When we were little ones growing up in drought prone California there was a hippy saying when hitting the loo, "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." We still adhere to that motto, because really all of planet earth is drought prone. Water is one of our most valuable resources that we take for granted. Many toilet, sink, and shower head companies have worked hard to create modern plumbing that cleans but doesn't waste.
One of the worst ways to wake up it to realize that your car isn't parked in the appropriate alternate side parking spot. You rush out, jammies still on, eyes still crusted over, and then drive around for an hour trying to find a spot. Not the best part of waking up. But, garages are a bit of a luxury, plus they tend to take up valuable home real estate. Moto Designshop has designed an 18-foot wide townhouse with a one car garage that brings a front yard, rather than taking one away...
Vancouver won its bid to host the 2012 2010 Olympic Winter Games and they're rolling out all the punches. It's Ottawa Mint facility has already produced all 615 gold, silver and bronze medals for the Winter Games, as well as the 399 athlete medals for Paralympic Winter Games. What we never knew is that each hosting city gets to design its own medals from scratch, giving the iconic rewards their own twist. Vancouver decided to go geeky green, by recycling the metals in old circuit boards into the coveted prizes...
The whole point of putting your waste paper out to be recycled is for it to be reused in yet another generation of paper products — toilet paper, printer paper, magazines, etc. But what if you could reuse your waste paper for your own products?
So we're sitting here typing away with a comforter and furry slippers in an attempt to keep warm without turning on the heater. It's currently 38 degrees outside. I guess fall just got its butt kicked by winter. It's not that we don't like the warmth from our radiator, we just like to wait until the last, frigid moment before cranking it on and watching our bill skyrocket. In a previous life we had an apartment with a fireplace — a working fireplace. It was amazing. Romantic. Warm. Now we don't have that luxury, but we did recently see these flue-, installation-, and connection-less fireplaces from Australia...
OK, while we hope none of you are cremating remains as part of a home business venture, the energy plan designed by the Taipei Second Funeral Parlor in Taiwan is something that might be able to be converted to regular homes...
When it comes to acoustic-friendly insulation, sound quality tends to overpower eco-friendliness. In the last year or so though, companies have been coming out with alternatives to formaldehyde and phenol packed insulation. The latest is from Knauf Insulation, which makes Ecose insulation from naturally occurring and/or recycled raw materials...
We've seen a few creative ways to repurpose Apple's G4 Cube into aquariums, tissue boxes, and LCD frame, and even a pendant lamp. Flickr user Ilovecode.dk, turned his Cube into a fish bowl for his Beta, but before that he had turned it into a terrarium...
We don't know about you, but whenever we have to wash dishes in the sink we have the hardest time getting our water temperature just right. Sure, it's not that complicated, but I like to make sure I'm not blasting a ton of hot water only to blast a ton of cold water to make the temperature bearable. It just seems wasteful otherwise. So we end up spending a minute or two (and wasting water the whole time, defeating our eco purpose in the first place) getting water temp and pressure just right. Well, if we had a few bones to spare, we'd get the Vado vtouch faucet...
Ok, so this new fabric was designed with fashion in mind, but outdoor furniture requires water repellency just as much as your rain jacket. Designed by Italian outerwear company Allegri, the new textile is made from abacá, a durable fiber from the leafstalk of a banana native to the Philippines. The fiber naturally wicks away liquids so the fabric it's made into doesn't require further chemical waterproofing — a plus for people worried about the harsh chemicals they interact with on a daily basis...
Sure, it would be great if all our homes were juiced via solar panels, but since a lot of us rent and we can only demand so much from our landlords, we have to make do with what we've got. One way to keep your electrical use to a minimum is to buy energy efficient gadgets and appliances, and you can't get more energy efficient than with a gizmo with its own solar panels...
Scheduled for construction in 2010, LSarc architects has designed a three-story home that is totally energy neutral.
An eight kilowatt solar array, connected to the main energy grid and net metered, will produce all the electricity needed for both home and car. "The owner, who has been working in the solar industry for over twenty years, is committed to, ‘getting off the pipe, a house without a gas meter'," writes Green Architecture Notes...
Looks like turning old airplane parts into furniture isn't just a one hit wonder. Roughly 200 airplanes are retired every year. Most go to a scrap metal graveyards to be picked apart for worthy parts. While some parts have been used creatively for housing and even limos, one new trend is taking vintage bomber planes and 747s to create furniture for homes and offices...
While taking a look at great backyard ideas, we can't forget people who don't have the luxury of having a small plot of land to call their own. For those of you stuck to using your green thumb in your apartments, here's a great concept we hope comes to fruition...
The only reason we make it to the gym is because the machines have cable (and now iPod video connectivity). Working out is a lot less painful when given the excuse to watch some bad cable TV. But we've always wondered, while looking at the rows of people running in place, isn't there a way to use all this energy?
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