Read the rest of Germantown Sustainable Urban Science Center is a Green Roofed Living Laboratory in Philadelphia

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", bioswales, Daylighting, eco design, eco laboratory, germantown friends school, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green roofs, living laboratory, PA, philadelphia, raingardens, rainwater collection, smp architects, Solar Power, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, sustainable urban science center, urban science center

The innovative digital musicians from the Data Garden label are giving fans an alternative to wasteful vinyl EPs, by offering downland codes embedded on seed paper. Digital music in inherently an eco-friendly genre, with artists that have been known to create tracks with laptops, synthesizers, or even upcycled 8-bit video game systems. To put it in perspective, these revolutionaries can tour the country by packing all of their music gear in a suitcase, instead of a tour bus. To bring awareness to the connection between nature, music, and technology, a collective of Data Garden artists held a plantable “record release” party this week at Bartram’s Garden, the country’s longest running botanical garden.

Read the rest of Data Garden Debuts World’s First Plantable Music

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: artists, data garden, design philadelphia, digital music, Eco, Gardening, green, music, philadelphia, plantable, seed paper, Sustainable, tadoma

Philadelphia is already known as a bike-friendly city, ranking number one in bike commuting per capita in the United States (2011). Perhaps this rank has spurred inspiration for their new city-wide redesign, which will accommodate more bike lanes for commuters. The city has recently conducted a test project, which turned a driving lane into a bikes-only lane for two weeks.

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: bike lanes, eco design, green commuting, green design, green transportation, philadelphia, sustainable design

The Census Bureau just released a report on the commuting behavior of Americans in 2009. The commuting report is part of the American Community Survey, and it details the average commute time for Americans along with their mode of transportation. Although seven-tenths of Americans living in metro areas reside within 3/4 of a mile of public transit, only 4.9 percent of workers regularly took mass transit to work in 2009. Nine of the ten cities on this list have less than 15% of the population commuting on mass transit. If those are our highest statistics, perhaps Americans need a bit of a mass transit education along with additional infrastructure support.

Read the rest of US Census Reveals the Top 10 US Cities for Mass Transit Commuting

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: best mass transit cities, best public transport, best public transportation, boston, chicago, Honolulu, infrastructure, mass transit, most efficient mass transit, most efficient public transportation, New York., philadelphia, public transportation, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC

Philadelphia-based Shift_Design has created a family of eco-friendly outdoor products that will have modern design lovers drooling. Their collection of urban garden planters, rain collectors, living walls, and other accessories were carefully designed from flat pack stainless steel parts to minimize shipping impact, and to lower the carbon footprint even further, Shift_Design is partnering with manufactures across the US, so each cell will not need to transport goods more than 120 miles. After many years of enjoying Shift_Design products in your garden, they can be 100% recycled — now that’s a lifecycle story we love to hear!

Read the rest of Shift Design’s Versatile Flat Pack Outdoor Products Modernize Your Garden

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: eco-friendly, fabrication, garden, green, local, Metal, modern, outdoor, philadelphia, shift design, stainless, Sustainable

Energy-efficient lighting just got even brighter – today Switch unveiled its brightest bulb yet at the 2011 LIGHTFAIR in Philadelphia. The new LED bulb is equivalent to a 100 watt bulb, can be completely recycled, and it features their trademarked “City of Light” technology — an integrated self cooling system that yields maximum brightness.

Read the rest of Switch Announces World’s First 100 Watt Equivalent LED Bulb

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: 100 Watt Equivalent, City of Light Technology, eco design, energy efficient lighting, green design, LED, LIGHTFAIR, philadelphia, recyclable materials, sustainable design, Switch Light Bulbs

A group of five students from the University of Pennsylvania have quite possibly created the world’s most technologically advanced bicycle. Over the course of a year, this genius crew engineered and fabricated the Alpha bike, including all of its integrated electronic systems. The resulting design may look quite similar to market available high performance cycles, but hidden within the extra-strength frame, there is actually an internalized three-speed drive train, braking system, and high-tech electronics powered entirely by the bike’s motion.

Read the rest of UPenn Students Create Super High-Tech Motion Powered Alpha Bike

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: alpha, bicycle, bike, cycling, Design, drive train, Eco, engineering, handle bars, philadelphia, students, Sustainable, university, UPenn

Philadelphia’s Crane Arts Building is now home to the area’s largest photovoltaic solar array. Installed by Solar States, the array will provide a clean source of renewable energy to the arts and business haven. The 81 kW system was funded by private investments and matching public grants.

READ MORE >

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "clean energy", "solar energy", clean tech, Crane Arts Building, crane solar array, green design, green energy, philadelphia, Solar Power, solar states

Artist Isaiah Zagar is a Philadelphia legend. Since 1994, Zagar and his wife have recycled broken bottles and other found objects into beautiful mosaics around the city, with an fantastical homebase called the Magic Garden. Located on Philadelphia’s trendy South Street, the Magic Garden is a labyrinth of glass bottles, bicycle wheels, discarded ceramic plates, hand made tiles, and shards of mirror that form walls and tunnels, as well as decorative mosaics that even feature poetry!

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Eyes Gallery, Isaiah Zagar, Magic Garden, Mosaics, philadelphia, recycled bottles, Recycled Materials

Read the rest of Urban Outfitters HQ Renovated from Abandoned Navy Yards

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", adaptive reuse, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green renovation, historic renovation, meyer scherer & rockcastle, navy yards, philadelphia, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, urban oufitters headquarters, urban outfitters

Read the rest of The Modules: LEED Silver Modular Housing At Temple University

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "sustainable architecture", eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, Interface Studio Architects, modular construction, modular housing, philadelphia, Prefab, prefabricated construction, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, temple university, the modules

Located in downtown Philadelphia right above the Suburban rail station, the Comcast Center has been awarded the title of “tallest LEED certified building in the US” after earning a Gold Certification for LEED-CS (Core & Shell). The obelisk-like 58 story tower is covered in high-performance glass and sunscreens, and features louvers in the atria to help optimize daylight inside the building. Many other green design features help this mixed-use skyscraper reduce energy consumption, making it a great example of environmentally responsible urban growth.

Read the rest of Philadelphia Announces the Tallest LEED Certified Building in US

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: "energy efficiency", "leed", Comcast Center, leed certification, LEED-CS, philadelphia, Robert A.M. Stern, tallest LEED building

With the economy in the shambles that it’s in, who knows when you’re gonna be forced to find shelter on the streets? If things do get that bad, you’d feel a lot more prepared sporting the “Wearable Shelter” collection of fashions that actually transform into sleeping bags and tents. Designed by a trio of Philadelphia student designers, these smart clothes/homes were a hit at the So Re Fa (Socially Responsible Fashion) eco-fashion show in Philadelphia this past week and are a commentary on these uncertain times.

READ MORE AT ECOUTERRE>

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: eco-fashion, philadelphia, recycled fashion, repurposed fashion, Sustainable Fashion, wearable shelter, Wearable Shelter at So Re Fa 2009 in Philadelphia

Skateboards these days are amazing examples of graphic design, and some are practically objets d’art – what a shame that they should to go to a landfill after the boards have lost their pop! Thankfully, Pennsylvania-based Deckstools is here to keep art from the trash heap and to add style to your pad with their striking line of furniture made from reclaimed skateboards.

Read the rest of Recycled Skateboard Stools Transform Thrashed Boards to Treasure

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Art, craft, deckstool, green furniture, jason podlaski, philadelphia, reclaimed wood, repurposed, skateboard, skateboarding, skating, stool

People wandering the streets of Philadelphia may be surprised to see brand new solar-studded trash cans being installed on the sidewalks. These new landfill-crunching compacting bins are entirely powered by the sun and are able to accept close to eight times as much waste as a regular trash can. Pretty cool, we thought – especially once we found out that they are calling the new bins Big Bellys and that they stand to save the city close to 12 million dollars over 10 years!

Read the rest of Philadelphia Rolls Out Solar-Powered Trash Compactors

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: alternative energy, big belly, green design, green technology, philadelphia, solar compacting trash cans, sustainable design, Waste reduction

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 12 new Solar America Cities, bringing the number from 13 to 25 in total, and moving along the $2.4 million initiative to provide up to $200,000 per city to build solid solar infrastructures. The announcement came at the New Frontiers in Energy Summit 2008 in Denver, Colorado, which is among the 2008 Solar America Initiative (SAI) cities. The overall program goals are to facilitate adoption of solar technology by individuals and businesses and to make solar electricity from photovoltaics a cost-competitive energy choice by 2015.


Read the rest of 12 New Solar America Cities Chosen

Permalink | Add to del.icio.us | digg
Post tags: Denver, Department of Energy, EERE, Houston, Knoxville, New Frontiers in Energy Summit, New York., Orlando, philadelphia, renewable energy, Sacramento, San Antonio, san jose, Santa Rosa, Seattle, Solar America Cities, Solar America Initiative, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, Tucson