Welcome to my personal lawn rightly inside my apartment! Never doubt your own eyes, and I’m not kidding, my lawn is really inside the room rather than outside of it. Why? You need to ask Haiko Cornelissen Architecten, who created the sod-covered aluminum table to bring the outdoorsy experience into city apartments.

It’s extremely funny to have such unique tables to entertain your guests, as they may shout out “wow” the moment they see it. But on the other hand, to take care of the table would cost you much time, to water the grass, to shave the lawn, to provide enough sunshine, and to prevent insects as well… that’s so annoying. Then which will you choose, a Sod-Covered picNYC Table inside room while asks you to do much work, or a picnic in park that costs you merely few time?

Designer: Haiko Cornelissen Architecten

Though claimed “zero waste” or “no waste”, these earthCell batteries actually are not something decomposing completely in the earth and leaving no footprint to the environment. Instead, they’re introducing to us a new way of selling and using batteries: since the used earthCell batteries can be returned to the company where they may get re-used again, the company and consumers would cooperate to reduce the amount of throw-away batteries, and thus to ensure the environmental friendliness. On the other hand, the earthCell features a good performance of rechargeable, as each pre-charged LSD-NiMH battery can last 30-50% longer than alkalines, even in high-power devices.

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Green Mailbox is a wall-mounted mailbox that features a special roof to collect water and irrigate plants automatically. It is a really simple idea but indeed fantastic for those who cares about the environment.

Designer: Marcial Ahsayane

Nature is where we get most things used in daily life, and thus they’re expected to go back to the nature world once they’re not in use. The “To Be Nature Wood Chopstick” is just a good example that turns the waste into valuable things again. When you’re done with the chopsticks, stick its starch end into the ground, and a seed will come out to grow into a green plant gradually. Don’t believe that? Wait for the concept to turn into real product and you can then try it.

Designer: Gyeongwan Koo (Oliver)

【Source】

It is reported that every year about 1.3 billion trees worldwide are used to make various types of paper products and nearly every minute a forest that has the size of a football field is destroyed. So what should we do to protect the trees? Recently a designer Sangbyum Kim has created these Melt Tags to take the place of common paper tags on clothes. It will disappear in water, and more importantly the tag can clean your new clothes too.

Designer: Sangbyum Kim

The U.S. military recently developed a new Solar-powered Tent that uses a-Si thin film solar cells instead of conventional solar panels to produce electricity energy. Its hourly power generation ranges from 800watt to 3000watt, and the larger the tent is, the more energy it offers.

With such interesting leaf shirts on, can we humans become Adam and Eve again and then live in a new Garden of Eden? But that’s just what I thought as I saw these shirts. And designer Dave Rittinger actually aimed to embrace ecological consciousness with these “zero footprint shirts”. So do you have in mind? Share them with us.

Designer: Dave Rittinger

We’ll never suggest you go to a restaurant that is constructed from bamboo for dinner, because no buildings would be much solider and safer than one that is made from concrete. But the Indonesian Bamboo Restaurant is so extraordinary that we would really like you to have a try. Designed by DSA+s, the restaurant is mainly made from bamboo and coupled together with ijuk, which is a rope made from sugar palm fiber. Concrete is also used for  the stair, patio, and house base.

Have you ever realized how much biomass energy you’re wasting when throwing rubbish away? Let the trash bag designed by Ahhaproject tell you something: a full bag of rubbish is sufficient enough to boil 100 cups of tea, recharge cellphones 300 times or drive your car 16 miles. You see, even the trash can still do so many things, isn’t that amazing? Something more amazing is that these new trash bags can not only visualize the amount of energy contained, but leave no prints to the environment as they’re completely biodegradable PLA material.

Designer: Ahhaproject

The refreshing green color of the new tea bag always makes us think of one same word: healthy. And it is indeed something that can lead you a more healthy way of enjoying tea. Made from natural green tea leaves, these new packaging bags will change color to indicate how to correctly make a cup of tea.

Words from the Designers:

“Green tea’s main incredient is catechins. It is safe and stable when in between 60 to 70 degrees celsius. However, if it is heated to a higher temperature and brewed longer, another substance called tannin is released. Tannin is easily combined with catechins as well as other essential substances in our body such as calcium and iron. As a result, tannin prevents our body from absorbing those substances. Therefore, the temperature should be checked properly to truly appreciate the taste of green tea. The best way to drink green tea is when the tea bag is removed after letting it steep for 2 minutes at a temperature of 80 to 90 degrees celsius. ‘Real Green Teabag’ is made from natural green tea leaves so that it can decompose easily. The wrapping does not consist of more than one part so that it can be opened as if it is a folded green tea leaf. in other words, no trees need to be cut down in order to make clean white wrapping paper. The product appeals to our emotions by using leftover green tea leaves after brewing tea.”

Designer: Hyung Gyun Jung, Il Seop So, Han Bi Jung & Jae Young Heo

Will human’s living environment get improved in the future if we build more and more gardens on the buses?! Designed by Marco Castro Cosio, these roof gardens are expected to absorb exhaust gas as the buses move around the city. Whatever the results may follow, we still think that’s  a good try and welcome more and more cities adopting such Green Roofed Buses.

Designer: Marco Castro Cosio

Guess what, the cool jacket is made from vegetable leather that is grown from a vat of green tea! That’s really incredible, but that’s just what the fashion designer Suzanna Lee has created in the “BioCouture” research project based at Central Saint Martin’s College.

Continue reading for a further explanation offered by Suzanna after the jump.

“The process uses a sugary green tea recipe, to which, a bacterial culture is added. It takes about 2-4 weeks to grow a sheet that is thick enough to use. Sheets are then dried down; either shaped over a wooden dress form–like the ghost dress and ruff jacket [images, below]–or sewn together conventionally. Depending on the recipe the material can either feel like paper or–more desirably–like a vegetable leather.

In testing with dyes we found no need for mordant [a substance used for dyeing fabrics] and an incredibly small amount of dye goes a long way so it’s eco-credentials go through the entire process. We also recycle a percentage of the fermentation liquid.”

Designer: Suzanna Lee

Taking the zero-emission vehicles to a new level, more and more automakers are developing vehicles that are powered by pedals, and one of the latest designs is the Human Powered Vehicle by Todd Dawson. It’s a double-duty vehicle, functioning as both a community car and a tradesman’s vehicle, and you can easily shift the vehicle between those two forms by moving and folding the seats in the back. The transformable seats also enable the vehicle to be used in different variants, ranging from a four person vehicle to a single person vehicle.

Designer: Todd Dawson

Who can tell me why the light concept is named as “SolarLight” but actually designed to harvest wind energy for power with its acrylic blades? But whatever, the “SolarLight”  seems like a perfect alternative for the rural parts of the world, where large amounts of wind are available.

Designer: Eon Tae Yoon

We need lamps everywhere, in the rooms, in the cars, in dark streets…Point is that too much fuel has been consumed to power the lamps, and we do need to find some alternatives for coal and electricity. According to a scientific breakthrough made by scientists from Yansei and Stanford university earlier this year, algae can produce electrical current during photosynthesis. So Mike Thompson created a hanging lamp that uses living algae as its power source.

The latro lamp will start to produce energy when placed in the sunshine and filled with carbon dioxide and water.

All the energy produced during the photosynthesis is stored in a battery.

Designer: Mike Thompson

Welcome to World One, the world’s tallest residential tower in the future. It is a 450 meters tall building that will be built on a 17-acre site in Mumbai, India, by Mumbai-based Lodha Developers, New York-based Pei Cobb Free & Partners and Leslie E Robertson Associates. The 117-story skyscraper will include two more towers, 300 exclusive flats, lavish villas and a few duplex suites as well.

The World One is also a sustainable building, featuring 100 percent water harvesting and recycling system, VRV air-conditioning system as well as the use of solar energy, which will cut the energy consumption by over 40 percent. According to Mumbai-based Lodha Developers, the tallest building will be completed by the year 2014, costing about $4.25 million.

Foldable, portable and also durable, the Planet Earth Reusable Shopping Bag is an ideal alternative to the common plastic shopping bags. When folded inside-out into a small ball, the bag looks just like the Earth we’re living on. And by that means, the manufactures aim to call for everybody not to use the plastic bags, in order to protect our earth. Okay, I’ll get one, and you?

Selling Price: $6.99

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Excited about the cool Renault 2010 Sand Jumper? Well, continue reading then, coz the following information is much more exciting.

The vehicle is completely eco-friendly, not only powered by renewable electricity generated from the nano solar paint sprayed on its body, but crafted from recycled PET bottles and other recyclable materials to minimize the pollution.

According to the designers, the vehicle will get fully charged in 8 hours in most cases, or in just 90 minutes with the help of the quick charging mechanism.

Designer: Luis Pedro Fonseca

The future of home decorations has arrived! Try the Glass² tiles and go for a greener life at once. These tiles are made from 99% recycled glass, having no glue or chemicals, and therefore they’re totally environmentally friendly. Heat-resistant, scratch-resistant and easy to fabricate, Glass² would fit in perfect to your living rooms, kitchens, and bathrooms. Also, they can be used for outdoors, since they could be easily cut into different shapes. So in a word, this is really a good step towards tomorrow’s green homes.

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Made from 100% recycled paper, these pencils, with environment protection as the main concept, aims to enlighten the kids to live harmoniously with the nature.

Selling Price: $9.50 AUD（5 Pencils）

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What’s cardboard plus originality? It’s the Cardboard Baggage, which also doubles as a multi-functional rack to keep your shoes, books and other items when reassembled. One would expect it a rigid and fragile container, but the baggage is actually quite elegant and durable. And, the most important thing is that the paper luggage is more eco-friendly than those made from plastic and other materials.

Designer: Chiara Goose

Robert Cannon comes out with a new series of sculptures, something that cleverly present the connection between art and the nature. Apart from home decorations, these creative sculptures also work as garden pots, growing moss on them.

I cannot think of a rational reason why I want the magic straws, and the only reason may be that’s really cool. Made from 100% natural strawberry, vanilla and cocoa powder, the straws will release flavor and dissolve as the milk goes through them, offering you a definitely different way to enjoy the milk. So you like them? Only pay $3.99, you can get one flavor pack that includes 6 straws.

Selling Price: $3.99

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Welcome to the magnificent-looking Aptera Motor. It’s white, it’s cool, it’s powered by electricity and it has three wheels. That’s for real, and the Aptera 2E will hit the market sometime this year. But before you see them in stores, you should firstly get a thorough understanding of them. Executed by a boat builder and a biotechnology engineer, the car focuses on aerodynamics to realize a greater speed and effectiveness. The vehicle also has an electric engine that has the ability to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in less than 10 seconds and reach a top speed of 137km/h.  On the roof, there’s also a solar panel, which is used to run the heat pump. Another point worthy mentioning is the materials used in the interior, which is made from recycled materials and organic dyes to make the Aptera 2E an eco-car. According to the manufactures, they’ll also adopt a plug-in hybrid engine to lower the cost so as to make the motors available to everyone.

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May it have you feel disappointed or not, I’d still like to declare that the ‘Sprout’ Pen is merely a concept from Igor Lobanov before we start the topic. But it’s really a refreshing idea, featuring a housed plant in the bulk. The containment plant lives on the ink, which means you will see the plant inflate and change color from yellow to vibrate green as the pen sits in the inkwell and takes in the ink.

Air Scale is an innovative design by Yasuhiro Akama. The concept is all about telling the users the quality of the air they’re breathing in. According to the amount of pollutants, Air Scale rates the air in three colors: red means ‘dirty’, white indicates ‘normal’ and green means ‘clean’.

Designer: Yasuhiro Akama

Showcased at the Design Museum London, ‘Harvest’ is an installation of chairs and tables made of Gypsophila plant, which has a natural ability to interlock. All the flowers have been put into moulds and freeze-dried for weeks before they’re used to make up the furniture. It will remain on show in The Tank outside the museum until 15 March.

Designer: Asif Khan

Swedish architects Tham & Videgård Hansson Arkitekter have collaborated to bring forward the ‘Tree Hotel’ concept. It is a 4m× 4m × 4m lightweight aluminum shelter built around a tree trunk. Its exterior is covered with mirrored glass, which reflects the surroundings and the sky to make the hotel become a part of the nature. And the interior is all made of plywood. Providing a comfortable environment for two people, each shelter comes with a double bed, a small kitchen and bathroom, a living room and a roof terrace. In case birds fly into the windows, transparent stickers (visible to birds) will be added to the facades. To get into the shelter, you need to use a rope ladder or a rope bridge.

Designer: Tham & Videgård Hansson Arkitekter

Wall lizards are born to live on the wall and so do wall lamps. That’s why these wall lamps here are shaped like wall lizards, with the lampshade as its big head, metal wires as its four legs and the tail. And there’s more! The lamp is also an eco-friendly product as its lampshade is made of cocoa leaves. Unbelievable!

Selling Price: $85

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Made from squid skins, these bottle-shaped cans are possibly the most eco-friendly cans we’ve ever met. If you like them, you can also DIY some at home, too. Firstly, you have to prepare some squids, and stuff them with rice or grain; and then leave them under the sun until they’re totally dried to desired shapes. Hmmm, the rice stored by them also has a squid taste, and that’s really perfect for those who love fishy food.

Natural beauty is an all-pervading presence, and this time, you’ll find it just inside your house. Attach any reminders you need to the metal branch with magnetic leaves, what can you see then? It’s a tree blooming with multiple leaves, as if it is bringing you back to the forest.

Selling Price: $11

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In my opinion, there’s no pot on earth more eco-friendly or nutritious than average soil, oh wait, it is rightly where the plants are originally belongs. And that’s why I really intrigued by Strata Flower Pot. It is no different with normal flower pots except that it still supports the flower even when the flower is planted in the soil. That means, you can smash the Strata Flower Pot and bury it into the soil to supply the plants with needed elements.

Designer: Dessence

As a practical usage of bamboo, the ‘Bamboo Slips For Picnic’ presents the collective wisdom of students from JiangNan University. It is a green collection of spoons, knives and forks, which all come inside a thin sheet. Exactly the type of thing you may need whenever go on a picnic.

Designer: Li Ya, Li Lei, Jiang Xiaofan, Zhai Zhen; Zhang Xiaolei

Well-known for a sustainable use, Nokia has been widely popular all over the world. And the new product, a green phone that features a recyclable use, would make you love Nokia much more. Every part of the new phone is made from recycled Aluminum; A capacitive sensor is built onto the keyboard to simplify the phone; Electronic ink is adopted to display words so as to save more energy. In addition, the phone also uses silver-zinc batteries rather than the regular lithium batteries, to reduce electronic wastes.

Welcome to Seoul and take a walk on the bridge installed with Wind Lamps. Conceived by the designer Kyung Kuk Kim, Wind Lamp is built with LEDs and powered by a specialized wind-harnessing generator that also powers other street lamps. I must say, it’s really a good piece of work, which beautifies the river and the city in an eco-friendly way.

Bamboo is a kind of plant that could adapt to different climates. Generally, it could be harvested every five years, greatly saving the energy input. With the growing shortage of conventional building materials, bamboo is now considered as an ideal replacement of cement and wood. Far more than that, even the bag designers have adopted bamboo as a new material. The ‘Boo Bag’, made of highly sustainable bamboo fabric, is a most popular design during the “Green Life Competition” held in Korea. Not only eco-friendly and energy-saving, the bamboo also doubles a handle for an easy grip when you use the bag.

Seemingly the floor lamp is just a pot of flower, growing elegantly and vigorously. And it is really a good idea to create a natural design by combining lamps with trees, as you may no longer find the electrical equipments inanimate now.

Designer: Caroline Schilling

Solar powered, window AC, obviously these characteristics are not deemed as strong points in the new product “Briz Window Air Conditioner”. Different from others, Briz uses water as a coolant, so that your room will naturally cool down as the water evaporates. And that’s just why Briz is called as a “natural AC”.

Designer: Nari Kim & Pullip Lim

The innovative device is a new kind of floating island that is used to purify the water. Powered by exercise machines, it will begin to work as soon as several exercise machines are operated together. When the so-called “Synchronicity Island” works, it will firstly pump the water into the four tanks, and then start the whole purifying process. What a nice green machine!

Designer: Jakub Szczęsny
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Surprisingly, these ties are made from recycled cassette tape rather than fabric, which means your old walkman can also be sacrificed to the ties. Leaving aside its strange feeling, the tie really provides a perfect way to green products.

Sale Price: $90
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It is the most delicious coffee cup you’ve ever met, huh? I really couldn’t help imaging the wonderful time with it! As a master piece of both green and edible container, the Cookie Cup is sure to sweep the world in the near future. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it!

Designer: Enrique Luis Sardi

OMG, it’s actually a traffic light! That’s really a brilliant idea but hopefully birds wouldn’t take them for their cages. More than that, the cage-like traffic light is both green and cost-effective as it is powered by the Solar Panel on top of the unit. No wonder it’s deemed as an “always green traffic light”. Perfect!

Designer: Cheng-Tsung Feng, Yao-Chieh Lin & Bo-Jin Wang

2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games medals, unveiled recently at Vancouver Olympic village, are claimed to be environment-friendly, super-ellipse medals with undulating surfaces — all firsts in Games history. Except the traditional metallic material, CRT, computer parts, circuit boards and other recycled materials are also used to make these medals, which aims to call for more attention to the ecology business. As the medals are also designed to be “substantial”, they weight between 500 and 576 grams each, among the heaviest medals in Olympic Games history.

Designer: Corrine Hunt & Omer Arbel

Yes, I know the Green Table is not the only way to improve indoor air, but you’re sure to change your opinion after you learn more about it. It virtually features Tillandsias, kinds of “Air Plants” that grow without soil so that the green table is free of insects. Though other plants also absorb CO2 from the air and produce oxygen, the Green Table seems like a fairer deal as it costs less money or concern, right? I’d really buy one, what about you?

Designer: Devon Mingling Wang

Though producers, sellers, users have been encouraged to recycle the packaging materials and containers of the product, white pollution is still a big problem to handle. In that case, what should we do to deal with big amounts of plastic bottles all over the world? It’s time to find new ways to it. Yun Hwan Sung has recently come up with the “Seeds in the Bottle” to surprise us. With seeds stored inside it, you can release them into the bottle, invert the bottle and put into it some necessary fertilizers to change the bottle into a flower pot. What a simple but really green idea!

Designer: Yun Hwan Sung

Fancy that your flowers are rotating regularly in the sunshine for a better growth while you’re still up to your own work. But what can make that come true? The answer is the rotary hanger for plant baskets. Solar-powered, the plant carousel can rotate 360 degrees every half day to ensure your plants a full exposure to sunshine. The hanger can hold up to 27 lbs.

Selling Price: $14.95
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Stereo systems like speakers have certainly brought us with much amusement and convenience, but they do have some defects, for most of them couldn’t work when not connected to the energy source with a power line, let alone they’re usually not green. That’s why Tryi Yeh has come with the “Sunny Song”. Base on the NXT panel technology, the smart flower speaker is eco-friendly enough as it is powered by solar energy. Still, the green speaker can be connected to players with a Bluetooth technology.

PS: NXT, invented by the British NXT company, is a panel technology that is used to create thinner speakers while the bass of which will be weaken.
Designer: Tryi Yeh

What is your favorite when working overtime especially in the late night? Coffee and cigarette, right? Then, what about combining the two things into one? Actually, it has already existed as the ash tray made of used coffee grounds. Except to its green material, the ash tray is designed to absorb the objectionable smell from cigarette ash as well.

Designer: Ryohei Yoshiyuki

Though it’s generally accepted that green is of most important, we cannot break with disposable plates drastically on certain occasions. But please don’t feel depressed, for Andrea Ruggiero has brought us the green disposable plates. When not in use, such plates can be thrown away like Frisbees and become the food for wildlife.

Designer: Andrea Ruggiero

It is really a good creation to call for more people nowadays to think more about “green”. Made in the same shape of those logs, the memo papers remind us of forest protection and energy conservation whenever we use it.