A research team with the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) in Australia is working on a project to integrate energy-generating materials into our clothing. By simply collecting the energy in our movement, vibrations, and friction, our clothing could create enough juice to power up our mobile phone, mp3 player, etc. The Australian Defense Department awarded the team of researchers a $4.4 million grant to deem the technology feasible.

Dr Adam Best, project leader and employee of the CSIRO Energy Technology Division “predicts that the first power shirts - or flexible energy devices- could be developed within five years,” states a Sydney Morning Herald report. Their concept includes the technology of piezoelectrics as the energy generating material. This popularly researched material produces a charge displacement when it is flexed. It naturally occurs in soft chrystalline structures like quartz, and Rochelle salts.

The idea is to develop a fabric woven with piezoelectric material so that any movement on, in, or around your body would stimulate the fiber to generate power. The clothing would be woven with flexible batteries that could act as storage unit series for your devices. The next step is to figure out how to wirelessly transmit that power collected in your t-shirt to your mobile phone without damaging your body due to intense exposure to electro-magnetic fields.

Dr. Best believes that the development of this concept could revolutionize the form and usage of daily appliances. “With printable flexible circuit boards, the day may not be far off when people could make phone calls simply by talking into their collars.”

Interestingly, defense programs and departments are commonly funding projects that develop the potential for remote electrical energy generation. The Australian Defense Department sees this as an opportunity to power “back-to-base” medical monitoring equipment, radios, and other such powered devices used in the field. As it could revolutionize battle in the field, it could also serve as a highly effective tool in field research and remote backpacking trips to power gps devices, emergency radios, data recording and transmittance devices…

There are many similar ideas out there along the lines of energy generating wearables. A collaboration team with members from Michigan Technological University, Arizona State, and NanoSonic, Inc., is developing a backpack with piezoelectric fibers integrated into the straps. Alberto Villarreal, a young San Francisco-based designer, has gained recognition for a concept shoe that harnesses electricity from your step. With the development of these concepts into real products we could be actively moving towards an energy revolution.

Our common perception of a graffiti artist is a vandalistic rebel who works through a free venue to spread his message. Although there are many incredible artists who sprinkle our streets and alleyways with colorful, astonishing work, they don’t expect much respect from the common passerby for the work they do- until recently. The public environment, as it always has been, is a venue for artists and people to speak out. Recently artists have used graffiti (or the notion of graffiti) to stimulate thoughtful movement through our public space by addressing topics such as climate change, pollution, and consumerism.

The UK’s Paul Curtis, also known as the "Moose," and Brazil’s Alexandre Orion are taking a new approach to graffiti to convey a sense of "clean," and to inspire pedestrians to keep it that way. Their cue comes from the "Wash Me" message commonly wiped away from the back of dirty semi trucks. They call this reverse graffiti, and they create their work by removing soot, sludge, carbon from exhaust, etc., from the wall to reveal a message.

Moose generated a message in a transport tunnel that reads "Go Gently" to remind drivers of the impact their cars have on the planet. "Once you do this, you make people confront whether or not they like people cleaning walls or if they really have a problem with personal expression."

Orion created a work in a Sao Paolo transport tunnel; his is a series of skulls that also depicts the impact drivers’ emissions have on the planet. As a result of this project, the transit authority washed the wall to remove the public expression. In reaction, Orion created the same artwork on the other side of the tunnel. This resulted in the transit authority cleaning the entire tunnel on both sides. They then continued to resist the public work by cleaning every transport tunnel in the city. Not such a bad idea on all accounts.

Another artist, Edina Tokodi, recently created a work of green graffiti in Brooklyn, New York. Edina saw the idea of graffiti as an opportunity to stimulate positive green thoughts and encourage city dwellers to resurface their connection to nature. She decided to maintain the venue while changing the medium. Her work consists of moss installations adhered to the wall where spray paint might commonly be seen. Using this much less harmful medium, she creates images such as prancing animals, and uses existing imagery to create trees and objects found in nature. The beauty of this medium is that it can continue to grow. As moss receives water from the air, condensation, and rain, it continues to grow as the artwork remains fixed to its site.

Last night, Thursday, October 18th, at the National Design Awards Gala in New York City was the announcement of the Peoples Design Awards. As part of National Design Week, Copper-Hewitt supports an annual competition where people nominate great design.

Voting has been open to the public online since mid September. As it is too late to cast your vote, it isn’t too late to congratulate the winner and find out what people consider excellence in design. The most exciting part of this year’s ballot is that many of the nominees were for projects geared towards sustainable progress. Social sustainability is one of the most important attributes for the public to consider, our responsibility towards sustainability and global issues shows promise.

Last year the public chose the Katrina Cottage by designer Marianne Cusato. Designed with similar dimensions and attributes to the FEMA homes, this project is the alternative. The 308 square foot cottage is constructed with fiber reinforced cement siding and a metal roof to withstand hurricane force winds. Since the launch of the project it has grown to attract habitants for multiple purposes. The cottage itself isn’t necessarily a sustainable edifice, but as it will live through intense natural forces and sustain its structure over time.

Also, similar to this year’s nomination for the LifeStraw (a $2 straw that purifies water while drinking for those who don’t have access to safe drinking water), the Katrina Cottage highlights the need for alternatives regarding current issues. When these alternatives are designed with sustainability, necessity, and in this case affordability in mind, we get closer to practical solutions and functional design for a sustainable, safe and healthy future.

This year’s winner is TOMS shoes. TOMS shoes is a simple project- with every pair of shoes bought, a pair is donated to a child who doesn’t have any. TOMS mission is to simply make life more comfortable. Currently TOMS is running a pledge to get 50,000 pair of shoes to take over to South Africa on November 1. These shoes will be divvied out to children in need. The shoes are not necessarily constructed with sustainable (recycled, reusable) materials, but the project does indeed socially sustain communities by enabling a more comfortable, and healthy lifestyle.

Other nominees on the ballot this year geared towards social sustainability and massive change were Good Magazine, Design Can Change, and Global Green Efforts in New Orleans. Good Magazine is a new San Francisco based publication highlighting projects geared towards social activism and sustainability. Design Can Change is a global campaign put together by SmashLAB geared towards bringing designers together to fight climate change.

Finally, Global Green was nominated for their work in New Orleans geared towards using the opportunity to rebuild in a way that is more beneficial to the environment and the community. Based on these nominations we can say with confidence that there are a lot of design efforts taking place to improve the condition of our health, safety, relationships and environment. Now it is your turn to participate.

For those of you who travel to foreign cities for conferences, get all fired up throughout the day listening to inspiring talks, and seeing innovative ideas in action, yet then dread the retreat to the seclusion of your double-bed hotel room, don’t fear: an alternative is here. Not only is renting a hotel a pain in the rear, but I frequently experience buyers remorse due to how excessive a whole room to myself feels, not to mention how unsustainable hotels really are. To top it off, hotels are lonely. When I travel alone for an event to meet people, I want to continue meeting them and enjoying their company all day long.

So, for those of us alike who prefer socializing, enjoying the company of others, and connecting with like-minded professionals nationwide, there is a creative and more sustainable hotel alternative for you called Airbed & Breakfast. Two independent designers in San Francisco recently had the idea to rent out extra space in their SOMA loft to provide an opportunity for conference attendees to connect with others off the premise. This October 17-20, a rather large conference is taking place in the bay area called the IDSA World Design Congress. The last time this conference was in the US was 20-something years ago. As a result, designers of all ages from all over the country will be traveling to the city to be a part of this important design weekend. With the theme of the conference being "Connecting," this opportunity is perfectly appropriate.

What these two gentleman realized was that they have a wealth of extra space, extra desks, plenty of kitchen space to cook everyone breakfast, and somehow a stockpile of airbeds. When you put these extra resources together, it makes for a great environment that many travelers could advantage of. This is "something new and different: classier than couchsurfing, and more personable than craigslist — it is an AirBed & Breakfast."

In addition to building a website to advertise the brilliance of this new way to connect people at the conference, the two founders, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, both in their mid to late twenties, wanted to provide an opportunity for others to list their place in order to create a new network of socialization and entrepreneurship at conferences nationwide. On the site is a link tovacancies where prospective residents can browse through and choose their weekend home and office based on location, attributes, ambiance, and other details. The moment that Joe and Brian launched the site (just this past week), the word spread quickly. There are now four different spaces offered on the vacancies link, and one is already sold out.

The brilliance in this idea is not only attractive because it builds relationships and creates a more comfortable living alternative to hotels, but it is far more sustainable. Even the acclaimed "green hotels" are required to use far more resources to maintain a whole room for one individual than an existing home with an added bed. If you think about it, if one is already making coffee in the morning, why not make it for 10?

This Friday is the opening day of the 3rd Solar Decathlon Exhibition. The exhibition takes place on the National Mall in Washington DC from October 12th to 20th. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the competition invites 20 teams from colleges and universities across the United States, Germany, Spain, and Canada to participate. The objective is to “design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.” Students have been working on these projects for up to two years; they build them, then deconstruct their projects to transport them across the country and even across oceans only to put them back together again. Teams arrived in Washington last Wednesday, October 3, and have been assembling their homes to prep for Fridays opening.

Powered entirely by the sun, these high-tech homes that exhibit superior efficiency are “likely to help shape America’s clean energy future,” states a press release from the Department of Energy. The first Solar Decathlon was in 2002. I am partially inspired by this event as my old alma mater, the University of Michigan, competed in the 2005 competition. Although Michigan is not competing this year, many of the students from participating schools and prospective schools took notes on the flaws present in 2005, and went home to improve, reinvent, and discover new technologies for this year’s event.

As a result of seeing the 2005 University of Michigan MISO (Michigan Solar) home, I can tell you that these teams are consciously composed. With students from disciplines ranging from Engineering, Architecture, and Design to Urban Planning andEnvironmental Studies, these projects are guaranteed to be well-conceived. “These solar homes are powerful, comfortable, and stylish. They are relaxed, elegant, wasting neither space nor energy.” Since these projects come from an academic setting, a place where exploring concepts and visions for the future is fostered and encouraged, these homes are creative, innovative, and surprising.

Not only is this an opportunity for students to learn, explore, and experience solar home construction; it is also an occasion for the public to come view the solutions and learn about the best in energy efficiency and home design. If you are in the DC area and have a chance to stop by, the exhibition hosts an entrée of tours, seminars, workshops, and talks by students and professionals. Starting this Friday October 12, the exhibition is open to the public. Next Thursday, October 18 is a day devoted to building industry professionals, and the official awards ceremony is next Friday October 19. Enjoy!

A few weeks ago I wrote an article alerting you to an international activity that took place on September 21 called Park(ing) Day. As predicted, the event, in its third year, was an overall hit. From a little over a dozen parks last year, this year’s international event tallied up 180 parks in 47 cities worldwide. San Francisco, Park(ing) Day’s hometown, accomplished 53 parks and 5 sidewalk plazas, LA boasted 45 parks, and NYC came in 3rd with 25 parks. If this isn’t enough to make your toes tickle, then view the images of participating parks and activities.

This year, the event gained necessary traction to make it recognizable and eventful. People remembered it from the year before, and were less hesitant to step out of their shell and visit with strangers, and many even took the day off or a few hours off to set up their own parks. As a statement of activism, the event stands to highlight how much public municipal space is designated for private vehicular parking. "Why can’t we park a bench instead of a car?" Well, that is exactly what many did.

According to the New York Times, the event’s irony lies in the fact that "This, after all, is the city where people, surrounded by 3,500 pounds of metal, have fought duels over who is entitled to park a 189-inch-long vehicle at 190 inches of curb space." But on National Park(ing) Day, participants are able to forget that, and see parking spaces as something new. Not only do they take a new form but also the scale of the 190 inches is put into a new perspective, and the space is used in a new, interesting, and appreciated way. In a space where one would park a vehicle that on a regular basis only transports a single passenger, up to 10 people can relax and visit.

The most appreciated factor of this day is the community participation. People are encouraged to visit, relax, and enjoy a minute or two of their day. In cities, we are under the impression that we sacrifice living space for more public space. Yet the majority of public space is designated for semi-private or privately owned public space i.e.: restaurants… The amount of city-owned public green space is getting more and more sparse.

So let’s imagine Park(ing) Day 5 years from now. We could transform streets worldwide into ballparks, or networking corridors. What if we could take up a lane on all city roads and designate it for eased foot traffic, or a place to notice your neighbors, catch-up, and sip a cup of coffee while observing the passing of time? Oh how community could grow…

Designer Scott Amron has created a catalogue of conceptual products designed to persuade people to use less energy, or at least think about how many things are plugged into sockets in their homes. The experiment is called "Die Electric," named after the insulating properties of a dielectric material. A dielectric is a substance that is highly resistant to the flow of an electric current. The experiment is about powering down, and rethinking the function of electrical components for purposes other than jacking up the monthly electric bill.

The first set of experiments transforms messy power cords into functional household items: "Shelf" (image above) and "ToothHold." Depending on where the outlets are in your home (usually at a functional reaching level), you now can use this cord to have reachable necessities throughout the home. Whether you are reaching for a toothbrush or a book, your outlets are put to greater use. Thinking beyond common functionality, maybe you can even use this shelf as a seat…

The second set of experiments are nothing but aesthetic wall dressings. Their titles insinuate the additional meaning: "Grow Plug" and "Single Vase AC." These houseplant retrofits cover up tacky wall outlets while adding an element of fresh-cut or freshly-growing nature to the room.

The third, and my personal favorite, is simply titled "Off." This is a light switch hook designed so that the it only functions as a hanger when switched to the "off" position. The switch is still fully functional, but the added bonus encourages you to think about your actual lighting needs.

Designer and experimenter Scott Amron has performed and exhibited a large portfolio of functionality experiments incorporating basic principles of engineering and physics while challenging their common conceptions. One outstanding project among these is called "Brush and Rinse," which won a Best of Category award in this year’s I.D. Annual Design Review, a highly acclaimed annual design competition. Scott has a B.E. in Electrical Engineering, and is a declared freelance electrical engineer, designer, conceptual artist, inventor, and founding principal of Amron Exptl.

Check it out. His products don’t cost you your shiniest penny, and they will provide your houseguests with a challenging surprise.

PowerSEED began as a way to playfully and artistically beautify a Pasadena electric power plant. The art installation was commissioned by the City of Pasadena to increase safety and security in the area while making the industrial construction a little less fierce. Developed by a design duo calling themselves UeBERSEE (German for oversees), PowerSEED is a design/art installation incorporating flower-like stalks with stamen-like solar-powered lights sprouting out the top.

The 30 lights are positioned in clusters that are not so randomly scattered about the site. Each solar light sits atop a 24-meter flexible pole that sways gently in the wind and power plant exhaust. In addition, these freestanding lights double as WIFI-controlled structures. And going even further, to increase the sense of ownership towards the installation, the gentleman from UeBERSEE started an "Adopt a Power Plant Program" in which community members can own a light of choice.

The project was completed in 2006, but the excitement didn’t stop there. The design group received a runner-up position in Metropolis magazine’s Next Generation Design Competition. They also went on to receive a position as a finalist for the 2007 Index Awards, a highly acclaimed award program for projects completed in the previous year. As an extension of the PowerSEED, they also designed sidewalk tile pods. These are sidewalk tiles set right into the walkways, imbedded with solar powered lights to artfully and effectively light a pedestrian’s path. This concept in conjunction with the flower stamen solar lights were entered into these competitions, and received recognition for their simplicity, sustainable community attributes, and playful beauty.

Dedicated to "storytelling by design in the business and cultural realm both," the German design duo (Nikolaus Hafermaas and Boris Von Bormann) has worked with clients such as Mercedes, Motorola, Toyota, Audi, Zurich Financial Services, Nissan, and (as we now know) the City of Pasadena. They designate themselves as ideal partners for ad agencies, design houses that want to expand into the 3d environments realm, narrative spaces, and brand experiences. So for those of you who need to add a little play to your office campus, perhaps you should consider UeBERSEE as your environmental designers to improve the sustainability profile of your company and the aesthetic/emotional reactions towards your work environment.

Nau, a rather new high performance clothing company has the best looking sustainable clothing on the market. Thankfully, they have taken some progressive and responsible steps as a consumer products company to reinvent sustainable fashion, and improve communities.

The all-encompassing Nau design philosophy requires a balance of three criteria: beauty, performance, and sustainability. Many lines seek to meet one objective, but the most interesting consumer products out there are those that seek to improve lives through the balance of multiple objectives. The clothing line is declared "Prada meets high performance wear." With two top designers both coming from high performance corporate companies - Patagonia and Nike - the design is bound to be as effective as possible. “The clothes integrate performance to the point of invisibility, eschewing adornment and clutter for clean functionality.” Appropriate for all environments, urban to wild, the subtle yet stylish clothing is the model of simple and clutter-less design. With perfection in style, design, and performance, Nau has made it clear to us that sustainable fashion can be very sexy, functional, stylish, and effective.

Yet the most interesting point about the company’s practice lies in the materials itself. Nau has developed 24 of the their 32 fabrics in direct partnership with their suppliers ‘in order to design new, more sustainable solutions that blend performance and aesthetic appeal." All 24 fabrics incorporate a high percentage of recycled materials or vegetable-based byproduct. The interesting part is that instead of patenting the material technology and hoarding the secrets, they do much the contrary. Nau boasts this research from the mountaintops in hopes that other fashion lines, furniture designs, etc., will go ahead and incorporate these highly sustainable and aesthetically exquisite fabrics into their designs. This idea is a paradigm shift that encourages the sharing of ideas and resources throughout a community or the world. If we are all working towards the same goal of a healthier planet, why would we withhold resources that exist to help us get there?

The next pillar of responsibility involves customer participation. For every purchase made at a Nau store or online, 5% is donated to a social, environmental, or humanitarian charitable organization of your choice. Through the Partners for Change organization, you can choose to support communities on a local, national, or international scale. "Committed to radically altering the landscape of corporate philanthropy," Partners For Change and Nau have teamed to bring you this unique experience of direct involvement with the decision making process:

By seeking to create a new way of looking at business, we hope to transcend the traditional gap between the for-profit and nonprofit sector. We believe that all businesses have true responsibilities to the communities they affect. By operating in conjunction with our community partners we have the potential to innovate together in service of changing the world for the better.

Last week I wrote an article about the new private “green” labels that electronics companies are tacking on their more energy-efficient products. Some companies are using their own labeling systems; others are employing third-party certifications. After discussing the effect of said third party vs. internal labeling systems, we can begin to ask how deep the environmental awareness of the businesses goes, and how much information do they want us to know about their practices?

Since the green market has become so competitive, companies are beginning to consider additional steps towards total embodied sustainability in order to differentiate themselves and back up their claims. These services are rooted in the marketing and design of the businesses product or service. As a result, the services they employ (graphic designers and marketing firms) can make their product/service more sustainable. The hierarchy of sustainable practices involved in the process of taking a concept to product/service is important, and every consumer should be aware of this.

When a product is designed with sensitivity to its ecological impact, the way it is a marketed will certainly be affected. Hopefully this translates into the physical marketing propaganda as well. The Royal Mail UK, for example, is a certified carbon neutral direct mailing program helping companies to minimize the impact of door-to-door mailing. First, they evaluate the company’s current mailing practice based on certain material criteria such as recycled paper content, origin, inks, paper treatments, packing material, etc. Once the company has met the material standards, they help it select a target audience to reduce overmailing. The company is awarded a green mailing label, to make the consumer aware of the company’s choices and to help the consumer make their own choices. This service requires us to look at the impact of not only our marketing industry, but the practice of graphic design as well.

As a result, many graphic designers are beginning to market their service as sustainable graphic design to businesses that need to convey their personalized message to the public. This graphic design community generally defines these motivations as design for positive change. Since so much of graphic design is the sociology of an ad, they have the opportunity to instill social responsibility towards sustainability. For these designers, there are a slew of services that educate them on sustainable design in order to add depth and breadth to their service. This also promotes a more common understanding of current activity and responsibility within the design community.

The Canadian graphic design firm smashLab started out by seeking simple ways to make their practice more responsible. They ended up with a designer’s resource site to promote positive change through design. Designcanchange.org hosts a list of designer members, a blog spot, and a growing log of research. Through simplifying information yet constantly receiving more, they hope help designers define and communicate our environmental problems in as simple terms as possible.

The AIGA Center for Sustainable Design is a site loaded with case studies and reports that seek to educate the designer about different sustainable business practices, and to equip them with the information to make responsible design decisions. Another resource forum for graphic designers is Design By Nature- an Australian-based source that seeks to educate designers on how they can create change.

With all of these educational resources for designers, we hope that companies will respond by hiring those designers who are actively encouraged by these resources. The next topic is how to educate companies that these graphic designers are working hard to promote positive change and that they exist in the first place. In order to do this we might anticipate a sustainable graphics license such as that achieved by architects through the USGBC for a LEED practice license. Just something to think about…

For you business owners, here are a few links to sustainable graphic design firms and individuals:

Design Archy
Metropolitan Group
CS Design