Blogs & Ecology

Kokuyo Co Ltd has been in the news recently thanks to the creative new look for its office in central Tokyo. With a focus on reducing CO2 emissions and lowering power consumption, the stationary maker introduced LEDs, zoning that reduces the need for lamps, and divided the office into several areas. Such efforts have resulted in a 28% reduction in power consumption by the overall office....

Photo via ToastyKen

Photo via Philips

We talk a lot about the breakthroughs in LED lighting. Well, take note that the new technology is getting put to good use.

Boston’s first official skyscraper, the Marriott Custom House Tower, was in need of a makeover, and it received one in the form of replacing its incandescent fixtures with LED fixtures, beautifying the building while using one third the energy. ...

Dutch designer Marieke Staps has built a lamp with the LEDs powered by soil. She writes:

"Free and environmentally friendly energy forever and ever. The lamp runs on mud. The metabolism of biological life produces enough electricity to keep an LED lamp burning. The mud is enclosed in various cells. These cells contain copper and zinc that conduct the electricity. The more cells there are , the more electricity they generate. This technique offers a wealth of possibilities. The only thing the lamp needs is a splash of water every now and then."

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Photo via Yanko Design

A clever way to get someone to think twice about turning on the light is to require them to think before they’re even able to turn it on.

A concept design by Mingyu Jeung does exactly this. ...

Photo: Getty

Now that the election is over, some illuminating campaign trail gems are sneaking out. Apparently, Sarah Palin's clothing spending spree was much worse than first thought, John McCain's senior advisors privately knew he was finished by the third debate, and both campaigns were attacked by hackers.

Photos via Journee and Lighting Science

We’ve been expecting it…the next generation of lighting is coming within a few months. And our next generation of lighting is going to look really weird.

Osram Sylvania and Philips, and many others are introducing LED bulbs to the US markets and across the world, but it isn’t likely that a quick switch to the ultra energy efficient technology will happen in a blink. ...

Last week it was time for the national annual innovation contest in Argentina, Innovar, and we were happy to know that the environment was one of the main interests behind the products presented this year.

In this occasion we highlight this cool looking lamp, which was designed exclusively for CFLs. The lamp is made with very few parts and is very easy to disassemble for recycling: a set of layers with a cut in the middle for the lamp, hold by two metal sticks. The lamp is surrounded by a thin plastic square that can be changed for color customization (a picture of this in the extended)....

Photo via SCMP

A post-it style light that sticks to the window during the day for solar charging and sticks to, well, anything else at night for ambient lighting.

That sounds awesome.

photo: Charleston City Paper

Yes, it’s another solar-and-wind-powered street light. We’ve seen them before, some a little more crazy looking than others. But this one looked pretty darn cool, and has some extra efficient features, so we had to show you.

Read on for details and video footage. ...

Image credit: [re]design

Planilum Lights by SAAZS
Designed by Tomas Erel of SAAZS, these Planilum Lights not only look beautiful, but they are long-lasting (about 20 years, or 500,000 hours), efficient (more than incandescent, though we couldn't get exact info on how they compare to CFLs and LEDs), and they use non-toxic gases and materials....

LEDs used to be rare and noteworthy; now they are just expensive. There were a couple of rows of LED vendors on display at IIDEX, most clunky and inelegant, still put together by engineers instead of designers. A rare exception was MP Lighting from Vancouver, Canada. They had a booth full of LED eye candy that really stood out. Shown above is an integrated wine rack and LED illumination that would look lovely in my wine cellar....

Photo Credit: Firewinder

The Firewinder is a new(ish) gadget that puts a cool twist on outdoor lighting. While we’ve been hearing about it for quite some time, it is finally here for the taking!
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