http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Earth_Green-Living_Design_18_194_632.html Press Review of the Earth from the most relevant websites. Keep in touch with the Earth and your future ! fr-FR http://www.earth-stream.com/logo-stream-Earth.png http://www.earth-stream.com Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:10:51 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/The-innovator-Cathy-Newbery_18_194_632_233551.html The 40-year-old upcycling unwanted bric-a-bracDaytime TV gives a false impression; we aren't a nation of bargain hunters. Cathy Newbery was alarmed by how much furniture at her local auction house, Mitchells, in Cockermouth, didn't even make the minimum £1 price. "Pianos, lamps, bookcases – all came in from house clearance every week, but ended up in the rubbish. The auction house sent a skip a week to landfill." So Cathy assembled a team of artists whose skills span lighting, glass, fashion design and instrument-making not just to restore the unwanted items but to improve them.This is upcycling, as distinct from recycling, where the value of materials tends to diminish in the process. So how do you solve a problem like an unwanted piano? "It's about looking for the creative opportunity and acknowledging the value of the materials," says Cathy. They pick a "problem item of the week". This week it's a standard lamp. "We ask ourselves: 'Why is this no longer desirable? Is it too tall? Is it the shade?' And then we make it desirable again and revamp it for another life." In this case they are incorporating high-efficiency LEDs into the lamp. "It has to be sustainable," says Cathy. "We're not interested in creating new monsters."Financially supported by the Crafts Council's Spark Plug Curator Award, Cathy aims to have a full range of pieces on sale next year (cathynewbery.co.uk). She hopes her example will make people think before chucking out their chintz; she also runs craft and DIY workshops. "People buy on credit to assimilate with the Joneses. It's time to be brave and take a stand against planned obsolescence. Buy an affordable upcycled piece that has been reworked in a contemporary way and will last for the rest of your life." It's a restoration of ideals as well as furniture.Ethical and green livingLucy Siegleguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:09:06 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Designer-Nanomaterials-On-demand-Universal-Method-For-Creating-Nanoscale-Composites_18_194_632_233544.html Image Caption: These transmission electron microscope images show (a) the original nanorod array of cadmium sulfide and (b) a composite made from cadmium sulfide and the chalcogenide copper sulfide. In the composite, nanoparticle ordering is maintained but spacing between the particles decreases. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:20:08 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Summer-Rayne-Oakes-Designs-Battling-Beetles-Organic-T-Shirt-to-Benefit-Green-Cross-International_18_194_632_233501.html Model, environmental activist, and author, Summer Rayne Oakes--hardly needs an introduction--is the new face and designer behind the latest edition of the Ever.green series for YOOXYGEN. The series of limited edition organic cotton t-shirts for him and her benefit Green Cross International and are produced by EDUN LIVE. Oakes' des...Read the full story on TreeHugger Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:51:52 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/seatcase-recycled-briefcase-seat_18_194_632_233499.html Designer Rachel Griffin undertakes many interesting design projects.  Challenged during a workshop to create a seat out of recycled materials she gave birth to the Seatcase – a portable little chair born from the unlikely union of a microscope case and discarded chair parts.  Now hit your basement or garage to find you own DIY [...] Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:26:29 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Interiors-Mind-the-Gap-House_18_194_632_233480.html It was once an narrow, dark alley between two listed buildings. Now it's a stunning contemporary homeIt takes an architect to look at a narrow, dark alley, a gap between two buildings, and think, "Yep, that's where I want to live." But that's exactly what Luke Tozer did. Unintimidated by the fact that the street frontage was a mere 2.3m wide, or that the houses on either side were listed, or even by the fact that the space, an alley opening out into a garden, was bang in the middle of the Bayswater conservation area, west London, Tozer made models of his house before he had even bought the site, and took them to planners and his would-be neighbours. "They listened quietly to what I had to say," Tozer says, "then wrote long objection letters to the council."How did he convince them his Gap House was a good idea? "We worked hard to reduce the impact on the neighbours as much as possible," he says. Following some serious negotiations, in return for their side entrance, which was situated in the alleyway, Tozer got planning permission and paid to dig out the neighbour's front garden and build a utility room in its place. He also turned the neighbour's small, dark courtyard into a raised, sun-filled terrace with a new living space underneath."In a conservation area in London, you have to either preserve or enhance the character of the area," he says. "We were hoping to enhance its urban character and create a listed building of the future." Tozer's aim, along with his business partner Tim Pitman (together they form Pitman Tozer Architects), was to build a contemporary, low-energy house.It's hard to picture from the street, but the narrow white render housefront cascades into a 185 sq m Tardis of contemporary living. "It reminds me of Mr Benn," Tozer says, "when he goes through the magic door in the clothes shop and enters a whole other world." Living, eating and entertaining are done at the back, in an open-plan lounge-cum-courtyard, while t ... Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:06:25 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/A-Barcode-That-Recedes-With-a-Veggie-s-Freshness_18_194_632_233442.html Walking through the produce aisle shouldn’t be as mysterious as the ingredients on the back of a bag of Cheetos, but sometimes picking out fresh produce can be a befuddling task even for the most seasoned herbivore. Fresh Code, by designers Sisi Yuan, Yiwu Qiu, Lei Zhao, Qiulei Huang, Lijun Zhang & Weihang Shu is [...] Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:53:58 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Inhabitat-is-Looking-For-Writers-to-Cover-the-Milan-Furniture-Fair-_18_194_632_233424.html Hey European design fans! The Milan Furniture Fair is coming up quick from April 14th-19th, and Inhabitat is looking for a few great writers/photographers/design aficionados to cover this year’s event! We’re on the hunt for best and brightest in contemporary sustainable design from this year’s show, so if you’re planning to go to Milan and want [...] Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:51:34 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Win-Up-to-$10-000-for-Reducing-Coffee-Cup-Waste_18_194_632_233422.html Image credit: quinn.anya/Flickr Every year, betacup tells us, 58 billion disposable coffee cups are thrown away. That's thrown away, not recycled. Clearly, this is a big problem. betacup hopes to put an end to this senseless waste with a contest that calls on the talents of the world's best designers as well as the experience and ideas of everyday coffee consumers....Read the full story on TreeHugger Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:12:59 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Mirial-Launches-ClearSea-Turn-Key-Desktop-Videoconferencing-Solution_18_194_632_233400.html MILAN, March 19, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Mirial released ClearSea, a new comprehensive desktop videoconferencing solution engineered to meet the enterprise, healthcare and educational markets needs in the desktop videoconferencing space. Based on a client/server architecture, and built on over 10 years of Mirial desktop video excellence, ClearSea provides state-of-the-art PC and Mac Full-HD desktop client and the ability to seamlessly connect any legacy device, allowing companies to make the most out of their existing videoconferencing infrastructure without additional equipment such as H.323/SIP Gateways or Firewall/NAT traversal appliances. ClearSea is a turn-key and cost-effective desktop conference solution, easy to deploy and manage thanks to its centralized directory, user group management, integration with Active Directory/LDAP, full remote configuration and upgrade of ClearSea desktop client. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:12:59 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/STMicroelectronics-Extends-High-Side-Current-Sensing-Portfolio-with-Accurate-Rugged-Low-Power-Amplifiers-Targeting-Automotive-Industrial-and-Computer-Applications_18_194_632_233398.html GENEVA, March 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A new current-sensing IC from STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a world leader in semiconductors for automotive and industrial controls, simplifies design of smarter and safer systems by sensing current more accurately and giving designers extra flexibility to adjust the sensor's output before inputting to the system controller. Accurate sensing of system current is central to effective control of precision equipment performing functions such as positioning, variable-speed operation, or continuous self optimization to maximize energy efficiency. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:57:27 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/DOE-Unveils-Net-Zero-220-000-Square-Foot-Office-Space_18_194_632_233383.html It’s an engineer’s dream: A 220,000 square-foot office space designed with performance as the ultimate priority. Most building projects start in the mind of an architect and are then passed off to engineers, who have to figure out how to make the building function well, but the new net-zero National Renewable Energy Lab office building, in Golden, Colo., started with the engineering. So it is that the building is a rather unusual “H” shape, with the lobby area connecting two wings, because the project’s engineers determined that shape would maximize daylight and thus reduce energy needs. The building is meant to be a national showcase and a teaching tool, in addition to serving its primary function as office space for NREL. “The overarching goal is to demonstrate that highly energy efficient and marketable net zero buildings can be built using available technologies and techniques today,” Jeff Baker, director of the Office of Laboratory Operations for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) said during a webinar about the building’s technologies yesterday.  To do that, the team started with what they call a “performance-based” request for proposals that included three tiers of goals for the building. The first tier, or “mission critical” goals, included achieving LEED Platinum and Energy Star Plus standards. The second tier or “highly desirable goals,” included a wide range of elements from capacity for 800 staffers to creating an expandable building to using only 25,000 BTU per square foot per year. Net-zero energy was saved for tier 3, “If Possible” goals. In order to get there, Baker says the team had a “manic focus on energy performance.” They also took a different approach to the RFP process. They started with a national design competition, sent out a draft RFP to the top three design teams, then collaborated with those teams to help hone the project’s goals and possible solutions. ... Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:44:26 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/High-Efficiency-Hydraulic-Hybrid-Car-Could-Get-170-MPG_18_194_632_233359.html INGOCAR is a developmental concept for a 5 passenger car with a hydraulic drive system in place of a conventional powertrian. With the weight reduction this offers and other efficiencies in the systems, the designers say their vehicle could get 170 mpg. The INGOCAR is a hydraulic hybrid vehicle. Like some electric hybrids such as the Chevy Volt, it uses the motor indirectly instead of using the mechanical motion of the motor to move the car. But rather than using a motor as a generator to produce electricity, the INGOCAR has a highly-efficient 2-stroke diesel engine which is used to pressurize a hydraulic tank called the accumulator. Pressure from this tank is then used to turn individual wheelmotors in each wheel. Hydraulic power makes the regenerative braking of the INGOCAR much more efficient than that in electric motor vehicles, as well. Regenerative braking with hydraulics is able to recover 75 to 85% of the energy which is used to repressurize the system. The wheelmotors that serve as both propulsion and braking for the vehicle are smaller than the disc brakes they replace. The INGOCAR's efficiencies work to benefit it in several ways. For instance, eliminating the conventional powertrain provides a 30% weight reduction for the car. Also, the engine only needs to run for a short period of time to recharge the pressure tank. It can also be smaller since it is only being used to develop pressure, rather than needing to be strong enough to run the car directly. The vehicle is able to be significantly lighter than an electric hybrid because the motors are much lighter. "A comparable electric powertrain, able to recapture the entire braking energy, is significantly heavier. The weight of the currently best electric motors is 20 times higher than that of the new hydraulic motor. The weights of the energy storage devices (battery, accumulator) are about the same. As result, the weight of the car would increase by about 50% - from 2200 lb to 3300 lb - con ... Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:00:15 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Solar-City-Tower-for-Rio-Olympics-is-a-Giant-Energy-Generating-Waterfall_18_194_632_233347.html This renewable energy generating tower located on the coast of Rio is one of the first buildings we’ve seen designed for the 2016 Rio Olympics, and boy, is it crazy! (In case you didn’t notice, it’s also a waterfall.) The Solar City Tower is designed by Zurich-based RAFAA Architecture & Design, and features a large [...] Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:17:16 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/ColorChip-Unveils-the-DragonFly-The-Industry-s-Smallest-40G-LR-Transceiver_18_194_632_233340.html CAESAREA, Israel, March 19, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- - First to Demonstrate a 40G Pluggable Transceiver in QSFP Form Factor for Ranges of up to 10km Over Single Mode Fiber ColorChip, a leading designer and manufacturer of optical sub-systems and components based on Application Specific Photonic Integrated Circuits (ASPICs), announced today the availability of the industry's first QSFP 40G pluggable LR transceiver. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:17:14 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Silver-Proves-Its-Mettle-For-Nanotech-Applications_18_194_632_233339.html Image Caption: A long single-strand of DNA has been folded into a triangular building platform through a process known as DNA origami. This architectural foundation was then "decorated" with one, two or three silver nanoparticles, which self-assembled at pre-determined locations on the DNA nanostructure. Credit: Hao Yan, Yan Liu, Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:33:47 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Optametra-and-LeCroy-to-Showcase-Test-Solution-Capable-of-224-Gb-s-PM-QPSK-at-OFC-NFOEC-Exposition_18_194_632_233305.html CHESTNUT RIDGE, N.Y., March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- LeCroy Corporation, designer of the world's fastest (30 GHz) real-time oscilloscope, and Optametra, a leading supplier of coherent lightwave signal analyzers, will showcase their combined test solution at the OFC/NFOEC Exposition, Booth 1406, San Diego from March 23 to 25. LeCroy's WaveMaster 830Zi, a 30 GHz real-time oscilloscope, has already been used to measure 224 Gb/s capability using 56 Gb/s per tributary polarization multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying (PM-QPSK) signals. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:18:42 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Hit-Or-Miss-Fresh-Code-Barcode-Concept-Ensures-Your-Produce-Is-Just-Picked_18_194_632_233266.html Images via Yanko Design A group of designers have decided that there's got to be a better way to find the freshest produce in a supermarket. Rather than trust your own senses, they think a fading barcode is the right solution. They've come up with a barcode that starts off as a usual barcode, then slowly fades along with the product's freshness. Not only would you be able to see which fruits and veggies have just been delivered, but when the barcode is nonexistant, that indicates to the store that it's time to toss the product rather than s...Read the full story on TreeHugger Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:23:56 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Cardboard-Furniture-is-Durable-and-Recyclable-and-Everywhere_18_194_632_233236.html Image from Shanzai Cardboard is popping up everywhere. A strong and durable material, it is made from recycled paperboard and is itself recyclable when you get bored. It is long lasting, can be assembled easily, comes in a flat-pack and some say is softer and friendlier than wood or plastic. It certainly is cheaper.... Here are some new and novel ways that cardboard is being used in the furniture and restaura...Read the full story on TreeHugger Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:26:14 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Colorful-Drops-Pouf-Seating-Made-of-Recycled-Upholstery-Material_18_194_632_233176.html This delightful Drops pouf is a chair made of an inner tube covered with recycled upholstery material. It was inspired by the process behind making tassels (bunching together lots of strips of leftover fabric) and introduces elements of color and fun into the user’s everyday life. The designer, Camilla Hounsell Halvorsen is a Masters student [...] Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:00:11 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Green-Living/Design/Moss-Table-Adds-a-Micro-Landscape-to-Your-Living-Room_18_194_632_233136.html We’ve already brought you living bath mats, a carpet made of moss, and a biodegradable mushroom stool, so it was only a matter of time before we pulled out some moss coffee tables for you to throw your feet on. Designed by home furniture company Ayodhyatra, the Secret Garden Table is a mosaic of various [...]