The art of wallpaper design has been experiencing a Renaissance of sorts lately with the release of everything from designs that use sustainable materials and production techniques to recyclable 3D designs, designs made with light sensitive paper, and DIY recycled wallpaper kits. Adding yet another twist to the story, Swedish designer Camilla Diedrich has created her Nature Ray Charles Wallpaper, a selection of stunning, luminescent wallpaper that is lit by fiber optics.

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Considering the fact that the average person produces 4.5 pounds of waste per day according to the EPA, we would be remiss not to address the question of household waste in our exploration of what it takes to make a green home. Thanks to more widespread public and private recycling programs and increased consumer awareness, Americans are definitely learning to tighten their ‘waste-line,’ but we still produce a phenomenal amount of garbage on a daily basis. Before we can talk about reducing, re-using and re-cycling, Green Home 101 needs to talk trash.

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Tags: green, home, design, sustainable, waste, reduction, recycling, reuse, management, efficiency, trash, garbage

Outside of Rio de Janeiro, on a beautiful little beach with amazing blue water, sits a little house with a flowering roof that shades and protects like a big tropical banana leaf. Designed by Mareines + Patalano, the open air abode is meant to encourage interaction and connection between man and nature. With verandas and open spaces in between rooms and no corridors, the tropical beach house is an ideal place for social gatherings and parties. The open layout also takes advantage of trade winds that blow in from the sea, providing natural ventilation and passive cooling.

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Recently St. Lucie County in Florida announced that it has teamed up with Geoplasma to develop the United States’ first plasma gasification plant. The plant will use super-hot 10,000 degree fahrenheit plasma to effectively vaporize 1,500 tons of trash each day, which in turn spins turbines to generate 60MW of electricity - enough to power 50,000 homes! Cutting down on landfill waste while generating energy is a pretty win-win proposition, and the plant will also be able to melt down inorganic materials to be reused for other applications, such as in roadbed and heavy construction.

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This svelte steam powered car was created using salvaged parts (including tea kettles) and is capable of achieving speeds of 170mph! Developed by Edward Montagu and created by a team of graduate students in the University of Southampton, the car will soon attempt to shatter the record for the fastest steam powered vehicle in the world - previously set in 1906.

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Barack Obama’s election to the presidency wasn’t the only sustainable choice on the ballot last Tuesday. Californians voted in favor of an 800 mile high speed train system that will stop in every major city from Sacramento to San Diego. According to the High Speed Rail Authority, California is the 12th largest source of greenhouse gas emission on earth, 41% of which come from transportation. Traveling at 220 miles per hour, the trains will reduce greenhouse gases by up to 12.7 billion pounds annually, the equivalent of removing 1 million cars from the road each year. Set to begin construction as early as 2011, California’s high speed rail will create 450,000 new jobs and reduce dependence on foreign oil by 12 million barrels a year.

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No one would dare accuse inventor extraordinaire Dean Kamen of resting on his laurels. Best known as the creator of the Segway, Dean has decied to tackle an incredible challenge for his next project, an electric hybrid that is capable of utilizing any fuel and with practically zero emissions. The 2008 Deka Revolt consists of a Think car upgraded with a stirling engine that increases the vehicle’s efficiency and allows it to run on any fuel from biodiesel to natural gas.

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Kim Gu-Han’s Helios concept car is unusual to say the least. Resembling some sort of frill necked lizard, the electric off-road vehicle has the unique ability to spread its solar panel wings to soak up the sun’s energy. While in motion, the Helios is a sleek electric vehicle that is powered by solar energy, and when at rest it deploys a rather cool-looking fan that can absorb and store energy to power your house. Now that’s what we call inspired by nature!

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Anyone who has ever spent an afternoon mowing lawns knows the downsides of the job: walking in monotonous straight lines with the filthy emissions of a two-stroke engine in their face, and a subway’s worth of noise to contend with. Enter Husqvarna’s Automower, a solar-powered, zero-emission lawn-Roomba that offers an attractive (albeit pricy) replacement.

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Recently New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed that NYC begin charging shoppers 6 cents for each plastic bag issued at the register. The policy is the latest attempt by the city to go green and reduce its environmental footprint, and it comes several months after Ireland introduced a similar tax that cut the use of plastic bags by 94%.

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