smithsonian was one of the first American institutions to jump on the 3D printing bandwagon when they scanned and printed a Thomas Jefferson statue from Monitcello. The world-famous museum will now embrace the technology even further by embarking upon a quest to scan its entire collection. From bones to sculptures, the museum will digitally preserve its vast collection of over 14 million items for future generations.

Read the rest of Smithsonian Institution Starts 3D Scanning its Entire Collection

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Post tags: 3D Scanned smithsonian collection, 3d scanning, digital archiving, eco design, green design, smithsonian, sustainable design

US-based wind energy company SheerWind just unveiled the INVELOX – a tunnel-based wind turbine that can produce up to 600% more power than traditional wind turbines. The company states that after extensive field-testing, their new INVELOX turbine “significantly outperforms the traditional turbine” and could reduce installation capital costs to less than $750 per KW.

Read the rest of SheerWind’s INVELOX Wind Turbine Can Generate 600% More Energy Than Conventional Turbines

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Post tags: "wind power", INVELOX, INVELOX system, SheerWind, SheerWind INVELOX, traditional wind turbines, tunnel wind turbine system, wind energy, wind turbines

Why use a light bulb to illuminate your home when you could just fill it with glowing plants? That’s the question asked by Antony Evans, the head of a team of bio-engineers in San Francisco, California. The team has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a project that will use the glowing genes from fireflies and bacteria to create plants that shine. By using synthetic biology and Genome Compiler software, the have already managed to modify Arabidopsis plants, and they’re working on glowing roses.

Read the rest of Glowing Plant Project Creates Bioluminescent Plants for Natural Lighting

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Post tags: antony eveans, arabidopsis, bioengineer, California, CO2, gene, genome compiler, glowing plant, kickstarter, luciferase, rose, San Francisco, seeds

The first sure sign of a robot uprising will be when robots gain self-awareness and begin acting autonomously – and if this self-assembling robot is any indication, we’re well on our way to the robopocalypse. Researchers at Harvard and MIT teamed up to produce a 3D-printed inchworm robot that is able to aseemble itself. Using shape memory polymers that automatically fold into desired shapes, the remarkable bot transforms itself from a completely flat, two-dimensional object into a walking inchworm-shaped robot with almost no help from human hands.

Read the rest of MIT and Harvard’s 3D-Printed Inchworm Robot Can Assemble Itself

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Post tags: 3D printing, 3d-printed inchworm robot, 3D-printed robot, harvard, ICRA 2013, inchworm robot, MIT, robots, self-assembling robot, Self-folding robot

Google’s amazing new Timelapse may be the closest thing to a time machine that we’ve seen yet. Forget waiting for Doc to fix the time-traveling Delorean, Timelapse has the capability of showing some of the big changes seen on Earth since 1986. Although it can only go back 28 years, the feature lets us see the incredible growth of urban sprawl, or deterioration of the world’s forests, and the drift and melt of glaciers from year to year.


Read the rest of Google’s New Timelapse Shows How Much Our Planet Has Changed in Past 30 Years

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Post tags: Climate Change, eco design, global change, Google Timelapse, green design, nasa, sustainable design, US Geological Society

Out in the wilderness, there are few places to charge electronic devices. Those who are looking to slim down their packs and consolidate their GPS, maps, books, and radios into  one rugged machine may want to check out Earl, the world’s first backcountry survival tablet. Solar powered and able to withstand dust, mud, and shock, this hearty companion is currently looking for some crowdsourcing support to get it out onto the trail.

Read the rest of Earl: The World’s First Solar-Powered Backcountry Survival Tablet

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Post tags: android application, backcountry, bluetooth, crowdsourcing, e-ink touchscreen, earl, epub, frs, gmrs, gps, mobi, murs, NOAA, pdf, radio, same, survival tablet, wilderness

Citing high costs and extreme resistance from the mobile phone industry, San Francisco has dropped a law that would have required a radiation warning label to be placed on all new mobile phones sold within the city limits. On Tuesday, the city Board of Supervisors voted to settle a lawsuit with the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association by accepting a permanent injunction against the right-to-know cell phone ordinance. However, the city was quick to point out that legal fees prompted the action, and that fears about the health risks posed by phone radiation still exist.

Read the rest of San Francisco Drops Law Mandating Radiation Warning Labels on Cell Phones

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Post tags: cell phones, health hazard, mobile phone industry, radiation, safety, San Francisco, smart phones

It has only been a couple of days since the Liberator 3D-printed gun was successfully fired in Texas by Defense Distributed. But after the gun was downloaded over 100,000 times in just two days, the State Department told founder Cody Wilson to take down the blueprints from the company’s servers immediately. The sheer number of downloads is not what is causing concern for the federal government – they are concerned as to who is doing the downloading. The web-based plans are subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations that do not allow the “export [of] any defense article or technical data for which a license or written approval is required without first obtaining the required authorization from the DDTC (Directorate of Defense Trade Controls).”

Read the rest of State Department Steps in to Block Access to 3D-Printed Liberator Gun Blueprints

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Post tags: 3D-printed gun, blueprints, Brazil, California, Chuck Schumer, Cody Wilson, ddtc, Defense Distributed, directorate of defense trade controls, download, germany, international traffic in arms regulations, leland yee, liberator gun, mega, New York., server, Spain, steve israel, texas, UK, US, us state department

When it comes to capturing solar energy, plants are first in their class. Able to function at nearly 100 percent quantum efficiency, they can produce an equal number of electrons for each photon captured. Using these photons to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, the resulting electrons are able to create sugars that help the plant to live and reproduce. Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a way to harness the power of the photosynthetic process to generate a clean form of electricity. Ramaraja Ramasamy, assistant professor in the UGA College of Engineering, explained how his team manipulated the biology for human advantage.

Read the rest of Scientists Discover Methods of Harvesting Electricity from Plants

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Post tags: "clean energy", carbon nanotubules, electrons, journal of energy and environmental science, photon, photosynthesis, plants, quantum efficiency, ramaraja ramasamy, Solar Power, sun, thylakoids, uga college of engineering, University of Georgia, water issues

There are those who will only let their firearms be taken away from their cold, dead 3D printers. Defense Distributed, a group of IT professionals, students, and engineers located in the US and Germany, have reported to Forbes that the downloads for its Liberator gun have reached 100,000. Earlier this week, they had demonstrated their product being discharged successfully in Texas. Since then, California Senator Leland Yee has been taking steps to ban the weapon, attempting to outlaw the manufacture of 3D-printed guns.

Read the rest of Blueprints for 3D-Printed Liberator Gun Have Been Downloaded 100,000 Times in Just Two Days

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Post tags: 3d printer, 3D-printed gun, BluePrint, Brazil, California, Chuck Schumer, Cody Wilson, defcad, Defense Distributed, download, ebay, germany, liberator pistol, New York., plastic, senator leland yee, Spain, steve isreal, texas, UK, US, us bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms, us undetectable firearms act

Charging time and cost are two of the biggest obstacles facing electric vehicle battery technology today. Fortunately, researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden just developed an integrated motor drive and battery charger that can shorten charging time from eight hours to two while reducing overall cost by $2,000.

Read the rest of Cheaper EV Charging System Can Charge Electric Cars 4 Times Faster

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Post tags: chalmers university of technology, cost, electric vehicle, ev, fossil fuel, integrated charger, saeid haghbin, Sweden, time, volvo ab

There are few cyclists who don’t have at least a small addiction to speed – whether it’s cruising down a steep hill or whizzing past traffic. If you really have the itch to fly down the road, you may want to check out the Specialized Turbo, an electric-assisted bike that can cruise at speeds of up to 27 mph. This is the first plug-in from the California-based company — the bike has already been rolling around Europe for a year, but US federal laws have deemed the bike too fast to be sold without calling it a motorcycle until now. The solution? A top-speed limiting gear that won’t let you break 27mph.

Read the rest of The Specialized Turbo is an Electric Bike that Can Hit a Blistering 27 MPH

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Post tags: California, charger, electric bicycle, lithium ion battery, motor, plug-in, specialized turbo, SRAM, traffic

Until recently, invisibility cloaks were the stuff of private laboratories or fantasy novels. Now, engineers from Duke University have taken advantage of 3D printing technology to fabricate an obscuring device that is inexpensive and can be put together in just a few hours. The device resembles a perforated disc, and algorithms determine where holes in the plastic patter should be placed in order to deflect microwave beams and create the cloak. Led by Yaroslav Urzhumov, the team published their results in the online journal, Optic Letters.

Read the rest of Duke Researchers Create a DIY Invisibility Cloak Using a 3D Printer

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Post tags: 3d printer, dielectric, disc, DIY, Duke University, invisibility cloak, microwave, optic letters, polymer plastic, stereolithography, yarsolav urzhumov