America’s vehicles are about to get a little greener. This week, the White House is finalizing rules that will set the first national standard for controlling the country’s car and truck emissions. The new regulations aim to raise vehicles’ fuel economies to an average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, a 42 percent increase from the current average of 25 miles per gallon.
The US Geological Survey has said that California has a 99.7% chance of having a magnitude 6.7 earthquake — or bigger — in the next three decades. University of California , Berkeley Professor and former Architecture Department Chair Mary Comerio says that, “California is probably the best-prepared place in the world,” but there are still preventative measures to be taken
A new washing machine design uses 90 percent less water and reduces utility bills by 30 percent by cleaning clothes with tiny plastic beads. The machine by UK company Xeros Ltd uses 3mm-long nylon beads that can get into all crevices and folds of clothing and absorb stains and dirt. Stephen Burkinshaw, a polymer chemist at Leeds University, discovered that nylon beads at 100 percent humidity could attract stains away from clothing and into the center of the beads, preventing deposition back onto the clothes.
Starting April 5th, 15,000 single-family homes in Los Angeles will be able to earn cash for their trash through the city’s new RecycleBank program. Participating households simply sign up to have their recycling bins outfitted with special ID tags. These bins will then be weighed each time they are collected, and the weight of the recycled goods translates into points which can then be redeemed at a variety of local retailers
Designed by Hufft Projects, the “Bent and Sliced House” puts an innovative idea – bending a home to accommodate the curving slope of the site – into action. In addition to bending the house, slicing and unfolding it in a manner similar to Japanese Origami is introduced to create clerestories allowing opportunities for daylighting and natural ventilation
Examples of climate change’s strange consequences abound. Warmer temperatures may bring about more instances of kidney stones and cause longer allergy seasons
The most efficient solar tech on the market today is the silicon solar cell. There’s just one drawback–implementing the tech costs up to $4 per watt, almost four times the cost of fossil fuel-derived electricity. Luckily, an innovative new production process could completely revolutionize the solar industry.
Spring in New York City is always exciting, but here at Inhabitat it’s not just the weather that gets us going! Spring is packed with tons of great green design events and conferences — like BKLYN Designs and ICFF to name a few. There is a lot to get done in preparation for these exciting events, so we are looking for a new intern to help out our Editorial and Operational teams. As an Inhabitern, you will be given the opportunity to write for the site and will be an important part of a stellar team where, even as an intern, your work is valuable and necessary
Inhabitat readers huffprojects recently wrote in to tell us about this green office complex they designed for their clients R.
