Calendone Perpetual Wall Calendar

Designed by Pino Tovaglia, the Calendone calendar features large black numbers on a white background and is perfect for home or office. Best part: you never have to replace it!
My Own Space

Volatile Organic Compounds

Indoor air is three times more polluted than outdoor air,
and according to the EPA, is considered to be one of the top 5 hazards to human health. Paints and finishes are among the leading causes.
Paints and finishes release low level toxic emissions into the air for years after application. The source of these toxins is a variety of VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds) which, until recently, were essential to the performance of the paint.
New environmental regulations, and consumer demand, have led to the development of low-VOC and zero-VOC paints and finishes. Most paint manufacturers now produce one or more non-VOC variety of paint. These new paints are durable, cost-effective and less harmful to human and environmental health.
Zero VOC - Any paint with VOC's in the range of 5 grams/litre or less can be called "Zero VOC", according to an EPA standard. Some manufacturers may claim "Zero-VOC's", but these paints may still use colorants, biocides and fungicides with some VOC's. Adding a color tint usually brings the VOC level up to 10 grams/liter, which is still quite low.
Here are several companies offering low VOC and Zero VOC paints and finishes.
Aglaia - Natural finishes for many applications, from high quality wall paints to specialty paints for plasters or glazing.
Livos - Organic paint, stains, oils and waxes made using all natural ingredients. Coatings are linseed oil and citrus oil based, non toxic, low VOC and are designed primarily for wood.
Tried & True Wood Finishes - Line of zero-VOC, all natural, food-safe, biodegradable wood finishes. Distribution is primarily through mail-order catalogs.
Weather-Bos - Line of natural stains, finishes and paints. Blends of natural oils and resins designed to adhere to the wood, forming a monolithic bond.
Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company - non-toxic paint made with milk protein, lime, clay and earth pigments.
Sawyer Finn Natural Milk Paint - non-toxic milk paint in powder form, wide choice of colors.
Silacote - made from natural mineral compounds, for use on masonry, concrete and wallboard; interior/exterior.
Anna Sova - natural paints from milk casein, titanium dioxide and food-grade ingredients.
Green Planet Paints - natural clay paints for interiors using unique Mayan clay pigments.
Yolo- A line of natural paints.
Devine Color- A line of natural paints.

The End of the Line

With one of the world's longest beaches, Chittagong is Bangladesh's biggest port. Half of the world's supertankers are disassembled here. When the tide is high, vessels are driven at full speed toward the shore. Once the water recedes and the ships rest along the muddy beach, the salvage crews move in, emptying the vessels of everything on board. When the tide is high, vessels are driven at full speed toward the shore. Once the water recedes and the ships rest along the muddy beach, the salvage crews move in, emptying the vessels of everything on board. Conditions in the shipyards are dangerous. Many workers are barefoot and without gloves, carefully avoiding razor-sharp metal, hot steel, and pollutants. For all its hazards, the ship breaking industry employs, directly or indirectly, an estimated 200,000 Bangladeshis. The scrap metal stripped off these vessels supplies 80 percent of Bangladesh's steel. Eventually nothing but tiny fragments remain, buried in the mud. From dawn to dusk, local women and children scavenge the beach, collecting these small shards of metal to sell to Chittagong's local merchants.
Foreign Policy

Fabric made from recycled cassette tapes

Sonic Fabric

In Vitro Orchid

Unless you have a biotechnology lab in your basement, sprouting an orchid at home is virtually impossible. But the In Vitro Orchid, above, from Japan, comes close to making it happen.
The tube houses a tiny sprout in a sterile environment, to protect it from deadly fungi, and allows it to grow in a nutrient-rich gel medium. It just has to be kept somewhere that is bright (though out of direct sunlight) and not too cold (above 50 degrees). No need to water or, well, do anything. Just don’t pull the stopper. The youngster will take about a year to reach the top of the tube. Then it will be time to replant.
The In Vitro Orchid is $32 from the Gardener, 1836 Fourth Street, Berkeley, Calif.; (510) 548-4545.
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

The Rotating Home – high efficiency, high tech and dial-a-view

Built largely of glass and steel, the house is powered by an electric motor and has some interesting abilities not normally on offer with a conventional home – if you’re keen to soak up some rays, you can program the room you’re in to follow the sun. The maximum speed of the house is one revolution every thirty minutes, a speed offering a kaleidoscope-like usage of ambient light. “Living in the house has been where we’ve learned the most – until you experience that nature’s cavalcade of lights between sunset, morning, evening and then dusk, you can’t fully visualise what’s possible. This is a unique solution for people who want to appreciate where they live and I suspect there are many rewards in the design of rotating homes that we’re yet to discover. And even when we’re at our tenth or one hundredth home, we’ll still be learning things. Some aspects of the view have naturally become favourites says Everingham. “We always turn the living room towards the river at night, and I’ve found I’m more interested in working with a particular view than chasing the sun, so I’ll move the house to where I want it and then let it sit.

Given the interest the project has generated within Australia, Luke will be building more rotating homes. “I have looked at what’s required to build rotating homes and I have realised that the best way for me to move forward is to find a national and perhaps international partners to work with,” says Everingham.

“If you started from scratch, it’d cost a million dollars Australian to build one and you’d be hard pressed to know as much as we knew about the process at that point, let alone what we can add having lived in the house and seen the possibilities of what is possible in the future.”
via Gizmag

Hydrogen Car and Filling Station

The H-racer is the smallest and coolest hydrogen fuel cell car in the world! Witness the power of new energy technology in the palm of your hand. That's right - this car does not need batteries! The car uses a real fuel cell and its own on-board hydrogen storage system.
The Hydrogen Station will provide your H-racer with an unlimited supply of clean energy. To create free hydrogen fuel at the flick of a switch, just add water to the station's tank! Fueling is animated by a special blue light display.
Horizon Fuel Cell

Recyclers Raft

"This unique green-designed air mattress turns recycling into fun for the whole family!
Insert your empty two liter bottles into the polyester duc shell, and you have an environmentally friendly air mattress that's surprisingly comfortable, easy to transport, and so unbelievably durable even dogs can use it without harming it's bouyancy!
We're so sure of the quality we offer a full two year free replacement warranty.
There's no need to blow up this raft, so there's never a need for a plastic patch kit and messy glue.
Never worry about sinking from a puncture again.
Stop buying an inflatable poof raft every year! Never throw a punctured air mattress in a land fill again!"
Recyclers Raft

Paper bag

Quite literally a unique product: this is an allround waste-paper basket for home and office, made from left-over billboard-posters, and packed with a rubberband cut from motorcar tyres. Each paperbag is unique, with patterns and colors that refer to exisiting brand identities.
The manufacturers view left-over billboard as a resource to manufacture a product to will help recycle even more paper. Due to the flat packing, this product also saves energy during shipping.
Futureproofed

Harvest Sunlight

The Hybrid Solar Lighting (HSL) technology uses a solar concentrator to collect and distribute sunlight into the interior of a building via plastic optical fibers. Sunlight Direct is proud to be the exclusive provider of Hybrid Solar Lighting systems in the United States and abroad. Learn more here at Sunlight Direct

EnergyGreen-conscious design is affordable

Do you want an environmentally friendly home but think you can't afford one? Think again -- maybe you can, says Jim Lingenfelter of Five2Five Design Studio LLC in Indianapolis.
All green-conscious home design requires is a spirit of thrift and a willingness to sift through junkyards, consignment boutiques and discount stores with a creative eye.
"You don't have to tear that house down and start from scratch," Lingenfelter said.
Be a savvy scavenger
Rather than buy new furnishings, salvage something that otherwise might be scrapped.
"You can find some really great classics in secondhand area locations," said Kate Salzman of CSO Architects.
Nikki Sutton of Axis Architecture spent hours combing trash bins, back alleys, garage sales, thrift stores and antique stores for inexpensive -- or free -- finds.
"I had to borrow my parents' truck for two weeks, and I took a different way home every day," she said.
A child's bedroom illustrates just how effective such a strategy can be.
A former entertainment center turned dresser/table procured for $4 and a petite filing cabinet purchased for $3 came from garage sales. A yellow chair had been abandoned in an alley.
"It just needed some Windex and some scrubbing," Sutton said.
Don't limit yourself to local finds. Kipp Normand, real-estate development manager for the not-for-profit Southeast Neighborhood Development Corp., discovered a narrow bed in a dilapidated house in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
"He just spray-painted it and called it a day. It's awesome," said Sutton, who topped the piece with bed linens from Target.
The bottom line for the room? $110, maybe.
read more here

Porocom Stones

Porocom 'porous construction material' is an environmentally friendly material that reduces sound pollution. This Porocom Stones variation is made from decorative pebbles combined with a binding agent made up of a thermosetting powder coating which is a residual product from the coating industry. The panels are to be used as a decorative surface with sound absorbing performance.
Material Explorer

Wind Shaped Pavillion

The Wind Shaped Pavilion is a design proposal for a large fabric structure that can be used as a public or private pavilion. As a lightweight fabric structure, the wind slowly and randomly rotates each of the six segments around a central open support frame. This continually alters the shape of the pavilion, while at the same time generating electrical power for its nighttime illumination.
Micheal Jantzen

Ceiling and Floor Heating

With over three million square metres of REVOLUTION XP installed over the last 30 years has provided, a lifetime of maintenance free warmth and comfort.
Installed directly under our control REVOLUTION XP radiant elements carry a comprehensive 10 year warranty with recognised approvals in Australia and 17 other countries throughout the world.
Heating elements can be installed during construction or as a retro fit. This system is ideally suited to aged care and buildings without natural gas supplies.
REVOLUTION XP saves on energy costs by making highly efficient use of electrical energy as 100% of all electricity is converted to heat.
In comparison, slab heating looses up to 40% heat energy by conduction through ground rather than radiate into the room. Hydronic heating can loose as much as 35% heat energy through heat transfer from the heating source, to the radiant panel then to the room.
By installing REVOLUTION XP your energy bills can be reduced by up to 40% whilst having the versatility of being able to control each room individually.
Invisible Heating Systems

Good Egg Footstool

A versatile Good Egg footstool is handmade from 100 percent recycled paper pulp egg cartons and colored with water-based fabric dye -- no varnish or lacquer is used. As a footstool it can be used upright or on its side for a relaxing rocking motion; it also makes a sturdy base for a coffee table. To clean, just vacuum. Place out of bright light to preserve the intensity of the color.
eco-artware

ecospace contemporary garden studios

Ecospace green roofed studios are available as modular or bespoke sizes with 'plug on' modules to extend the live/work area. The sustainable timber framed structures are raised above the ground using our innovative adjustable bearing shoes to minimise site disturbance.
Configurations and window positions can be easily altered to respond to the particular site. The ecospace provides flexible living with shower and kitchen pod options together with mezzanine level chill out pads.
With emphasis on fast track installation, the ecospace is fully insulated, heated and ready to use within matter of days without compromising quality and attention to detail.
ecospace