Green Options » green design

Bicyclists in Kenya Charge Their Phones by Pedaling

Bryan Nelson — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:09:00 +0000

Two Kenyan students have invented a device that allows bicycle riders to charge their phones as they pedal.

Deemed a “dynamo-powered smart charger”, the device should make it more economical for the 17.5 million Kenyans who use mobile phones to charge them. Even more impressive, the environmentally-friendly phone charger was originally built from scraps retrieved from a junkyard.

Design Your Green Home

Jessop Petroski — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:56:27 +0000

How would you design your ultimate green home? My green home is one that incorporates Earth, Wind, and Fire!

Think of what technology might make possible in the next few decades and how we can use it to build homes that have a positive impact on the environment.

The growing awareness of the fact that buildings are responsible for 39% of our energy consumption, helps explain why green building and energy efficiency at home is one of the most pervasive trends in the construction industry — even as the economy struggles and home-building is at its lowest level in a generation.

Lets take a journey through our imagination and envision the green homes of tomorrow.

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Greening Print Marketing: Ideas for Sustainable Design

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:27:39 +0000

When we think of greening print marketing, we often think about the production of printed pieces—the printing process, the consumables, the recycling. But greening print marketing starts much earlier, with the design of the piece itself.

Design Can Change, an initiative designed to help green print marketing from the very earliest design stages, now offers a “Sustainable Design Checklist” to help marketers and designers think through how they can make simple changes that move them forward to a more sustainable future.

Some of the suggestions are obvious, such as moving toward targeted marketing and choosing paper with a high percentage of postconsumer waste. But others may not be so obvious. For example. . .

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Recycled Jewelry That Could Be Called Tunewear

Delia Montgomery — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:21:30 +0000

Some jewelry designers find that recycling musical instrument parts make great mediums. The creativity is exciting, fun, and an impressive form of reuse.

To start with a simple basic, Jeff Davis designs cuff bracelets made from the black vinyl of his recycled vintage record albums.

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How to Save Water, Increase Activity, and Be Art at the Same Time: An Upside Down Umbrella?!

Paul Smith — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:41:49 +0000

Looking outside my window, the sky is cloudless, bright, a slight breeze. And it’s December, normally a time of frequent rain. While we here in the Sierra Foothills are not yet facing a water shortage, many people in the world are. And in places that do get sufficient rain, they may be lacking in opportunities to be physically active during the rainy season.

The Watree addresses both of these issues, in a device that some would say looks like an upside down umbrella. While mechanically complex, the idea is simple - Able to be stored in a retracted form, the Watree unfurls to become a large bowl to capture rain, which is then directed to a series of storage tanks underground, ready to be processed as drinking water, or later used to irrigate land.

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Incite / Insight Event on Green Design in Chicago

Megan Prusynski — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:34:23 +0000

AIGA Chicago is organizing an event called Incite / Insight 2008: Responsible Design 101, November 20 in Chicago that addresses the significance of green design. AIGA, the professional association for design, is the oldest and largest professional membership organization for graphic & communications design. The organization has been at the forefront of promoting the shift to sustainable design practices through their Center for Sustainable Design.

Green business owners are realizing that green marketing and design is a business asset that’s here to stay as momentum in the green movement builds. The graphic design industry is responding by opening more and more dialogues about sustainability and greening their practices. In this vein, Incite / Insight 2008 in Chicago focuses on the importance of green design.

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Doing Business in a Green Office Building

John Ivanko — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:29:59 +0000

For a growing number of people, sustainable living means endeavoring as ecopreneurs for organizations with missions they believe in while working in a “green office” space that incorporates green or sustainable design. Typically, “green design” addresses energy efficiency, preservation of resources and the minimization of detrimental effects of construction - if not also improving the health and well-being of the local community as a whole. Some ecopreneurs might work from a home green office, like me, while others find it necessary to gather in office spaces that are, in various ways, ecologically sound and healthier for all.

In State College, Pennsylvania, I had the opportunity to tour the 2,400 square feet Matson & Associates Eco-Building, home to three ecopreneurial enterprises: Matson & Associates, an environmental assessment services company, often engaged to provide “expert witness” testimonials on some of the most timely waste processes issues; Envinity, a green building and home energy audit consultancy; and Matson Biofuels, a company developing a more ecological and non-toxic approach to making biodiesel called Green Biodiesel. For all three of these triple bottom line green enterprises, it’s not just what you create with your product or service — but where you work to create it.

As one of the first examples of green architecture and integrated energy efficient design in State College, the Matson & Associates Eco-Building received the Energy Star certification as a residential office in 2007. The Energy Star certification designates buildings that use 30 percent or less energy than similar code compliant buildings. As an added bonus, the construction cost of this green building was no greater than that for a conventional one.

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Award Winning Designs Incorporate LEED Certification

Kristin Dispenza — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:48:42 +0000

Last spring, Green Building Elements writer Philip Proefrock called attention to the fact that the building industry has, so far, been slow to marry sustainability with good design. (See his discussion of Green Architecture Versus Great Architecture.) But in the last several months, it has become increasingly common for LEED certification and other green building performance measures to move away from their headline status and be relegated to the footnotes. This shift is, in fact, a good thing, since it implies that a significant number of new construction projects are simply expected to incorporate sustainable features.

In September, the American Institute of Architects Montana chapter recognized the Bozeman Public Library with an Award of Merit. According to the jury, “With its grand civic spaces and filtered light, the building celebrates the act of reading. The building honors its context relating to both the town and rugged mountains beyond.” The library fulfills its function as a cultural and civic center for the town of Bozeman partly by leveraging architectural features, as high design has always done.

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Low Impact Living: Green Walls — Don’t Stop Greening On The Roof!

Low Impact Living — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:46:09 +0000

Green roofs are great - they’re very energy efficient, they capture and filter stormwater, they reduce the urban heat island effect, and they soften the harsh grays and blacks of our cities (at least from above!). We’ve written at length in the past about these benefits. If it works so well on roofs, why stop there?

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AIA Launches “GreenStep” Video Series

Dawn Killough — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:51:50 +0000

The American Institute of Architects recently launched its “GreenStep” online video series. The series presents short episodes on several green building topics. It is meant for those planning new buildings or the renovation of existing buildings, and shows how architects can help clients address their green concerns.

The schedule for the release of the videos is as follows:

Greenstep 1: Water Conservation - already posted.
Greenstep 2: Smart Controls - already posted.
Greenstep 3: Radiant Heating and Cooling - already posted.
Greenstep 4: Vegetation for Sun Control - already posted.
Greenstep 5: The Whole Building Approach - September 2
Greenstep 6: Green Tags - September 15
Greenstep 7: Energy Modeling - September 29
Greenstep 8: Green Roofs - October 13
Greenstep 9: Daylighting - October 27
Greenstep 10: Choosing Green Materials - November 10
Greenstep 11: Carbon Offsets - November 24
Greenstep 12: Deconstruction - December 8

Links to the videos can be found at http://www.aia.org/walkthewalk/.

Low Impact Living: Green Prefab Coming to a Market Near You

Low Impact Living — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:54:20 +0000

If you can’t tell, we’re pretty hooked on the latest and greatest in green prefab design. One big problem, though, is that there’s a huge amount of noise and not all that much action - plenty of fabulous prefab designs and museum / conference exhibits, but very few actual installations (and even fewer mid-market installs, which is where prefab has to go in order to make a true difference in our housing stock).

Finally, the log jam seems to be breaking. Several firms have begun to produce green prefab homes for real people in small but growing numbers. This past month, Marmol Radziner, a prefab company here in Southern California, made a splash with some pretty showy installation videos on local media outlets. These homes are either a) high end or b) for the firm’s founders, so they’re still a ways away from mass-market. But, the videos do a good job of showing what elements make prefab homes unique (factory construction, rapid installation, modular components) and at least to me suggest that they’re not all that far away from being able to replicate these installations on a larger and thus less expensive scale.

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Advice from Kim Nadel, Leading “Green” Interior Designer

Deb Hiett — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:57:06 +0000

Green Design and Feng Shui on a Budget, and What’s Coming Next

Recently I had a chance to ask a few questions of Kim Nadel, NCIDQ certified interior designer, LEED Accredited Professional, and co-founder of the Brooklyn-based NICHE environmentally smart design group. Kim is currently on the MFA faculty of the New York School of Interior Design teaching Green Design, and co-authored The Green Pages: The Contract Designer’s Guide to Environmentally Responsible Materials and Products.

Kim was chosen by Hospitality Design magazine as one of the top 20 leaders in the industry to influence design in a positive direction. She has enjoyed lecturing throughout the country to designers and architects on green living since 1995 and her work has been published in a variety of publications including Interiors and Natural Home and Garden. Kim’s broad knowledge allows her to work within a diverse range of creative projects that promote green living and inspire others to create in a sustainable way. Presently Kim is incorporating the principles of Vastu into her work, and her designs are featured in Kathleen Cox’s Vastu book Space Matters.

What is the single most important thing individuals can do (in terms of interior decorating) to improve the feng shui or vastu of their home, if budget is a primary concern?

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Toby and Rei Organic Kids’ Clothing and Accessories

Jennifer Lance — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:40:27 +0000

I love discovering new companies that feature eco-friendly clothing for kids, and the market for green children’s gear is growing in both supply and demand. I recently was led to Toby and Rei: eco friendly clothes + accessories for you and baby. This Massachusetts based company, founded by designers Alanna Mallon and Kate Browning, features adorable t-shirts and lunch bags made from organically grown cotton, among many other green products for your child.

100% Organic Kids Graphic Tee

The elephant graphic tee is my favorite shirt! I’ve always had an affinity for elephants. The elephant tee is hand sketched and printed on American Apparel’s 100% organic cotton t-shirt. These sweatshop free shirts made in LA are then dyed at Red Fish-Blue Fish Dyeworks in NH “in the most environmentally friendly way possible without harsh fixing agents or formaldehyde.” This is a hip green tee for your child!

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Dell’s Green Design Idea Contest

Deb Hiett — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:01:14 +0000

Scary news: Electronic waste is growing at three times the rate of other household waste, and at a higher toxicity. With the rapid and widespread use of computers and electronic technology in the past thirty years, the impact of all the heavy metals (arsenic, mercury, cadmium, copper, lead, etc.), batteries, plastics, LCD and other screens, etc. going into our landfills and water tables has yet to be determined.

What we do know for sure is that computer companies have to start designing with more environmental concern and foresight.

Good news: Dell has sponsored a “green” design competition, and we get to choose the winner. As part of their “ReGeneration” program, Dell invited design students and individuals “to create a broad range of design concepts and innovations for technology products that demonstrate refreshed approaches and responsible solutions for green computing technologies.”

The five finalists’ designs run the gamut from “Lawnpc,” which creates all the power it needs to operate, to “Sense,” an in-store scanning system that tells you everything about a product’s sustainability and green quotient by its bar code. Take a look, cast your vote (before May 7), and find out more about Dell’s “ReGeneration” aspirations.

Let’s hope Dell puts their considerable power behind even more green solutions when creating their next computing solutions.

[Photo courtesy of Dell, Inc.]

Topics We’ll Discover, Discuss & Develop

David Alan Foster — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:49:21 +0000

Feel free to add to the list:

sustainable product design
green products
healthy materials
rapid prototyping
rapid manufacturing
open source design tools
open source industrial design
low-impact finishes
biomimicry
cradle-to-cradle
effective design
reduce-reuse-recycle
collaboration/cooperation
low-impact materials
optimized manufacturing
efficient distribution
low-impact use
optimized lifetime
end-of-life considerations
there is no “away”

Met Home Gives a Big Boost to Green Companies

Leah Edwards — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:42:37 +0000

As Kristin Dispenza wrote on our sister blog Green Building Elements, one of the largest circulation home and design magazines, Metropolitan Home, has gone green. The April issue is all about green (the practical and the beautiful) design.

In an email to Ecopreneurist, Donna Warner, Editor in Chief of Metropolitan Home said, “For our April special ‘green’ issue, we wanted to sort through the hype and offer readers smart ways to incorporate green design into their homes. The issue provides tips and ‘how to’ advice from eco-experts on topics such as green renovation and also celebrates products for the home that will last forever, thanks to their extraordinary quality and enduring design.”

Although I love to flip through “shelter publications” as they are called, focusing on the pictures, my favorite feature in Met Home’s green issue is a five-way discussion called “Met Eco” among green architects, designers and planners about the products and techniques they recommend.

I am always on the look out for smaller companies whose time has come (now that almost all media sources are focused on the environment and green lifestyles). Some of the companies who caught my eye include:

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Metropolitan Home Goes Green

Kristin Dispenza — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:21:49 +0000

As green design becomes mainstream, it faces the challenge of having to appeal to an ever wider audience. To do so, it must adopt a diverse vocabulary, and not remain limited to — or associated with — a subculture. It is invaluable, then, when designers who are working to reinvent green are showcased in traditional publications that reach a broad readership.

In April, Metropolitan Home is introducing its first entirely green issue. One of the feature stories, “Sustainable in Seattle,” details Greg Smith’s remodel of a downtown penthouse. According to the article, project architects Kyle Gaffney and Shannon Rankin “tried to avoid the burlap-and-Birkenstock earnestness that can afflict green projects.” And Smith, a developer himself, said, “The goal was for visitors to walk in and not recognize that it was a sustainable, green space.” To this end, attention was lavished on the selection of interior materials, with an emphasis on stylish as well as sustainable design.

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Try This With Cloth Diapers

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:19:39 +0000

How green is Walmart? So green, apparently, in the case of one soon-to-open “high-efficiency” store in Illinois, that the decorative floorboards and moldings are made from parts of disposable diapers.

Photo courtesy of Rolf van Melis.

Lessons from the Design Front: Continuum’s Green Design Conference

Elizabeth Redmond — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:17:08 +0000

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend a conference at Design Continuum’s Boston Headquarters office. I attended on behalf of Ecolect with co-founders, Joe Gebbia and Matt Grigsby, as a team materials correspondent. For those of you who don’t know about Ecolect, it is a free community-based website for learning about and sourcing sustainable materials. I serve as a materials correspondent and help to generate community relationships and material information. The site is intended for architects, designers, engineers, graphic artists, but more specifically everyone! The conference was focused on Green Design- the impact of the field of design, and lessons on how to solve problems while helping the world, not hurting it.

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.

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Cool Planet Jewelry Introduces StopGlobalWarming.org Jewelry Collection

Jerry Cope — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:26:21 +0000

I hope this is of interest. Please contact me for more info…Jerry

Cool Planet Jewelry announced today that it has teamed up with the Stop Global Warming Virtual March to develop a special StopGlobalWarming.org collection of fine handcrafted jewelry, using recycled precious metals. All Cool Planet Jewelry products have been developed to ensure that every aspect of the company’s operations are socially, economically, and environmentally responsible. The collection uses recycled precious metals thus eliminating new mining, which is a significant source of environment degradation.

The StopGlobalWarming.org collection features a men’s and women’s line jewelry ranging from necklaces to bracelets and pins, all featuring the StopGlobalWarming.org logo.

“We are thrilled to partner with Cool Planet Jewelry and encourage concerned citizens to support this beautiful and environmentally responsible jewelry collection,” said Laurie David, global warming activist and founder of StopGlobalWarming.org.

Founded by Laurie David, John McCain and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. StopGlobalWarming.org has galvanized over 900,000 individual marchers including leading scientists, entertainers, athletes, political and religious leaders, and corporations who are concerned about the overheating of the planet and have united to urge government to find solutions to the growing and imminent danger of global warming.

With every purchase a generous donation will be made to both StopGlobalWarming.org and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Visit www.coolplanetjewelry.com <http://www.coolplanetjewelry.com/> . The web site is 100% solar powered.