Green Options

About three years ago in design school at the University of Michigan, I was making concept sketches of wearable energy-generating devices, such as turbines, for my thesis on people-powered energy systems. Although I focused in on a different, yet quite similar, project, I have been waiting for a personal, handheld wind turbine to come to market. After years of waiting, finally an attractive, multi-functional, and effective one is available.

The HYmini is a personal wind turbine meant to be attached to the handlebars of your bike (when you are actually out riding it), to the roof of your car, or just to be held in your hand on a windy day. It harnesses wind current, charges a battery to ultimately power your 5V devices such as an iPod, MP3 player, digital camera…

Over 11% of household waste is plastic. It is critical today that we begin to recycle the plastic waste and use products made of the plastic we recycle. If you don’t like doing it, here is an incentive for you.

Designers today are thinking up new ways to make everyday products out our recycled materials. They are taking advantage of this new market not only because it is an opportunity but because they care. Much of the infrastructure in place for recycling materials into new materials is quite energy intensive. Good design minimizes steps, maximizes efficiency and utility, and invests beauty that will sustain over time. This type of new market gives designers an opportunity to develop new materials, experiment, design, and create. With advances in tools and processes, and an excess of waste we have a clear and direct opportunity.

Cohda Design is a UK based design group has developed a new process for recycled plastic called U.R.E.- Un-cooled Recycled Extrude. “The URE process is a conclusion of a 2 year research project by Cohda Design on the use of waste plastics in design, the associated environmental problems, and the design limitations imposed since the early 1990’s by pre-manufactured recycled sheets and lumber.” The three main qualities of this new process are that it utilizes packaging waste as a material resource, it takes advantage of the embodied energy in waste plastics, and it creates a new recycled plastic aesthetic. In addition, since the process takes raw trash and creates the new material on site, the recycled plastics don’t have to get sent all the way to China to be formed into recycled sheet material. This cuts down on transportation and production waste. The result is an extruded tube of plastic that Cohda is using to make chairs and other furniture that are surprisingly lightweight and strong. The Cohda chair is called the RD4- Roughly Drawn Chair. When the material is still soft, they wrap it around a mold to create the form of a chair.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. TED started in 1984 as a conference to bring together inspirees from all three disciplines, from all over the globe. The annual conference hosts speakers such as John Maeda, Jane Goodall, Stuart Brand, Bill Clinton, Paul Bennett, who are doing progressive work and leave you with practical steps on how to approach problems in each individual line of work. Today, [...]

Imagine what cart corals at the supermarket would look like if shopping carts didn’t nest together. Imagine what the entryway of the supermarket would look like if shopping baskets didn’t stack. This would be poor spatial planning on the designers part. Next, image what a parking lot could look like if our cars stacked? We all of the sudden will have a plethora of open space, [...]

Imagine what cart corals at the supermarket would look like if shopping carts didn’t nest together. Imagine what the entryway of the supermarket would look like if shopping baskets didn’t stack. This would be poor spatial planning on the designers part. Next, image what a parking lot could look like if our cars stacked? We all of the sudden will have a plethora of open [...]

While growing up whenever our family received a package we would store the cardboard boxes in the attic. Throughout the years those boxes were used and reused and reused- moving in and out of college and apartments, sending packages to others, carting things across town… I am pleased to state that a box handled by the Redmond family usually had a pretty long life span. It was interesting when years went by and we didn’t use many [...]

A research team with the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) in Australia is working on a project to integrate energy-generating materials into our clothing. By simply collecting the energy in our movement, vibrations, and friction, our clothing could create enough juice to power up our mobile phone, mp3 player, etc. The Australian Defense Department awarded the team of researchers a $4.4 million grant to deem the technology feasible. [...]

"Was it a conscious decision or a momentary lapse of reason? How did progress take priority over humankind? Could harnessing the world’s energy that allowed our ascent now be the ledge pan of our down fall?" These are the questions addressed in the PBS ongoing series e2. The most recent episodes, narrated by Morgan Freeman, focus on energy. They look at transportation infrastructure, the auto industry, fuels and renewable fuels, alternative [...]

Our common perception of a graffiti artist is a vandalistic rebel who works through a free venue to spread his message. Although there are many incredible artists who sprinkle our streets and alleyways with colorful, astonishing work, they don’t expect much respect from the common passerby for the work they do- until recently. The public environment, as it always has been, is a venue for artists and people to speak out. [...]

Last night, Thursday, October 18th, at the National Design Awards Gala in New York City was the announcement of the Peoples Design Awards. As part of National Design Week, Copper-Hewitt supports an annual competition where people nominate great design.

Voting has been open to the public online since mid September. As it is too late to cast your vote, it isn’t too late to congratulate the winner and find [...]