GDES 4365W: November 2010 Archives Almost everyone these days is concerned about the environmental preservation, but it feels like we, as consumers, are not always willing to sacrifice convenience and change our habits or consumption to make a serious commitment to the environmental agenda. There are many fair reasons why we can't commit, the strongest being the lack of financial resources to purchase environmentally friendly products. There is also a lot of concern about "greenwashing," which drives people away from so-called green products because of potential unsubstantiated claims about their ecological benefits. It is easy to see that we have found ourselves in a situation in which there is a strong social need for environmental protection, but an inability to match that attitude with action. Hotels have found many green cleaning options actually save them money, or are at least are price neutral, compared to traditional cleaning products. Works Cited: Glanville Consultants.
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fabprefab - modernist prefab dwellings We Transform Disaster Debris Into Lego Building Blocks For A New Life | Bored Panda We, The Mobile Factory from the Netherlands, have found a solution to make the world a better place. Starting in Haiti. Although the earthquake struck five years ago, there’s still 25 million tons of debris lying around. Many families affected by this terrible natural disaster are still living in grimy tents, on incomes below the poverty line. We – a small group of rich Dutchmen living in luxury and freedom – can’t and won’t just stand by and watch this any longer. That’s why we came up with The Mobile Factory: a smart solution to give debris a new purpose. More info: themobilefactory.org | indiegogo We decided to give debris a new purpose – to turn it into new building blocks Mobile Factory is placed in a location where there’s a lot of debris Chunks of debris are put into a machine that transforms them into liquid concrete These building blocks can be used to build new homes That can simply be stacked, just like Lego bricks
'IKEA on steroids': Flat-pack homes to bust Australia's housing shortage Updated Media player: "Space" to play, "M" to mute, "left" and "right" to seek. Video: Tiny homes for tiny prices. (Lateline) With just a few tools and a bit of patience, would-be home-owners can now build their own abode from a flat-pack, on the cheap and off the grid. A Sydney architect has designed the flat-pack home, describing it as IKEA on steroids, in order to combat sustainability and housing shortage issues. The one bedroom, 13.75-square-metre home comes on the back of a trailer. A drill, a hammer and a wrench are all that are needed to put together the 37 panels that make up the house. Architect Alex Symes, founder of Big World Homes, says anyone can put it together. "It's like IKEA on structural steroids," he said. "It has all its water tanks; we have two potable water tanks, we've got one grey water tank, so all the waste water effectively comes to the grey water tank, you add an additive to it and then effectively that's safe to go on your garden.
NASA Reveals A List Of The Best Air-Cleaning Plants For Your Home A healthy home environment is vital to a person’s well-being and houseplants contribute to it more than you might think. Their main benefit is air-filtering, so it sounds only reasonable that NASA did a Clean Air Study, that found which plants are effective at removing benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene, and ammonia from the air – chemicals that have been linked to negative health effects like headaches, dizziness, eye irritation, and others. Show Full Text Dr. More info: nasa.gov (h/t: lovethegarden, designyoutrust) 10 Brilliant Tiny Houses that are Revolutionizing Micro-Living 10 Brilliant Tiny Houses that are Revolutionizing Micro-Living Inspired by the increasingly popular micro house trend, these 10 project designs came about for various reasons. In addition to being a cheaper option when compared to larger homes – both for construction and in maintenance – they are an ideal solution for people who want to reduce their material possessions and the space they occupy. These selected houses, each under 40 square meters, serve as perfect examples of innovative designs that provide a simpler life, while fostering social interaction between people and dialogue with their environment. Check out the 10 examples below. Forest Retreat / Uhlik architekti Area: 16.0 m² "We designed a compact enclosed volume – an object resting freely on boulders with a stern raised on a huge boulder. Quebrada House / UNarquitectura Area: 40.0 m² "The house "breaks" adapting to the slope and differentiating the private and public space within a single enclosure." Minimod / MAPA Area: 27.0 m²
An Economist's Guide to Tidying Your Apartment - The Atlantic “In this book, I have summed up how to put your space in order in a way that will change your life forever.” This is the ambitious first sentence of Marie Kondo’s best-selling manifesto, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Direct and devoid of clutter, this sentence rings true to her philosophy. Unlike most self-help books, there are no extraneous words, no pandering—the lack of “wink wink” gesturing reads as an appealing, authentic statement. Though Kondo’s book was published in English in October of last year, a search on Google Trends still puts interest in her near an all-time high. In the introduction of her book (and several times throughout), Kondo quantifies the power of her advice—she estimates that she’s helped her clients (a group that doesn’t include her countless readers) dispose of no fewer than a million items. Why do people have so much trouble throwing things out? For example, Kondo aptly attacks what’s called the sunk-cost fallacy.
Living in a woodland wonderland: The rise of the tree house Image copyright Tom Chudleigh Freedom, fun and adventure. That is what tree houses have been about for generations of kids. Vancouver Island in Canada is home to a rather unusual resort called Free Spirit Spheres. Eve is made of yellow cedar wood and Eryn of Sitka spruce, while Melody is constructed from fibreglass. Image copyright Microsoft "I start with a shell, then add frames and insulation and put in the floor," explains Mr Chudleigh. "I make all the fixtures and fittings by hand; the local hardware stores don't make door hinges to fit spheres. Sway with me Guests enter the tree houses through a spiral staircase that wraps around one of the trees. "The sphere works like a nutshell, it is nature's packaging unit. So does the sway make guests feel a bit queasy? "The spheres always dwell in the centre of a triangle of trees. Typical customers are couples who want to do something a bit different, and despite the considerable price tag, demand is high. Trees for tech Wooden wonderlands