Olafur Eliasson's New York City Waterfalls

Coming Summer 2008- Can't Wait!
nycwaterfalls.org

"Innovate Or Die" Winner

Specialized and Google's "Innovate Or Die" contest is over. They've announced the winner.

The challenge was to harness a bike's humble pedaling mechanism to achieve great things for humanity. If this sounds tough, witness the incredible simplicity, usefulness and thoughtfulness of the winning design: the Aqueduct bike.

Windmills reach new heights

Fifty stories, or about 490 feet. That’s the record setting height at the top of the blades on the windmills in the photo above. These latest-generation turbines were just connected to the grid at the Snyder Wind project in Scurry County, west Texas. Built by Enel North America, with financial backing from GE Energy Financial Services, the turbines were made by market-leading Vestas -- not GE, for those keeping score -- and can crank out 3 megawatts apiece. These windmills are especially tall because wind studies showed the most persistent winds were high up. So, on their own, the supporting towers supporting the turbines are 345 feet tall, or about 35 stories.

This milestone is worth marking since, the longer a windmill's blades get, the more power they can generate, and the lower the cost of that power falls. So the bigger these turbines get, the closer they get to being competitive with conventional fossil fuels. No word on the price for this project, though. But as one measure of this trend, consider that, with just 21 turbines, this project can generate enough power to supply about 12,000 homes. Were it built just a few years ago, the project would have needed twice as many, or more, turbines to generate that much power. For a sense of the scale of these vertigo-inducing heights, see the close up, below, showing the three trucks parked at the base of the tower on the left.

Luxury with a conscience

Will green-car buyers bite at Porsche’s high-speed hybrids?

Among the rush of green car announcements at this week's Detroit auto show, Porsche unveiled two new entries in the green car race. First, the German supercar maker announced a hybrid version of its Cayenne SUV, due in 2010 (photo above). Porsche also said that after its all-new Panamera ( a grand touring, 4-door sedan) debuts next year, a hybrid version will follow sometime after (see diagram below). There's no price information as yet, but these models are likely to cost three, four or more times the cost of a Prius hybrid.

Luxury With A Conscience

Barry Sternlicht's newest creation: 1 Hotel and Residence

1 redefines a new archetype of luxury in hotel and residential living: a one of a kind, sophisticated, modern environment that dares to be the best of everything without sacrificing the greater environment. Committed to protecting and preserving our resources, the creators of 1 believe that one can find sublime experiences in hospitality and in personal lifestyle experiences without diminishing the natural world.

Barricade and Initial Advertising from 1's opening location, Seattle.

My Next Vacation

W Retreat & Spa - Maldives
Opened 2007

Google Sky

Goggle Sky,the latest version of Google Earth lets you flip to Sky Mode and see the sky from the place you were centered on the earth. It’s an incredible way to explore and travel from your desktop… absolutely beautiful. This is in collaboration with NASA/Space Telescope Institute, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and Digital Sky Survey Consortium.

Greenpeace Enlists Spencer Tunick

Yesterday Spencer Tunick gathered over 300 volunteers for his latest "living sculpture".

The setting:

The top of Switzerland’s shrinking Aletsch glacier.

The photo was sponsored by Greenpeace to raise awareness about climate change.

Greenpeace predicts that most of the Swiss glaciers will totally disappear by they year 2080 if global warming continues at its current rate

Japan's Sewer System

These photos are amazing. To see all of them, click here

The Blacker the Google...

...the more energy-efficient the screen.


Eco-tech blogger Mark Ontkush estimated a black version of Google would save 750 Megawatt-hours a year because black requires less energy to display than white.

So Toby Heap made Blackle.

Try it out!

Breathe In, Breathe Out

The rhythms of the tides, sped up to match the rhythm of slow breathing. This beautiful work from Greenpeace's video campaign has a meditative quality and a quality message.

Everything in Perspective

If you think you are having a bad day...
click here.

The Wind

Such a cute commercial.

The Talented Mr. Lyrebird

I'm a huge fan of BBC's recent debut of "Planet Earth". But Sir David Frederick Attenborough, OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, has been in the game for a long time. Here is an older clip of his on the amazing talents of the Lyre Bird. This is absolutely AMAZING!

Tom Dixon on Sustainability

Especially as designers, my friends and I often find ourselves in conversations pertaining to sustainability. Here, famed UK designer Tom Dixon explains a few ways how we can actually take our conversatoins and make them real life. Novel idea, no?

BUY (LESS) CRAP

Strolling through Times Square last year, Ben Davis was struck by the endless ads for (RED)—the Bono-fronted campaign that sends proceeds from the sale of red-colored, (RED)-branded products to the Global Fund, an organization devoted to fighting AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. He was bothered by the strange mix of charity and consumerism: “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be better to give money directly to the charity?’” That option, however, isn’t available at participating stores like Gap and Apple, nor can it be found on (RED)’s website. So he launched the Buy (Less) campaign, a tongue-in-cheek send-up of (RED)’s ads, with posters calling the program “meaning(less)” and a petition beseeching (RED) to allow giving to the Global Fund directly rather than merely as an afterthought when buying an iPod.

SUCH A GREAT IDEA!

For more information, PLEASE, click here

Dubai

I have been hearing about Dubai for awhile now and seeing pictures of new development here and there, but after my last post I thought I 'd really check in to whats going on over there and if it was worth all the big stir. A building boom in the emirate has led to a whole host of chart breakers, in categories including highest apartment, biggest mall, and one of the world's most unique resorts.. It's amazing what man, and money, can do. Here are a FEW highlights of new developments that are going on.

THE WORLD
The World will consist of between 250 to 300 smaller private artificial islands divided into four categories - private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands. The islands, which range from 250,000 to 900,000 square feet, can be bought by individual developers or private owners -- starting at $6.85 million.

The only way to get between each island is by boat...or yacht, given the clientele. A notable engineering feat: The project incorporates two protective breakwaters to protect the islands from waves, consisting of one submerged reef (the outer breakwater) and an above-water structure (the inner breakwater)


THE PALM
The two Dubai islands, The Palm Jumeirah and The Palm Jebel Ali, will be built in the shape of date palm trees and consist of a trunk; a crown with 17 fronds; and a surrounding crescent island - the back of which forms the breakwater. Collectively, the island will support more than 60 luxury hotels, 4,000 exclusive residential villas (sale), 1,000 unique water homes (sale), 5,000 shoreline apartments (sale), marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities, health spas, cinemas and various dive sites.


HYDROPOLIS
This hotel, the world's first underwater luxury resort, brings new meaning to the "ocean-view room." Situated 66 feet below the surface of the Persian Gulf, Hydropolis will feature 220 guest suites. Reinforced by concrete and steel, its Plexiglas walls and bubble-shaped dome ceilings offer sights of fish and other sea creatures. It's scheduled to open in late 2007.



DUBAILAND
A standout section of the sprawling, 3-billion-square-foot theme-park-like development known as Dubailand, Sports City will offer visitors a staggering variety of athletic venues, from elegant, gigantic stadia to state-of-the-art participatory parks for skateboarding, indoor rock climbing, and other activities. Not to mention facilities for polo, car racing, golf, and extreme sports.


DUBAI MALL
Thirty-five million people are expected to visit the Dubai Mall, developed by Emaar Properties, during 2006, its inaugural year. There's plenty to do, since, at more than 5 million square feet, it's the biggest mall in the world. It will house 15 sub-malls, a skating rink, an aquarium, and the planet's biggest gold souk (market). DP Architects


BURJ DUBAI
The Burj Dubai will be the world's tallest building when it opens in 2009. Its shape is inspired by the indigenous desert flowers that often appear as decorative patterns in Islamic architecture, but it also has an engineering purpose: The swirl shape ensures that the mass of the structure lessens as it reaches the top, making the structure steadier. A mixed-use building developed by Dubai's Emaar Properties, the Burj Dubai will house shops, offices, residences, and entertainment venues. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill


BUSINESS BAY (UNDER CONSTRUCTION)


DANCING TOWERS (PROPOSED)


TRUMP TOWER (PROPOSED)

Japan's First Solar Powered Condo

Why are they so much more advanced than we are?!?


The Gradia Solare's roof is covered with photovoltaics, 1530 watts per apartment plus some surplus for the common areas. It appears that the solar panels are owned and managed by an outside company for fifteen years and then transferred to the Condo corporation, which probably keeps the upfront costs out of the sale price of the units. The building is full of features, including "Eco-cute" combo heat pumps for domestic water and heating, high efficiency appliances and filtered ventilation air. Various technologies are supposed to "reduce carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to the amount absorbed by approximately 4,200 cedar trees"- They could plant some more instead of that sea of asphalt around the building.

Garden in Transit Coming To New York This Fall

This Fall, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of New York’s first motorized taxi, over 13,000 New York City yellow taxicabs will be covered with bright, colorful flowers. It's all part of "Garden in Transit", a massive public art project funded by Portraits of Hope, a non-profit arts, education and creative therapy program.

Starting last September, New York city school children from local hospitals, after-school programs, and recreation centers have been painting colorful flowers onto self-adhesive stickers that will then be affixed on yellow taxicabs beginning this coming September.

tip via hyperempowered, via GOOD magazine

GOOD Magazine

A co-worker of mine (thanks princess!) turned me on to GOOD Magazine, which speaks on important ideas driving change in this world. Touching on mediums from creative to environmental, its well worth the $20 online subscription - AND - 100% of the $20 goes to help an organization of your choice. Pretty incredible!

From founder Ben Goldhirsh, "While so much of today's media is taking up our space, dumbing us down, and impeding our productivity, GOOD exists to add value. Through a print magazine, feature and documentary films, original multimedia content and local events, GOOD is providing a platform for the ideas, people, and businesses that are driving change in the world."

goodmagazine.com