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Al Bredenberg

Al Bredenberg is a writer, analyst, consultant, and communicator. He writes about the environment, energy, innovation, management, and sustainable business and design. Al is a lifelong learner with intense curiosity and no off-switch. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, with his wife Virginia.
RTP, research triangle park, NC, north carolina, master plan, development, RTF, Liz Rooks

INHABITAT INTERVIEW: 8 Questions With Liz Rooks of North Carolina's Research Triangle Park

Inhabitat: What did the Research Triangle Foundation hope to achieve when it set out to develop the new RTP master...

GAR, UNISDR, UN, report, disaster risk reduction, business, private sector

UN Report Says Disasters Have Cost $2.5 Trillion Since 2000

A new United Nations report makes the startling assertion that disasters have resulted in $2.5 trillion in damage...

polluxnz-city-pollution, monitoring, network, device, CKAB, hackable devices, open source

Pollux'NZ City Project Deploys an Open-Source Environmental Monitoring Network

An open-source environmental monitoring network is now being tested in France by CKAB, a French consulting firm...

clothing printer, joshua harris, industrial design, 3d printing, apparel

Joshua Harris' 3D Clothing Printer Recycles Old Garments to Create New Apparel

Excited about that stylish top from J.Crew but wish you could have it for the party tonight? Why not just 3D print...

disappearing package, packaging design, sustainable, green, aaron mickelson

Designer Aaron Mickelson Shows How a Product Can Be Its Own 'Disappearing Package'

In the case of each product, Mickelson sought out a method to eliminate the package altogether, producing a no-waste...

nanoscribe, 3d printer, nano, micro, photonic, karlsruhe, KIT, spaceship, hellcat, wing commander

Nanoscribe Unveils the World's Fastest Nano-Scale 3D Printer

Nanoscribe GmbH, a German company based in Karlsruhe, has released the Photonic Professional GT, which it claims...

michael bloomberg mayor, new york city,NYC, state of the city address, electric vehicle, charging stations, EV

Mayor Bloomberg Announces Plans for 10,000 More EV Charging Stations in NYC

In his State of the City address yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced new plans that he explained could create...

filamaker, marcus thymark, 3d printing, filament, recycling, plastic, reprocessing grinding, shredding, shredder

Marcus Thymark's Open-Source FilaMaker Shreds and Recycles Plastic for 3D Printing

German engineer and inventor Marcus Thymark is developing a filament-producing machine that allows 3D printing...

urban design, parallax landscape, transiting cities, competition, latrobe city, victoria, australia, brownfield, recovery, coal power, electrical generation

Parallax Landscape Re-Imagines a Low-Carbon Future for a Coal-Dominated Australian City

Parallax Landscape is a design collaborative consisting of Yu Ding, designer at Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates...

naau, cultured landscape transiting cities, competition, outr, rmit, melbourne, latrobe city, australia

The Cultured Landscape Sets Out a Strategy for Sustainable Transformation of an Australian Brownfield

Rather than simply let the Latrobe Valley revert to a supposed “natural” state, NAAU proposes a new urban design...

pwdr, 3d printer, printing, powder, university of twente, netherlands, alex budding

Pwdr's Open-Source Technology Could Enable Full-Color 3D-Printing

A project by a student at the University of Twente (Enschede, Netherlands) has resulted in an open-source 3D-printing...

InMoov, 3d printed, printer, printing, robot, humanoid, open source, Gael Langevin, building

InMoov is an Open-Source Humanoid Robot You Can Make With a 3D Printer

Gael Langevin, a French sculptor and model-maker, is developing a design for an open-source humanoid robot that...

organovo-bioprinter-3d-printer-tissue-human-organ

Organovo's Bioprinter Technology Could Lead to 3D Printed Human Organs

Organovo Holdings, a San Diego, CA-based manufacturer of 3-dimensional human tissues, recently announced a partnership...

lead, poisoning, pollution, crime, violence, research, agression

Did Removing Lead From Gasoline Cause Violent Crime to Plummet?

Research in recent years has uncovered a strong connection between reductions in lead pollution and the decline...

cubex, 3d systems, 3d printer, printing, CES show,

3D Systems' New CubeX 3D Printer Can Print Objects as Big as a Basketball

3D Systems launched a new 3D printer at the 2013 CES, which boasts “the largest print volume in its category,”...

vincentchan, citi transmitter, modular, vehicle system, smart, sustainable cities,city, urban design, transport, personal, transportation, segway

Vincent Chan's Citi.Transmitter Shows How a Modular Vehicle Could Support Sustainable Cities

  Chan tells explained to us that Citi.Transmitter was his final-year project in 2010 when he was...

fracking, hydraulic fracturing, groundwater water, pollution, contamination, university texas, energy, institute, study, report, discredited

University of Texas Fracking Study Discredited Over Researcher's Financial Interests in Natural Gas

The University of Texas (UT) at Austin has withdrawn a prominent study of the environmental effects of hydraulic...

fuel cell, power plant, fuelcell, energy, electrical, generation, clean, renewable, CCSU, new britain, connecticut

Dominion and FuelCell Energy to Build North America's Largest Fuel Cell Power Plant in Connecticut

Dominion, a large energy company based in Virginia, and FuelCell Energy Inc. (FCE), a Connecticut manufacturer...

sun, solar, GCR, cosmic rays, forcing, global warming, climate change, Alec Rawls, IPCC, AR5

Leaked IPCC Report Used by Critics to Claim Global Warming Is Caused by Solar Forcing

On Thursday, a writer named Alec Rawls posted a leaked draft version of a portion of the upcoming Fifth Assessment...

ecological urbanism, app, application, ipad, harvard, design school, sustainable cities, second story

Exploring the Sustainable City With Harvard's Ecological Urbanism iPad App

A new free iPad app is taking an iconic vision of sustainable cities and making it accessible to millions of tablet...

sunportal, daylighting, natural, daylight, solar, light, pipes, sustainable design, green design, green building, building materials, daylight transport system, natural lighting, energy-efficient building

Sunportal Uses Pipes to Deliver Daylighting Anywhere Within a Building

The Sunportal system tracks the sun and collects light throughout the day with an "Active Sunlight Collector" -...

3D printing, cartilage, wake forest, medical, medicine

Researchers Develop Technique for 3D-Printing Cartilage Implants

Researchers from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. have developed a technique for 3D printing cartilage...

bike zone, lite-on, award, taiwan, frank guo, hung wang, stuart morrow,design, bicycle, safety, night, cycling, light

Bike Zone Device Creates a Lighted Safety Zone for Night Cycling

Have you ever been freaked out riding your bike at night, surrounded by automobiles piloted by distracted drivers?...

phantom geometry, liz and kyle von hasseln, sciarc, frank gehry prize, 3d printing, architecture

Phantom Geometry 3D Printing Innovation Wins SCI-Arc's Gehry Prize

Liz and Kyle von Hasseln, students at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), have won the...

RTP, research triangle, park, NC, north carolina, master plan

North Carolina's Research Triangle Master Plan Seeks to Get More Done in Less Space, Sustainably

Located on a then-rural tract of land between the university cities of Raleigh (NCSU), Durham (Duke University),...

RTP, Research Triangle Park, NC, North Carolina, master plan, planning, development

New Master Plan for North Carolina's Research Triangle Park Will Stress Sustainable Development

RTP was established in 1959 as a center for R&D, strategically located in the middle of the triangle formed...

farm, field, corn, agriculture, cool farm calculator, online, application, calcuator, institute,unilever

Online 'Cool Farm' Tool Helps Farmers Calculate Their Carbon Footprint

The Cool Farm Institute has announced that it will soon introduce a free online version of its Cool Farm Tool to...

westmill, solar park, cooperative, project, watchfield, england, green, energy, power, electricity, community

British Cooperative Launches World's Largest Community-Owned Solar Park

The Westmill Solar Cooperative announced Nov. 1 the launch of the world's largest community-owned solar project...

al jazari, elephant clock, water clock, kinetic energy clock, robot clock, dubai, ibn battuta mall, arab, muslim

Robotic Elephant Water Clock Designed in 1206 AD Recreated in Dubai Shopping Mall

A kinetic energy-powered robotic “elephant clock” designed in the 13th century by Al-Jazari, the Muslim “father...

injection, 3d, printer, printing, craig venter, biological, vaccine, medicine, dna, genetic, genomics

DNA Pioneer Craig Venter Developing a 3D Printer for Vaccines

Photo via Shutterstock Geneticist J. Craig Venter told attendees at the recent Wired Health Conference in New...

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