Zipper8Lighting saved hundreds of soda can tabs to create these shimmering eco-friendly lampshades, which emit a warm glow from beneath the layers of reclaimed materials. The tabs are carefully attached to a cylindrical plastic shade, and when the light shines through it creates a simple but dazzling effect. Hopefully the designer didn’t have to drink all of that soda on their own!

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Post tags: eco design, eco friendly lamps, etsy, green design, green lamps, Recycled Materials, soda can lampshades, sustainable design, zipper8lighting

Read the rest of Artist Creates Epic Cityscapes Using Vintage Letterpress Pieces

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Post tags: cityscape sculpture, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver art, eco design, eco-art, green design, Hong Seon Jang, letterpress sculpture, recycled art, recycled sculpture, sustainable design

Do you enjoy camping but find it hard to get a good night’s sleep? The Pakmat is a comfortable, eco-friendly, and compact product ideal for outdoor enthusiasts, as well as for emergency use during disaster relief efforts. There is no need to carry a separate pump or rely on an electrical power source, because the PakMat uses a handheld pump with human energy to inflate the bed. It’s the first air pump that is specifically designed to act as a clean storage unit for the airbed it is designed to inflate.

+ AeroBed Pakmat

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Post tags: air bed, air mattress, camping, erobed, green air matrress, green products, inflatable mattress, pakmat

“Wij krijgen Kippen,” which roughly translates from the Dutch to ”we pick up chickens,” has an unusual educational tool for informing the public about energy usage — their giant egg wanders through the streets of Amsterdam, and nests itself everywhere that local energy is generated. The group’s objective is to help the borough of Amsterdam Zuid transition from traditional energy sources to new, locally produced green energy. Supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation, Wij krijgen kippen is comprised of a growing group of civilians, entrepreneurs and civil servants. As for their giant wandering egg, it serves as a public meeting point where individuals can learn about the non-profit and their green energy goals, while at night it is transformed into a large-scale projection unit for outdoor movie screenings.

+ Wij krijgen Kippen

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Post tags: dutch energy, energy amsterdam, giant egg, green energy, non-profit activism, public art, public space, renewable energy, we get chickens, wij krijgen kippen

Santa Monica-based LivingHomes has launched the C6.2, an affordable prefab house that is certified LEED Platinum. Previously, LivingHomes had introduced the C6, an affordable three-bedroom home, but the company rolled out this smaller version for homeowners who want a smaller and more energy-efficient option. The sleek, two-bedroom, two-bathroom home is a good fit for smaller infill lots common in cities or for eco-conscious homeowners who want to save on construction and installation costs.

Read the rest of LivingHomes Introduces C6.2, a LEED Platinum Prefab House!

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Post tags: "leed", Brad Pitt, c6, c6.2, cavco, cork flooring, LEED platinum, livinghomes, low flow water features, mike it right, module home, no voc paint, passive solar, prefab house, Santa Monica

Benjamin Rollins Caldwell’s new LED chandelier fuses the structure of mid-century modern style with modern innovation. The Halide Chandelier recycles disused industrial elements into a dazzling, energy-efficient light. The piece will make an appearance at BRC’s display at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in NYC next week.


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Post tags: Benjamin Rollins Caldwell, BRC Design Studio, eco design, green design, LED Chandelier, recycled chandelier, recycled light bulb chandelier, sustainable design

New York-based artist Tom Sachs has teamed up with Nike on a capsule collection that combines Sach’s DIY ethos and his preoccupation with space exploration with the sportswear giant’s yen for performance innovation. Together, they’ve come up with a series of limited-edition sneakers, bags and jackets that are made using fabric from Mars Excursion Rover airbags, mainsails for boats, and even NASA spacesuits. The joint venture, dubbed NikeCraft, will launch on the eve of Sach’s Space Program: Mars installation at Manhattan’s Armory Park.

READ MORE >

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Post tags: Astronaut apparel, “Chester” trench coat, “Mars Yard” shoe, “Marsfly” jacket, DIY, eco-fashion, nasa, Nike, Nikecraft, recycled clothes, space gear, spacesuits, sportswear, Tom Sachs

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Post tags: Buchen, Dandelion Clock, Daylighting, ecker architekten, eco design, educational architecture, germany, green design, modular design, natural ventilation, passive cooling, solar gain, sustainable design, sustainably sourced wood

Overhead electric lines that power buses and streetcars are a common sight in California cities and towns, and they could soon be expanding to highways. At the 26th annual Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles last week, Siemens unveiled the “eHighway of the Future,” a system of electric lines that would be used to power specially-designed hybrid trucks. The eHighway is currently being tested in Germany, and pilot projects are planed for Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Read the rest of Siemens to Test “eHighway” Overhead Electric Lines for Trucks in California

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Post tags: California, eco friendly shipping, ehighway, ehighway of the future, electric cars, germany, green transportation, green trucks, hybrid cars, hybrid trucks, shipping, siemens

The term ‘building science’ is used quite often now in sustainable building circles, but much of what we understand of it can be traced back to the work of Dr. Joe Lstiburek, founder of Building Science Corporation. He is anything but your typical engineer or scientist who spends time crunching numbers or hiding away in a lab. Lstiburek has spent most of his career out in the field, testing and examining what works and what doesn’t. Many of the building standards today — from building codes to ASHRE to testing methodology — have his finger prints all over them, and his tough love criticism of building design is undercut with his wry humor and, of course, an encyclopedic knowledge of building construction. Read on to learn where buildings go wrong and what we can do about it.

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: Building Science Pioneer Dr. Joe Lstiburek on the Good, Bad and Ugly Side of Buildings

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Post tags: "leed", ASHRE, Building failures, Building Science, Green Building, green building expert, Joe Lstiburek, problems with LEED, Sustainable Building

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Post tags: eco design, F R E A K S freearchitects, green design, green renovation, Heliocosm, minimalist, natural cosmetics, organic cosmetics, Paris, Recycled Materials, sustainable design, timber

The French energy giant Total announced today that it has finally stopped the natural gas leak at its Elgin platform in the North Sea, 150 miles off the coast of Scotland. The Elgin leak, which started March 25, released gas at a rate of 7 million cubic feet a day at its peak and led to the evacuation of its workers amid fears of an explosion. The leak has cost the company $3 million a day and could deny the United Kingdom as much as six percent of its natural gas supplies this summer.

Read the rest of Elgin Gas Leak In Scotland’s North Sea Finally Sealed Nearly Two Months After it Began

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Post tags: elgin leak, Elgin platform, Gas Leak, natural gas leak, north sea, north sea gas field, oil and gas, total, total gas, united kingdom

Read the rest of Gorgeous Historic Church Transformed into Modern Residence near Adelaide, Australia

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Post tags: adaptive reuse, adelaide, australia, converted church, eco design, green design, sustainable design

Honda has announced the new UNI-CUB personal mobility device, an electric, self-balancing, weight-shift controlled vehicle which is set to compete with devices like the Segway. The major difference between the Segway and the UNI-CUB is the fact that it features a more comfortable design that allows the rider to sit down. Designed for “harmony with the people,” the UNI-CUB also offers the same freedom of movement in all directions that a person enjoys while walking.

Read the rest of Honda Unveils the UNI-CUB, a Self-Balancing Personal Mobility Device

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Post tags: green transportation, Honda, Honda U3-X, Honda UNI-CUB, personal electric vehicle, personal mobility device, personal transportation, segway

Read the rest of Berlin’s Jungfernheide Park Lets You Climb Amidst Hundred-Year-Old Treetops

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Post tags: berlin, Botanical, climbing circuits, Edelrid SmartBelay System, harness, Landscape Architecture, treetops, Volkspark Jungfernheide, Waldhochseilgarten, Zero energy

Read the rest of Sou Fujimoto’s Glassy House NA Blurs the Distinction Between Indoor and Outdoor Space

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Post tags: green design, House NA, Japan, Sou Fujimoto, sou fujimoto architects, Tokyo

While we weren’t thrilled to hear that the 2012 London Olympics would be using PVC to build many of their temporary structures, the good news is that the materials will be recycled for another big sporting event afterwards. Over 142,000 sq. m. of PVC fabric was incorporated into the construction of the park and external Olympic venues, including Zaha Hadid’s Aquatics Centre, Hopkins Architects’ Velodrome, the Populous-designed Olympics Stadium and the Royal Artillery Barracks, but there is hope on the horizon because the developers of the Olympics have promised to do their part by recycling the vinyl after the games in new structures for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", 2012 London Olympics, 2012 olympics, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, London Olympics, olympic venues, olympics, polyvinyl chloride, PVC, recycled vinyl, Serge Ferrari, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, venues, vinyl, vinyl architecture, vinyl recycling

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Post tags: Aerodynamic shape, andes mountains, Architecture, Chile, chilean design, eco-tourism, lenga wood, local natural materias, stone, Sustainable Materials, Tierra Patagonia Hotel & Spa, Torres del Paine

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Post tags: chocolate art, chocolate sculpture, eco design, edible art, edible sculpture, green design, largest chocolate sculpture, mayan calendar, Mayan Chocolate, Mayan Temple, Qzina, sustainable design, World's largest chocolate sculpture

Star Trek might be just a TV show for many of us, but some believe that such high-tech space exploration might soon become a reality. An engineer known simply as “BTE Dan” believes that with the technology currently available, it would be possible to create a full-size replica of the USS Enterprise, but instead of dilithium crystals, it would be powered by nuclear power.

Read the rest of Nuclear-Powered USS Enterprise Could Take Us To The Stars (In Theory)

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Post tags: barry shields, barry shields uss enterprise coffee table, BTE Dan buildtheenterprise, buildtheenterprise.org, ncc 1701-A, nuclear power uss enterprise, star trek coffee table, star trek enterprise coffee table, USS enterprise, uss enterprise A, uss enterprise coffee table, uss enterprise coffee table ash, uss enterprise coffee table barry shields, uss enterprise coffee table for sale, uss enterprise coffee table ncc-1701-c