Category Archives: Other Stuff
The world’s largest furniture retailer, IKEA, has just unveiled plans for a greener tomorrow. The company has come up with the “People & Planet Positive” initiative that will make IKEA more sustainable. As part of the plan, IKEA will invest nearly $1.95 billion in renewable energy by 2015, hoping to produce as much renewable energy as it consumes. Also, the company aims to improve the energy efficiency of its operations by at least 20% by 2020.
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Washing clothes in a laundry machine is an energy consuming process. If you’ve been looking for a way to keep your sufficiently clean clothes from smelling, British designer and recent grad Lisa Marie Bengtsson is worth a look! A simply clothes hanger concept that uses activated charcoal to keep your clothes odor-free, this one keeps away the need to toss your clothes inside a washing machine time and again. Called the Bye Bye Laundry concept, these hangers keep your clothes fresh by simply having them hung! The charcoal in particular is processed oxygen, making it super-absorbent. Also, the Bye Bye Laundry hangers are available in a host of colors to suit your tastes and are indeed a great way to store your clothes after a single wear.
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If conventional home-energy meters have failed to keep you interested in just how much energy you use on a daily basis, give this innovative design by created by two university students in Falmouth, UK. Called the Flower Power, this concept is literally a “living” energy meter. Capable of connecting wirelessly to existing home energy meters, the Flower Power displays your energy usage by its phototropic movements. When excess energy is used, the flower shaped smart meter starts to “die” and droops. And that’s not all. The Flower Power concept also includes a light fixture that dims when energy is used in excess. Extremely out-of-the-box and completely awesome, the Flower Power is currently being prototyped.
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It’s incredibly fortunate that experiencing the delights of an eco-holiday can also save you on bills and other travel expenses which is perhaps the best promotion possible of going on such an environmentally friendly vacation. For a full range of destinations and services, be sure to visit Holiday Hypermarket and to sample the diverse range of experiences available.
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Austin-based Firefly LED has recently announced its latest offering, a one of a kind Smart LED that could pretty much light up your home for the next 40 years! Capable of pulling down your electricity costs for lighting by nearly 90%, if you do replace every bulb in your home with one of these that is, the Firefly Smart LED requires you to simply replace a tiny LED inside the lightbulb itself whenever required. Sporting a large heat-sink that surrounds the entire unit, the Smart LED has its temperature reduced by nearly 32%. Priced at about $35, these bulbs might be more expensive than your regular light bulb. They do make for a sound investment however, helping you knock off those digits on your electricity bill.
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Windmills are fascinating pieces of technology indeed, using the energy of the wind to generate energy. After setting up one of these to power up a washing machine during the Second World War, Vollis Simpson took his fancy for windmills back home in North Carolina where he kept himself busy with his hobby, building windmills of different shapes and sizes. At the age of 93, Simpson is now selling 30 windmills right out of his own personal collection. These will be used to build the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park in Wilson, North Carolina. A one-of-a-kind theme-park that’ll give visitors a glimpse at Simpson’s craze for these extraordinary energy generators, the place will swing its doors open in November 2013.
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Fashion does not necessarily been an energy-sucking extravaganza. At the recent Spring 2013 Paris Fashion Week, Chanel chief Karl Lagerfeld had his runway lined with mini-wind turbines. These took the crowds at the Grand Palais in Paris by surprise, with this one-of-a-kind runway design clearly putting its point across. “It’s all about volume and lightness because [they usually] don’t go together,” Lagerfeld said. And that’s not where the designers affinity for the greener good stops. The clothes being displayed also sport grid-like beadwork while the transparent Perspex hat brims are reminiscent of the spinning motion of wind-turbine propellers, further proving the designers love for alternative energy.
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Incandescent lighting solutions have lost favor today most of the world turning to energy-efficient lighting solutions like LEDs. Swedish furniture retail giant IKEA has also taken a solemn oath to completely phase out the sale of incandescent bulbs, settling for only LEDs instead. The company will sell only LEDs by 2016, and has distributed LED bulbs to all of its 130,000 employees worldwide. A move like this could prove beneficial not just to the company but also the community, the electricity and the environment as a whole.
LED lighting solutions are known to work longer than incandescent bulbs. Also, these produce a similar amount of light and consume 90% less energy, making LEDs a perfect way to light up homes.
[inhabitat]
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Environment lovers and tree huggers are in for a treat with Amazon.com’s subsidiary Quidsi pulling the veil off its newest green online destination. Called Vine.com, the website has on sale organic food and household items made of natural or sustainable products. Built to cater to a niche-yet-surprisingly-large market, Vine.com however will carry no Amazon labeling, and will require users to register with the website. Complete with its own loyalty program and a full-fledged transaction platform, this website will soon turn into a one-stop destination for nearly every green and environment-friendly food and household product you could pick off a store shelf.
[geek]
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The San Diego Zoo will now make use of clean and green energy to the fullest, teaming up with Smart City San Diego to install a full-fledged solar photovoltaic canopy that in turn will juice EVs in the parking lot. A venture put forth in collaboration with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), City of San Diego, GE, UC San Diego and CleanTECH San Diego, Smart City San Diego will use 10 solar canopies producing 90 kilowatts (kW) of electricity hooked up to five EV charging stations. The juice collected by the solar canopy will be used to offset the electricity used by the EVs to charge with the canopy itself spreading over enough space to cover 50 cars. An initiative bound to give the San Diego Zoo an additional punch of green, we applaud the effort being put into making San Diego an eco-friendly place to live in.
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