Sustainable Design

Inhabitat May 8, 2007 iSAVE Water-Saving Faucets by Jorge Whether you live in a drought-plagued region or you’re just trying to be efficient, there are a myriad reasons to conserve water. That’s why we love the iSAVE faucet by Reamon Yu- a design so clever and efficient that it was recently chosen as a runner-up in the Metropolis Magazine Next Generation awards. The gadget easily attaches to your sink or showerhead to provide a digital readout of the amount of water that was being used in a shower. What’s more, iSAVE is powered by energy generated by the water passing through it using a small turbine embedded the device.

Relax and indulge in a Danish hand crafted teak tub after a long day. You have earned it!!!!! Made from teak harvested using environmentally friendly and sustainable forestry techniques. We are committed to being eco-friendly, see our green policy for more details. Design a truly unique and sophisticated look in your bathroom with our teak tub. Minimalist, Zen-like, decadent. You decide what works for you. We invite you to take a guided tour through our website to find out how you can create the ultimate European bathroom retreat and much, much more….. For Product Warranty click here.

GREEN ROOF TILES by Toyota Roof Garden by Emily While green roofs may be universally accepted as wonderfully sustainable landscapes for a myriad reasons, the thought of installing one atop your own home may nevertheless seem daunting, expensive, and difficult to maintain. But the folks from Toyota Roof Gardens (a subsidiary of the Prius-creating car company) have solved your green roof installation qualms with a tile-based system that’s as easy as laying down carpet. The TM9 self-watering turf tiles measure twenty inches square, and connect directly to irrigation systems, making them entirely self-watering. And at a slim 2 inches thick, the tiles lightweight and do not require any additional structural upgrading to your existing roof. At only $43 per tile, the TM9 system provides a modular, easy-to-install, cost-effective option for green-minded homeowners. In terms of maintenance, the tiles need only be cut once a year, thanks to a special breed of Korean velvet grass. And of course, like all green roofs, you’ll rest easy knowing that your easy installation is providing a natural cooling effect, thermal insulation, and a little extra flora in your home environment. + Toyota Roof Garden Via GreenGeek

Aerial Advertising function doRollover(elem, rollover_color, text_color){ // set background color of TD if (elem.parentNode){ // IE5, IE6 and Netscape 6 if (rollover_color == 'transparent'){ // Netscape does not like the word "transparent". elem.parentNode.bgColor = ''; } else{ elem.parentNode.bgColor=rollover_color; } } else if (elem.parentElement && elem.parentElement.setAttribute){ // IE4. elem.parentElement.setAttribute("bgColor", rollover_color); } else{ // Netscape 4.6x or 4.7x //alert("Must be Netscape! do nothing"); } // set color of the link text if (elem.children){ // IE4, IE5, IE6 and Netscape 6 elem.children(0).style.color=text_color; } } Home Business Opportunity Green Roof Info Extensive Green Roof System Intensive Green Roof System Hybrid System Living Wall System Purchase Living Wall Panels Aerial Advertising Green Roof Comparisons: Why EZ Green and Green Living Roofs? Benefits Plant Material FAQ News and Links Green Roof Studies Free Quote

Apparently it took until 2006 for someone to notice that the social cost of mandated free and underpriced parking is nothing short of phenomenal, the implied subsidy being comparable to what we spend on Medicare or national defense.

Across the country, cities constantly struggle with public safety and ongoing financial burdens caused by tree roots lifting cracked concrete sidewalks. Rubbersidewalks offer a convenient solution to this problem. The modular sidewalk system allows air and water to reach the soil below, and can be pulled apart for easy tree and root maintenance, decreasing the need for urban tree removal. Rubbersidewalks are made of 100% recycled tire rubber. The waste rubber from one passenger tire creates one-square-foot of Rubbersidewalk, helping to recycle the more than 34 million passenger tires disposed in California alone. At the end of their lifecycle (at least 14 years), Rubbersidewalk pavers can be recollected and recycled back into the manufacturing process.

The recent fad of using wood cladding, louvers, and filigree as sun shading for buildings has left architects scrambling for a substitute material that’s beautiful, structurally stable, durable, and sustainable - - - oh, and reasonably priced. Two manufacturers, Kliptech & Richlite have brought to market resin-impregnated paper building products that can not only be used for a resilient building skin, but have also been used as countertops, cutting boards, and skateboard ramps. The two products vary in their aesthetic quality, environmental claims, and price. We’ve also recently covered ShetkaStone which is similar in composition, but has a more terrazo like appearance. If you’re looking for an alternative to teak, redwood, cedar or Parklex, read on…. Both products exhibit superior durability and are available in thicknesses from ¼” to +1″. These “resin paperboards” can be worked by standard wood workers’ tools, but because they produce very fine particulate dust, respiratory protection is highly recommended.

Current applications include both interior and exterior walls, as a canopy roof, and a countertop. As a simple exterior wall, the LEED applications are obvious, as the translucency of the IllumaWALL system allows diffused daylight into any space while minimizing both heat gain and glare. Architectural Record and Buildings Magazine sung the praises of IllumaWall this past December, including IllumaWALL on their list of top products of 2006.

Made of translucent polycarbonate panels and custom-programmable LED’s, the applications for IllumaWALL seem both endless and endlessly entertaining. The array of Duo-Gard’s IllumaWALL’s colorful lighting schemes is made possible by the programming capabilities of LED’s, whose versatile nature can transform the wall from steady ambient glow to a light show of pulsating colors in seconds. Current applications include both interior and exterior walls, as a canopy roof, and a countertop. As a simple exterior wall, the LEED applications are obvious, as the translucency of the > IllumaWALL > system allows diffused daylight into any space while minimizing both heat gain and glare. Architectural Record and Buildings Magazine sung the praises of > IllumaWall > this past December, including > IllumaWALL > on their list of top products of 2006. > *** Contact Duo-Gard directly for pricing and more information + Duo-Gard

In a splendid modern take on a local tradition, Austrian architecture firm, Maaars Architektur, turned a classic alpine “massive wood block” dwelling into a work of inhabitable prefab art. A concrete foundation holds two massive wood fins with all fixtures and fasteners built-in. This house took just 9 days to construct atop the concrete base.