Category Archives: Sustainable Design

Ecovative: The new plastic is made from mushrooms

Posted on March 9, 2011 by Laura B.

Read the full post at SmartPlanet. Poking around in my mom’s attic recently, I was reminded that I still have the shipping box from my Macintosh SE, because the box is gigantic, and it’s great for storage. But the equally … Continue reading →

Posted in Plastics, Sustainable Design | Leave a comment

Life Pscycle-ology

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Laura B.

Watch the video. Discover the hidden life of a mobile phone… Eric is seeing a therapist because he is suffering from an existential crises after his owner abandons him for a newer model. In this cute animation we discover the … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing/Consumer electronics, Sustainable Design, Video | Leave a comment

GreenBiz Webinar Series: Benign by Design: Reducing the Toxicity of Products

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Laura B.

How do you make a better, greener product? It’s a question that businesses of all types are posing in light of growing calls by customers and stakeholder for greater environmental responsibility. This is leading some companies to examine their entire … Continue reading →

Posted in Green Business, Green Chemistry, Green Products, Meetings & Webinars, Sustainable Design | Leave a comment

Fighting e-waste with recyclable laptops

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Laura B.

Watch the video at SmartPlanet. Students from Stanford and Finland’s Aalto University have developed a prototype laptop that can be disassembled in less than three minutes without the use of any tools. Once it’s taken apart, the laptop’s materials can … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing/Consumer electronics, E-Waste, Sustainable Design | Leave a comment

10XE Stories Teach Principles of Exceptional Design

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Laura B.

Read the full story from the Rocky Mountain Institute. There’s an oft-quoted expression that permeates the world of design engineering: “The engineer’s first problem in any design situation is to discover what the problem really is.” The quote, which is … Continue reading →

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Meet the World’s First Biodegradable Shoes

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Laura B.

Read the full story at Earth911. It’s not often a company recommends that you bury your shoes in the backyard, but that’s exactly what OAT Shoes says. As makers of the world’s first biodegradable shoes, that advice is perfectly legitimate.

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10 Wild Materials That Could Help Save the Earth [Slideshow]

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Laura B.

View the slideshow at Fast Company. We take the stuff that makes up our world for granted. Plastic is plastic, right? And wood is wood? Absolutely not: Materials are still a hotbed of innovation, often involving ideas to help save … Continue reading →

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Thomas Thwaites: How I built a toaster — from scratch

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Laura B.

Watch the TEDTalk. It takes an entire civilization to build a toaster. Designer Thomas Thwaites found out the hard way, by attempting to build one from scratch: mining ore for steel, deriving plastic from oil … it’s frankly amazing he … Continue reading →

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Inside the Near-Impossible Dismantling of the iPhone 4

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Laura B.

Read the full story at Earth911. “Designing for dismantling” is a concept that many tech companies have started to slowly adopt. The idea essentially calls for simple adjustments to be made during the design process that make the electronic easier … Continue reading →

Posted in Computing/Consumer electronics, Product stewardship, Sustainable Design | Leave a comment

Latest American Chemical Society Podcast: Biodegradable Foam from Milk Protein and Clay

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Laura B.

Read the full story from the American Chemical Society (via Newswise). The latest episode in the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) award-winning podcast series, “Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions,” focuses on development of a new ultra-light biodegradable foam plastic material made from two … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemical Industry, Plastics, Research, Sustainable Design | Leave a comment