2015 IIDA Student Design Competition
by: Sustainable Design News, 2015-09-28 09:25:21 UTC
The 2015 IIDA Student Design Competition is now open for entries. The competition celebrates original design and rewards individuals and/or teams whose projects demonstrate innovative, functional design solutions that have a positive environmental and human impact, while allowing emerging professionals the opportunity to showcase their work and fresh design ideas to professionals working in the field.

Wastewater to irrigate, fertilize and generate energy
by: Fraunhofer Research News, 2015-09-01 07:00:00 UTC
To meet the requirements of Asian cities, researchers are adapting an idea they have already applied in Germany for comprehensive water management: They are developing a concept for reducing water use, treating wastewater and extracting fertilizer for a strip of coastline in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang.

Proteins from rice – raw materials instead of waste
by: Fraunhofer Research News, 2015-09-30 22:00:00 UTC
Proteins remain after starch is extracted from rice. Until now, this valuable raw material was disposed of by rice starch producers at great expense. A new process is being developed to split proteins into smaller pieces, or peptides, and then clean them. The peptides can be put to good use in products such as cosmetics or nutritional supplements.

4 Steps to Get Product Life Cycle Assessment Right
by: Environmental Leader, 2015-09-23 12:05:33 UTC
To find out what’s key for successful life cycle assessment, Ethical Corporation spoke with Molson Coors, Eastman Chemical, Amcor and Continental Clothing about challenges and insights to measuring social and environmental impacts of products and services. The free report offers practical insights on: Strategy: How to identify corporate sustainability priorities and assign relevant KPIs to […]

Making effective use of voluntary help
by: Fraunhofer Research News, 2015-09-01 07:00:00 UTC
In crisis situations, aid organizations have to manage the great numbers of volunteers who spontaneously appear wanting to help. In the INKA project, Fraunhofer researchers have taken a look at how to better recruit, retain and make effective use of volunteers in disaster control.

Blackbird Guitars Releases El Capitan
by: Sustainable Design News, 2015-09-21 03:00:31 UTC
Blackbird recently launched El Capitan, the first guitar made of flax linen fabric.

A Solid Chair and Table Made from Wool
by: design milk, 2015-09-21 14:00:01 UTC

Inspired to bring some manufacturing back to their hometown of Buckfastleigh, an old woollen town in SW England, designers Hannah and Justin Floyd developed a new way of working with wool.

Called Solidwool, it’s a beautiful, unique and sustainable composite material made from wool. It’s like fibreglass, but with wool. Using coarse wool from the Herdwick sheep of the Lake District, which has seen some decline in demand. The wool is combined with bio-resin in a unique process (top secret!)

The duo currently designs and manufactures their own range of furniture called the Hembury Collection.

In addition to their own line, they’ve collaborated with other companies like Blok Knives, Artifact Uprising and Fan Optics.

Shop here.

New Modern 3D Optical Illusion Lamps from Studio Cheha
by: design milk, 2015-09-21 18:00:44 UTC

Studio Cheha blew our minds back in 2014 with their two-dimensional BULBING lamps and after their successful Kickstarter campaign ended, the design studio went back to the drawing board and came up with three new designs. This go-round the LED lamps are much more design-y and look just like actual three-dimensional modern lamps that, in reality, are two-dimensional. That’s right, turn these lamps to the side and you discover they’re flat. Now, meet DESKi, ZIGGi, and CLASSi.

The new collection is available through their already successful, new Kickstarter campaign, so grab one if you’re interested!

Is Apple working on a fuel cell-powered MacBook?
by: TreeHugger Science, 2015-09-08 14:28:14 UTC
A new patent filing suggests that the tech giant has fuel cells in mind for future computers and gadgets.

Recycling permanent magnets in one go
by: Fraunhofer Research News, 2015-09-01 07:00:00 UTC
Electric motors or wind turbines are driven by powerful permanent magnets. The most powerful ones are based on the rare earth elements neodymium and dysprosium. In future, a new process route realized by Fraunhofer researchers will enable the fast and cost-effective recycling of these crucial materials.