Lighting the Future: Walmart Converting Hundreds of Stores’ Lot Lighting to LEDs
January 31, 2011 No Comment
One store in Guatemala City after LED lighting installation (before is below), photo: Walmart Stores The following is a guest post from Charles Zimmerman, vice president of international design and construction at Walmart. Today it takes a lot of coal, natural gas, wind, solar and other energy sources to power lights around the world. The good news is lighting is getting more efficient and consuming less energy; the bad news is more lighting is being added every day. The move f… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Are Walmart’s Eco-Efforts Enough? Balancing Sustainability & Social Responsibility at America’s Largest Retailer
January 31, 2011 No Comment
Image: CrunchGear Walmart has been in the sustainability spotlight over the last few years, both for implementing its own efficiency measures and for raising the bar for industry at large. Some view these initiatives with skepticism because the company has had a less-than-stellar reputation in other areas, like labor rights and disruption of local economies. So for perspective, here’s a (long) look at both sides of the issue, which is far from black and white. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …
Photos via Jaymi Heimbuch Autodesk’s San Francisco office features an amazing gallery of projects created with the company’s software programs. The majority of them have a strong sustainable angle to them, from a Tesla Roadster (which required a crane, the shutting down of MUNI lines one Saturday morning, and the removal of one of the windows of the building to install in the gallery) to the latest Herman Miller chair design, the Mirra. But these impressive names are only a few of the stellar concepts and products that have come to life thanks to various Autodesk programs. Check out a few of the … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Interactive Infographic Illustrates How Major Cities Survive Without Local Water
January 31, 2011 No Comment
Circle of Blue has a great interactive infographic showing ten major cities that pump their water from afar. Including San Diego, CA, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, and Tucson, AZ as four of the ten global cities, viewers click around to learn how the cities get their water from far off places, the impact, and even future plans for other cities worldwide who are planning similar long-distance water hauls. If you’re curious about how cities without water sources might survive, you definitely want to check out this graphic. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …
Photo via Jaymi Heimbuch Back in October, Granta Material Intelligence, the world’s largest materials information technology company, and design software company Autodesk partnered up to bring the best information on materials to the fingertips of designers everywhere. Through their partnership, Autodesk users will be able to access the wealth of information on materials available from Granta, and adjust their designs according to what materials make their designs both the best, and the greenest. At a sustainability summit in San Francisco last… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …
There is always a theme of some kind at the Interior Design Show; this year it was sibling rivalry, where sibling teams work together to build a display. Some, like longtime TreeHugger favourites Brothers Dressler work together full time; others are working together for the first time, like Toronto designer Sarah Richardson and her brother, Theo Richardson, who works in New York as part of Rich Brilliant Willing. He was arranging the booth on Thursday when Graham Hill announced that he wa… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …
NASA Building and Bloom Laptop Show Future of Smart Green Design at Autodesk
January 31, 2011 No CommentImage via NASA Last week, design software firm Autodesk held a sustainability summit at their San Francisco office. The designs created with Autodesk software are often impressive, and very often have a sustainable bend. But there were two presenters whose projects particularly highlighted the greener edge to using the various programs in Autodesk’s suite of tools. The first was NASA Ames building, which broke ground back in 2009 and is set… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …
Photos credit Lloyd Alter A few years ago, everyone at the Interior Design Show in Toronto tried to outdo each other in going green; this year it seems to be off the radar. Among the few obvious picks were these Second Life rugs, and they are not virtual world flying carpets, but old Persian and Turkish rugs. In the middle east, rugs get very hard use and wear out; Toronto’s Metrick family, owners of Elte Carpets, buy up what are essentially junk rugs ready for the dump, scrape them down and recolour them with vibrant oil-based dyes. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …
Photo: Thinkstock In Chilliwack, Canada food laws prohibit the sale of raw milk but a raw-milk dairy has found a way to skirt the issue and stay in businesses: they’ve rebranded their milk and dairy products to cosmetics, The Globe and Mail reports (via No More Dirty Looks ): … Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …