Read the rest of 13 Things We Learned from Some of the World’s Smartest People at Fortune Brainstorm Green 2013

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Post tags: adam lashinsky, andy ruben, andy serwer, aron cramer, Bea Perez, Beyond Meat, brian dumaine, brightfarms, Clarence Otis, Coca Cola, coca cola Chief Sustainability Officer, Cynthia Warner, dan akerson, Darden Restaurants, dean kamen, ebay, Fortune, Fortune Brainstorm Green, fortune green, Fortune Magazine, General Mills, geoff colvin, GM, hannah jones, harrison ford conservation international, Harrison Ford harrison ford green, ikea, iPod inventor, jib ellison, Joe Taylor, John Donahoe, Ken Powell, leigh gallagher, linda greer, marc gunther, natalie allen, nest, Nike, NRG, panasonic north america, Patagonia, Peter Seligmann, pk clean, priyanka bakaya, Procter & Gamble, rick ridgeway, Robert McDonald, Rosalind Brewer, Sam's Club, Sapphire Energy, Steve Howard, surepure, teresa law, Tony Fadell, will sarni, Will.i.am, Yerdle

“Brut” is a monolithic stool and barbecue set designed by Agustina Bottoni that is produced by casting a compound of cement and coconut coir (an agricultural waste). Bottoni’s low-tech, DIY casting process uses accessible products – most of which are available at IKEA stores. The recycled material has proven to be water and fireproof, which makes it ideal for springtime barbecues.

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Read the rest of Agustina Bottoni’s Monolithic Brut Barbecue Set is Made From Recycled Coconut Coir

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Post tags: "green furniture", "sustainable furniture", agricultural waste, Agustina Bottoni, barbecue, Brut, coconut coir, DIY, do it yourself furniture, green design, ikea, recycled coconut coir, Recycled Materials, stool, sustainable design, Sustainable Materials

Swedish furniture giant IKEA is the latest company to be swept up in the horse meat scandal. Authorities from the Czech State Veterinary Association found horse DNA in the company’s famous beef and pork meatballs in the city of Brno. The frozen Kottbullar meatballs containing horsemeat had not yet been distributed to consumers, according to The Guardian, but authorities diverted 760 kilograms that would have otherwise appeared on store shelves.

Read the rest of IKEA Withdraws Swedish Meatballs from UK Stores After Discovery of Horse Meat

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Post tags: Brno, contaminated meat, czech republic, Czech State Veterinary Association, Environment, EU, food, Health, horse DNA, horse meat scandal, ikea, Kottbullar meatballs, News, swedish meatballs

Riding a bicycle is normally a healthy alternative to driving a gas-guzzling vehicle. But in places like Beijing where air pollution is hitting record levels, keeping yourself separated from the deadly atmosphere is important for your health. Artist Matt Hope has created an ingenious pedal-powered air filtration system that provides clean air to the rider as it moves. Using an IKEA perforated garbage can, moped helmet, fighter-pilot breathing mask, wheel-powered generator, and home air filtration system, the entire contraption uses human energy to clear the air.

Read the rest of Matt Hope’s ‘Breathing Bike’ Creates Clean Air in Polluted Beijing as it Rides

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Post tags: air filtration, Beijing, breathing bike, clean air, generator, ikea, matt hope, pedal, Pollution, smog

Seeking to help restore the world’s declining honey bee population, designer Rowan Dunford has created a simple, stackable beehive that makes it easy for anyone to raise bees. Dunford’s aptly named Urban Beehive is user-friendly, inexpensive, and can be flat packed to ship. Dunford’s straightforward design takes the guesswork out of raising bees, so it’s perfect for the beginner beekeeper.

Read the rest of Stackable Urban Beehive is Perfect for Beginner Beekeepers

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Post tags: eco design, green design, ikea, Rowan Dunford, stackable beehives, sustainable design, urban beehive, urban beekeeping

Read the rest of LIKE Architect’s LEDscape is an Interactive Maze of Glowing LED Bulbs in Lisbon

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Post tags: art installation, eco design, eco-art, green design, green lighting, ikea, interactive maze, LED, LED bulb, led installation, LED light bulb, ledare light bulb, LEDscape, light maze, lighting installation, like architecture, Lisbon, portugal, sustainable design, temporary lighting installation

2012 was a crazy ride for New Yorkers, and we saw everything from the good (phone booths repurposed into miniature libraries) to the bad (Hurricane Sandy crippling our city) to the just plain ugly (a zombie pumpkin’s face). Scroll down to see the Inhabitat NYC stories that had our readers buzzing the most and tell us which one you think deserves to be the #1 NYC story of the year by voting.

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Post tags: 2012 best of inhabitat, brooklyn flooded, green architecture, green design, green nyc, green nyc news, green technology, Hurricane Sandy, I beam, ikea, ikea tiny apartment, john locke, LEGO Apartment, nyc news, nyc subways flooded, phone booth libraries, ray villafane, sustainable design, top environment stories 2012, top green design stories 2012, top green design stories of 2012, top inhabitat stories 2012, zombie pumpkins

Ikea has long been recognized for its adoption of sustainable practices, from investment in renewable energy to their participation in the American Forests plant-a-tree program, and today the company has unveiled what might be its most ambitious initiative to date. The Swedish furniture manufacturer has stated that it plans to not only transition to 100% renewable energy sources by 2020, but it will also plant more trees than it uses in production. IKEA also aims to limit sales to energy-efficient products like LED bulbs, refrigerators and induction stoves.

Read the rest of IKEA Announces Plan to Become 100% Energy-Neutral by 2020

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Post tags: "sustainable energy", "wind power", Energy Neutrality, ikea, induction cooking, LED lighting, plant a tree, Solar Power

Read the rest of Solar-Powered Autarkhome House Boat Brings Passivhaus Living to the High Seas

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Post tags: Autarkhome, eco design, green design, ikea, Maastricht houseboat, off the grid home, passivhaus houseboat, passivhaus standard, Pieter Kromwikj, sustainable design

Read the rest of DIY ELIOOO Manual Shows How to Build Your Own Hydroponic Garden From IKEA Components

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Post tags: antonio scarponi, DIY, diy hydroponic garden, diy manual, eco design, eliooo, garden, Gardening, green design, green garden, hydroponic garden, hydroponics, ikea, ikea hack, ikea hackers, ikea hydroponic garden, indoor garden, vertical garden

The Solar Energy Industries Association has just named General Motors as the #1 automotive user of solar power in the United States. It also ranks No. 13 of the top 20 solar-powered companies in the United States. SEIA, along with Vote Solar Initiative, determined the industry rankings by cumulative solar energy capacity. Last year, GM committed to doubling its global solar output to 60 megawatts in the next three years, and to increase renewable energy use to 125MW by 2020.

Read the rest of General Motors Joins IKEA and Wal-Mart among Top Solar Power Users in U.S.

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Post tags: automotive, general motors, General Motors solar power, GM, green energy, green transportation, ikea, Solar Energy Industries Association, Solar Power, walmart

Ikea is already well known for its affordable and stylish home furnishings, but now the retail giant has set its sights on the budget hotel market. The world’s largest furniture retailer, based in Sweden, recently announced that it intends to build at least 100 hotels throughout Europe. Capitalizing on its bargain style reputation, Ikea calls the developments “budget design” and intends to bring the boutique hotel experience to travelers at a more wallet-friendly price.

Read the rest of Ikea Announces Plans to Build Over 100 Budget Design Hotels in Europe

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Post tags: boutique hotel, budget boutique hotel, Budget Design, budget hotel, budget travelling, hotel development, ikea, Ikea Hotel, Ikea properties, Inter Ikea

While Ikea Hackers have done some innovative takes on Ikea products, Berlin-based artist Ida-Marie Corell might have taken the cake. Corell’s ID(E)A, part of Oh Plastiksack!, a co-curated show at The Gewerbemuseum Winterthur in Switzerland, features the artist playing a keyboard in an voluminous blue gown constructed from 555 sturdy Ikea shopping bags. At 59 cents a pop, Corell’s massive blue ball gown isn’t quite the deal some Ikea shoppers might be used to.

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Post tags: Berlin Artists, ecouterre, Fashion, Ida-Marie Corell, idea, ikea, Ikea Shopping Bag, Luzinterruptus Recycled Plastiksack! Installation, oh, PlastikSack!, recycled fashion design, Repurposed Shopping bag, Switzerland art museum, The Gewerbemuseum Winterthur

Two Portuguese designers, tired of watching clothes hangers tossed aside after a brief life on the rack, decided to reclaim them as functional art. Diogo Agular and Teresa Otta of LIKEarchitects rescued 2,000 colorful IKEA children’s hangers that were destined for the landfill and designed a technicolor Chromatic Screen for the 2012 Oporto Show, the most prestigious event for interior design and architecture on the Iberian Peninsula.

Read the rest of 2,000 IKEA Hangers Upcycled Into Dynamic Chromatic Screen Room Divider

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Post tags: Art, Design, Fashion, hangers, ikea, recycling, sculpture, upcycling

Don’t have room in your yard for your own greenhouse? Never fear – Swedish retailer IKEA has a solution. Their new SOCKER mini greenhouse is the perfect place to raise your favorite plants, indoors or out. The planter looks just like a life-size greenhouse, and it easily opens via a hatch set into the peaked roof.

Read the rest of IKEA’s New Mini Greenhouse Lets Anyone Create Their Own Indoor Garden

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Post tags: eco design, green design, ikea, indoor gardening, mini greenhouse, SOCKER, sustainable design, terrarium

Always ahead of the curve, IKEA once again displays their creative might with a 200 square meter temporary lounge at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. Passengers departing from Terminal 3 can take a snooze in one of nine cozy beds or simply relax on the sofa while waiting for their flight. And what will this goodness set you back? Not a single penny.

Read the rest of Temporary IKEA Lounge at the Charles de Gaulle Airport Has Nine Free Beds

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Post tags: brand exposure, Charles de Gaulle, Design, eco design, france, green design, ikea, marketing, Paris, pop up shop, sustainable design, temporary design, temporary lounge

IKEA has developed some innovative green designs over the years, but now the home furnishings retailer has the distinction of having the largest photovoltaic array in the state of Michigan. The 122,200-square-foot PV array was officially plugged-in today, and consists of a 977.6-kW system built with 4,160 panels. Installed at the Detroit-area store in Canton, the array will produce approximately 1,114,943 kWh of clean electricity annually — that’s the equivalent of reducing 769 tons of carbon dioxide, or the annual emissions of 151 cars or 96 homes.

Read the rest of Michigan-Based IKEA Now Has The State’s Largest Solar Array

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Post tags: "solar energy", ev charging station, ikea, material recycling, michigan IKEA, photovoltaic array, record breaking array, recycling materials, solar array, Solar Power, waste water

Flame retardants are abundant in household furniture, despite the fact that they only delay fires by a few seconds and the inhalation of such chemicals often kills victims before an actual fire. While manufacturers including IKEA have pledged to phase such chemicals out of their products, they are still abundant in foam cushions and global demand is surging. A Chicago Tribune series that launched this week reveals that the reason chemical makers make a mint selling their products to furniture companies is part fear and part tactics learned from the tobacco industry.

Read the rest of Flame Retardant Manufacturers Rely on Fear, Tobacco Industry Tactics

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Post tags: "green furniture", big tobacco, chemical industry, chemicals, Citizens for Fire Safety, David Heimblach, flame retardants, ikea, tobacco industry, toxic chemicals

During this year’s Milan Design Week Swedish furniture maker IKEA rolled out a bunch of bright-colored tables, chairs, and other pieces of furniture. But perhaps the most interesting product IKEA unveiled in Milan was found in a press kit. According to Gizmodo, at Milan’s Salone design show IKEA distributed a press kit that doubles as a digital camera made of cardboard (which will soon be released). The camera runs on a pair of AA batteries, and can reportedly hold up to 40 images on its built-in memory stick.

Read the rest of IKEA Unveils Cheapo Digital Camera Made of Cardboard

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Post tags: camera, cardboard camera, consumerism, disposable camera, ikea, Milan, rangefinder, tech, Technology, wasteful products

IKEA unveiled these brilliant plant table designs at Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, as part of the iconic company’s 2012 PS Furniture Collection. The tables have in-built spots perfect for small indoor plants to thrive. Although the square-shaped tables themselves look pretty much typical of the Swedish brand’s style, with plant leaves and flowers splaying out over the table-top they can be easily made to look a bit more exciting.

Read the rest of IKEA’s New Plant Tables Make Indoor Gardening Easy for Everyone

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Post tags: eco furniture design, green plant design, ikea, ikea plant tables, ikea planting tables, Milan Design Week, planting tables, PS 2012, sustainable design