This one we rather like, since we’re “in” furniture and all. Seems an Los Angeles-based (although their website doesn’t say exactly where in LA) bunch of green-minded folks have taken the idea of recycling to the grave - and back – by retooling 18-gauge steel coffins into couches.
Now before you get your knickers in a total twist, no, these coffins were never, um, used. It’s against the law for funeral directors to resell coffins that have been occupied by a dearly departed. Instead, these coffins were never sold due to minor cosmetic or other defects. Rather than just toss them – or whatever the funeral industry does with un-sellable coffins – the good green folks at CoffinCouches.com purchase them from funeral homes and revamp them.
Speaking of coffins, if you’re worried about leaving a small carbon footprint when you leave the planet, consider the Ecopod , a coffin made from recycled paper. It’s a biodegradable coffin. Which means that as you inside degrade, so does your coffin. And so, in a few years, all that’s left of both you and your final bed is – not much.
Paper not your style? Not to worry – EcoffinsUSA makes biodegradable coffins out of bamboo, willow, even banana.
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( 2.8 / 14 ) 
Seems there’s been quite a lot of hot air..um..news about wind power lately.
This just in (and we’ll call it If a wind turbine turns in Oregon, will the lights go on in Los Angeles?): Southern California Edison recently announced it has signed a two-decade contract with Oregon-based DCE (an affiliate of Caithness Energy) that will provide 909 megawatts of wind power to SCE customers.
(According to the glossary at the California Energy Commission’s Consumer Energy Center, a megawatt has enough “electrical capacity to power 1,000 average California homes.”)
Eventually 303 wind turbines will be installed across 30 square miles in North-Central Oregon by 2012 and, according to an SCE news release on the matter (link above), the project is “expected to generate 2 billion kilowatt-hours per year of renewable energy,
Now that’s a nice breath of fresh air.
Speaking of fresh air, let’s title this one There’s more than one way to float your boat. SkySails, a Hamburg manufacturer of “towing kites”(they look a lot like parachutes ) for cargo ships – and the company claims using them will save a, well, boatload, of fuel as cargo ships travel hither and thither across the globe.
Touting its product as “New Energy for Shipping!” the company says it aims “to reduce fuel consumption of modern shipping by the utilization of environmentally friendly, free-of-charge wind energy.”
And they’re not blowing a lot of hot air, either
(OK, we’ll stop with the bad puns)
Seriously, SkySails in a July news release, reported that a “160 square meter kite generates up to 8 metric tons of tractive force – this approximately corresponds to the thrust of an Airbus A318 turbine engine. Depending on wind conditions, ships in the future shall be able to post fuel savings of between 10% and 35% using this auxiliary propulsion system.”
Let’s breathe deep with that good news!
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( 3.3 / 8 ) There’s a bit of a hullabaloo in the green and sustainable office products world: The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) this fall is going to release it’s first ever standards guide for the production of green furniture!
This, we naturally believe, is wonderful news.
A BIFMA spokesman is quoted in the story as saying
"With the whole green building movement, all of our customers are starting to embrace those things, and specifying them in bid specs, but everybody is doing it differently,”
and
“With no single standard, the void quickly was filling up with rating systems from a variety of sources.”
We get tingly all over just thinking of what progress is being made in green furniture standards, especially when we think of how these new green guideline from the BIFMA mesh nicely with the GREENGUARD Certification manufacturers can earn for their products.
To paraphrase the Beatles, “It’s getting greener all the time.”
******
Bloxes in our future?
This is an old story – came out in March – yet we gotta give a shout out to the manufacturer of cardboard furniture. That’s right, cardboard.
Bloxes, according to their maker are
“....building blocks made of interlocking pieces of corrugated cardboard, folded together. Their unique shape and structure make them exceptionally strong and lightweight — you could build yourself a platform to stand on, and then pick it up and move it wherever you need to.”
The little cardboard cubes can be used to set up an office cubicle, partitions, even a bed (we’ll reserve judgement on its comfort).
We like this idea for three reasons: Creativity. Creativity. Creativity.
Well, OK, four reasons: furniture made from cardboard is more earth friendly and sustainable than furniture made from wood and less toxic.
So we give a huge shout out to the Bloxes folks. Well done!
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( 2.6 / 17 ) Yes, we freely admit it: We’re geeks about sustainable office furniture and buildings.
Some folks get excited about going to the theater. Some go weak in the knees when thinking of heading to Vegas for a long weekend. Bibliophiles hyperventilate at the thought of finding a pristine first edition of their favorite novel. Gourmands salivate over the perfect piece of prime rib.
Us? We go gaga over green building and sustainable design conferences. And, did you know?! Did you hear? There’s a big one coming to San Diego! Just down the freeway from us. Less than 40 miles away!! Practically next door.
It’s called San Diego Green 2008 and will be held at the Westin in the Gaslamp area of downtown San Diego September 17-19.
We are SO there.
Now, we haven’t decided yet if we’re going to have a booth or if we’re just going to walk around and try not to be too fawning over the fact that our heroes, these paragons of green, these masters of sustainability, these...
Wait. Deep cleansing breaths.....
OK. Right. Onward.
Some very highly regarded and respected leaders, designers and architects in the green building and sustainable arena will be there. Swedish architect Anders Nyquist is the keynote speaker and will talk about “Eco-Cycle Design - Eco-Village Approach.” Jerry Yudelson will speak on “The Green Building Revolution,” while Jason McLennan’s speech will focus on “Living Buildings and the Future of Architecture.”
Conference sessions include “Integration of Ecology and Design,” “Zero Energy Building Retrofits: Methods and Associated Barriers,” “Permitting and Incentives for Green Projects,” and more.
So. Much. More.
So if you’re an architect, building owner or manager, contractor, engineer, product manufacturer (or distributor – hello us!) and “others interested in changing the way we build in San Diego,” we hope to see you there.
And if we catch you drooling as you hear about the latest news in LEED and Greenguard certification, don’t worry, we understand.
Totally. Completely. Understand.
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( 3 / 12 ) We haven’t been blogging much about green office design, have we? You’d think we would, being a company with the name of GreenOfficeProjects.com and all. Instead, we’ve been writing about desalination plants, what some other companies are doing in the “green-osphere” (we just made that word up) around San Diego County, and some silly and nifty green “mistakes.”
So with this post, it’s back to the office. More to the point – let’s talk office chairs! (C'mon, you can get excited about office chairs, I know you can.)
Think green and sustainable office chairs must be ugly? Think again.
Take a look at this beauty from designer Zooey Chu. Or this Tamiri Armchair. Or this pretty little non-rolling office armchair, a Tara armchair.
Need small chairs you can easily move around and about? Would you like them to be easy move around and about? The Archer Dolly is for you. Coupled with the armless Archer nesting chair, you’ll be able to whip up a new seating configuration in no time.
Need reception chairs you also can move easily? The Sonic Beam Two Seat Beam/Armless Seat Unit may be just the ticket. It also exudes sleekness and utility.
But what about comfort for my guests? you ask. I like sleek, but what about comfy?
We like the Avenue Armchair. Smooth and glossy, but giving off that “warmth” vibe. Another favorite is the Softcurve. Just imagine your visitors sinking into that leather upholstery. They won’t want to leave (which, we know, could be a good or a bad thing….).
We haven’t forgotten desks and workstations.
Frankly, we’re enamored of this one, the Whitby Workstation I. Makes us think of the best of mid-century style with a touch of the new millennium thrown in.
If understated and elegant is your cup of tea, check out the Correlation Dividers. Law firm? High-end real estate office? Bank? Or any company that wants to exude class, these would do the trick.
Need desks that are simple and clean but with some oomph? Desks that will work for all employees from the CEO on down the corporate ladder? Check out the Adaptabilities A3060DP. Flexible and modern, is how they describe it. And we agree.
OK, office furniture hour is complete.
For now….
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( 3 / 5 ) 
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