The efficiency development model helps servers that used to be assigned to only one task to now multitask and move between tasks as needed. In other words, the servers can now meet the fluctuating demand that the internet has more quickly. This model reduces the chance that a website gets overwhelmed with demand and locks up. It is also said to increase efficiency and service by 20 percent.

Georgia Tech professor Craig Tovey was struck with a curiosity of honeybee behavior in the early 80s. He realized through conversations with a colleague from the University of Oxford that “bees and servers had strikingly similar barriers to efficiency.” Bees have very inconsistent resources. Sometimes there is an abundance of nectar to collect and sometimes there is very little. Year after year the supply is different and the location of the nectar oasis’s change. Yet somehow, they always seem to maintain a fairly consistent supply of nectar in the hive. Tovey saw this as a stimulating intricacy in the natural environment that yielded very effective results. Tovey among other colleagues conducted research for decades on how they work and how to use their brilliance in our built environment.

The greatest breakthrough was the discovery of the waggle dance. Australian zoologist Karl con Frisch won a Nobel Prize for this. When bees that hit an oasis return to the hive, they do a dance at the hive floor, wagging their tail back and forth. Each movement of the dance indicates location, scent, sound and gives other foragers clues about where the oasis of nectar is.

Internet servers, on the other hand, are built for “normal” conditions. Since servers are designated for individual websites, they become fickle when there is an influx of demand. They get stressed and run out of computational capacity when the traffic on a certain website is high due to an online clothing sale, a sporting event, a political event… They don’t respond well to strain. The flaw resides in the fact that when the demand for one server swells, lots of other servers sit idle due to low web traffic on other sites.

Are you beginning to connect the dots? Well, Tovey and his colleague Nakrani did. They started to apply the “waggle” dance strategy to the idle servers. They developed a virtual “dance floor” for a network of servers to communicate demand and spread it across more workers. The way it works is an ad is posted on the “dance floor” to attract idle servers. The longer the ad is posted the more power the available servers devote, thus customers are met with quick and flawless service even during high demand times.

“When you work with biomimetics (the study of how biological principles can be applied to design and engineering), you have to look for a close analogy between two systems — never a superficial one. And this definitely fit the bill,” says Tovey. This is just another example on how evolving systems from the biosphere can serve as very clear simple models for innovation.

In reaction to this momentum, architecture firms in the U.S. are quickly jumping on the wagon and making their mark south of the border. Among these is San Francisco based firm KMD Architects who are designing a new sustainable HQ for the Cinepolis cinema chain in Morelia, Mexico. A quote taken from a Business Week article on Mexico’s Green Building:

Some companies decide to build green because they want to set a precedent, says KMD principal Carlos Fernandez del Valle. This was the case with Cinepolis’s 162,000-square-foot headquarters. Occupying just 10 percent of a hillside site, four low-rise buildings will feature rooftop gardens, daylighting through low-emissivity glass, and ventilation from windows that open onto interior courtyards. KMD estimates that operating costs will be 30 percent lower than comparable-size buildings in Mexico.

A rise in energy costs is something that resonates with us worldwide. Energy alone makes it clear that sustainable development not only reverses our impact on climate change but has great economic benefits as well.

Mexican and Latin American architecture is an art we have been learning from for decades. It need not go unsaid that they inherently incorporate many sustainable practices such as using local materials like the naturally insulating adobe, they cool and hydrate their spaces through water fountains, etc. These ancient practices in recent years have been freshly dubbed as sustainable practices as if they are something new, but they aren’t. “There’s a lot of intrinsic knowledge in the design features of Mexican architecture and construction,” Previno observes. “We need to rescue those good values.” In this way, it is almost easier to design for sustainable development where these practices are already in place and the cost and maintenance for these related crafts are normally factored in.

Image source: KMD Architects

Sara, why is it so important to rest and disconnect?
“Life is about balance, and I know first hand that life can be extremely busy. Sometimes you have to be able to react and work at that busy pace. In order to do that and avoid burnout you must take time to relax. For me, I can have eight extremely busy days on the road, but then it has to be followed by a few days of rest at home or somewhere else.”

What is the importance in getting away?
“Even when I’m at home, my computer and my files are calling to me. I know that many others experience the same whether it be a home office, or the family with the kid’s school work and the dog who needs a walk… Getting away allows you to disconnect and instead connect with the people and things you take along.”

If one can’t get away for a short vacation, how would you advise others to disconnect while at home?
“To vacation at home hide your computer, turn off the television, and vary up your eating habits. Eat breakfast a little later, try something different for lunch, and plan a dinner menu that is reminiscent of where you wish your feet were standing. Travel like a tourist in your own city, forgo the car and take the bus, your bike, or even a cab and go somewhere you’ve never been.”

Finally, to help you set some guidelines for eco-travel in 2008 or if you still have the opportunity to travel in 2007 (even if you are in the middle of your trip), here are Sara Snow’s Top 10 tips on how to travel lightly and with intension:

1. Avoid layovers to conserve energy. Takeoffs and landings burn more fuel than cruising (as much as 25 percent of the energy used on short trips) so choosing a direct flight is the most earth friendly. For trips under 600 miles, consider a train.

2. Skip the rental car. Cars release a pound of CO2 for every mile driven. Whether on vacation or at home, if you can avoid driving just 20 miles a week and you’ll eliminate about 1000 pounds of CO2 emissions over the course of a year. (Eighty trees would absorb the same amount.) So, take the bus, subway, or any other form of public transportation and you won’t be solely responsible for those CO2 emissions.

3. Pack a refillable bottle. We’re tempted to go through a lot of disposable plastic water bottles when we travel. But, consider the fact that more than 60 million plastic water bottles are pitched every day, contributing over 1000 tons of harmful CO2 emissions and you might be willing to rethink. For the most part, tap water is more closely monitored than bottled water in terms of harmful contaminates. So embrace the tap and refill your non-leaching plastic, glass or metal canteen before you leave your hotel room each day. Remember, with the new liquid rules for air travel, you’ll have to travel with your bottle empty, but you can fill it as soon as you’ve breezed through security.

4. Invest in a few reusable bags and carry them wherever you go. American’s use 84 billion plastic bags a year (close to a trillion are used worldwide). Plastic bags are made from polyethylene, a non-renewable petroleum product, while paper bags waste virgin trees. And I know what you’re thinking, “I don’t grocery shop on vacation so I’m not using many plastic bags,” but… you still shop. So find a small cloth bag and wad it up so you can carry it with you every time you hit the market or the sandal shop.

5. Choose local foods. Embrace the local culture by enjoying indigenous foods and by doing so you’ll cut down on CO2 emissions (from trucks, boats and planes) generated from shipping your food in. The average food in America travels 1500 miles to get to your plate, wasting freshness, nutrients and petroleum. So find the local market when you travel or select local items at the grocery store.

6. Re-think take-out. Ask them not to pack extra napkins and individual sized packets of soy sauce or ketchup for you unless you’re really going to eat/use them. And try traveling with a set of chopsticks. You’ll be amazed how many foods you can eat with them, thereby eliminating the need for all those plastic knives, forks and spoons.

7. Turn down the air in your hotel room, even just one degree can save 3% in energy costs. Try to keep it below 72 in the winter and above 70 in the summer. And be sure to adjust the temperature when you leave your room in the morning.

8. Say “no thank you” to housekeeping. You don’t wash your sheets and towels every day when you’re at home so why should you on vacation. Take that “do not disturb” hang tag and place it on your door when you leave during the day. The housekeeping staff will thank you for the time they’ll save as well as the energy from not running the vacuum or washing your sheets.

9. Bring your own shower supplies. Individual size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc., can be packaging hogs. So bring your own and avoid using the daily dose sizes that come stocked in most hotel rooms.

10. Vacation with intention. Before you hit the road decide the purpose of this trip. Is it to open your mind to new experiences and cultures? Then bring a journal and record your thoughts and reactions. Is it to relax and recharge? Then bring a good book and little else. Is it to connect with a friend, lover or family member? Then spend time with that person free from everyday distractions like laptops and tvs. Bottom line, pick a purpose for your vacation and move through the days with intention. You’re more likely to come out well rested and well rounded on the other side.

With the portfolio of commercial and urban green building projects happening across the globe right now, how is it possible to see them all? For those of us who are construction fanatics we like to see them in person but flying to location is definitely not the most or even a sustainable way to do things. Well, as with so most everything these days, there is a solution. To increase our remote access to ongoing and completed green building projects nationwide, Building Green Inc. has teamed up with Google and the Department of Energy to bring us an interactive way to view these projects.

The information is presented in Google Earth (must be downloaded) through a layer called the High Performance Building Layer, which is something that you have to download as well. Once you have both of them, you can choose from the 96 different projects they have highlighted thus far through the collaboration. Most of the projects selected reside in the United States, but there are a couple others around the globe. The models are created in Sketch-up and are completed with a full project description. Each building in the High Performance Building Layer also provides links to detailed case studies on the buildings performance. These studies are located on the web through different databases- AIA, USGBC, Building Green…

As this layer develops maybe it will be possible to take a virtual tour of the building with clickable narration. In this, green-building elements will be highlighted and further described as you virtually pass by spots throughout the building.

Currently the models aren’t as visually descriptive as one might ask for. But, at least there now exists a place for one to update or educate him or herself on current green building and LEED certified commercial projects around the globe. By sacrificing the desire to physically travel to and fro to visit these green feats, one can interactively see the building from all four corners. Relatively free from environmental impact (provided power consumed by your computer is something) and free to the user, this is a high tech way to get educated and gain exposure.

I just found out about this floating hotel in the Archipelago de las Guaitecas in Chile. Designed by Sabbagh Architects, this construction is a 4 room hotel that floats on concrete blocks measuring 14×9 meters. The architects initial challenge was to design hotels or habitats that gave function to optimal conditions of remote places. Interestingly their first idea was to create modules made of earth to construct and place in remote areas on land, but the resistance they experienced along the lines of using protected land was strong. This pushed their direction outward to the next obvious place on earth we rarely inhabit- the sea.

I am not writing to necessarily highlight the architectural and structural feats accomplished in these floating home projects, but I am challenging you to consider the implications of making the ocean a home. Houseboats and yaughts are not new living situations but there is a very specific lifestyle that accompanies these habitats. There are also some sacrifices that those who choose this lifestyle make. Conversely, these new luxury floating hotels and homes make it a seamless transition from land living to ocean living.

When the oceans and seawater covers about 71% of the earth’s surface it is no wonder we are finally clueing into the idea of utilizing that surface area. But what will happen to the sea level if we start displacing water with literally massive structures and new islands on/in it? The rising sea level has already posed a threat to our precious and populous coastal cities. What is the next set of threats?

The information is presented in Google Earth (must be downloaded) through a layer called the High Performance Building Layer, which is something that you have to download as well. Once you have both of them, you can choose from the 96 different projects they have highlighted thus far through the collaboration. Most of the projects selected reside in the United States, but there are a couple others around the globe. The models are created in Sketch-up and are completed with a full project description. Each building in the High Performance Building Layer also provides links to detailed case studies on the buildings performance. These studies are located on the web through different databases- AIA, USGBC, Building Green…

As this layer develops maybe it will be possible to take a virtual tour of the building with clickable narration. In this, green-building elements will be highlighted and further described as you virtually pass by spots throughout the building.

Currently the models aren’t as visually descriptive as one might ask for. But, at least there now exists a place for one to update or educate him or herself on current green building and LEED certified commercial projects around the globe. By sacrificing the desire to physically travel to and fro to visit these green feats, one can interactively see the building from all four corners. Relatively free from environmental impact (provided power consumed by your computer is something) and free to the user, this is a high tech way to get educated and gain exposure.

Director of Design Continuum, Mark Bates opened the event with a presentation of the design firm’s overall footprint. He estimated that they’ve added about 500 million parts to the world during their 25 years of practice. These parts are anything from screws to Intel processors to cellophane package display windows- anything included in the overall manifestation and presentation of a product. Considering these facts coming from a design consultancy that tends to take a conscious, all encompassing design analysis approach to everything they work on, it makes me wonder about the impact of the companies designing toys for McDonalds.

He sent us with the message of- think of design in terms of aiding the efficiency and health of our earth and future. To begin to understand the perceptions of “sustainability” and “green” to the average consumer, Design Continuum has launched an internal study project called Color Blind. They are obtaining comments from everyday consumers about products and life to hopefully design from both sides- sustainability and the consumer.

The day long conference was broken down into hour-long presentations during which Q&A was included. “Their approach was a model other conferences could learn from - one day, comfortably paced, intimately sized, focused on one topic, inviting speakers with different views, and …free,” says Joe Gebbia.

Below are some brief notes we collected from the speakers:

1: Robin Chase, founder of ZipCar

Robin saw a gigantic flaw when she learned that there are 1.2 cars per person in America. So she sought out to solve it. In 2000, she started a car-sharing service called ZipCar that allows members to rather simply use a car when they need one. Now with over 150,000 members serviced by only 5,000 cars she has made quite a difference in the 1.2 car per person standard. The trick, she informed us, was to not call it car sharing because that decreases the value. She joked that if we called hotels a “bed-share”, we would be much less likely to pay a premium for the night. We ended up discussing it in terms of sharing because none of us were uncomfortable with the thought.
Robin has now started a new community based site called Goloco to connect people in cities through ride sharing. After considering all the ridiculous amount of hours we spend alone in the car, why not spend it riding with a friend and splitting costs…

2: Jennifer Van Der Meer, O2NYC

Jennifer has worked on Wall Street and has over time redirected her career into design and is now a Sustainability Consultant doing life cycle analysis. After admitting the truth that, “People don’t want to see the connection between their job and the effect of it,” she set out to encourage thorough thinking. Her modo is: “Green design is a shift in behavior separate from consumption and experience- it is a tool.”

3: Amy Smith, Inventor and Senior Lecturer at MIT

Founder of a new academic series at MIT called the D-lab, Amy is working hard to design solutions for the rest of the world. When she realized that 90% of the money spent on developing products, goods, and services goes to the wealthiest 10% of the world population, her goal was defined to design for the other 90%. The D-lab is based on design for developing nations. She is humble and energetic and excited by simple solutions that cause efficiency and health issues in developing nations. Her main project is called Fuel From the Fields: Cleaner burning and free charcoal to cook with. When over 25% of income in Haiti is spent on the scarce wood charcoal, she saw a problem easily solved. Natives now use the waste from sugar cane to make charcoal for free.

Last year Amy also launched a summer program called the International Development Design Summit where students and professionals from 18 countries shared ideas and worked on solutions for developing nations. Amy is doing work that should encourage and inspire us all. “Sometimes the best solutions are the most obvious.” In order to have a healthy world economy, we can help the poorest of the poor solve problems by giving them the tools to foster their own development.

4: Lewis Pugh, professional swimmer and activist

Lewis swam an 18 minute and 50 second lap around the Geographic North pole as a way to call attention to global climate change. The 1 apex of the earth is melting and since it’s so far away that people are ignoring it. Well Lewis wasn’t going to let this happen. We had the privilege to watch a compelling 20-minute video of his journey. His goal is to now individually influence world leaders across the globe regarding climate change, he has set our to speak with them all.

5. David Berry, Flagship Ventures, Venture Capitol

David ensured us that there is plenty of money available for the development of green products, processes, inventions, and design. His firm is investing in and conducting research on specific new ways to invent biofeuls. More specifically they are working on designer fuels, as I call it, which they create in a lab. The idea is that if fuel (and hydrocarbons) is created in the lab they are sequestering carbon from the environment to create the petroleum. This fuel is then burned in cars and the carbon is in full cycle. This contrasts the figure of mining oil, which consistently draws new carbon from deep under the surface of the earth into the environment. I’m not sure about where I stand with this model, but it is a new way of thinking, which could lead to big things.

A couple of the technologies they are investing in are, NOVOMER which converts CO2 into ethanol to make plastics; and Mascoma which is makes celluloses from wheat, poplar trees, and switchgrass,

6. Paul Murray, Herman Miller

Paul is one of the founders of Herman Millers Design for the Environment protocol, which seeks to meet their defined standards for disassembly, recycleability, life cycle, impact, longevity, and material chemistry. They launched this program with their Mirra chair which 90% of it can be disassembled in 15 seconds or less. Since, they have also adopted the rigorous Cradle-to-Cradle design methodology and certification.

Their sustainable practices as a whole have saved them big bucks. Paul’s motivation in his talk was to teach us how sustainabilility makes good business sense- it saves money, creates products that last, creates loyal customers, and in innumerable ways protects the environment.

7. Heather Clark & Matthew Mazzcutta, artists, sculptors, instigators

“Heather and Matthew approach sustainability from an artistic point of view, creating pieces that provoke an idea rather than provide an answer,” states Joe Gebbia. It is true. They crafted a 60 person team and collected a garage full of rescued materials to build a vehicle they called Busycle. It is a 15-person bicycle that they toured around the US to encourage people to use their body and exercise during transit. Their mission is to reconnect people with their health and body through activity and public interaction.

The next project on their menu is a theatre that will respond to the audience’s energy level through sounds, light, performance, and other forms of sensory interaction.

Phew, so that is the run-down of our all-inspiring day. Going forward, I encourage all of you from all fields and professions to consider the impact of the work you do. It is easy to neglect and keep your passions tied to your personal life, but our professional work is a reflection of our character and dedication. If you have any questions about these people, companies, or thoughts please send me a comment.

If you’ve ever seen a termite mound you should still be impressed by these built by African termites in Zimbabwe. The termites build mounds reaching multiple feet in order to farm a fungus that feeds them. The finicky fungus must live at exactly 87 degrees F. While temperatures outside the mound walls vary by about 70 degrees F, they had a problem to solve. “The termites achieve this remarkable feat by constantly opening and closing a series of heating and cooling vents throughout the mound over the course of the day. With a system of carefully adjusted convection currents, air is sucked in at the lower part of the mound, down into enclosures with muddy walls, and up through a channel to the peak of the termite mound. The industrious termites constantly dig new vents and plug up old ones in order to regulate the temperature,” describes Abigail of Inhabitat.

As observed, this system works rather well. In reaction, Mick Pierce and Arup Engineers designed a system in the building that draws outdoor air in and heats or cools it against the building mass depending on which is warmer, the building or the air. The air is then vented into the building through the floors and exits through chimneys at the top.

The complex is made up of two buildings connected by a glass passageway that is open to the fresh air. As air is drawn from this space, fresh air is constantly replacing stale air. Not only is this healthy for the people inside the space, but nature is doing most of the work for us. Using less than 10% of the energy of a conventional HVAC system, this system has saved the owners $3.5 million over the last decade. Tenants also pay about 20% less in rent than surrounding office buildings.

Designers have used the principles of biomimicry across the globe since the beginning of time. Yet, since industrialization and our tendency to build economy while neglecting nature, we somehow lost sight of how simple things can be if we look to nature for inspiration. Only in nature can you can find self-adapting systems that have continued to reinvent themselves for centuries to reach maximum efficiency and thus survival. Janine Benyus, noted a “Hero of the Environment” by Time Magazine has brought this notion of biomimetic design back to the surface. Principle founder and author of “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature”, Janine encourages us all to seek inspiration for living systems. The idea is to design objects; systems, processes, and spaces modeled after those that already exist in nature. “Studying a leaf to invent a better solar cell is an example of this innovation inspired by nature.”

Who knew termites could save you a dollar or two and provide the healthiest solution? Not me. But as a designer, it sure does make me want me to look outdoors for help more often.

For the past five + years my family has been practicing different ways of sharing gifts for the holidays. We made gifts a couple of years. Then we decided to pool our funds and purchase one big gift for someone in the family that would inspire their lifestyle, creativity, and passion… This year we decided that no one really need anything and we would prefer to do something together as a family to improve the lives and economies of others- invest in a micro-fund.

Microfinance creates social lending networks that gives us lenders the opportunity to connect directly with borrowers who normally wouldn’t get the support of a bank. This allows people in poor countries and rural areas who don’t have access to traditional banks or don’t have the credentials necessary for a bank loan, to start a business. The neat things it that in all circumstances (weather your money is controlled by the organization through which you lend or you choose who your money goes to) you can more or less track your loan. This type of investment has already made profound impacts on developing nations as it funds businesses that support their local economies. Instead of weaving baskets to be sold in the global market, people are able to start water distribution businesses to improve quality of life in their own communities.

Taken from Ode Magazine an article on Microfinance, “It is the goal of getting capital to people who need it at reasonable rates that creates a strong sense of purpose and community in social lending. The sites promote personal ties between lenders and borrowers. And with the global reach of the Internet, borrowers no longer need to know someone with money to secure a loan. By the same token, lenders often feel they’re helping a real person get through a bad patch or realize a dream.”

That being said, here are a few options for you:

KIVA
“Kiva lets you lend to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world - empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.”

PLANET FINANCE
“Providing people with the means to construct their own future.”

OPPORTUNITY INTERNATIONAL
“Opportunity International provides small microfinance loans — sometimes as little as $50 — as well as banking, insurance and other financial services that allow poor entrepreneurs to start or expand a business, develop a steady income, provide nutritious meals and education for their children and create jobs for their neighbors.”

PROSPER
“People who need money request it, and other people bid for the privilege of lending it to them. Prosper makes sure everything is safe, fair and easy.”

For Individual Modest Gift Giving:

CHANGING THE PRESENT

On Tuesday November 27 Google publicly announced the terms of a new initiative called RE<C (Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal).  Google will invest hundreds of millions of dollars on research and development by hiring engineers and energy experts to lead R&D work.  This research will begin with solar thermal technology, geothermal systems, and wind power technologies. They also plan to spend more hundreds of millions in breakthrough renewable energy projects, which will generate positive returns.

The goal is to provide significant enough investment dollars to speed up the development of these promising technologies. “Lots of groups are doing great work trying to produce inexpensive renewable energy. We want to add something that moves these efforts toward even cheaper technologies a bit more quickly. Usual investment criteria may not deliver the super low-cost, clean, renewable energy soon enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change,” said Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, “Google.org’s hope is that by funding research on promising technologies, investing in promising new companies, and doing a lot of R&D ourselves, we may help spark a green electricity revolution that will deliver breakthrough technologies priced lower than coal.”

“We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers,” said Larry Page, Google Co-founder and President of Products. “We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal. With talented technologists, great partners and significant investments, we hope to rapidly push forward. Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal.  We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades.” (One gigawatt can power a city the size of San Francisco.)

On Wednesday November 28, MIT announced the terms for their first ever Clean Energy Competition in the U.S.  The prize is a $200,000 award to the most promising next generation energy entrepreneur. The competition is a hybrid of the annual Buisiness Plan Competition and the Ignite Clean Energy Competition. “The ultimate goal of this contest is to find innovative solutions to transform today’s energy systems into tomorrow’s sustainable energy future,” said MIT President Susan Hockfield in a statement.

The competition begins on February 15, 2008 with a presentation of each entry on the MIT campus.  Then semifinalists are announced on March 1.  At this time, the semifinalists will be put through a rigorous training, mentoring, and selection process.  Funded by NStar Electric & Gas Co. and the U.S. Department of Energy, the winner will be announced May 14, 2008 and presented with the grand prize, in addition 3 runner-ups will be selected and each presented with a $20,000 award.

Similar the to mission of Google’s new initiative, this competition is designed to speed up the development of new potential alternative energies. “Meeting the world’s energy needs requires much more than great ideas; we also need creative approaches,” said Ernest Moniz, director of the MIT Energy Initiative. “This competition provides another tool to meet the enormous challenges of the 21st century.”

For more information on recruitment for RE<C

For more information on MIT competion entry guidelines

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…

Now, this isn’t just any one-dimensional device. Above all, this product serves as portable power storage with a built-in power-generating device, yet if no source of wind current is present you can plug in the portable solar plate to the DC input to collect energy. This energy goes directly into the battery as well. If it’s cloudy and the air is still, then you can plug in a hand crank generator or a hydro generator through the DC input to charge up. Finally, if all natural forces/sources fail you, then you can plug it into the wall to charge the battery for a remote trip where no power will be available. (Allow me to note that this sequence means that fossil fueled electric power [that which come our of your all] is the last and final source and should not be necessary unless there is no air current, no sun, no ability to move water through a turbine, and you are physically incapable of driving a crank.) Once the battery is charged you are free to hook up your devices through the USB jack.

The design of the HYmini is congruent with the style and of the Apple brand: iPod, iphone, you name it… these look like they should sit side by side. It is clean, sleek, rounded yet rigid, modern and minimal. That being said, if so many claim that they got an iPod instead of any other MP3 player, an iPhone instead of a Blackberry (even though it’s double the price) because of the interface and good design, maybe the HYmini will influence these gadget consumers to power their iPod responsibly while maintaining style and beauty. If it is this branding image that currently influences our e-consumer tendencies, I am happy to align a product that initiates responsible behavior to it. If you consider how dependent we are on our phones and portable devices, and how often we charge them (about daily), it is a wise idea to charge them off the grid. If not as a way to save money on powering up devices, possibly charging a battery via wind current is a way to monitor your activity throughout a day.

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.

As expected, Richard Liddle the founder of Cohda and URE sounds like an interesting man. In his bio he claims- since he received his first tool set as a small child he loved taking things apart. In my opinion, this is always a good sign. This means he likes to know how things work. Beginning in the late 80’s he started putting things together again and redesigning them.

This past October Cohda reached a new wave of fame. Richard performed the process of materials and furniture making live. Two different design events- The Design Council’s Dott07 (design of the time) Festival and the DE07 hosted Cohda’s performance as a public recycling factory. The team created multiple recycled designs over a 10-day period. The waste plastics for the events were collected from surrounding areas as well as the public- attendees were encouraged to bring along their own plastic waste for them to bread down and re-form. You can view a performance of the work here.

The mission is to spread ideas and this is wholeheartedly what they do. The TED conference is held in Monterey, California every year. Since the first in ’84, the content has expanded to include science, business, the arts, and the global issues facing the world. The speakers are challenged to give their most compelling speech and pose an engaging argument in only 18-minute slots. During the 4-day conference, all the attendees share the same experience. This means there are no breakout groups or small work sessions.
“It shouldn’t work, but it does. It works because all of knowledge is connected. Every so often it makes sense to emerge from the trenches we dig for a living, and ascend to a 30,000-foot-view, where we see, to our astonishment, an intricately interconnected whole.” Quotes the TED website.

The 2008 conference will be held February 27- March 1. The content is said to be the most ambitious yet- the defined topic is “The Big Questions”. Additionally, due to the high attendance request, TED will host a live broadcast of the conference in Aspen, Colorado in collaboration with the Aspen Institute. The schedule, format, and content remain the same.

The most interesting aspect of the TED network is that the conference isn’t the end result. Often times these events are closed to all who don’t attend and the exclusivity makes it distasteful to those who can’t attend. Well, TED wants to accomplish the contrary. While the actual event remains small to keep it special, all talks are recorded and free for viewing on the website.

As TED’s slogan is “Ideas Worth Spreading”, TED encourages everyone who is inspired by what they see to spread the word. With suggestions such as holding a viewing session and discussion in the office at lunch hour, emailing videos to friends, share videos with students or classmates… As the TED mission is not exclusive to upper economies, they are also reaching out to media or tech companies who have ideas of new, innovative ways to spread the content worldwide. As a matter of fact, with the growing interest in the TED content, they began holding an international conference every year. The content for these events are a bit more specific to issues (political or environmental) facing the chosen location.

Developed by MIT Media Lab students from the Concept Car Design Workshop sponsored by GM, the key behind this concept is the redesign of the wheel and axel. Rather than having a rigid axel, it will actually fold in a way that will allow the car to rotate upwards 90 degrees. In this, the long dimension of the vehicle is perpendicular to the ground while parked. Since each car has the same form and design, they perfectly nest together to reduce surface space consumption. The stackable car will be able to reduce required curbside parking space by about a third to a half. This allows for more sidewalk space, biking lanes, and comfortable city conditions.

Due to the small dimensions, the stacks of cars will be conveniently placed in locations all over the city- where you would normally come out of a building and hail a cab; you can jump in an electric city car and advance to your next desired location. The concept City Car system includes solar paneling on the rooftops of buildings adjacent to the stackable parking depositories. These panels will be the power supply to charge the electric cars while parked.

This car-sharing concept is a solution to the missing link between public transportation and the front door. Often people don’t use public transit due to the time necessary to switch from the subway to the bus to the next bus. Now people can commute into the city, get off the train, jump in a city car, and drive that extra three to ten miles to the office. This is a reasonable solution to a very prevalent problem. Instead of unnecessarily consuming a parking space while in the office all day long, you can use a city car in the morning and evening, while others use it all afternoon; and the convenience of hopping in a city car is what will make this work. In addition, since these cars aren’t personal vehicles and people will be in them on an average of five to thirty minutes, hopefully the new system will encourage people to share rides across town thus influencing our sense of community, status, and ownership.