With the benefits of Windmills come common concerns like the whooshing sound that regular turbines produce, as well as their divisive visual aesthetics. Keeping in mind the volatility of the speed of wind in the urban environment, the QR (Quiet Revolution) has been designed. A new type of wind turbine intended to address both of these issues, Quiet Revolution’s QR5 Vertical Axis Wind Turbine, or VAWT for shawt, is smaller, quieter, and way better looking than your typical windmill, plus it should produce the equivalent of its £25,000 price tag in clean energy within 15 years or less. The elegant helical (twisted) design of QR ensures a robust performance even in turbulent winds. It is also responsible for virtually eliminating noise and vibration.

At five metres high and three metres in diameter, it is compact and easy to integrate, and with just one moving part, maintenance can be limited to an annual inspection.

Though the energy output will vary according to the wind speed but is likely to be between 6,000 and 10,000 kWhrs on a typical site. And if that wasn’t all, according the usage of such windmills will also lead to reduction in CO2 emmisions.

Via trendir

With the West in a water crisis, it’s not surprising to see a machine that pulls water from ambient air at West Coast Green. Though not an innovation, these machines require a lot of energy which has been dealt with by Element Four who have addressed the issues of energy use for creating water. The unit uses just 300 watts; a relatively low amount for these machines, the Watermill senses its environment and acts accordingly.
The Watermill checks its environment every three minutes to determine the dew point and keeps itself operating at just a few degrees below that dew point. This way, it maximizes efficiency of the energy it uses to operate by maximizing the amount of water it can pull from the air 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
It can pull an average of 13 quarts of water each day, which is plenty of potable water for an average family of four. The water is essentially distilled, but a filter can be added to restore organic minerals if the user wishes.

And if that wasn’t all, a solar powered version of the machine is in the works and will be available in about six months. So, this one is sure to tackle the water needs and the environmental issues with utmost efficiency.

Via geekologie

This may be called optimum utilization of resources or a measure towards being biodegradable. If you have ever pondered over the amount of food waste that becomes a food for the dustbin, this one is sure to put a smile on your face. The innovative Hybrid Gas Range created by award-winning Korean designer Seokmoon Woo, is an amazing concept, utilizing food garbage as an alternate fuel for the gas range. This concept helps reduce food garbage in households while meeting a chunk of their energy needs as well by allowing them to switch between the collected methane and regular gas at the press of a button.
If we change food garbage at home into methane energy, we can cook with methane instead of gas all the time. Considering that the dwindling natural gas resources have raised an alarm worldwide this device is sure to be a boom for the consumer.

The concept allows users to put away their food garbage in a classifier in the center which ferments and creates methane that is used as fuel for the gas range. The resulting waste is dehydrated by the machine and collected in a tank at the bottom that can be disposed off later. Though still a concept, this one is sure to have buyers in the market the day it is launched.

Via designist.kr

Wanna Ride?? This one shall prove to be an eco-friendly one with an inveterate entertainment. Yahoo’s newest bike is a complete showstopper. Armed with solar panel, a GPS enabled mobile phone hidden and a script to constantly take pictures at 60 seconds, this bike will be able to map out route that you take (and geotagged it properly) and upload to Flicker account instantly. Beneath the installation on the bikes, there is a Nokia N95 (based on the meta tag found on the pictures), a Solar panels which power the camera phone and Custom Python script installed on the phone which fires off the shutter every 60 seconds while the phone’s accelerometer detects that you’re in motion, and uploads the resulting photo with geotags to the bike’s Flickr account.

Being launched as a part of the company’s new “Start Wearing Purple” marketing campaign, this does have a feminine angle to it but it is well-equipped with valuables to attract men as well. Though initially starting from San Fransico and New York, these bikes would soon be pedaling around the world in countries such as Singapore, Denmark and the U.K.



If this happens to interest you, you can actually download the software to your symbian phone and capture the images yourself.
Via ohgizmo

There is great turmoil in Germany as regards energy Eco Concept renovated. In Berlin was presented a project for the construction of a wind farm to produce hydrogen electricity that will become operational in two years. For the implementation is expected to cost around two million euros. The objective in the near future is to sell hydrogen in the city. To achieve this goal we are working on two lines project: a service station to be built on the spot and a means to accumulate the hydrogen produced and transported to Berlin to the various distributors. The hydrogen made from clean energy such as wind power is an element on which the city of Berlin and Germany in general are working in alternative energies. In the German city already circulating 14 hydrogen-powered buses and the objective is to bring the bus fleet to 40 cars more in the coming years.

At the time the problems associated with the development of this political economy is tied to the cost of the energy carrier (about 8 euros per kilo), as well as the presence of non-capillary service stations and distribute it to a policy of incentives and choices it really favors.

Throughout Germany there are about 21 stations that distribute hydrogen, made from industrial waste, but other stations (in Berlin, Hamburg and Monaco) hydrogen is achieved in part by renewable energy and partly by gas resources. In Germany the policy of dissemination of hydrogen are quite serious and major carmakers, including BMW, especially, watching with interest the evolution of the situation?

It provides in the coming years, availability of funds for pilot projects aimed at producing hydrogen from green energy of 1.4 billion euros for half coming from public funds and half by industry funding.

It’s a fallen tree that inspires eco-artist Rod Surber to make art. The reason is simple. When a tree falls in the forest, Rod hears it. Inspired by the easy availability of local timber that usually rots away, he decided to convert this natural resource into art. Believe it or not but Rod has created one-of-a-kind goblets, platters, bowls, bells, boxes and what not just out of scraps of wood.

Rod spends most of his days collecting the locally harvested wood at green recycling centres and residential yards (with permission, of course). Please note, each of his work is hand-sanded and polished with vegetable or food-grade oils, and is one of its own kind. The finishes and solvents he uses are biodegradable, free from petroleum and toxins. So if you eco-lovers are looking for a gift that no one could top, do make a stop by Rod’s.

Via ecofabulous

 
Plastic bags and bottles do more than spread pollution. But hey become good only when they land in the hands of creative people like Joshua Allen Harris. His inflatable plastic bad subway art has got him a lot of recognition esply. his plastic polar bear-the symbol of climate change! This artist has his own style of churning out eco-art in form of recycled and reusable plastic bags and scraps sewn into different shapes and displayed over subways.  The white polar bear (which looks like a puppy) has drawn a lot of attention of passer-bys. Placed on subway grates the polar bear springs to life as it inflates when the train passes on the subterranean route and slowly fades away into a lump. The animated creativity reminds onlookers the fate of these majestic bears as they face extinction threat owning to Climate Change and Global Warming.

 
With his unique oeuvre Harris has gained a fan following which discuss his work online and via blogs. Ever since the polar bear became a hit with New York’s residents Harris has come up with more creative forms and figures including a Centaur, some mythical creates and a Loch-Ness monster too! Jump below and click on the videos to have a look at this amazing art form!

 The video underneath was done for NY magazine:

 
 
 
 
Via: FYI mag

The concept of eco-interiors was talked about at great length by Jeanie Pyun, editor of Sprig along with famous eco-interior designer Kelly LaPlante on Discussion on WashingtonPost.com. The strongest point of the show was the little tips that were offered to help you green your style. And that was not all as the hosts gave guidelines on finding healthy food and products. Even FAQs like “What is a green roof” and “What does VOC mean” were answered by them. Since the discussion was hosted online, the two eco-friendly women could post web-links directly to the chat to give readers easy, direct access to the tips being discussed. Other areas of concern were, “why it is still so difficult to find healthy products and why are they not cheaper?” as well as “what is a single mom hoping to green on a limited budget?”

Now isn’t Washingtonpost.com really cool as the discussions there are like an interactive blog, where readers can ask questions in real-time to experts on a variety of subjects.  For those of you who did not know, Pyun was the former editor of Organic Style magazine and co-editor of In Style Home magazine. LaPlante owns a furniture showroom in Venice Beach, CA, is the host of Brilliant Green on Ovation TV, and recently published her first book Ecologique. 
C’mon let’s go green because the experts say so.
Via treehugger

This world is full of creative people who like to stretch their creativity in unusual manners. Today dear readers, i came across a lovely collection of eco-art. Some artistic individuals have taken inspiration from the animal kingdom and crafted fishes, frogs, spiders, birds, crickets etc from junkyard stuff! Metal scrapes pins, wires, used engines parts, ball-bearings, pistons etc. You name it and nothing is being left from getting converted into something as beautiful as these crafted animals are!

I liked these so much that I decided to share some of these with you all and i am sure these will delight you too. I’m sorry folks, I don’t know the names of those individuals who have done this brilliant work but I will surely upload the names the day i learn about them.( That’s a gentlewoman’s promise! ). For the time being just enjoy this eco-art which reuses stuff nobody uses anymore:

And more,

Do you know that baby spiders’ travel by “ballooning”- a process, in which they emit a small thread and float on the wind!

Look at the wings!!

And the fish scales. Aren’t they amazing? Hope you enjoyed all of these.

Via: thecontaminated

His designs are modernist marvels and his intentions reveal a fashionable way of dealing with the global food crisis. He is French designer Mathieu Lehanneur and his latest ecological – wonder design: The Local River Plant Aquarium has created ripples of excitement among viewers at the Artists Space in NY. His aquarium which is a unique combination of DIY vegetable garden and fish hatchery was on display from April 21st to June 21st, 2008.

His creation is an installation of local river ecosystem self contained in special glass tanks which is connected to the mini vegetable garden above which purifies the air in a neat glass capsule.

The futuristic design is one you can’t stop gazing at! And there’s no doubt that it can increase the beauty of your indoors manifold once installed and fully functional. This eco-art come modernistic décor piece infuses the use of hydroponics.

The veggies growing above in glass pods use water from the fish tank (this water is nitrate-rich as fishes excrete their wastes in it); extract nutrients from it and inturn filter the water which then gets consumed by the fishes in the hatchery below. This aquarium responds to the fresh food needs of those who don’t have enough outdoor space to grow vegetables!

For more details on the installation process click the video underneath:

Via: mathieulhanneur