Need a Design Solution? AskNature.org

Some of the most elegant and creative design solutions have not come from famous architects or designers, but from the natural world. Today the design community is becoming increasingly interested in natural systems, and a new website called AskNature.org plans to bring nature’s design solutions to the masses.

Created by renowned naturalist, and founder of the Biomimicry Institute, Janine Benyus, and sponsored by Autodesk, maker of Autocad, AskNature.org is a public domain database where users can search and study nature’s solutions to an array of design challenges. The database is searchable by design or engineering function and seeks to promote biomimitic solutions to help create more sustainable and efficient buildings, products and ideas. Users can browse a broad range of natural solutions from the gathering of solar energy, the use of natural adhesives and dyes, to the filtering of air and water. AskNature.org is an inspirational resource with a wealth of information and allows users to easily tap into the natural worlds 3.8 billion years of R&D.

Check out AskNature.org for information

Bamboozled by Bamboo?

Bamboo has been touted as the new wonder fabric, it is rapidly renewable, requires little or no pesticides, and is soft to the touch. Today consumers can find many “eco-friendly” products that are made from bamboo but can it really be all that sustainable?

Bamboo is a grass that grows up to two meters per week, and is cut and not uprooted when harvested allowing it to grow back quickly. It is extremely hardy and usually requires only rainfall to grow and thus many industries find it quite appealing as a source material. Unfortunately the majority of bamboo is derived from large plantations in China that are highly under-regulated. Many of the plantations were created through the clear cutting of forests, and although usually grown organically, bamboo is very invasive and can choke out native species and greatly affect local ecosystems. To be processed into fiber, a lot of energy is also consumed and toxic chemicals like caustic soda are needed to refine it into a wearable textile. The whole production process needs greater regulation and transparency to ensure its growth and production is more sustainable.

As with most products on the market there are usually trade offs in its production and use, and bamboo is no exception. Bamboo does have some great positive attributes however; It can be made into a variety of textiles that can be as soft as cashmere or as strong and durable as denim. Bamboo is also praised for its UV protection and its anti-microbial properties although further testing is needed to bolster these claims.

There is no doubt that bamboo is a highly versatile material. It can be used successfully not just for textiles but for a variety of other industries as well. For bamboo to truly be a sustainable material however, more attention must be put on its production and how it is harvested and processed. There is no doubt that bamboo can be a great sustainable material, but the hype surrounding it can be detrimental for the real facts to come out.

Visit the Organic Clothing Blog for more info

Put a Little Hemp in Your Concrete

In Europe, the oft-stigmatized hemp plant is becoming a widely accepted, environmentally friendly alternative source to concrete or brick in the building industry, but sadly has yet to gain any real traction in the US market. Hemp based concrete, a mixture of aggregate hemp stalks, sand, lime and concrete, is becoming more widespread in Europe due to it being a rapidly renewable resource, its impressive thermal and sound dampening qualities and its small carbon footprint.

Hemp-based concrete cannot be used for load bearing walls but is still a very versatile material; it can be cast into blocks or in a solid mass around timber frames, and can even be sprayed onto many surfaces. It is extremely energy efficient and can be used in multiple applications including roof and under floor insulation, in casting solid walls and as wall filler around a timber-framed building.



The stalks of the hemp plant, once considered waste, are processed and used as a renewable, fast growing aggregate in the concrete. Hemp is an extremely hardy plant, requires little maintenance, pesticides or water but unfortunately has been mired in controversy do to its close ties with a certain close relative. Today, numerous companies like Tradical and Hemcrete are prospering in Europe and their hemp-based products have successfully been implemented in a wide range of projects. Like many large industries, America’s building industry is slow to accept and adopt new methods and technologies, but the promise of hemp-based concrete certain; its future in the US however is not.

To find out more visit www.americanlimetec.com

A Better World By Design, a Big Success

This past weekend Providence played host to the first ever Better World By Design Conference. A Better World by Design posed the question of how can we use technology to improve the world? By bringing together a wide range of attendee’s from the business and media world to industrial designers and architects, A Better World By Design was an innovative and rousing event that championed novel ways of dealing with poverty, the environment and many other social crises.

Talks were given by dozens of industry leaders, panel discussions were held by established professionals, with topics ranging from Sustainability in Architecture to Green Consumer Products. Along with the panel discussions, Cameron Sinclair and Iqbal Quadir delivered inspiring keynote speeches on how responsible design and capital flows can positively impact the developing world. Our own Matt Grigsby was involved with a panel discussion, aside Dawn Danby from Autodesk and Steve Hamburg from Brown’s Environmental Studies program and conducted a workshop on triple bottom line businesses. The Material’s Petting Zoo highlighting a sampling of the latest and greatest eco-friendly materials on the market today.



By bringing together such a diverse group of attendees and speakers, the three-day event was a major success. The turn out was great and people were highly motivated and enthusiastic about how design can change the world for the better.

For more information about the event visit A Better World By Design.

Chicago Center for Green Technology: A new Ecolect Partnership

With a 38,000 square foot green roof on city hall, Chicago is leading the way in being a genuinely eco-aware city. An active green business community combined with a progressive environmental department has led to a platform for leadership in sustainable development.

The CCGT, which opened in May 2002, was designed by a team of community businesses led by Farr Associates and was the 3rd certified LEED building in the nation. The building is a model of progressive green technologies (solar panels, ground source heat), and traditional resource efficient practices (passive solar heat, water barrels, greenhouses). Most of the construction materials used in this project were manufactured within 300 miles of Chicago Green Tech and 40% of the materials are made of recycled content.

Today, the Chicago Center for Green Technology is a resource for visitors to learn about the practices exhibited in the builidng. Homeowners tour the space as research for at-home green roof projects, radiant heating designs, etc. More serious or info hungry citizens and industry professionals attend the Green Tech U classes to acheive a greater understanding of the systems supporting “green” elements and their facets in society. They also have a resource center that serves as an exhibition space of green materials and a consultation space for homeowners and industry professionals.

Ecolect is proud to announce a new partnership with the CCGT. Interns from the resource center will be loading material profiles for us on Ecolect.net. In turn, Ecolect will be hosting an online materials database for them. Intern and material scientist Jessica Weninger, has already created profiles for materials such as EcoCycle Porcelain Stone, and Aluma Floor. Our goal is to build this database to include all 200+ mateirals found in the Center for Green Technology resource center.

We are proud to welcome them to our community and excited about the opportunities this partnership holds. To discover this growing database of sustainable materials search “CCGT” from the Ecolect.net home site.

Futurethink Brings Us The Future of Green Business Strategy

(image courtesy of futurethink.com)

In their August 2008 futurist report entitled The Future of Green Business Strategy, online innovation and research consulting firm futurethink, offers a detailed 37-page exploration of the four main trends “shaping the Green marketplace”.  With the report, the firm attempts to show how principles of sustainability will be very influential in regard to how companies seek to innovate and grow, emphasizing that they must move beyond just carbon offsets and green marketing, and establish true transparency, in order to garner long-term consumer loyalty.  Clearly, futurethink appears to recognize the broader significance of environmental peril, stating that “Green is quickly evolving into a force that’s far bigger than a mere trend.  Green is about health, wellness, sustainability, and balance.”, but the determining factor will be how this firm and others like it, are able to translate this understanding to a Triple Bottom Line approach among its clients.  Just as Michael Braungart has stated that designers have a special responsibility to design products that do not harm the environment, green consulting firms with integrated TBL strategies, have a similar responsibility to positively influence the corporations for whom they consult.  As it is their expertise that is being sought, they must be prepared to push for the progressive change that is required.

futurethink

The Future of Green Business Strategy

Michael Braungart Asks “Is sustainability boring?”

In a recent article in Abitare, Cradle-to-Cradle co-author Michael Braungart, calls on industrial designers, graphic designers, and architects, to take the mantle of “sustainability” and turn it on its head.  To in fact, be the leaders beyond all other professionals, who bring us back from the brink.  With a number of humorous and dramatic asides, he makes a straightforward argument that the notion of sustainability itself, is inadequate (in his words, “boring”), and leads to a dangerous sense that “being less bad” or “destroying a little less” is somehow enough to save the planet from relentless environmental degradation.  To Braungart, it’s clear that people in general, but designers in particular, have not done their “job”, yet many have recognized the many challenges we face, and are beginning to play a more direct role in creating products which don’t contain toxic components, off-gas, leech into the soil when thrown in a landfill, or contribute to air pollution when incinerated.  Indeed, we should heed Braungart’s insistence that “Design is the complete opposite of sustainability”, and that “we should celebrate being human beings and our creativity, which is far more important than sustainability.”  Clearly, with the sheer creativity that many designers bring to the table, they should embrace the possible, - albeit improbable at first - in the pursuit of producing bold solutions for making a better world.

MBDC

Cradle-to-Cradle

Strategies for Shaping a Sustainable Future: THINK B.I.G. at Brown University

In order to keep the motivation level rolling beyond Earth Week, please turn your attention towards several climate change initiatives that have been going on within the college student community. In one example from Thursday, April 24 to Saturday, April 26, Brown University took their environmental stewardship to the next level by launching their first Brown is Green 2008: Strategies for Shaping a Sustainable Future, with a series of amazing lectures from a range of disciplines. While bringing together a wide range of prominent leaders, from renowned scientists, policymakers, and CEOs, to designers, community leaders, activists, and artists, this approach demonstrated how a community can make an impact on different levels, from both bottom-up to top-down. Their goal was “to bring attention to the connections between seemingly different practices and industries that have all aligned to work on climate change and sustainability issues.” The list of notable attendees included State Treasurer Caprio, Governor Carcieri, Mayor Cicilline, Senator Whitehouse, Ira Magaziner of the Clinton Foundation and the administration of President Clinton, Adam Werbach of Saatchi and Saatichi S, renowned green architect John Picard, and Stephen Schneider, a lead climate scientist of the Nobel laureate UN FCC.

Of particular note, were Adam Werbach, global CEO of the leading sustainable marketing firm Saatchi and Saatchi S (former head of Sierra Club, and a 1995 Brown Alum), and Ira Magaziner, chairman of the Clinton Climate Initiative and the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. Werbach described his mission as “closing the gap between two bookends.” He believes that one of the challenges is to reduce the polarization between the wealthy nations, and those that are in desperate need of help because of the existential threat that global-scale climate change is. In striving to solve this dilemma, Werbach suggests that sustainability needs to engage people at a consumer level. “Whose environment are we talking about?” he asks, and how do we make sustainability of the market place matter?

This is where PSP (Personal Sustainability Plan) comes in; one of Wal-Mart’s climate initiative schemes asks its staff to commit to a personal resolution. Through the PSP, leadership, respect for oneself, others, and the environment are learned. The incentive to go on a diet or quit smoking in return, are more effective when in a sustainability context, and treats behavioral change in a completely holistic manner. Granted, you would think Werbach wouldn’t engage himself to be a part of the Wal-Mart monopoly, but what was admirable, was his reasoning in taking on this monster. It is a perfect opportunity to make the biggest impact on the greatest number of people. Small changes like this, must occur from the bottom up, but motivation also needs to be inspired from the top down.

In addition to Adam Werbach’s approach, it is important to consider that of Ira Magaziner, who offers a more political perspective on climate change. In the course of his lecture, Magaziner spoke about the many different strategic steps the Clinton Climate Initiative has taken, one rather interesting example being the concept of combining the retrofitting of buildings with energy service companies (by working with building owners), so as to reduce overall energy use. This strategy involves municipal buildings, commercial real estate, public housing, and schools and universities worldwide. What is most impressive is that none of this is funded through government subsidies, and the goal is to jump start the market through new jobs and opportunity. In that the Clinton Climate Initiative has partnered with the 45 largest cities in the world, the potential exists for it to have a major lasting impact.

For those unable to attend, please visit this link to the Conference Agenda.

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Eleonore de Lusignan is an Ecolect guest blogger and a soon-to-graduate Industrial Design student at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI.