Haft2Know

In the 1940s, the United States Navy commissioned from the Electric Machine and Equipment Company (Emeco) a chair that would be able to withstand the impact of torpedo blasts to the side of the battleship that carried it. The Emeco 1006 was born - the result of a 2-week, 77-step manufacturing process that gives the aluminum beauty a life expectancy of 150 years. After a few appearances on Sex and the City, as well as being featured inspiration for a line of Philippe Starck furniture, the 1006 has reestablished its footing as an ageless classic, which has led to its marriage to another American icon.

Emeco has teamed with Coca-Cola to create the 111 Navy Chair - a plastic reproduction of the original 1006, made from the plastic of 111 Coca-Cola bottles. Available for order online, Emeco and Coke expect the 111 Navy Chair project to keep an estimated 3 million plastic bottles out of landfills, which is the beginning of an ageless classic of its own.

And with colour names like Grass and Persimmon - and of course Coca-Cola Red - we couldn't ignore this beauty.

Click here before this link turns into a good looking chair.

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Having only been announced fairly recently as the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro is well under way in their preparation. This project, named Solar City Tower was designed by Swiss architectural firm RAFAA. It stands 105m above sea level and promises to be an environmental wonder. Solar power draws sea water up to the top and then the falling water will drive turbines that will produce even more energy for the city. With an amphitheatre, auditorium, cafeteria and shopping, the building seems a happy marriage of humanity and nature.

More pictures can be found at this link.

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GE presents a handy tool to help you figure out how much power your old window air conditioner is actually using - how much it costs per year or month and how much oil it uses. While it was developed for the American user - and developed by Pentagram I might add which is why it's so good-looking - this clever interface is customizable for a number of large and small appliances and will tell you whether or not you should feel bad about cranking your ceiling fan these days.

Start figuring out your monthly power bill here.

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If you live in a place far enough above the equator so that the season is changing right now, it's probably almost time for you to rediscover that other room of your house - the garden. We're (often) happy to experiment with colour inside the house, but it's easy to forget that for a few months of the year, the flowers you grow are a perfect way to go for it outside too. Plus, the miracle of science means that flowers are 'invented' and introduced in new colours every year. Mandevillas used to be available only in white or pink, but thanks to the miracle of science can now be bought in red, or 'Sun Parasol Crimson' as it's now known. You can read more about the new flowering vine here.

Plantable in most temperate zones in North America, if you live in a zone with a number lower than 10, it's a plant you'll have to bring inside for the cooler months. To learn what planting zone you live in, a map is right here.

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Vanishing Creatures is a chocolate company with heart, and a conscience, offering unusual and beautiful treats for your Valentine, and doing so in a way that's meant to start a conversation about our changing world. Featured animals - mock trophies - are all ones from the list of endangered species. When you're finished with the packaging, it transforms into either a candle holder or a sweet birdfeeder.

http://www.vanishingcreatures.com

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As we search for cleaner ways to make us go faster, it's nice to be reminded of the basics once in a while. British engineer Richard Jenkins just broke the speed record for a vehicle powered solely by wind, clocking in at almost 203 km/h. This little bird's design enables it to travel at between three and five times the speed of the wind propelling it. The team who made it worked for ten years on it, and describes the craft as a "very high performance sailboat", but with a smaller, solid wing, as opposed to a sail to harvest the wind. Standing still, Green Bird weighs only 600kg.

Read more about the Green Bird.

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NYC's eVolo recently announced the three winners of their annual skyscraper design contest and among the cream is Eric Vergne's 'Dystopian Farm' - a biomorphic building that will harvest the elements in order to provide a massive, self-sustaining food source to any city in which it's built. It's said that by 2050 almost 80% of the world's population will live in cities. eVolo knows this and is ever looking forward to a day when the structures we build will serve us in the best ways possible. Their yearly contest continually stretches architectural and environmental imaginations. Check out the site for the other winners and notable mentions.

http://evolo-arch.com/

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And so it's that time of year again when we strip our yards of the pretty things and prepare our little outdoor worlds for the onslaught. I could be wistful here, and pine for the summer that barely happened, but alas...

Anyway, if you're someone who forayed into the world of outdoor ponds and ecosystems this year, you'll want to protect your new water domain with a pond net. Here's a company we found in New York state that offers both standard and custom nets to help protect your little family of goldfish. They'll be grateful next Spring.

http://www.pondnets.com

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If it appears you won't be able to make the trip to Venice for this year's Future of Science World Conference (the fourth annual), here's a taste of what you'll be missing. A trio of entrepreneurs will be unveiling their plan for turning the Sahara Desert into a huge source for renewable food, water and energy. The Sahara Forest Project is a 20 hectare, 80 million euro undertaking that will ultimately produce a titanic bio-entity that could potentially produce enough energy for all of Africa and Europe combined. It'll turn sea water into fresh water, it'll produce steam energy through the use of thousands of little mirrors to reflect the sun's light, and on top of it all, it looks like that.

http://www.thefutureofscience.org

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IKEA recently announced they'll be investing $77 million USD into its GreenTech energy fund over the next five years. The move will make a number of environmentally heroic products both accessible and very affordable throughout the company's 270 stores. Solar panels, alternative light sources and water purification wares are just some of the once-elite items to be introduced into the retail mainstream by the Swedish behemoth.

http://www.ikea.com

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So, the whole idea of making old things into art is certainly nothing new, but come on! Who can look at Jean-Luc Cornec's Telephone Sheep and not say they love them? These things are adorable, and while we're at it, it never hurts to be reminded of the value of being earth conscious and green-minded and all those other things that are easy to overlook due to messaging overkill. Consumption. Environment. Reuse. Recycle. Rethink. Green. Really, these words should never lose their currency. Anyway, lesson over.

http://galerie-herrmann.com/arts/cornec/index.htm

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German artist H. A. Schult's haunting ‘trash people’ have graced the streets of many of the world’s most major cities. It took him 6 months and 30 assistants to create his disturbing army from crushed cans and computer parts. Schult offers little of his thinking behind them, but it's hard to deny their relevance in today's world.

http://www.haschult.de/trash.html

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The movement to reduce, reuse and recycle is taking on new meanings all the time. Now it's starting to hit the construction industry and there's an entire civilization of unused building materials in the world's shipping yards. With so many empty and unused shipping containers in nearly every developed country, and then some, people are using them to build offices, homes and commercial structures - including Europe's biggest shopping mall in Ukraine.

Ready Made Link

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One of Canada's largest oil companies EnCana recently hired UK architectural giants Foster + Partners to design their new headquarters in Calgary. Talk about carbon credits. This building, dubbed The Bow is sustainable architecture at some of its finest. Features include an entire network of interior green spaces as well as three sky gardens. And in winter, the giant south-facing atrium will capture the Sun's heat to lessen the costs of keeping warm throughout a Calgary winter.

http://www.fosterandpartners.com

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As environmentally aware as we're becoming, the auto industry is still making things that look like this. And people are buying them. AutoData reports that in 2007, SUV sales in the United States increased 22.7% from the previous year. China's SUV stats for the same year actually increased by 49.1%. Early stats from this year seem to indicate high gas prices will prove to be a viable damper on SUV sales, in favour of their compact counterparts.

http://www.autodata.ltd.uk/default.asp

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There's a new certification program for manufacturers that's recently been introduced by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The SmartWay program is a partnership established between the EPA and the freight industry. Its environmental goals include lowering carbon dioxide emissions by 33 million tonnes annually by 2012. In order for a company's wares to receive the badge, the company must certify its transport carrier network is using only SmartWay compliant carriers. The first company to have received this prestigious new certification was HP. Whirlpool was soon to follow. Watch for other initiatives of this sort to pop up in the years to come. (And while you're at it, check out that good looking logo.)

http://www.epa.gov

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New research shows there's a good chance our galaxy could lose its celestial stability in 40 million years, throwing planets off course and crashing into one another. On the upside, no plastic bags are expected to exist afterward.

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Happy Earth Day. After nearly four decades of relative obscurity, April 22 is finally becoming more well known for its environmentally benevolent intentions than for its lesser known title as the Feast Day of St. Epidodius, (who coincidentally, is the patron saint of victims of betrayal). Some however, are starting to notice a creeping commercialization of this most uncommercial of dates. In fact, the more environmentally aware we become, the more retailers we're seeing that are offering Earth Day promotions and sales. (Could cut-out paper decorations and greeting cards be next?) There's a great article highlighting April's new oxymoronic Monday on Advertising Age's website. It'll make you question how green you really are.

adage.com

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In keeping with humanity's new attitude of consuming more to save the world, Italian sartor Zegna introduces the world's first ecological luxury jacket. Solar panels on the neoprene collar capture sunlight and will recharge any electronic accoutrements you may carry throughout your day, including your iPod, phone or PDA, simply by plugging them into the power unit inside the garment.

http://www.zegna.com

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