Green Design
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German microbiologist and fashion designer Anke Domaske has introduced a whole new chapter in high-end fashion with her garments made from high concentration of the milk protein casein. Fashion designer and microbiologist Anke Domaske poses with a pitcher of milk, milk fiber, and milk yarn on Oct. 5 in Hanover, Germany. Domaske uses milk yarn that is made from milk protein fibers, which is extracted from milk that did not meet hygiene standards, to create her fashion. The milk fibers contain 18 amino acids that are beneficial to health, Domaske said. She needs six liters of milk to make a dress. (Reuters)
German Designer Revolutionizes High-end Fashion with Milk Garments
Lately we’ve seen some innovative and inspiring ways that designers are upcyling old periodicals . German designers NJU Studio have created a way for consumers to take their own magazines and turn them into the cool and useful Hockenheimer stool. The DIY kit enables you to create a stool of varying heights depending on just how many mags you have lying around. <a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/Inhabitat/products;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?"
Hockenheimer Stool Transforms a Stack of Old Magazines into a Cool Chair
If you’ve been looking for a more exciting way to cut the grass, forget about those souped up gas lawnmowers – this clever and inventive design takes mowing the lawn to a whole new level. Built from an old-fashioned push-and-pull mower and a folding bike, Florian Hauswirth ‘s lawn mower cycle is a practical and fun design solution to keeping your garden tidy. And given the smile on the face of the rider above, we’ve gotta say: lawn mower bike races anyone? + Florian Hauswirth
Lawn Mower Bike is a Fun and Fuel-Free Way to Trim Your Yard
UPenn Students Create Super High-Tech Motion Powered Alpha Bike
A group of five students from the University of Pennsylvania have quite possibly created the world’s most technologically advanced bicycle. Over the course of a year, this genius crew engineered and fabricated the Alpha bike, including all of its integrated electronic systems. The resulting design may look quite similar to market available high performance cycles, but hidden within the extra-strength frame , there is actually an internalized three-speed drive train, braking system, and high-tech electronics powered entirely by the bike’s motion. <a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/Inhabitat/transportation;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?" target="_blank" ><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/Inhabitat/transportation;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?" border="0" alt="" /></a>
Staxxon's Collapsible Containers Could Revolutionize Global Shipping Industry
The humble shipping container has truly come into its own over the last decade as architects and designers have innovated ump-teen new ways of re-purposing the standardized metal box. But what about the container’s original and still globally predominant function– carrying millions of dollars in trade goods from Point A to Point B each year? Enter the Staxxon collapsible shipping container. A new development in the flat-packing field, these accordion-style containers vertically fold to 1/5 their original width, making for an efficient nesting system of empties.photo @ Guest of a Guest LA The 2011 Coachella Music Festival featured a DJ booth powered by an energy generating playground. Festival goers could choose from a series of different electricity producing installations that fed into a lithium-ion battery well, which powered the entire sound system. The booth was created by Global Inheritance in collaboration with Coachella to offer a unique way for music fans to educate themselves about renewable energy, all while supporting their favorite artists. <a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/Inhabitat/Technology;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?"
Coachella's Human Powered DJ Booth Blasts Renewable Blips and Bleeps
DIY: Make Your Own HEPA Air Filtration System for $30!
For some of us, allergens are our worst enemy — the fresh pollen of spring, fall foliage, and of course the ever present dust, mold and animal dander. Sometimes the only solution is a high-tech air filtration system, but these complex systems can cost up to $800. But if you’re an allergy sufferer, today is your luck day as Dr.
Off-Grid Tropicana Billboard is Powered by Oranges!
DDB , an advertising agencies that specializes in creative experiences, has harnessed the power of oranges for their Tropicana campaign. Using the product’s very ingredients to run the electricity for the billboard that advertises it, the French Tropicana ad reads “Energie Naturelle” (Natural Energy) and is lit in neon lighting. The alternative energy resource comes from an electrochemical reaction using the acid from the oranges as the catalyst. <a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/Inhabitat/energy;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?" target="_blank" ><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/Inhabitat/energy;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?"
<a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/Inhabitat/architecture;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?" target="_blank" ><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/Inhabitat/architecture;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?" border="0" alt="" /></a> So how does one go about fabricating a form with 16 million facets?
Insanely Intricate Cardboard Columns Have 16 Million Facets and Are the World's Most Complex Architecture
First Package-Free, Zero-Waste Grocery Store in US Opens in Austin, Texas
Soon to be the newest addition to the well-oiled Austin, Texas grocery store community — the town where Whole Foods was born — is the country’s first zero-waste, package-free grocery store, In.gredients . In.gredients is the product of a group of Austin-based entrepreneurs that envision a world without single-use food packaging; where you bring not only your own grocery bags to the store, but your own reusable containers to purchase your food from In.gredients’ bulk inventory. In their video (which you can watch after the jump) the group points out that in just making cookies, you throw away 13 pieces of non-recyclable single-use packages. And this is just a small part of the 570 million pounds of food packaging that Americans toss each day. <a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/Inhabitat/;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?"In my column ‘Packaging the Future’ , I’ve looked at the myriad ways the materials around us contribute to environmental pollution and human health issues (from manufacturing, use and disposal). I’ve suggested existing solutions to what I think of as “bad packaging”, as well as some that are only supposition. But even though I love to dork out on new and old packaging fixes, there are a few spots where I don’t want to see the new overtake the old; where even though a more modern version of something might use fewer resources and be more planet and people-friendly, I still choose the vintage version.
Packaging the Future: Three Packages Worth the Resources They Use
Folding Solar Catamaran
Entièrement imaginé et conçu pour être à la fois facilement transportable et relativement accessible en terme de tarifs, découverte de cet intéressant « Solar Folding Catamaran », un petit bateau à double coque qui a la particularité d’être pliable pour en limiter l’encombrement et d’être propulsé par un moteur électrique alimenté par des panneaux solaires – placés sur le dessus du toit rétractable – et commandé grâce à un système gyroscopique. Créé par le jeune designer Jeffrey Greger et conçu pour accueillir deux personnes à la manière d’un bateau pneumatique de nouvelle génération, tous les détails du concept sont visibles en images dans la suite ! Plus de détails en images dans la galerie Design by Jeffrey Greger – viaDesigner Mieke Meijer gives old newspapers a new life as furniture, decorative items, and even jewelry! Her NewspaperWood material is made from stacks and stacks of discarded newspapers, and it can be cut, milled and sanded just like regular wood – it even has the look of wood grain from the newsprint. Recently the designer teamed up with Vij5 to create an innovative line of products using NewspaperWood – read on for a look! <a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/Inhabitat/products;article=articlename;kw=content1;sz=300x250;ord=123456789?"
NewspaperWood: Incredible Furnishings and Products Made From Yesterday's News
Attending school everyday has never more eco-friendly and fun! Dutch company De Café Racer developed a pedal-powered school bus that turns going to school into a happy, healthy and cooperative experience. This friendly and bright vehicle can accommodate up to ten kids and an adult driver, and even features a music player to blast all those sweet school bus tunes. The bus also comes equipped with an auxiliary electric motor just in case kids get tired. And if it starts raining, a sailcloth roof can easily be mounted to ensure the kids arrive at school nice and dry.