Digital Sustainability

ICFF 2013 just kicked off in New York, and Team Inhabitat is on the scene to bring you the best sustainable designs from the nation's largest showcase of contemporary furnishings. Our first day of coverage turned up a great array of green design gems ranging from dazzling energy-saving LED lamps and chandeliers to furniture made from recycled plastic, repurposed propane tanks, and even salvaged bicycles. Read on for a first-hand look at our favorite finds fresh from today's show
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LG Electronics’ advanced front-load clothes washers recently became the first in the world to meet the requirements of the new CSA sustainability verification service, which takes a broad, multi-attribute and holistic approach to assessing the environmental impacts of residential clothes washers.

The Sustainability Standard for Household Clothes Washers takes a multi-attribute approach developed using life-cycle assessment information along with other key factors influencing product environmental performance such as materials, manufacturing and operations, energy and water consumption during use, innovation, use of consumables and end-of-life management.

According to CSA Group, LG models WM8000HVA and WM8000HWA achieved the scores required to meet the new environmental standard, which verified the units following extensive testing and data analysis.

Aker Solutions has won a contract to perform the world’s first tests for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from a cement production plant.

The CO2 technology company won the award from Norcem, in cooperation with the European Cement Research Academy (ECRA). It did not disclose the contract’s value.

Aker Solutions says it will perform long-term testing on the actual flue gas to select the best chemical solvent for high-content CO2 flue gas at Norcem’s plant in Brevik, Norway. Aker Solutions’ in-house developed Mobile Test Unit (MTU) will perform the tests. The MTU is a CO2 capture plant that includes all processes and functions found in a large-scale commercial plant.

The companies say the project results will provide Norcem and its parent company HeidelbergCement information for future decision-making on reducing CO2 emissions and help the European cement industry understand the use of technology for future full-scale CO2 capture from cement production plants.

Satellite analysis by a Brazil-based NGO indicates that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon continues to pace well ahead of last year, when the government passed a weakened version of its law governing use of forest lands.

Imazon's near-real-time deforestation tracking system — known as SAD — detected 1,570 square kilometers of accumulated forest loss between August 2012 and April 2013, an 88 percent increase over the 836 sq km cleared during the year earlier period. However accumulated forest degradation was down by nearly a quarter, according to the system.

The Brazilian government's own tracking system suggests a more moderate rise in deforestation between the two periods. INPE, Brazil's National Space Research Agency, earlier this month released its numbers, which estimated forest loss between August 2012 and April 2013 at 1864 sq km, 14 percent higher than the 1631 sq km from a year earlier.
Read more athttp://news.mongabay.com/2013/0518-imazon-sad-update.html#Rmd0g7kj5ReEFyYX.99

In the world of motorized transportation, the global electric bicycle business is a pretty major concern.Navigant research recently published a detailed analysis of the industry, finding that in 2012, sales of e-bikes reached 29.3 million units worldwide, with 90 percent of the market residing in China. Here in America, the market is minute by comparison, with sales of only 53,000 – but manufacturers are increasingly taking an interest in the U.S. market, hoping to build on the potential growth in affordable transportation.

Last month we reported that major bicycle company Specialized was getting in on the action by launching its own e-bike, The turbo – while this month, established electric bicycle maker A2B, is relaunching its range of bikes under the new ownership of India’s Hero Eco Group.

First, a little history. A2B originally hit the market in 2008 in Europe and the USA, exclusively as an electric bicycle company under the ownership of Ultramotor. According to A2B’s new ownership, although Ultramotors were “technically brilliant, the organization did not have the business knowledge and experience to properly support its dealers and distributors.”

Enter Hero Eco – an Indian conglomerate that has been around since 1956, with 24 companies operating in 83 countries with 27 manufacturing facilities worldwide. Already established in the automotive and bicycle industries, and with experience selling electric scooters, Hero Eco took over A2B in late 2011. With the backing of the new holding company, A2B’s presence in the market will now have a little more muscle behind it.

Their range of e-bikes was relaunched in the U.S. in San Francisco earlier this month, and I got to test a few of them on the city streets around their 9th Street, San Francisco, U.S. headquarters – having a ton of fun in the process.

In the years leading up to the massive tsunami of March 11, 2011, it seemed that Japan’s coastal ecosystems could hardly decline in health any further. Decades of coastal engineering had divided land from ocean, turned quaint seaside towns grey with concrete, and pushed once-familiar species like loggerhead sea turtles and common orient clams towards extinction. Nearly half of the island nation’s perimeter was modified in some way; cliffs comprised most of what remained untouched. Even within the government, a sense had begun to spread that in a country where the sea has shaped culture and cuisine for millennia, coastal land management had taken a wrong turn.

Then came the once-in-a-thousand-year tsunami. Walls of water swept over the coast of northeastern Japan, claiming more than 15,000 lives and destroying hundreds of thousands of buildings, together with 60 percent of seawalls. In the rubble-covered wasteland that remained, scholars, activists, and fishermen alike saw a chance to rethink how people live on the coast.

Offshore wind farms and tidal energy facilities harness the power of the wind and the ocean – but why should we have separate turbines for each task? Offshore technology company Mitsui is developing a hybrid wind-current power generating system that combines a floating vertical-axis wind turbine with an underwater turbine that generates power from ocean currents. The clever apparatus would cut down on material waste, and it could produce twice as much energy as a conventional wind turbine
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Renewable energy developers strive for improved efficiency in the solar, wind and hydro power industries – and the hybrid wind-current system effectively doubles the efficiency of a typical wind or ocean current turbine. Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company says the system will provide cost-effective power generation while having very little impact on the environment.

The turbines will be large in scale; according to NHK News, the wind turbine will be 47 meters (154 feet), and the underwater portion will have a diameter of 15 meters (49 feet). The turbines will be tested off the coast of Japan later this year. If they work as well as advertised, each turbine could generate enough energy to power 300 households.

Photovoltaic systems are indeed enjoying a boom worldwide, yet the situation for German manufacturers of solar cells and module is critical. The reasons for this are worldwide excess capacities and manufacturers from China who have flooded the world market with modules with approximately 15 % efficiency at dumping prices. German and other European manufacturers will only be able to keep up if they are able to offer cells and modules with higher degrees of efficiency at competitive prices. The Institute for Photovoltaics (ipv) at the University of Stuttgart has now set a new record in the hunt for the highest degrees of efficiency using the simplest possible production processes. In a project funded by the Federal Environmental Ministry, success was achieved in manufacturing cells from crystal silicon with almost 22 % efficiency
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When New York City opened registration for its much anticipated public bike-sharing program on April 15, 2013, more than 5,000 people signed up within 30 hours. Eager for access to a fleet of thousands of bicycles, they becameCiti Bike members weeks before bikes were expected to be available. Such pent-up demand for more cycling options is on display in cities across the United States—from Buffalo to Boulder, Omaha to Oklahoma City, and Long Beach in New York to Long Beach in California—where shared bicycle programs are taking root.

At the start of 2013, the United States was home to 22 modern public bike-sharing programs. By spring 2014, that number will likely double as a flurry of cities joins the more than 500 bike-sharing communities worldwide. (Read more about bike sharing around the globe here.) With the expansions of current programs and new openings in larger markets like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, the nationwide fleet of shared bikes is poised to quadruple in the next couple of years, from nearly 9,000 to above 36,000. And with a growing list of American communities exploring the possibility of setting up bike shares, this number is expected to continue to climb.

The Formulec EF01 is a pretty sweet all-electric race car, but it's really been just a place holder for the vehicles that will eventually form the FIA Formula E Championship grid. Along with an announcement thatRenault will be a technical partner, the budding series has just released images of what we can expect the actual cars to look like when they take to the starting line. Think less Formula 3, and more Formula 1.

As it has been presented, the poetically-named Spark-Renault SRT 01E is a mix of mirror-like polished aluminum body work and carbon fiber struts and wings. Its aerodynamic package not only has the traditional elements that provide downforce and keep the wheels planted through the turns, but it also features a few touches like partially faired wheels to help keep the slipstream free of energy-robbing turbulence.

The collaboration is more than skin deep, too. According to Managing Director of Renault Sport Technologies Patrice Ratti, the French automaker will call on expertise derived from its experience in Formula 1 and its production of road-going EVs to keep the electrons in the drivetrain flowing properly. And we quote,

"Engineers from Renault Sport F1 and Renault Sport Technologies will collaborate with Spark Racing Technology team to optimize the electric and electronic layout and performance of the powertrain."

Besides the big partnership news, Formula E has also revealed that Bangkok, Thailand has been chosen as the ninth of ten cities that will host a race. Although it has a burgeoning auto-making industry, the Asian country lacks an international motorsport presence. This event should help raise that country's automotive profile and give the electric racing series one of its more interesting backdrops.

You can read the two official press releases by scrolling below, as well as view a clip of Formula E Holdings CEO Alejandro Agag discussing the concept of the series in a recent interview with the Financial Times

Preparing for next month's Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Mitsubishi – the presenting sponsor of this year's PPIHC – has unveiled its entrant for the race: the all-electric MiEV Evolution II. Building off last year's MiEV-inspired entrant, the Evolution II has received numerous improvements, including a more powerful electric drive system, a lower center of gravity and even a more traditional racecar look. Driving a pair of MiEV Evolution II models this year will be Hiroshi Masuoka from Mitsubishi vehicle development and six-time PPIHC motorcycle winner, Greg Tracy.

Both MiEV Evolution II racers employ a quartet of electric motors (last year's car used just three), and output has been increased from 280 kilowatts (375 horsepower) up to 400 KW (536 hp). For improved handling, the cars' lithium-ion battery packs help provide lower centers of gravity, and both Masuoka's and Tracy's cars have received active yaw control, stability control and redesigned anti-lock braking systems. Hopefully, this will help them stick to the mountain better. As previously mentioned, even their look has changed, with less of a wide-body i-MiEV feel and more of a racecar appearance. We think the finished product would actually make for a pretty cool Le Mans Prototype racer, or perhaps an electrically powered rival for trackday cars like those from Radical.

Corporate leaders and experts on global warming and climate change policy came together on Earth Day in Sausalito, California for REDD+ Talks, an inaugural event focused on how emissions from deforestation contributes to global warming and how this will affect the business world.

REDD+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, a United Nations initiative using market and financial incentives to help halt deforestation. Companies such as Microsoft, Allianz and Puma have advocated the initiative as an immediate and proven solution to address the negative effects of climate change.

“We need to go further than just having CSR,” said Puma’s General Manager Martyn Bowen at last week’s event, “We need to go further than just doing less bad. We need to start doing more good.”