Photo via the New Republic It's a widely held notion that politicians have long been in the pocket of Big Oil. And there's good reason for that perception: oil companies' huge campaign donations, vast lobbying power, and close ties to politicians have ensured that their taxes remain low , that hidden subsidies are around to provide extra funding, and that they receive preferential treatment in US energy policy. But there could be a new, ... View original post here: The Next Big Oil: Big Smart Grid?
So there really isn't anything that deep to this image. It's just a (more or less) life-sized blue whale eye. And on the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society site you can educate yourself/be mesmerized/ waste some time for a while staring at it while the entire life-sized animal scrolls across your browser window. Believe me, it's way cooler than you might think:... Read more from the original source: Ever See a Blue Whale Life-Sized on Your Computer? Now You Can
published October 20, 2010 and has No Comments
The Leveraged Freedom Chair. Image Credit: MIT Mobility Lab At today's lecture "Facing New Challenges Through Design" as part of Barcelona Design Week , I had the pleasure to come across some more projects by D-Lab , presented by Victor Grau Serrat from MIT in Boston. Grau gave an inspiring talk about how design and creativity can lift people ...
Read more...published October 7, 2010 and has No Comments
Bioasphalt developer Chris Williams and paving machine.Credit: Photo by Mike Krapfl/Iowa State University Asphalt is usually made from the bottom of the barrel , the dregs of the oil refining process. But then along came the tar sands and better technologies for refining heavy oil into gasoline, and the price has climbed. John has noted that it has got ...
Read more...published October 6, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: Carmen Galán and Carlos Rivera Could wool be the new future for a more sustainable brick? It may very well be, as researchers from Spain's University of Seville and Glasgow's University of Strathclyde have found by creating a stronger, unfired brick that combines wool fibres with a seaweed extract. ... Read the full story on TreeHugger See more ...
Read more...published September 24, 2010 and has No Comments
A lot of people are trying to figure out ways to use up the vast amount of pine-beetle infested timber that is all going to rot away; (Bonnie wrote about it in Turning Beetle-Infested Wood to Good (Design) Use ). Now the University of Northern British Columbia has come up with an interesting idea: Mountain Pine Beetle Wood Concrete, ...
Read more...published September 17, 2010 and has No Comments
Cali Bamboo As we noted in a post a couple of years ago , bamboo floors are not really as hard as a lot of manufacturers claimed, and that the hardness varied with colour- the darker the bamboo, the softer it was. A lot has changed since then in the harvesting of bamboo and the glueing of it together ...
Read more...published September 14, 2010 and has No Comments
Fabrizio Gallanti of Abitare , the wonderful Italian design magazine, sends us LOW, a store and bar in Lisbon designed by Pedro Campos Costa and built entirely out of cardboard. The products sold are all made from at least 50% recycled materials, so it is logical that the designer built the store completely out of cardboard. ... Read the ...
Read more...published September 7, 2010 and has No Comments
Bamboo is round and hollow while floors are flat and solid, so to make bamboo floors they cut the stuff up into strips and compress it with resin into solid chunks, that can be sliced into flooring. They make a lot of it in China; they also make a lot of regular furniture and produce a lot of waste. ...
Read more...published August 31, 2010 and has No Comments
It is a tough environment for brick-and-mortar retailers right now. It is tougher still if you are in a niche market, like green bricks, mortar and eco-supplies. It is even tougher if you are in a small town on the Canadian shield like Huntsville, Ontario , which earlier this summer accommodated the G8 but was too small for the ...
Read more...published August 31, 2010 and has No Comments
All Photos: The Hemp Builder The house you don't need to render, plaster, paint or insulate. The house with the building material that you can grow on one hectare (2.5 acres) of land. The same building material you can process yourself with standard machinery available at your hardware store. The house whose walls lock away over 110 kg (240 ...
Read more...published August 30, 2010 and has No Comments
Karl Wanaselja of Leger Wanaselja Architecture has built this shed out of what looks like a pile of car panels and windshields. He says it "is surprisingly strong and versatile. "... Read the full story on TreeHugger More: Shed Is Constructed Entirely Out Of Recycled Car Parts
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Save the sea creatures! Handcraft your own natural specimens using these these simple patterns, some yarn and a crochet hook. View post: 8 Enchanting Sea Creatures You Can Crochet
A Finnish designer has made a working surfboard from broken skateboards. Read the original here: Hollow Surfboard Is Made from Broken Skateboards
