Photo via Chuck4Life.
About a decade ago I received a
Muji waste basket as a birthday gift from a shall-be-unnamed family relative. My first thought was, "So-and-so is giving me a trashcan as a gift? AND it's unassembled?" In typical Muji fashion, the waste basket was just three pieces - a large rectangle of corrugated cardboard, a recycled-plastic bottom, and a plastic ring, all in an IKEA-like
flat pack. After I awkwardly assembled the wastecan, I put it under my desk, sure that it would last only a few weeks. Well....
Are you fed up with having to waste tin foil or plastic food bags to wrap your sandwiches? Or you had enough of carrying bulky plastic containers to get your snacks to work? Well,
BOC’N ROLL, a Spanish design by
MarcaDiferencia, (
VERY similar to
Wrap-N-Mat...) seems to be the solution. It is a reusable food wrapper, meant to pack up snacks like sandwiches, fruit or biscuits and take them to work, school or on a trip without leaving any waste behind.
See video and more information after the jump.
...
Personal Computer Environments
Photo credit to
ifyr
A "green ergonomic office" can refer to several different things. Today, we are looking at salvaging and reusing your current office equipment, rather than purchasing a whole new set. You may think that new and improved "ergonomic" stuff will vastly improve your office performance and comfort, when in truth, it may not be as much improved as you think.
Voodoo Ergonomics
Tony Biafore of
Ergonetics has been in the ergonomic business for 25 years, plus currently contracts with the
U.S. Department of Labor to help with their in-house
ergonomics program. Tony tells us, “There is no such thing as an ergonomic product—it is all in how you use things.”
In other words, a new ergonomic computer mouse used in the same bad position will leave you no better off than the old mouse you’d been using. This is what Tony considers to be the very common misconception of what he likes to call “voodoo ergonomics.” VE is the belief that a product alone can be a fix-all for such office related ailments. Good quality office products can be valuable tools, but you must also know how to use them properly in order to gain the full benefit from them. ...
Photo credit to Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Setting up a green office has less to do with buying high tech ergonomic equipment, and more with using what you already have correctly. Buying less office equipment, means less chance for your old stuff ending up in the landfill somewhere, and quite frankly, no matter what you currently have, it is probably a lot more functional than you may realize. Sometimes the best way to reuse old office equipment, is to have never thrown it away in the first place.
We spoke with one of the foremost experts on
office ergonomics, Tony Biafore, to find out some of the facts of setting up a functional, ergonomic, and healthy office. But before we get to the interview featured in
part 2, I think an introduction is in order of why good office ergonomics is so important, and how it can be achieved using your current office furniture....
Kokuyo Co Ltd has been in the news recently thanks to the creative new look for its office in central Tokyo. With a focus on reducing CO2 emissions and lowering power consumption, the stationary maker introduced LEDs, zoning that reduces the need for lamps, and divided the office into several areas. Such efforts have resulted in a 28% reduction in power consumption by the overall office....
A while back we
did a post that included pictures of a few desks belonging to TreeHuggers around the world, but as usual so many contributors missed their deadlines, what can we say? So now we put them all together so you can see how we work. Some are green (one is made of wheatboard) lots are old (George Nelson shows up a few times) some are IKEA and some barely have it together enough to do more than a board across two filing cupboards. See them all at our
TreeHugger Desk Slideshow. ...
Photo used courtesy of
Vagawi
The U.S. Department of Energy has established that in many cases using an electric space heater in one room is much more efficient that
heating an entire home efficiently with a gas furnace (especially an older unit). With so many space heater options out there, it is not so much a question of using one, but which one to use.
There are a lot of great options out there, so while we can't cover all the great ones, we are going to focus on a few models which have either been praised by online reviews (such as Amazon, Viewpoints, Epinions, etc), Consumer Reports, and/or Good Housekeeping.
We have separated these units out to the more common forms of portable heat. You have your basic convection heater, fan forced convection, oil filled heater, mica panel, and radiant heater. Each of these offer a slightly different means of heat to meet your needs, and we shall describe their pros and cons along with their unique features....
The PAPPA* Phone
It’s likely that nobody asked
Hulger to make a phone for use with Skype out of
sustainable wood. But they did. And the result is an unlikely combo of
Skype, a program that’s one of the most satisfyingly realized visions of the future (who’d have thought watching Star Trek 15 years ago that we’d be able to talk to other people’s video portraits from across the world?), and, well, a
wooden phone. Something seem anachronistic here? You’d think so, but closer you look, the more the wooden
VoIP phone seems to be a winner— the
PAPPA* phone is a sleek, sustainable option that laughs in the face of so-called high tech chic. And laughs greenly. Here’s why.
...
The problem of
phantom power -- the energy used by appliances doing nothing but standing by -- has earned a slew of solutions, of increasing sophistication. New to the list of options is
CheckTap, which won the
Grand Prix of the 2008 International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. CheckTap supports a USB link to your computer, so that the management of all peripherals can be optimized to the needs of the individual user. ...
After recently telling you about a past project by AFH UK, the
Arnica Drying Factory in Romania, we now bring you news of their latest voluntary design scheme that goes on site in London any day now. A multidisciplinary design team has been working with the national charity
FareShare, since May last year, on their new training centre in Bermondsey in London and now the fruits of their labours are soon to put to good use. FareShare works to redistribute surplus food to disadvantaged and vunerable people around the UK. ...
The right desk is an essential part to any green workplace; it has a small footprint, so it doesn't take up too much space; its just the right size to allow you to spread out, without getting cluttered; and it has a place for everything you need, so you can stay organized. And, while the greenest desk is the one you already have, there may come a time where we all need to find a new place to put your
laptop or
desktop computer.
The desks you'll find here are all designed with the environment in mind, whether they employ responsibly-harvested wood, use non-toxic finishes that won't dirty your workspace's air, exercise really great design ideas that just use less stuff, or all of the above. Each is designed for longevity -- whether through super-sturdy materials or easily replaceable parts -- so it's likely that any on the list will be the last one you'll have to buy for a very, very long time. Hit the jump to get started......
Combining a handful of TreeHugger's favorite things,
Bloxes are modular boxes built from flat-packed corrugated cardboard cutouts that can be used for everything from office furniture to modular walls. Inspired by
LEGOs and utilizing some of the lessons you learned in high school geometry, Bloxes earn points for their smart, flat-packing design, modular construction and movability and surprising strength -- you can sit or even stand on the finished product.
...
For telecommuters and self-employed home-office dwellers (not to mention bloggers) who don't have the luxury of a dedicated home office, having a suitable space to work that isn't a desk next to your bed can be tricky. It's important to have space dedicated to work, or at least somewhere to easily stash your stuff if your
dining table or
sofa doubles as your home office.
Straight from Japan, the Trunk Station fills both needs, creating a little half-cube and enough space to work on a computer, store some files and other useful stuff you'll need to get from 9 to 5; when your workday is through, fold it up and roll it away, out of sight and out of mind. Vaguely reminiscent -- and probably more practical -- than the
Design Pod, we aren't sure if we're crazy about the idea of having a home cubicle, but we think there'd be something very satisfying about literally closing up shop at the end of the day. What do you think -- would you work in the Trunk Station? Check out more pics -- what it looks like closed, empty, and few renderings -- after the jump.
::Caina (Japanese) via
::Unpluggd...
Just as
"Smith" the surname has many uses (as the most-employed in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand) as a family name, "Smith" the storage and stool has many uses around the house. Designed to have seven different functions, the utilitarian piece offers bookshelf-like interior storage space, a surface for sitting or use as a tabletop and casters for easy moving between various home and workspace-related uses.
With so many possibilities, it's ultimately up to the user to define what Smith fits best; we think it'd work pretty well for a handful of different things, and can probably be the
less to your current more. Available at
Nova68 via
::Better Living Through Design...
Bloggers, telecommuters and self-employed home-office dwellers, have we got something for you: the
Design Pod, a complete home office that wraps up in a tidy little pod when not in use. Designed by Australia-based
Andrew Maynard Architects, the sleek, self-contained office-on-wheels unfolds to reveal a chair, desk and storage space; when the clock strikes 5, everything goes back and you can use the pod to set your martini on.
Not for the claustrophobic, and more interesting concept than entirely practical idea, we love the idea that your home office can be so compact and self-contained, and truly be "put away" when you aren't working. Hit the jump to see the pod in various stages of function.
::Andrew Maynard Architects via
::The Design Blog...
Here’s the first in a series of posts about that third of our day spent beavering away at our chosen craft.
[
Verdant: green, lush, rich.
Vocation: calling, life's work, mission, purpose, function; profession, occupation, career, job, employment, trade, business, line, line of work, métier.]
A Green Dentist might :
1. buy
Green Power to run their surgery
2. promote the use of
replaceable head tooth brushes
3.
email customers their invoice rather than printing them
4. advise customers of '
composite resin' as an alternative to mercury-based
amalgam fillings
5. install energy saving compact fluorescent and LED
lighting where
appropriate
6. use
natural ingredient mouthwashes in the surgery
7. employ
low volatile organic compound (VOC) paints when refurbishing surgery and reception rooms
8. advise customers of the
nearest public transport stops or bikeways
9. adhere strictly to government regulations for the
safe disposal of waste mercury
10. have copies of quick-to-read Dr Seuss'
The Lorax in the waiting room.
...
Anyone that sits at a desk or in a chair for part or all of their work knows that what you sit in really matters. Not only does it affect how comfortable and productive you are, but poor seating can have some pretty negative long-term health effects, limiting your ability to earn the green.
The chairs you'll find here are designed to help you feel better at work, not only providing relief to your arching back, but relieving some of the pressure your office puts on the environment. Choose from lots of colors and fabrics to fit your budget and style; since they've all been designed with sustainability in mind -- spanning the spectrum from infinitely adjustable to so smart that it adjusts to you -- each one can make a case for being the last task chair you'll ever have to buy. Hit the jump to start sitting pretty....
Working part or full-time from home can be a
pretty appealing (not to mention green) way to go, but it can be hard to devote precious living space to a full-on home office. Too often, we find that workspace has to be tucked into a corner of a bedroom, or jammed into a living area.
For those of us who work from home but don't have space -- or don't want to maintain an extra room, just for a home office -- we love the idea of this TV/office wall unit. It integrates work and play into one handy device: when you're working, pull up a chair to the fold-down desk; when you're off the clock, the whole things spins around on its single metal leg, making it quick 'n easy to instantly transform the room. We like the "out of sight, out of mind" component something like this would bring your routine; one caveat: no more watching TV while you work...oh well. We think it'd probably be worth it, given this piece's awesome functionality.
::Gruber + Schlager via
::Trendir...
Just what was Belgian designer Bram Boo thinking when he conceived this desk/shelf combination for his Novela collection? Hard to say for sure, but we suspect it was an effort to follow his goal "to produce pieces that constantly surprise the user, with a focus on functionality and flexibility so that the object adapts itself to the surrounding space and to the need of the moment!"
We like its less-is-more/multi-functional aptitude, but what we like more is Boo's challenge to the user: to make it work and to make you think about how you interact with your stuff (and do so more efficiently). So, how would you use this in your home?
::Bram Boo via
::Yanko Design...
Using the ubiquitous shape that just begs to be bent and re-bent, designers Ben Collette and David Wykes have taken something you use at work and turned it in to something that can help you see your work. The aptly named
Paperclip Lamp employs a string of efficient LEDs to create a pretty slick, changeable form; as with the paper accoutrement, you get different functions with different shapes. It's just a prototype for now, as the designers are seeking manufacturing partners; we wouldn't be surprised to see this baby on shelves soon. See a few if the many forms after the jump.
::Paperclip Lamp via
::MoCo Loco...
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the
if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 09.12.09
