Sustainable Wal-Mart? A Greening of Retail

Sounds like an oxymoron, especially to those who have long despised Wal-Mart and everything they stand for, but this leaf may be turning green. Wal-Mart is soon to begin labeling the sustainability of their products and are even creating their own green index system that goes far beyond what most eco friendly retailers currently track. Not only will the items …

Solé Solar Roof Tiles by SRS Energy

Keeping in the solar powered theme of my last post, I wanted to focus a bit less on tongue-in-cheek novelty and hone in on some serious design. Many architects, homeowners and commercial building owners out there aren’t very fond of the blocky look of solar panels, especially if their roof is highly visible or conforming to a specific style. For …

Valcucine’s 100% Recyclable Kitchen

If you love Italian design and have the money for it, then have i got a kitchen for you! Valcucine has come up with a 100% recyclable kitchen made primarily from Aluminum and Glass, both 100% recyclable materials. Not only that, but the kitchen is extremely durable allowing it to last for years and years bringing to mind all of …

Plyboo Bamboo Plywood and Durapalm Palm Tree Sustainable Flooring

I love bamboo. Its beautiful, its durable, and its a great sustainable and renewable resource, so I am pretty excited about Plyboo by Smith and Fong. Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and available for LEED credit by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), these surfaces and flooring are all about sustainability. Made from FSC certified bamboo and palm, …

Weekend Green Reads – Books on Sustainability

This weekend seems like a great weekend for reading, so I thought I would share some upcoming green books in my queue. I seem to have a sustainable design theme going, although that should come as no surprise to anyone who regularly reads my blog. Sustainability in design has always interested me, mainly because so many problems with current products …

New Soap, Old Bottle – Reducing Trash with Reuse

A great idea to help reduce the impact of discarded plastic bottles and preventing further unnecessary packaging at the same time. New Soap, Old Bottle is a company founded by Scott Amron that bottles new bulk name-brand soap into sanitized used old plastic soda bottles, plastic water bottles, and beer bottles. Packaged in America and finished with a child safe …

New Solar Panel Powered Stadium in Taiwan

A beautiful integration of renewable energy and modern green design, the recently finished solar stadium in Taiwan will welcome the 2009 World Games to 3,300 lights and two jumbo screens all on 100% solar energy. Designed by Toyo Ito, the 14,155 sq meter roof consists of 8,844 solar panels generating 1.14m KWh (that is 1.14 gigawatt hours of electricity) a …

Tottini – Design For Modern Green Kids

Seattle moms Melissa Maffei and Melissa Van Flandern both have a passion for the simplicity and beauty of modern design which is wholly apparent when you step into their children’s furnishing store Tottini. Brimming with bright colors and interesting shapes, your children will instantly fall in love with everything in the store, and you will appreciate the clean modern design. …

Energy Active Eco Home- Taking Energy Efficiency Positive

This technologically advanced home boasts a computer controlled system that regulates the home like a human body. Monitoring temperature, seasons and the time of day to maximize efficiency, this home is an energy over achiever- creating more energy than it uses. While this may sound futuristic, it’s happening right now, in a cold and cloudy Lystrup, Denmark in fact. Increasingly …

Green Water Bottles and Now The PlantBottle Soda Bottle

With beverage companies becoming much more aware of their ‘carbon’ footprint, and in a race to be the ‘most green’ many companies are in a hurry to green up their bottles. While Arrowhead Spring water has had the claim that they have the ‘greenest’ water bottle among bottled water companies with their Ecoshape bottles, the soda companies are now getting …