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German engineering goes green with a fog-collecting system that serves the water needs of an arid Peruvian village.
Biologists Kai Tiedemann and Anne Lummerich are finding ingenious ways to help people living in arid regions find and develop new sources of water. Bellavista, a small, hillside settlement near Lima, Peru that is unconnected to the municipal water supply is enveloped in fog through most of the winter. There, the pair designed a fog-catching system that captures and collects fog-water for use by the local population. Built in 2006 by members of the community, the system delivers hundreds of gallons a day to its resevoir during the foggy winter months.
(via National Geographic, photograph by Anne Lummerich)
For his Brecce collection, Italian designer Marco Stefanelli hit upon the clever idea of combining natural, salvaged materials with future-forward lighting technology. The lamps are made from discarded wood scraps into which Stefanelli embeds LED lights and before covering them in resin. The lights cast a soft and calming glow that warmly define whatever space they're in. Stunning pieces.......read more
iPhone accessories rarely aim too high in terms of functionality. They generally fall into one of two categories: speakers or protective cases. But Lapka takes the game to a whole other level. Billed as a "personal environmental monitor," the device connects through a headphone jack to measure, collect and analyze data about substances within a user's environment. Each peripheral......read more
This cool-looking modular greenhouse, developed by researchers from RAD (Responsive Architecture at Daniels) at the University of Toronto, addresses dirty air concerns in the home. Dubbed the "Filtration Block," the unit contains common household plants with exposed roots that absorb typical indoor toxins like benzene and fromaldehyde. Lead researcher Elaine Tong explains: The......read more
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Clean though wind power may be, it doesn't come without its own environmental concerns, chief among which is the fact that birds and bats share the unfortunate habit of flying into spinning turbine blades. Raymond Green, an 89-year-old World War II veteran, has developed a new bladeless wind turbine that he claims will save the lives of avian creatures. Carrying the slightly wordy......read more
