Recent data suggests that we send more than 14 million cars to the scrap yard each year, so it’s refreshing to see some of those abandoned automobiles put to good use in sustainable, eco-friendly style. Leger Wanaselja Architecture’s fabulously ambitious McGee House does just that. The curvaceous upper walls of the 2 bedroom home are fashioned from over 100 salvaged car roofs, while the roofs of the home are constructed from sawn apart gray-colored cars. The bright and airy awning you see? It’s made entirely from the side windows of Dodge Caravans, once “America’s best-selling minivan,” now prevalent in scrap heaps.

Read the rest of Leger Wanaselja’s McGee House is Made From Over 100 Salvaged Car Roofs

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "solar energy", "sustainable architecture", Eco Architecture, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, Leger Wanaselja Architecture, low toxicity, McGee House, poplar wood, Recycled Materials, salvaged cars, salvaged wood, scrap cars, sustainable design

Matthias Pliessnig‘s beautiful organic benches strike a perfect balance between the the subjects he studied: sculpture, furniture design, and wood & art. The Philadelphia-based designer creates these astonishing sculptural seats by shaping ash and white oak strips with a low-energy, ancient technique called steam bending. Originally used for building bows and boats, steam bending works by shaping wood with heated vapor – allowing designers to create curvaceous structures like these dynamic furniture pieces.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "green furniture", "philadelphia design", ancient technique, Art, ash seats, dynamic seats, low-energy technique, Matthias Pliessnig, sculptural seats, Smithsonian American Art Museum, steam bending, white oak seats, wooden shapes

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", Bullerjan Oven, confused direction, Confused Direction Design, Daylighting, eco design, Floating Home, germany, green design, green materials, Hausboot, house boat, hunt river, insulation, locally sourced materials, oldenburg, resofloor, resopal, Silverbeaver, small footprint, sustainable boat house, sustainable design

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", Austria, Daylighting, eco design, green design, KIKO, Ohnmacht Flamm Architekten, passive house, Solar Power, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, Tyrol Mountains

If you live in New York City, you may soon have the chance to check out the Waterpod, an incredible self-reliant eco-habitat, exhibition, and living space designed to showcase sustainable grassroots technology. The Waterpod just launched this Saturday, and it will now dock for public viewing at various locations in Manhattan’s five boroughs. We had the chance to conduct an exclusive interview with Lonny Grafman, the project’s sustainability advisor, about this floating model of self-sufficiency.

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: Sustainability Advisor Lonny Grafman on the Waterpod

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "wind power", Green Building, grey water treatment wind power, greywater, inhabitat interview, lonny grafman, Lonny Grafman Interview, mary mattingly, new york city, new york city environmental issues, nyc sustainability and water, nyc water, solar, Sustainability, sustainablikity advisors, water issues, waterpod

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", 1st lighting festival, asia, eco design, energy efficient lighting, festival, green design, green lighting, i Light, i Light Marina Bay 2012, LED, marina bay, Smart Lights Singapore, sustainable design, sustainable lighting, Urban Redevelopment Authority

If we hadn’t seen a video of the T30 Hotel going up in China, we might not have believed that anyone, anywhere could erect a prefabricated 30 storey tower in just over 2 weeks. But it’s true – Broad Sustainable Building, a subsidiary of the BroadGroup construction company, has broken their previous record of constructing a 15 storey building in one week with their latest project in Hunan Province. Not only did BSB get the T30 Hotel up in 15 days or 360 hours (with the help of 200 super speedy construction workers), but the company claims that their 17,000 square meter tower is 5 times more energy efficient than the competition and generates a fraction of the waste. It is also said to have the capacity to withstand an earthquake that measures up to 9 on the Richter Magnitude Scale! Take a look at the incredible time-lapse video of the hotel’s construction after the jump.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "sustainable architecture", air purification, Broad Sustainable Building, BroadGroup, BSB, china, eco design, green design, heat recovery, Hunan Province, Pollution, prefab construction, reduced construction waste, solar shading, sustainable design, T30 Hotel

Denis Parren‘s conceptual CMYK lamp questions how we percieve colors and light by casting multicolored strokes on walls. Unveiled at the latest edition of the Dutch Design Week, the lamp’s name comes from the famous Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK) color scheme commonly used for printing. The cage-like hanging light fixture includes a LED disc that emits CMYK colors, which are then intercepted by white wires to reflect an opposing color of light on walls.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", CMYK lamp, Design Academy in Eindhoven, dutch design, Green Appliances, green graphic design, LED lamps

If your new year’s resolution for 2012 is to take control of your monthly energy bill and save electricity, kWh Power’s Home Start Kit can help you achieve that goal by monitoring and controlling your plug loads (the energy consumed by a device that’s plugged into a socket). The average household these days has over 25-30 electric devices powered by plugs, and office plug loads account for about 20% of a typical electrical bill, so keeping track of your appliances and electronics can really go a long way. The package consists of 2 energy-monitoring plugs, a USB connector and a license for the Plugwise Source software and is suited for implementation in a single room.

+ kWh Power

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", eco design, energy monitoring kit, energy saving, green design, green energy, home start kit, kwh power, kWh Power is a Service That Lets You Take Control of Your Monthly Energy Bill, monitor energy, save energy, sustainable design, Vampire Power

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", Architecture, bere architects, eco design, energy efficient, green design, green roof, London, passivehaus, rainwater recycling, roof garden, solar thermal hot water heating, sustainable design, the muse, triple glazing, urban gardens

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "energy star", "leed", Athens, Bork Architecture Design, cottage vernacular, eco design, georgia, green design, historic home, LEED platinum, Lor Newcomer, low emissions wood fire stove, passive design, solar gain, solar water heater, south, sustainable design, usgbc

There is plenty of electric vehicle buzz at this year’s North American International Auto Show and Volvo just added to the green transportation hype by showcasing the world’s first (and second) plug-in diesel hybrid. The V60 and XC60 Plug-in Hybrids are being touted as two of the most technically advanced models in Detroit. They offer drivers the freedom to choose from three driving modes: pure, hybrid, or power without sacrificing interior space, comfort, or performance – and they give EV enthusiasts a choice of a crossover or a premium wagon.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", conservation, detroit auto show, diesel, electric car, ev, fuel economy, green design, green transportation, hybrid, NAIAS, naias 2012, north american international auto show, phev, plug-in hybrid, sustainable design, v60, volvo, xc60

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", Advanced Architecture, Blaf Architecten, Chalboard Skin Passivhause, crossway house, design standards, france, green design, JustK Passive Haus, Karawitz, passive house, Passivhause, Solar Decathlon, sustainable design

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "sustainable development", Caracos, Chile, Daylighting, eco design, Gonzalo Mardones Arquitecto, Green Appliances, Green Building, green design, Miele, modular architecture, prefab architecture, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, temporary structures

Have you ever imagined that one day you’d be able to watch TV shows on your t-shirt? Engineer David Forbes didn’t see any reason why not. In 2009 he created his first prototype for a wearable LED television, and he just unveiled the final design! Scaled down from his initial 50-pound model, the finished version weighs only eight pounds and boasts a 160-by-120-pixel display.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", David Forbes, DIY, electrical engineer, green technology, inhabitat, ipod, LED, LED television, Technology, transportable technology, wearable LED, wearable technology

Brrrrrrr! The weather’s getting colder (some cities have already seen snow!) and that means that many of us will soon be seeing a big spike on our monthly electricity bills. But it doesn’t have to be that way – there are plenty of simple ways to minimize the amount of energy needed to heat your home and save a bundle of cash doing it. From properly insulating your house to simply dressing for the season, check out our 10 easy tips to cut your home’s energy use – you’ll thank us when you receive your next electricity bill!

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", 10 Ways to Cut Your Home Energy Bill This Winter, cut your home energy bill, eco design, energy audit, energy efficiency tips, energy efficient lighting, energy monitoring, energy saving, energy saving tips, green design, green lighting, green tips for the home, infrared gun, insulation, LED, led light bulbs, save energy, saving electricity, smart thermostat, super sealed windows, sustainable design

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "solar energy", eco design, geothermal energy, green design, insulation, Mt. Rainier, Northwest Designs, Northwest Designs Architects, passive design, Stanwood, sustainable design, thermal massing, Thomas Eco House, washington

2011 was an incredible year for green energy as the impending challenges of climate change, energy security, and peak oil spurred the development of clean power sources that will propel us towards a more sustainable future. We saw plans unveiled that will transform skyscrapers into towering photovoltaic farms and we watched a forest of massive solar trees sprout in Singapore. We were also amazed to see a 13-year-old wunderkind harness the fibonacci sequence to make a solar power breakthrough, and we brought you a first look at Aquamarine Power’s massive Oyster 800 wave energy generator – read on for our most popular green energy stories from 2011!

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", alternative energy, green design, green energy, green power, green technology, renewable energy, sustainable design, sustainable technology, top 6 green energy stories of 2011, top green design stories of 2011

Early last year we reported on the unveiling of Evatran’s Plugless Power – the world’s first wireless EV charger. Now – just in time for the new year – we’re happy to say that Evatran has launched its online reservation system, and to top things off they’re offering a $150 rebate card for up to 6 months of free electricity.

Read the rest of Evatran Now Accepting Pre-Orders for Plugless Power Wireless EV Charging System

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", batteries, car chargers, chargers, electric vehicle chargers, electric vehicles, ev chargers, evatran, evatran plugless power, in home ev chargers, plugless power, sustainable design, wireless electric vehicle charger, wireless ev charger

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "sustainable architecture", australia, bicycle storage, Daylighting, eco design, energy footprint, existing site, green design, hawthorn, modular, rothe lawman, student dorms, sustainable design, swinburne university, thermal performance, Vivida