Eco-Innovation Articles From Around the World
Drop-A-Brick: California Startup Promises to Help Save Water During Drought
Source: breitbart.com Published: October 2, 2014 SAN FRANCISCO — California’s historic and record-breaking drought has given way to many inventive ideas and attempts at water preservation, including showering with friends. Now, one San Francisco-based startup is...
Soccer Field Lights Powered by Kids’ Pounding Feet
Source: treehugger.com Published: October 8, 2014 © Pavegen Megan Treacy A new project helps give kids a safe place to play soccer in a Rio de Janeiro favela by using kinetic-energy harvesting tiles to produce electricity for keeping the lights on. Pavegen, a company...
Nobel Prize Awarded to Trio of Scientists Who Invented Energy-Saving LEDs
Source: ecowatch.com Published: October 7, 2014 Anastasia Pantsios Today the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which oversees the Nobel Prizes, announced the award of the 2014 Nobel Prize for Physics to a trio of scientists from Japan and California for inventing the...
London’s Red Phone Boxes Go Green
Source: go-green.ae Published: October 3, 2014 Although passers-by can use these solarboxes for free, adverts will be broadcast as they wait for the device to charge. London’s red telephone boxes of yore are largely disused, although recent initiatives have...
Floating Vertical Farms Could Provide Densely Populated Countries with Local Food
Source: themindunleashed.org Published: September 25, 2014 Featured image credit: Forward Thinking Architecture Get the latest from The Mind Unleashed in your inbox. Sign up right here. Architects from Barcelona, Spain, have designed a system of floating vertical...
EXHIBIT – Grab and Do’s at the Eco-Center – 2013 – 2016
Grab and Do’s is designed for Eco-Center visitors! Here we show several ways we can reuse manmade surplus and renewable resources to create useful items, gifts, works of art, and beautiful wrapping. Thanks to our restaurant partners on Valencia and Mission Streets...
Divers Are Restoring California’s Kelp Forests
Source: mnn.com Published: September 25, 2014 When it's healthy, kelp grows like a forest on the ocean floor. (Photo: NatalieJean/Shutterstock) Devereaux Bell Many people around the world like to eat urchin. The Japanese, as well as most Americans, know it as uni....
Urban Beehive
Source: superpunch.net Published: November 5, 2011 The urban beehive is a concept for keeping bees at home. The beehive is designed to allow us a glimpse into the fascinating world of these industrious creatures and to harvest the honey that they produce. The design...
Cannabis-Based Batteries Could Charge Your Phone in Seconds—And Change the Way We Store Energy Forever
Source: csglobe.com Published: September 9, 2014 Scientists are using industrial hemp for futuristic ‘supercapacitor’ batteries. Liam K. On top of its vast medicinal benefits and a “high” that’s safer and mellower than alcohol, what if cannabis could also power a...
SUMMER CAMP – LEAF Academy – 2016
Visit a fantastic student blog documenting their experiences and learning at LEAF student vlog. Enroll Here The LEAF Academy program is for middle school kids ages 10--13 in the San Francisco Bay Area with teachers from Presidio Hill School, Edison Charter School and...
Giant Clothing Swap Could Be The Next Hot Fashion Party
Source: treehugger.com Published: September 16, 2014 © Margaret Badore. Global Fashion Exchange hosted a mini swap at NeueHouse in Manhattan. Margaret Badore Clothing swaps have long been a favorite way for environmentally-minded and budget-conscious people to recycle...
Can Cloud Power Provide Clean Water and Electricity for the World?
Source: agreenliving.org Published: September 9, 2014 Wind, water, solar are common sources of renewable energy, but what about the clouds? Can cloud power provide our clean energy and water needs? A Russian scientist is aiming to do just that with the Air HES (Hydro...
The House Made From 4,000 Video Cassettes and Two Tonnes of Jeans
Source: theguardian.com Published: September 5, 2014 House made from rubbish Photograph: University of Brighton Hannah Gould Remember video cassettes, those big black boxes that played pictures? Rendered useless by DVDs, they’ve found a new purpose. Some 4,000 of them...
White House, EPA Honors 16-Year-Old NH Student for Developing Sustainable Water Purification Method
Source: waterworld.com Published: August 26, 2014 The White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency awarded a 16-year old student from Nashua N.H., with a "President's Environmental Youth Award" for her innovative green and...
What Do Coffee, Beer, and Solar Have in Common?
Source: pvsolarreport.com Published: September 3, 2014 Climate change is already causing more frequent and severe droughts, and that’s going to continue. So it’s no surprise that both coffee companies and breweries are turning to the power of the sun to help. Park...
What’s a Twike? It’s Half-Bike, Half-Electric Car
Source: mnn.com Published: August 29, 2014 The author in the Twike driver's seat with Mohammed Rezvani of the University of Cincinnati. (Photo: Jim Motavalli) Jim Motavalli Meet the Twike. It’s a made-in-Germany combination of an electric bicycle with an EV. It may be...
Hemp Fibres ‘Better Than Graphene’
Source: bbc.com Published: August 13, 2014 Thinkstock By James Morgan The waste fibres from hemp crops can be transformed into high-performance energy storage devices, scientists say. They "cooked" cannabis bark into carbon nanosheets and built supercapacitors "on a...
New Technology Automatically Sorts Plastics for Recycling
Source: treehugger.com Published: August 25, 2014 CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 marc e marc Megan Treacy Plastics are everywhere and for each different application, there is a different type of polymer that suits those needs. Most plastics can be recycled, but first they must be...
Unlimited Solar Powered Light in a Bottle!
Source: sciencealert.com.au Published: July 21, 2014 Image: Designnobis In big cities we take for granted how easy it is to use electrical light, but over a billion people living in developing countries and rural areas don’t have access to the power grid. In rural...
Eco Toilet: Recycle the Water from The Washbasin
Source: homedit.com Published: April 5, 2012 The Eco Toilet allows you to recycle the water from the washbasin. The washbasin water and regular fresh water are used for flushing. It sounds like a simple and very good idea. We use water to wash our hands and teeth and...
These Folks Feed Their Family With A Garden In Their Swimming Pool — And You Can, Too
Source: grist.org Published: August 18, 2014 Danielle McClung By Sara Bernard When Dennis and Danielle McClung bought a foreclosed home in Mesa, Ariz., in 2009, their new yard featured a broken, empty swimming pool. Instead of spending a small fortune to repair and...
The Power Pot
Source: businessinsider.com Published: April 12, 2014 Charge mobile devices while preparing meals! The PowerPot combines the benefits of a lightweight cooking pot and a portable USB charger. Power any adventure while heating up a meal on a backpacking stove or sitting...
Solar Sunflower Charger
Source: chinadaily.com Published: November 16, 2012 Most of us are unaware of how much electricity we consume everyday for our routine activities and nothing would be better than trapping solar energy for accomplishing these activities. XDModo Solar Sunflower is a...
Silk Leaf Could Make Oxygen
Source: tealcheese.com Published: July 29, 2014 In order for humans to live, they must have a steady supply of oxygen they can depend on. Plants make our life bearable. They inhale the carbon dioxide we breathe out and exhale oxygen. But in space there are no plants...
World’s Largest Indoor Farm
Source: news.nationalgeographic.com Published: July 19, 2014 An abandoned Sony factory in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, has been transformed into what could very well be the farm of the future. Shigeharu Shimamura, a plant physiologist and CEO of Mirai, has constructed...
We Can Reverse Climate Change by the Way We Grow Food
Source: commondreams.org Published: August 1, 2014 By Elizabeth Kucinich (Photo: flickr / cc / Jason Johnson, USDA NRCS Iowa) Yesterday the White House and USDA hosted a meeting with food, agriculture and data industry officials in an attempt to encourage innovation...
A Solar Powered Phone Charger That Sticks to Any Window
Source: Wonderfulengineering.com Published: August 1, 2014 The XDModo Solar Charger provides an adhesive surface which sticks to any window or glass surface, allowing it to use solar energy to charge your phone while staying indoors. The 1400 mAh lithium battery in...
Indigenous Seed Savers Gather to Fight Climate Change with Biodiversity
Source: yesmagazine.org Published: July 31, 2014 Quechua indigenous people from Asia and South America gather potato seed at the Parque de la Papa. Photo by Adam Kerby. As climate change makes it more difficult to practice agriculture in their ancestral homelands,...
Students at MIT Design Amazing New Solar Powered Chair
Source: blazepress.com Published: July 21, 2014 This futuristic new Solar Powered chair was developed by professor Sheila Kennedy and her students at MIT. The cool looking new chair uses solar power to generate electricity and has ports to charge your iPad and Laptop...
Composting Key to Soil Health and Climate Protection, According to Two New Reports
Source: ilsr.org Published: July 14, 2014 Washington, DC — Composting reduces waste and builds healthy soil to support local food production and protect against the impacts of extreme weather, from droughts to heavy rainfall. That’s the message of two new reports from...
Bostonians Will Be Able To Charge Their Gadgets With Solar Powered Smart Benches
Source: treehugger.com Published: July 8, 2014 © Soofa Derek Markham Would you rather sit on a dumb bench, which just holds your butt off the ground, or a smart Soofa, which can both hold your butt off the ground and charge your phone with solar power? We've got...
Yu-Chang Chou Develops A Reusable Packaging Service For Sustainable Online Shopping
Source: dezeen.com Published: June 30, 2014 Click here to watch “ After watching his wife throw out perfectly useable packaging from her online shopping purchases, Yu-Chang Chou was inspired to develop a sustainable alternative, using a similar model to the...
Midwives Test the Solar Suitcase
Source: unicef.org Published: July 3, 2014 UNICEF/UN0232677/Adriko “We don’t have to fear delivering at night anymore” In September we blogged about how we were procuring 50 Solar Suitcases to provide sustainable lightning, and thereby improve and encourage newborn...
Mush-Lume Table Lamp
Source: danielletrofe.com Published: July 11, 2014 GROWN, not manufactured, from MUSHROOMS! The first of the Mush-Lume and Mush-Bloom collection, the Mush-Lume Table Lamp was the jumping off point in the exploration of incorporating the innovative mushroom material...
Apple to Build its Third Enormous Solar Farm in North Carolina
Source: construction.am Published: July 10, 2014 Source: http://www.treehugger.com The new development will be the company’s third solar farm not only in North Carolina, but within Catawba County. The first is a 20 megawatt farm located on the company’s campus in...
Rugged Robot From Saudi Arabia Cleans Dusty Solar Panels Without Using Water
Source: treehugger.com Published: July 9, 2014 © NOMADD Michael Graham Richard Deserts are sunny, so they're ideal for solar power. But they're also very dusty, which is a problem for obvious reasons. The owners of solar farms need a way to clean the panels so they...
Upcycling
Source: runningpress.com Published: August 23, 2011 Create Beautiful Things With the Stuff You Already Have Renowned environmental lifestyle expert and Today Show regular Danny Seo shares 100 of his most inspiring projects for creative transformation. Have neglected...
The Solar Wind Downdraft Tower
Source: solarwindenergytower.com Published: July 2, 2014 Solar Wind Energy Tower, Inc. is the innovator and creator behind the only hybrid solar-wind technology in the market today. Formerly known as Clean Wind Energy Tower, Inc., the simplicity of Solar Wind Energy’s...
Infinite Light Turns a Recycled Plastic Bottle into a Solar Lamp
Source: designnobis.com Published: July 1, 2014 Around the world, there are lots of rural households which do not have access to electricity and its implications are worrying. Upon nightfall, many families are forced to use kerosene lamps, spending approximately 25%...
World’s First Fully Recyclable Paper Cup to Hit UK High Streets
Source: theguardian.com Published: June 27, 2014 Inventor Martin Myerscough and the Green Your Cup, which has a thin film liner which separates easily from the paper. Photograph: Jane Mingay/Green Your Cup Rebecca Smithers, The world’s first fully recyclable paper cup...
Why Streams & Wetlands Are So Important to Helping Keep Our Beaches Clean
Source: matteroftrust.org Published: June 27, 2014 20140627-Why-Streams-Wetlands-Are-So-Important-to-Helping-Keep-Our-Beaches-Clean Download
How a Solar-Powered Water Wheel Can Clean 50,000 Pounds of Trash Per Day from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor
Source: ecowatch.com Published: June 25, 2014 Brandon Baker A large wheel has been strolling the Baltimore Inner Harbor the past month, doing its best to clean the trash that has littered a city landmark and tourist attraction. It’s called the Inner Harbor Water...
SPOR Solar Battery Charger Helps You Carry the Power of the Sun in Your Pocket
Source: concretecakes.com Published: June 25, 2014 Jason Browne and David Hunt are two 23 year olds, fresh out of Drexel University who are in the process of building a company called SPOR that could completely change how we interact with our mobile devices. For...
15-Year-Old Develops Flashlight Powered by Body Heat, Wins Top Prize in Google Science Fair
Source: inhabitat.com Published: June 20, 2014 Ann Makosinski, a 15-year-old Canadian girl who developed a flashlight that is powered by the heat from a human hand. by Mark Boyer From a sleeping bag that charges your gadgets to entire buildings warmed by body heat,...
Myfc Introduces Powertrekk 2.0: Unique Charger That Runs On Water – Now For Tablets
Source: businesswire.com Published: June 17, 2014 myFC, the innovative Swedish fuel-cell company, launches PowerTrekk 2.0, a unique device that charges smartphones, action cameras and tablets totally independent from the grid The only bi product from the process is...
Eucalyptus Tree: A Potential Global Source of Fuel and Fiber
Source: natureworldnews.com Published: June 12, 2014 Eucalyptus trees are more than just food for koalas; researchers are now trying to harness their potential as a sustainable biofuel and biomaterials production source. (Photo: Fibria/Ehder Souza) Jenna Iacurci...
Bio-Digital, Interactive Urban Algae Canopy Produces A Small Forest’s Worth of Oxygen
Source: treehugger.com Published: June 13, 2014 © ecoLogic Studio Kimberley Mok Can biology and architecture come together to create new and compelling forms and functions? We've seen concepts before like biomemetic architecture, responsive "genetic" architecture, and...
Tesla Releases Patents in Unprecedented Move to Advance Electric Vehicles
Source: ecowatch.com Published: June 12, 2014 Brandon Baker Tesla is now an open-source company, allowing its electric vehicle patents for outside use. CEO Elon Musk made the unprecedented announcement Thursday on his company’s blog. “Tesla Motors was created to...
10 Uses for Eggshells
Source: mnn.com Published: June 10, 2014 Eggshells make great compostable seedling containers. (Photo: Oksana Bratanova/Shutterstock) Before you throw out those scraps, consider their uses in the garden, kitchen and more. My introduction to recycling came in my...
France is Paying Commuters to Bike to Work!
Source: inhabitat.com Published: June 8, 2014 Shutterstock by Kristine Lofgren You’d hope that better health, lower cost and reduced emissions would be incentive enough to push people out of their cars and onto bikes, but in France only 2.4 percent of the population...
Smog-Busting Roof Tiles Could Clean Tons of Pollution
Source: latimes.com Published: June 6, 2014 By Tony BarbozaStaff Writer UC Riverside researchers say they have demonstrated an inexpensive roof coating that gobbles up smog-forming pollutants and, if widely adopted, could clean tons of air pollution from Southern...
A Brand New Type of Rock Has Formed From Our Plastic Waste
Source: sciencealert.com Published: June 5, 2014 Image: Patricia Corcoran Scientists have announced the existence of a new, trash-based rock type: plastiglomerate. The new type of material will stay in the Earth’s rock record forever, according to a new study, and...
Do You Want to Make Your Neighborhood Greener? Start with A Little White Paint
Source: whiteroofproject.org Published: June 4, 2014 White Roof Project is going green by painting white. Here is their mission – Our method of simple, tangible change facilitates community involvement to help solve big environmental problems, one rooftop, one block,...
Bioplastic Baby Toys, Made of Plants
Source: indiegogo.com Published: May 29, 2014 Bioserie toys are an innovative solution for all parents who want to enjoy nicely designed products while preserving their babies’ health and our environment. Bioserie toys are a safer and cleaner alternative for everyone....
Brilliant Invention Brings LED Sunshine to Windowless Rooms
Source: inhabitat.com Published: May 28, 2014 Is your apartment or workspace seriously lacking in natural light? Italian physicist Paolo Di Trapani of the University of Insubria has invented an artificial daylight device called CoeLux that looks just like the sunny...
Windpax Portable, Collapsible Wind Turbines Take A Turn At Off Grid Power
Source: gizmag.com Published: May 13, 2014 The Windpax wind turbine system can be set up in less than two minutes and mounted on a number of surfaces. By Angus MacKenzie Keeping mobile electronic devices powered up can be difficult for the modern camper and hiker....
The Heat Is On: A Wood-Fueled Camp Stove/Grill That Charges Your Ipad
Source: mnn.com Published: May 15, 2014 Images: BioLite Matt Hickman BioLite, Brooklyn-based purveyor of biomass-burning outdoor cookstoves that magically charge your gadgets so that you never have to freak out about the fact that you’re a good 30 miles away from the...
EXHIBIT – Tree of Wisdom at the Old Eco-Center 2013 – 2016
Tree of Wisdom is an interactive exhibit with inspirational quotes and suggestions for solving environmental challenges made by the public. Our Tree was created by Dr.Rosa Ten and Evelyne Thommassen.
The Drinkable Book
Source: waterislife.com Published: May 18, 2014 Created by the non-profit WATERisLIFE, The Drinkable Book is a pamphlet designed to teach safe water drinking habits to residents of developing nations. The book is printed on filter paper capable of reducing the...
Innovative DIY Solar Water Pump Takes Aim at Global Water Crisis
Source: treehugger.com Published: February 17, 2014 © Pumpmakers Derek Markham In an age when many of us have unprecedented and almost instant access to technology and resources, and yet others in the developing world are dying daily because of lack of something basic...
New Species of Metal-Munching Plant Found in Philippines
Source: rt.com Published: May 12, 2014 Rinorea niccolifera. Photo courtesy Dr. Edwino S. Fernando Scientists in the Philippines have discovered a plant that can absorb large amounts of metal without itself being poisoned, a species called the Rinorea niccolifera, that...
Ecover is Making Bottles Out of Recycled Ocean Plastic
Source: inhabitat.com Published: May 12, 2014 Lead image via Gerry & Bonni by Kristine Lofgren Right now there are about 46,000 pieces of trash floating around in every square mile of the ocean, which is why Belgian company Ecover is now making their cleaning...
Beijing Introduces Recycling Banks That Pay Subway Credits for Bottles
Source: theguardian.com Published: July 4, 2012 Jonathan Watts Recycling firm hopes to improve profits by bypassing informal network of bottle collectors Beijing's vast army of plastic-bottle scavengers will get an automated rival later this month, when the city...
Solar-Powered Bamboo Carport That Charges Electric Vehicles with the Sun
Source: cars.aol.co.uk Published: May 8, 2014 Leon Poultney The German marque has already unleashed its revolutionary i3 model to much applause from customers and the motoring media alike, and it is poised to impress the world again with its all-powerful,...
Adorable Vegetable Nursery Home Made of Bamboo and 2,000 Plastic Bottles Pops up in Vietnam
Source: inhabitat.com Published: May 6, 2014 Images by 1+1>2 International Architecture Company by Inhabitat Staff The bottles used to complete the structure, all of which were donated by students and the local community, help to regulate sunlight and control the...
GoSun Solar Cooker Heats up to a Sizzling 550° F in Minutes
Source: inhabitat.com Published: May 5, 2014 by Lori Zimmer Solar cooking just got even better thanks to the new fuss-free GoSun stove. This uber awesome tube stove can cook delicious meals without using a lick of fuel – in just 20 minutes. Baking, boiling or frying...
World’s Tallest Indoor Living Wall Sprouts in Quebec City
Source: inhabitat.com Published: May 4, 2014 Bridgette Meinhold Green Over Grey, who has completed a number of other large vertical garden installations like the one in the Edmonton Airport, was in charge of the design for The Currents. “According to our research,...
Solar Storage Plant Gemasolar Sets 36-Day Record for 24/7 Output
Source: reneweconomy.com.au Published: October 8, 2013 Emma Fitzpatrick The ground-breaking Gemasolar Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant with storage near Seville, Spain, has marked its second anniversary with another breakthrough – producing round the clock power...
A Spiraling Green Roof Tops Off a Kindergarden in Vietnam
Source: treehugger.com Published: April 30, 2014 Lloyd Alter © Gremsy via Designboom It used to be that a roof was just a roof. Then designers started putting gardens on them and they started radically changing the way buildings are designed, as architects figured out...
Solar Roadways Installs Energy Harvesting Parking Lot
Source: indigogo.com Published: April 25, 2014 Co-inventors Scott and Julie Brusaw take a break and enjoy their creation About 8 years ago, an electrical engineer and his counselor wife started throwing around an idea to replace asphalt on highways and byways...
Apple Will Now Recycle Any Product You Give Back—and Give You Credit for It
Source: time.com Published: April 22, 2014 Angel Navarrete—Bloomberg/Getty Images Matt Vella Starting today, Apple Stores will begin accepting any of the company’s products for recycling at no charge. Even better, if the items look resalable, you might even get a...
London to Heat Apartments with Waste Heat from Subway
Source: treehugger.com Published: November 21, 2013 © London Underground Lloyd Alter The London Transport poster is correct; it IS warmer below. So warm, in fact, that Transport for London is going to give some of it a way, to the Bunhill Heat and Power Network, which...
Flushing Toilets May Help Power Homes in South Korea
Source: inhabitat.com Published: April 21, 2014 Scientists in South Korea have come up with a way to use the mechanical energy of flowing water as a sustainable energy source. The research shows how the energy potential of flushing toilets can be utilized to help...
Singapore Solar-Powered Supertrees
Source: digitaltrends.com Published: November 21, 2013 Image via Wikimedia Commons. By Drew Prindle They might look like something out of a futuristic sci-fi movie, but believe it or not, these crazy structures actually exist, and have been standing tall in Singapore...
Thanks To Seed Savers, Glass Gem Corn Exists
Source: mnn.com Published: April 15, 2014 Glass Gem corn Is an old variety of corn with kernels that come in an absolutely stunning array of colors. (Photo: timlewisnm [CC BY-SA 2.0]/Flickr) Robin Shreeves Thanks to seed savers, Glass Gem corn exists This stunning,...
Hydroponic Farm in Brooklyn Serves Up Fresh Veggies for Food Bank
Source: treehugger.com Published: April 15, 2014 © CAMBA Margaret Badore CAMBA is a non-profit based in Brooklyn that provides a number of social support services, including legal aid, economic development, health and education services. The organization has run a...
Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to Sprout a Giant Green Roof
Source: brooklynpaper.com Published: April 8, 2014 Green giant: Developer Forest City Ratner and its Chinese-government partner will build a green roof on top of the Barclays Center that will help muffle noise from big-ticket events. Forest City Ratner By Megan Riesz...
UC Davis and Honda Unveil Smart Home for a Zero-Carbon Future
Source: ecowatch.com Published: April 2, 2014 Brandon Baker Honda and the University of California, Davis aren't particularly known for constructing homes, but an ambitious project places the two entities at the forefront of designing homes capable of producing more...
San Francisco Is Joining the Textile Recycling Party
Source: mnn.com Published: January 16, 2014 Photo: miltedflowerh/Flickr Matt Hickman Say what you will about San Francisco, a magical place where the football stadiums feature edible gardens and the apartments boast butterfly habitats, but there’s no denying that the...
Architect Uses Ancient Techniques to Cool Modern Building in India
Source: treehugger.com Published: February 29, 2012 © Morephogenesis Lloyd Alter Kris De Decker of No Tech Magazine " refuses to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution", and points to yet another example of how low-tech solutions can work very well,...
Israel Debuts the World’s First Self-Cleaning Solar Farm
Source: energiaydesarrollo.org\ Published: April 1, 2014 One of the challenges with solar power is keeping the panels clean, since dust and dirt drastically reduce the efficiency of photovoltaics. That’s particularly challenging for large solar parks, and especially...
A Giant Basket That Uses Condensation to Gather Drinking Water
Source: wired.com Published: March 28, 2014 Designer Arturo Vittori believes the solution to the Ethiopian water shortage lies not in high technology, but in sculptures that look like giant-sized objects from the pages of a Pier 1 catalog. Photos by Architecture and...
“Ooho” Edible Water Bottle
Source: gizmodo.com Published: March 26, 2014 By Adam Clark Estes We get it. Our love of drinking water from disposable plastic bottles is a problem, enough of a problem that San Francisco actually wants to ban them. But then what will we drink water out of? Ooho, a...
Woven Disaster Shelters Are Powered with Sun-Absorbing Fabric
Source: treehugger.com Published: March 26, 2014 By Kimberley Mok © Abeer Seikaly/2013 LEXUS DESIGN AWARD - Abeer Seikaly - weaving a home Innovative disaster shelters have run the gamut of materials like recyclable plastic, to flat pack wonders, to affordable bamboo...
Streetlamps Go Green
Source: iflscience.com Published: March 19, 2014 Pierre Calleja's algae lamp at TEDXLAUSANNECHANGE A group of researchers at FermentAlg, led by Pierre Calleja, have invented a street lamp that is powered by algae. Yes, algae; those tiny microorganisms...
WaterWheel Rolls Out Solution to Ease Heavy Load
Source: techxplore.com Published: January 8, 2014 by Nancy Owano , Tech Xplore Phys.org) —For those with running water in their homes, water is light, rolls right through the fingers, easily pours out of the faucet, and gives us hygiene and hydration in minutes so...
Odyssey’s Two in One Water Bottle Flashlight
Source: gizmodo.com Published: March 19, 2014 By Andrew Liszewski It's rarely the case that buying a two-in-one product is better than purchasing each component separately. But ÖKO makes a strong case for merging your flashlight and water bottle when you're heading...
Solar Powered Sol-Char Toilet Zaps Poop into Fertilizer Bricks
Source: inhabitat.com Published: March 19, 2014 The Sol-Char solar powered toilet zaps poop into useful biochar briquettes. by Lori Zimmer Researchers at the University of Colorado designed a new toilet called the Sol-Char that zaps poop into biochar using nothing but...
Solar-Powered ‘Energy Bucket’ Collects Sunshine
Source: inhabitat.com Published: March 18, 2014 In a surprising merging of products, the Solar Energy Bucket serves as a multifunctional tool for anyone who likes to rough it. At first glance it appears to be a simple water bucket, but turn it upside down and you’ll...
Don’t Toss It, Fix It—with Pop-Up Repair Shop
Source: mnn.com Published: March 12, 2014 Photo: Ikonoklast Fotografie/Shutterstock Starre Vartan When I spotted the "itinerant repair service for household goods of all types," Pop-Up Repair, I cheered. I grew up fixing stuff, and I still do so. I credit my grandma,...
UK Student Designs a Brilliant Bicycle-Powered Lampshade System
Source: inhabitat.com Published: March 12, 2014 Nottingham Trent University student Mark Colliass has taken multi-tasking transport to a whole new level with a new lampshade-producing bicycle. For those who would like to bike their way to design, one simple...
How to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Yard
Source: mnn.com Published: May 10, 2012 Feeders work, but creating a native plant habitat is more effective. Contrary to popular opinion, flowers don't have to be red to attract hummingbirds. (Photo: Charles Brutlag/Shutterstock) Gardeners, it seems, are competitive...
The Green Loop
Source: presentarchitecture.com Published: March 6, 2014 New York City produces over 14 Million tons of trash every year with most of it trucked long-haul to out-of-state landfills. In a typical year, it spends more than $300 million dollars on trash transport while...
Public PPlanter Urinal Doubles as a Bamboo Garden in San Francisco
Source: gizmag.com Published: February 25, 2014 The PPlanter in use, by a person and a bamboo plant If you live in a big city, then there are doubtless alleyways or alcoves you know of that always smell like pee. While it might help to install public urinals in these...
SUMMER CAMP – Sprouts – 2014
2014 Sprouts Summer Camp 5 days – Monday--Friday from 9 am--4 pm (Extended care available from 8 am--6 pm) For Rising 1st through 5th graders Group Size 1:8 adult-to-child ratio for high caliber instruction and maximum safety Tuition: $350 per week (Mon--Fri, 9--4)...
Bicycle Roundabout in The Sky in the Netherlands
Source: treehugger.com Published: February 27, 2014 Zachary Shahan zshahan3 Screen capture ipv Delft Lloyd has written about potential bike highways in the London sky a couple of times, but did you know the Netherlands already has a bicycle roundabout in the sky? The...
New Recyclable Fiberboard to Cut Landfill Waste
Source: earth911.com Published: February 27, 2014 By Kathryn Sukalich Researchers at the University of Leicester in the U.K. have developed a type of pressed wood that could lead to more recycling. Photo: Flickr/John Loo If you’ve ever purchased cheap furniture or...
66 Bottles of Beer on a Roof
Source: ecogeek.org Published: February 27, 2014 Ma Yanjun, a farmer in China’s Shaanxi province, reportedly built a DIY solar water heater out of 66 beer bottles, water flowing through the bottles is heated by the sun and then routed into the bathroom for showers....
Air Purifier Uses a Plant to Clean the Air in Your Home
Source: inhabitat.com Published: February 26, 2014 Andrea is a revolutionary new air purifier engineered to significantly improve the air filtration capacity of natural plants. This living filter accelerates the removal of harmful VOC’s and toxins through the active...
The Urban Beehive Is A Concept for Keeping Bees at Home
Source: inhabitat.com Published: February 19, 2014 Philips’ just unveiled a new concept for an urban beehive that would allow anyone to become an amateur bee keeper – even those who live in apartments with no backyards. The pod-like hive attaches to a hole cut into a...