Luca Casarotto of Cosca Design in Northern Italy sent us over some images of their new Penta lamp. Made of recycled polyethylene, the lamp folds and contorts to create the optimum lighting for your mood. While open, the lamp’s light diffuses to fill a room and when folded shut, it can be concentrated for tasks and spotlighting. And the lamp comes flat-packed for fuel economy to boot!

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The Drake Landing Solar Community is the first solar powered community of North America. Located in the town of Okotoks, Alberta, Canada, the project sets a wonderful example of how every household can lead a sustainable lifestyle. There are 800 solar panels located throughout the community on garage roofs, and they produce 1.5 mega-watts of thermal power during a summer day and supply heat to the district heating system. The whole system meets 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs of the homes.

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It’s been a banner week for environmental policy as the California Building Standards Commission recently broke news of the nation’s first statewide green building code. The measure mandates significant improvements in energy efficiency and water consumption in all new construction throughout the state. The announcement was fore-grounded by April’s ambitious LA green building law and comes hot on the heels of Al Gore’s historic appeal last week for a carbon-free US energy policy.

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Ah, green design at its finest. Here at Inhabitat we pride ourselves in bringing you the freshest eco-friendly innovations, so how could we pass on the merits of this bright pink burp-trapping bovine backpack? It’s more than just a catchy concept - believe it or not there’s real SCIENCE at work here! The methane collecting tanks were utilized by Argentina’s National Institute for Agricultural Technology as part of a a study to determine the atmospheric impact of methane released by cows. The findings were startling, as researcher Guillermo Berro estimated that “30% of Argentina’s total greenhouse gases could be generated by cattle.” Time to seriously consider that poo power plant!

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In the 1960’s US foreign aid to Haiti trickled in in the form of used clothing and the flow hasn’t stopped since. Secondhand Pepe, a documentary film by Hanna Rose Shell and Vanessa Bertozzi, follows the long journey of discarded garments from the ragyards in Miami, to the archives in London and onto the Pepe markets in Port-au-Prince where they are re-tailored and re-sold to fit the styles and peoples of Haiti.

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Zurich-based Postfossil Design Collective has been capturing our imagination this year with a host of eco-minded ideas that challenge convention. Postfossil designer Annina Gaehwiler’s Torre plant pot is one such example, and demonstrates a beautiful hands-on approach to plant-rearing. Individual earth filled units are attached to the base of the pot allowing seedlings to grow and flourish with freedom to stretch their roots.

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Mathieu Lehanneur is known for his modernist designs that have a ecological purpose. We previously wrote about living air filter that uses plants to naturally purify the air in a neat little capsule. And now, this French designer has another amazing installation that brings the benefits of nature indoors into a self contained living local river ecosystem. This aquarium is not only an interesting home décor piece, but also a fish hatchery and vegetable garden.

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Have you ever pedaled on a stationary bike at the gym and thought to yourself: ‘What if this energy I am exerting could be used for something better than just making me sweat?” Well now a new proposal from architect Mitchell Joachim promises to take all that energy expended at the gym to the next level, by capturing all that exertion and using it to transport people around the rivers of New York City. The River Gym concept is a human-powered floating gym that will provide the user with the one experience that no other gym can provide: floating your workout around Manhattan. Designed by architect Mitchell Joachim and personal trainer Douglas Joachim, this project could bring inspiration to both the morning commute and workout.

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Herzog & de Meuron set about designing the Tate Modern Extension in 2006 with a modern, glass-filled aesthetic that contrasted the museum building’s origins as a former power station. A recently unveiled redesign of the addition has brought a pyramid shaped brick structure to this anchor point of the museum. The new program not only fits the museum’s needs better, it is poised to set a new standard for sustainability in the UK.

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With the 2008 Summer Olympics just around the corner, the Chinese government has started their plan to ban one million vehicles from the streets of Beijing. The initiative got underway this week with the intention to reduce the city’s air pollution in time for the 2008 Olympic Games, which start August 8th. From July 20 to Sept. 20, Beijing will alternate the days that vehicles with even and odd license plate numbers will be allowed to drive in the city - in the hopes that this will reduce traffic and air pollution for the Olympics. China has also announced that fuel prices will be raised by 18 per cent.

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Mazda recently announced that it will unveil it’s Kazamai crossover vehicle at the Moscow International Motor Show in August. Specifics on the sporty vehicle’s environmental performance will be revealed next month, but to date the car maker is touting this ride as a car that will “deliver exciting driving dynamics, frugal fuel consumption and greatly reduced CO2 emissions.”

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Imagine soaring along the road in a car composed entirely of aerodynamic glass, or piloting a red rocket-car with a split chassis mimicking a motorcycle and sidecar. Now consider the fact that these souped-up super-roadsters were envisioned with careful consideration paid to issues of emissions and energy-efficiency. The Royal College of Art recently revealed a rousing rally of auto designs that match sleek profiles with cutting-edge concepts in sustainability. From efficient electric engines to ultra-lightweight materials and driver-less navigation systems, the RCA’s 2008 crop of concept cars struck us as nothing short of stunning.

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Lotus is doing its best to convince us that they are the greenest car manufacturer, and their latest release, the Eco Elise, makes a great argument that this is the case. Not only is this an incredibly fuel efficient machine, it has been created to be manufactured with the greenest materials that Lotus could find. Embodied energy, material lifecycle, emissions and environmental impact of manufacturing and operating, and overall fuel efficiency are all factors that have been accounted for in the design and production of this soon to premiere vehicle.

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This summer PS1 Contemporary Art Center, an arm of MOMA, celebrates the 10th year of Warm Up, its annual summer music series, in New York. This year folks who go to catch the DJs and live music will have the opportunity to also visit a farmers market, dip their feet in a cool pool, and generally chill in the shade of Public Farm 1, by Work Architecture Company. It’s a series of recyclable cardboard tubes that grows rainwater-irrigated veggies while providing solar-powered cell-phone charging and community playspace. Whew!

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Al Gore recently appealed to the competitive nature of the US as a market driven society with an energy challenge that calls for a complete shift to renewables in the entire electricity sector. The former Vice President and Nobel laureate is raising the bar with the goal of total carbon-free wind, solar and geothermal power by 2018. Part of the vision includes powering electric vehicles (as truly emissions free), but the ambitious plan would transcend through transportation and ripple throughout the green building industry and beyond. With elections on the near horizon and a push to drill for yet more oil, Gore’s challenge is as timely as it is clear: in order to transcend an unsustainable existence, we need to transform our energy outlook.

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