Attention cyclists across the US: the wait for decent biking directions is over! Google Maps users can finally get biking directions along with walking, driving, and public transportation directions. Best of all, the new feature takes into account hills, bike lanes, and even busy intersections when calculating routes.

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Post tags: bicycling, biking, eco design, Google, Google maps, green design

If you’re reading Inhabitat, you’re no doubt aware of how popular the ‘green’ trend has become. Businesses have finally started to realize that the environmental movement is here to stay, and that there is money to be made in going green. This is something that Inhabitat readers and concerned citizens should be happy about… sort of. While it is great that so many businesses finally see the green in ‘going green’, too often businesses approach going green in all the wrong ways – producing useless ‘eco’ products, tone-deaf marketing, or even worse: greenwashing. Check out our list of the top 5 mistakes that businesses make when trying to go green.
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Post tags: eco business, environmental business, environmental policies, going green, green business, green your business, Greenwash, tips to green your mistake, top 5 business mistakes

Key senators, industry officials, senior advisers and cabinet members met yesterday with President Obama to talk about the upcoming Climate and Energy Bill. The bill has been largely put aside by Congress in favor of passing Healthcare legislation and yesterday’s meetings were an attempt by President Obama to get the bill moving. The talks highlighted the simple reason the bill is stalled: the Democrats are largely for a Climate and Energy bill and the majority of Republicans want to leave the “Climate” part out of it — mainly any kind of carbon capping or taxing legislation.

Read the rest of The Ins & Outs of the Upcoming Energy & Climate Bill and Why It’s Stalled

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Post tags: bill, climate, climate and energy bill, climate bill, comprehensive, congress, energy bill, energy legislation, joe lieberman, john kerry, leglislation, lindsay graham, obama, Policy, renewable energy, Washington DC, white house

Read the rest of 10 MW Dubai Skyscraper Makes 10X More Renewable Energy Than It Needs

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Post tags: "wind power", 10 MW tower, dubai, eco design, eco skyscraper, green design, renewable energy, robert ferry, skyscraper, solar concentrating, Solar Power, solar updraft, solar updraft tower, studied impact, Sustainable Building

IBM researchers announced yesterday that they discovered a method of creating highly recyclable plastics from one of the most eco-friendly materials around – plants. Not only are the material’s components greener than traditional petroleum-based products, the production process uses significantly less energy.

Read the rest of IBM Creates Plant-Based, Highly Recyclable Plastics

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Post tags: green plastic, ibm, metal catalyst, new plastic, organic polymer, organocatalyst, PET, plastic, Recycle, recycleable plastic, stanford university, water bottles

Read the rest of BREEAM Awards Showcase the Most Outstanding Green Buildings in Europe

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", breeam awards, BREEAM excellent, Green Building, green building certification, green design, sustainable design

Tower City, another concept from the 2010 eVolo Skyscraper Competition, re-envisions the city of Marseilles as a stacked skyscraper that sits on stilts above the water. Rather than letting cities spread out as population increases, a the design calls for a new city to be created out on the water, complete with work, housing, transportation and amenities. The futuristic development is based on a stacked framework built using recycled building materials from the old city.

Read the rest of Tower City is an Ecotopia Stacked Up on Stilts

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Post tags: "eVolo", 2010 evolo skyscraper competition, eco design, eco skyscraper, evolo skyscraper competition, france, green design, Recycled Materials, skyscraper, Sustainable Building, Tower City, Urban design

Olson Lewis Dioli & Doktor Architects recently shared their appreciation of upcycling with youngsters at the Brookwood School Sustainability Fair by teaching them how to turn trash into treasure. The firm taught children at the elementary school how to save simple wooden pallets from the incinerator and craft their very own bird abodes!

The children were provided with a premade kit made from the wooden pallets, and had help from architects on the scene to piece the parts together. The result of their efforts was a batch of adorable, hand made birdhouses perfect for encouraging birds’ own form of upcycling – nest building. The Sustainability Fair, which was open to the public, successfully gathered students, parents, community members, and organizations, in order to promote the use of sustainable practices, like upcyling, “a life-long habit”.

Thanks for the tip Henry Louis Miller!

+ Olson Lewis Dioli & Doktor Architects

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Post tags: birdhouse, carpentry, eco design, green design, Olson Lewis Dioli & Doktor, sustainable design

Most Americans would have a fit if their credit card or cell phone company sent a dollar amount at the end of the month with no itemized description to match. But we tolerate it from our utility companies with little complaint. If we’re going to change our energy habits, we’re going to need more information to do it. What kinds of information motivate consumers and what kinds irritate them? OPOWER, an energy efficiency software company, is betting that a new version of an old classic — the report card — will strike the right balance.

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", energy report cards, green design, green graphic design, home energy monitor, home energy use, information design, opower, smart meter, sustainable design, utility

Last week, we brought you news about Chef Daniel Angerer’s special cheese made from his wife’s breast milk, and boy did that open a can of worms! While we expected knee-jerk ‘EEEWWW‘ reactions from people, we didn’t really imagine the extent to which people would get up in arms about breast milk cheese – something which in our minds is totally natural, organic, and not gross in the slightest. People got so concerned about the breastmilk cheese issue that apparently the New York Department of Health came to pay Angerer a visit over the weekend.

Well you can rest assured that Angerer’s “My Spouse’s Mommy Milk Cheese” is not being sold to the public at his restaurant, Klee Brasserie – he confirmed that on the radio today. But we still don’t see what is so awful or scary about the idea of serving, local, organic, healthy cheese made from breast milk. How is this any less gross than eating cheese that came from the manure-covered teat of a factory-farmed, hormone-laden, antibiotics laden cow? After all, you have to admit that when it comes to foods that are organic, local, natural and free, human breast milk ticks all the boxes. And, remember, the stuff is naturally DESIGNED to be the ultimate human sustenance. So what do you think? Would you eat cheese made of human breast milk?

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Post tags: breast feeding, Breast Milk Cheese, breast milk foods, breastmilk cheese, Cheese, chef daniel angerer, Daniel Angerer, Danier Angerer, Dining in New York, Klee Brasserie, Mommy's Milk Cheese, New York Dining, New York restuarants, Weird Foods

Photo: Jurvetson

Telecom giant Nokia recently filed a patent for a cell phone powered by kinetic energy (one of our favorite kinds of energy here at Inhabitat!). The conceived phone would charge via built-in piezoelectric generators that will convert the user’s motions into power. Now, we’ve seen a ton of kinetic gadget concepts, but the fact that Nokia is taking interest and has gone so far as to file a patent is significant evidence that we may soon be seeing these types of electronics hit the market.

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Post tags: cell phone, eco cell phone, green cellular, green design, Greener Gadgets, kinetic energy, kinetically powered cell phone, Nokia, sustainable design

Read the rest of Artist Uses LEGO Blocks to Rebuild New York City

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Post tags: Dispatch, Jan Vormann, Lego bricks, LEGOs, new york city, New York City Legos, New York., NY, volta, volta artshow

Eventually, we’d like to think that everyone will be driving around in all-electric cars. But in the meantime, it’s important to develop efficient gas engine technology. That’s where a new system from Transonic Combustion comes in. The California-based startup has developed a fuel-injection system that can improve the efficiency of gasoline engines by 50%.

Read the rest of Transonic Combustion’s Super-Efficient Gas Engine Gets 98 MPG

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Post tags: combustion, eco design, electric cars, ev, gas engine, green design, phev, transonic systems

Wait! Before you go to toss your old computer, cell phone, or other electronics out, take a look at our tips on how to discard of them in a way that has the least environmental impact. E-waste is a huge issue right now and your electronics could end up in landfills, with toxic chemicals seeping into our ecosystems and polluting our waterways. Why not avoid all that with these easy and creative ways to get your obsolete gadgets and gizmos out of your house the responsible way?

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Post tags: Call to Protect, Close the Gap, CollectiveGood, e-waste, e-waste recycling, electronics take-back programs, external hard drive, Fix it or Nix it, GreenerChoices, how to get rid of electronics, how to make an external hard drive, Reconnect, recycling electronics, take-back programs, The National Cristina Foundation, World Computer Exchange

Harvesting wasted energy from unexpected places is one of our favorite topics at Inhabitat, however one of the last places we’d look for a “clean” energy source is the tailpipe of a car. Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have announced that they are working on a new type of carbon nanotube thermocell that is capable of scavenging wasted energy from a vehicle’s exhaust system at a lower cost than ever before.

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Post tags: "clean energy", alternative energy, green design, green transportation, heat scavenging, renewable energy, sustainable design, tailpipe power, tailpipe thermocell

Last year, we watched as Korea’s Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) developed a new kind of electric vehicle that relies entirely on power from cables buried beneath the road–no outside recharging required. Now the system has been unveiled in its first real-world test location: the Seoul Grand Park amusement park in southern Seoul.

Read the rest of Amusement Park Powers EVs Using Electric Toothbrush Technology

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Post tags: clean transportation, electric vehicle, ev, EVs, green design, green transportation, hybrid bus, inductive charging, kaist, magnetic energy, olev, phev, seoul, south korea

Atrazine (the most common herbicide on Earth) has been clogging the news waves lately with a recent study that showed it caused male frogs to become female. Atrazine was outlawed in the EU for its possible links to cancer and has been found in levels above EPA regulations across the Midwest where it is commonly sprayed on cornfields. Now 16 cities in four states are suing the manufacturer of Atrazine, Syngenta Co., for the costs of the expensive water filtration systems that will make their drinking water safe again.

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Post tags: atrazine, contaminated, corn, drinking water, environmental protection agency, epa, farm, field, frogs, herbicide, midwest, national resource defense council, nrdc, pesticide, pollutant, Pollution, syngenta, water contamination, water pollution

Ocean levels are rising around the globe, so rather than tethering our buildings to the sinking shoreline why not suit them for a life at sea? That’s the approach behind the Water-Scraper, a futuristic self-sufficient floating city. A special mention in this year’s eVolo Skyscraper Competition, the design expands the concept of a floating island into a full-fledged underwater skyscraper that harvests renewable energy and grows its own food.

Read the rest of Underwater Skyscraper is a Self-Sufficient City at Sea

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", evolo 2010 skyscraper competition, floating architecture, futuristic city, Green Building, green design, h2o scraper, Sarly Adre Bin Sarkum, squid skyscraper, sustainable design, water scraper

Michael Kooren for Reuters

With the cost (both financial and environmental) of fuel these days, everyone is trying to cut back in whatever ways they can. If you’re talking boats, you can always go solar or electric to cut emissions, but one German fishing boat called the Maartje Theadora decided to take a slightly different route – flying a giant blue and white kite from their craft to harness trade winds and help power their engine. The idea may sound elementary to some, but according to the operators of the ship, the “system” is expected to cut fuel consumption by 10% and up to 30% in the next two years of development. Since global fisheries account for about 1% of world oil consumption and emit more than 130 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere per year, this kite system sounds like smoother and greener sailing to us!

Read the rest of German Fishing Boat Flies Giant Kite to Save Fuel

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Post tags: "wind power", carbon dioxide, clean transportation, emissions, fuel, fuel consumption, german fishing boat, german fishing boat flies giant kite, germany, giant kite system, green transportation, greenhouse gases, Maartje Theadora, sailboat, skysails, wind powered boat

The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, will soon have a permanent new home close to the North Sea. Danish firm Schmidt Hammer and Lassen won the rights to design the new building, which will be built to be environmentally sustainable as well as sensitive to the bordering natural environment. The new International Criminal Court (ICC) will be a striking building meant to convey eminence and authority as well as trust and hope.

Read the rest of The Hague’s International Criminal Court Aims for BREEAM Excellent

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Post tags: BREEAM, eco design, green design, ICC, international court of criminals, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Sustainable Building, the hague, the netherlands