No Battery Remote Controls open new era of slick devices

Battery-Less Remote Control Prototype by NEC is powered by vibrations

Finally someone thought of powering remote controls with vibrations produced by pressing on buttons. That means no more ” Honey the remote battery needs to be replaced!!” or repeated pressing for changing the channel when the battery dries out.

Another good thing that comes out of this is that there will be less toxic waste in the land fills, something that battery manufacturers won’t be very happy about.

Wooden caterpillar track makes a nice chair design: the Miserolo Chair

The Miserolo Chair is a caterpillar track for tranquille homes

I love the kind of seating the Miserolo chair fits in. Designed by serbian designer Uros Vitas it is confortable and it allows a great deal of back-leaning without the fear of falling over.

But unlike all the other contraptions of the concept, which are whether metal-frame or bent plywood, this one can really be made anywhere with two pieces of strong flexible plastic ribbons and a lot of solid wood blocks. A CNC

Golf Ball Aerodynamics makes cars go further just like, well… golf balls

Could Golf Ball-like dimples increase car mileage? Apparently YES.

It is well-known that “Dimpled balls fly farther than non-dimpled balls” (wikipedia). Also there’s been some time since I first heard about the hypothesis that similar dimples in aircraft fuselage or cars bodies would make them more energy-efficient. But that was all about this theory. I didn’t see any development that would make it to the mass produced products.

Apparently The Mythbusters, the popular Discovery Channel show, did some work on this one. And the result was one that

Transparent paper could replace plastic in more than one application

Researchers at Kyoto Univ. developed a method to render paper glass-transparent

I have to write this one down. I tried so much to find such information when I was writing the article on replacing plastic and metal with translucent ceramics and somehow I missed it, so for future reference I will write about it right now.

We’re used to seeing paper lamp shades that scatter light in a warm way and there is paper with a high degree of translucency – tracing paper – but did you thought that glass-transparent paper is possible? Thought so. Neither did I. Until I have stumbled over

contemporary beanbag inspiring designs

designer beanbags of today's times are luxury and style anybody would like

I was looking in the past days all over the internet for a green and eco-friendly sofa or lounge but even the greenest options weren’t that green after all. You can have a look at my previous article to see what’s all about. For the easy-readers I’ll just state my conclusion and go on with the article: there doesn’t seem to be a complete green alternative for the very thing that makes sofas comfortable: foam . So where else can you find comfort and style and the

Swank Lounge Chair means confort of eyes and muscles

Swank Lounge Chair is eye relaxation as well as body comfort

Huntinburg, Indiana based OFS has designed a lounge chair I couldn’t just pass by. It’s so elegant, so simple in construction that even your eyes start to relax when watching it even before you close them up after sitting down. As they say, “Swank is a statement about comfort and convenience through simplicity in form, and brevity in material use”. Nothing more true. Hit the link to see it yourself and dream of elegance and style.

Zero Energy Passive Cooler for a greener world

Evaporative cooler preserves food with zero energy consumption

Winner of the designboom’s green life contest, this project is  (by the author rochus jacob’s words):

” a transfer and optimization of basic technology mainly used in emerging countries to the high-tech kitchen. Food gets preserved by the cooling effect of evaporating water using no electricity. The system is designed to be stackable, can be used as an alternative for a pantry, second fridge or an

Ecovative to focus on SIPs with greensulate core

Greensulate based SIPs

Remember my  previous article on Ecovative’s Greensulate product to replace polystyrene? You can check it to see what greensulate is. I then wrote another article on Structural Insulated Panels, SIPs, and expressed my wish to see greensulate be the insulation part in a SIP. I have just ran into a youtube video on how greensulate is made and at the end of the movie my prayers are answered. Hit the link to see the video.

ECO-FRIENDLY-NANO-TECHNOLOGY will offer the composite materials of tomorrow

(image by Scott Dougherty) Both nano and bio technology products are my bet on saving the planet

Let’s face the truth… we can’t go back to stone age and only use naturally occurring stuff. We can’t just use wood for everything. Or stone. Or glass. Or vegetable oil. Human civilisation needs science more badly than ever to be able to stop going belly-up.

We need (1) to develop non-polluting energy-efficient industrial processes that use solely renewable energy-sources here on earth.

We need  (2) materials that are safe for humans, that don’t leach hazardous chemicals be it contact leaching or off-gassing.

We need (3) to scale these industries efficiently to be able to cover the demand from a growing earth population without damaging the nature.

3D glass printing method (re)discovered

Not there yet but definitely a step forward. Shape is way more complex though.

I sometime talk about bio-mimicry as a way to greener and more efficient products. It’s obvious: humans simply didn’t got to that point in evolution where we can do better than nature. But apparently we’d better use some ancient-mimicry as well. Our much touted Egyptians seemingly used a very-similar technique to cast glassware, technique named “pate de verre” in which glass frits (finely crushed glass) was mixed with a binding material such as arabic gum and water, deposited on a mold to form a coating, and then thermically fused.

Scientists at University of Washington’s Solheim Rapid Manufacturing Laboratory has revived this ancient method with a modern nano-tech touch

The Bow Lamp by Valerio Cometti: less material, same effect

Bow Lamp uses less material, more designer skill

Seemingly Valerio Cometti is a green guy. Hopefully. He designed a lamp with no real body, with its shape dictated by tensions in the elastic aluminium frame and the electric chord ran through the support running against the wall. Difficult to understand? . If so take a look at the images after the jump and get inspired.

I am really impressed by the same aesthetics while using smart framing with less material, which could be anything from aluminium to stainless steel to some elastic timber. Other similar lamps use some sort of heavy ballast to balance the weight of the curbed steel pipe and head diffuser.

Other interesting point would be that this design gets the whole object closer to the wall, saving space.

Hydroponics to the max: OmegaGarden Carousel

Ferris Wheel plant growing system is pests-free, space-efficient

We really need to put our brains together to try solving the stringent problem of world hunger. Many of us green souls deny GMOs and try as much as possible to eat organic, but let’s face it we can’t sustain all people of this world on organic foods, at least not by current way of growing crops.

One Good Chair 2009 : some impressions

Bamtak Chair

One Good Chair 2009 is happening as we speak and the finalists are already announced. Every year the designs based on locally sourced, earth-friendly and energy-sparing materials and manufacturing methods are more and more refined. Though many beautiful chairs are presented, some of them seem difficult enough to build or require handcraft skills beyond regular family man in the developing countries.

I got especially fond of the Bamtak Chair designed by Azul Cadenas from Argentina, who tries

organic pendant for low ceilings from Emdelight

LED pendant from Emdelight

Just looking around on the web for some modern lighting for low ceiling rooms, like when there is a dropped ceiling for sound isolation or electrical wiring and air condition ducts, I’ve stumbled over this organic shaped lamp from Emdelight and I think it’s a different kind of led pendant so I thought it is worth nailing the design on my blog .

Orbital Light is just alien beauty

Orbital Light by Lucie Koldova

I’ve been lately on a passionate and feverish research on eco friendly, simple design and maybe rescued materials pendants and chandeliers. This one blew my mind with the simplicity of the concept, organic form, natural planet-like shape lighted from the inside out making you feel like in a sort of protecting space cocoon.