Groundbreaking Sustainable Living Space

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Gizmodo featured an article this morning that caught our immediate attention – a walk-through of a 350 square foot apartment that’s been customized to fold and expand into up to eight different rooms. To boot, the apartment’s owner is the founder of treehugger.com.

The reason this landed to well with us is the obviousness of how innovative apartment designs such as this one is the shift in direction we should be going to secure a sustainable future. Not only does the space serve multiple uses in such a confined space, but the ability to do so may be exactly the innovative construction method required to prevent future housing shortage crises.

Maximizing this amount of space is not only effective for the inhabitant, but for the rest of the building, as if each apartment were optimized in such a manner it would be startling how much smaller the building would in fact need to be. In other words, we should consider this method in order to improve the number of apartments that are able to be developed within new buildings as large expansive spaces become a thing of the past…maybe.

Obviously there will always be a market for more outlandish properties. However, if the option were readily available to optimize a living space in the same way as the apartment in the video below, it wouldn’t be surprising if there were a positive shift towards this design alternative in order to save money on square footage, and to take full advantage of every inch.

GIZMODO – The Tiny Transforming Apartment That Packs Eight Rooms into 350 Square Feet from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

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image courtesy of Gizmodo.

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A New Year For Sustainability

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Headed into 2013, there’s a seemingly increased incentive on behalf of some large companies to improve their sustainable policies and pushing harder on recycling materials.

For instance, Starbucks has announced that this coming Thursday, $1 re-usable plastic cups will be available to consumers at their cafe’s. Being largely responsible for unfathomable amounts of paper cup waste, this is most certainly a step in the right direction to encourage sustainable behaviour amongst the organization, and more importantly their consumer base. Looks like Starbucks is taking a page out of our book and making an effort to #gopaperless headed into 2013 in order to earn their keep in the battle against the current climate disaster, which seems to get shakier every day.

NASA has also displayed a heightened interest for similar policies, as they have started a space recycling program wherein old parts are being recycled in space to develop new materials. Another step in the right direction headed into a fresh year.

Construction has taken a step in the right direction already this year with a slight shove from some bright minds. For instance, the following office building was built using predominantly shipping containers…brilliant. Instead of creating a need for new materials, encouraged re-usability of existing resources is where developments need to be aimed in order to prevent a mass exhaustion of resources, while conveniently displacing most likely unused materials and giving them new purpose; a recipe for a brighter future.


© Playz Architects/ Bartosz Kolonko via TreeHugger

Any other inspiring environmental efforts being put forth? Let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear from you, so don’t be shy.

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image courtesy of epSos.de

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Batteries Take A Step In The Right Direction

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Literally. Doubtful? Don’t be.

Apple has in fact recently patented movement-powered charging technology. (Now in English) Apple has patented technology that will potentially provide future iPhone owners with the ability to charge their phone simply by walking with their device in their pocket. Pretty cool stuff isn’t it?

Not only this, but new research developments have actually led to the discovery of a longer-lasting and ultra low-cost battery made with water and blue dye…which seems even more far-fetched from the previous statement. But with these in mind, imagine the future possibilities of these technologies…or even if they were fused together into an ultimate hybrid battery that could potentially be used in all mobile devices. Now there’s some food for thought.

The breakthroughs we’re seeing scream one thing: sustainability. Not only do these advances contribute to sustainable technology in the sense of waste-prevention, but in preservation of resources and new explorations into alternatives to develop a sustainable future through battery and alternative technology.

These steps are taking cleantech in the right direction and showing us that batteries are a future energy force that’s not to be reckoned with. Even vehicles are slowly making the switch from fuel to battery-powered engines, proving the imminent role battery power is to play heading into the development of a world with cleaner technology and cleaner air.

Heading into 2013 it’s no mystery that we’re bound to see some leaps forward in sustainable methods, so stay tuned to our Twitter account to be on top of the latest and greatest in cleantech, environmental news, real estate, and much more.

image courtesy of scalespeeder

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Climate Change Is Killing You Too

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Those still unconvinced of the potential detriment we are about to bring upon ourselves by forcing hands to participate in an economic structure that will eventually dissipate is damning not only society’s financial structure, but the future of employment, and most importantly, the health of those involved, and those who aren’t.

Economics aside, the risk that the fossil fuel industry poses for employment is quite great, with seemingly little regard for the future of the industry and its employees. Currently, a monolithic number of citizens are employed across the globe (for very appealing wages) because of the oil industry, creating an influx of employees and industry -a ‘bubble’, if you will. When we look at the future complications of said system, it screams disaster. Not only will the entire industry collapse once the Earth meets its end for oil output, but in one foul swoop, we will single-handedly cripple a global workforce leaving them with no future employment or direction. Furthering the exploration of clean-tech could provide an employable future workforce (one that has no literal end in sight), while bettering the conditions of the planet, progressing industry, expanding economic paradigms…Sound like a no-brainer?!

Renewable and sustainable methods are the way of the future, not only for environmental reasons, but social ones. Through the progression of sustainable methods and technologies, we can provide a potentially infinite supply of employment, while contributing to the well-needed recovery of Earth; not to mention we can cease to emit chemicals in the air that are harming individuals worldwide, whether it be through water pollution, contamination of clean air, or various other atrocities derived through the process of fossil fuel extraction.

 

image courtesy of Valerie Everett

 

 

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Begging for Climate Change

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We need climate change. Not the terrorist war on clean air that’s currently happening; what we need is a climate regression – a divergent spectrum from the life-sucking Earth-killing thing that we’ve got going on. We’re talking about bringing back the days where the possibility of breathing clean air still existed alongside a guaranteed future for humanity, rather than continuing our saunter up the apocalyptic death trail into the woods of despair.

Public opinion of climate change is skyrocketing in the right direction. Now the only problem is swaying the Suits to take action on the matter. One of the main issues surrounding this is that of our global economic dependency on a system that cyclically destroys the planet – big oil. In an important talk by Kevin Anderson, Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the Tyndall Center, University of Manchester, Anderson stated that when looking at the emissions impact the fossil-fuel industry is having on the planet, we cannot afford to pursue the growth-at-all-costs model of economic development any longer.

Yes, people are getting rich from stripping and beating Earth down to the last shred of fight it’s got left in it, while the rest of us sit here broke and complaining about it. But, never fear, it seems that hope is on the horizon…sort of.

Though no major shifts have taken place yet, concerns have reached as far up as the UN, who yesterday declared it the responsibility of the world’s richest nations to come to a conclusion about a global climate pact by the year 2015 – a deadline that “must be met” as said by the head of the United Nations. Even countries like Qatar, which happens to be very rich in oil, are starting to wake up. The first protest this country has ever had was regarding action on climate change. Judging by this literally being the country’s first public protest, there is obviously a growing concern worldwide on the matter of climate change. And not only that, but the people are talking about it.

Public opinion is the only wave that can counter the monolithic tsunami of economically-driven destruction headed Earth’s way. By educating those around us, and those around you, we can band together and shift policy regarding climate change in a very strong way… It’s just a matter of persistence now.

For more environmental and real estate news, be sure to follow us on Twitter @enviromint.

 

image courtesy of Timm Suess

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Laying the Foundation for Cleantech

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Cleantech is a blanket term used by many to describe technologies related to furthering the sustainability of industry while preserving Earth’s life span. A recent Gigaom interview with a panel of cleantech investors unveiled a unique concept.

A comparison between the internet in it’s early days and cleantech in the sense that, much how the foundation for the internet was laid out by year 2000, the foundation for cleantech has been laid. The road has essentially been paved to allow cleantech to transition from a new technological concept, and into its potential to become an expansive industry – much like the internet.

Cleantech companies are emerging more and more, with innovative ideas, and brilliant advancements, which will not only benefit the planet, but its inhabitants. Now, the question is whether or not cleantech, now that it’s grasped its bearings, will be permitted the opportunity to expand in the same way the internet did. Unfortunately, the comparison with the internet is lackluster in this sense, as the internet did not suffer from massive inhibitions like cleantech does, such as the colossal oil and gas industry.

The foundation has most certainly been laid, however with restrictive paradigms surrounding this regime, there’s no real way to tell whether or not its implementation to society will go over successfully on the scale required to make a quantifiable change in the environmental crisis we are experiencing; the same crisis that has been caused by the very inhibition placed on cleantech expansion. Ironic, isn’t it?

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image courtesy of Ruben Holthuijsen

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Sustainable Construction – A Future Necessity

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Before it’s too late, many areas in the United States are making serious revisions to their infrastructure’s ability to withstand the augmenting rate of natural disasters, which are presumably directly related to issues of climate change.

Not only are new developments being re-assessed in this light, but current developments as well, such as bridges and highways. This is presumably leading into a new realm of developmental concepts across the board – buildings, bridges, highways, dams, and much more. Given the current nature of climate disasters, we aren’t in the clear, and need to make preparations for when the worst shows up; and at this point, the latter seems inevitable.

The way of the future lies in developing structures designed not only to withstand time, but the elements as well, to prevent the need for re-construction in the event of a natural disaster. This style of construction is a perfect example of sustainable design in both these aspects. Development must achieve levels of sustainability in order to avoid reconstruction after X amount of years, while being developed stronger than ever before. The challenge bar has been set…so now we wait.

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image courtesy of TANAKA Juuyoh

 

 

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Prepare for the Worst

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If Hurricane Sandy has taught us anything, it’s that disaster can strike at any moment in the most unforeseeable and traumatic ways imaginable. Perspective is always provided in moments of crisis; it makes us realize how temperamental our habitation of Earth can be, and that we are always at the mercy of the elements. We seem to lose touch with this concept after being securely located in specific areas for a long time without experiencing any disasters. The ‘It won’t happen to me’ factor is most certainly a prominent one. But if there’s anything we can take away from this experience, it’s that disaster can strike anywhere, at any time, no matter how many times you tell yourself it won’t happen to you specifically. So where do we go from here? Back to the drawing board to assess our ‘worst-case-scenario’ options and plans – the likes of which are probably limited for many of us.

A recent Zillow article highlights the importance of having a ‘backup plan’ or ’emergency fund’ but providing readers with two unique stories from Hurricane Sandy survivors who discuss their experiences during the disaster, and their new-found appreciation for planning for the worst.

The biggest theme derived from this article was the importance of having a savings account or ’emergency fund’ at the ready. No. Matter. What. Whether you’re living inland or coastal, bad things happen to good people. That’s the reality of the climate-disaster we call a planet. We’ve been pushing our limits with nature for quite some time now, and it’s starting to push back.

Be prepared. Nobody likes getting caught up creek without a paddle, or in a storm without a backup plan. As we mentioned in our post ‘Hate To Say We Told You So…‘ climate disasters are increasing at an alarming rate with no signs of relenting the onslaught. To avoid disaster, implement prevention tactics. You just might need them one day.

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image courtesy of 401(K) 2012

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One Page At A Time

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Real estate, according to a recent article, is responsible for the fall of one tree per 17 transactions completed. This may seem like a lot, and it may appear as an overzealous assumption, but rest assured that this is most certainly no exaggeration. Real estate, while putting roofs over peoples’ heads, rapidly destroys potential wildlife habitats and is responsible for a vast amount of paper waste.

Technology’s progressions over the past decade are now sophisticated enough to allow for the replacement of paper resources entirely – so that’s exactly what we did. Digitization of documents has never been easier, so why not take a page out of our book and go paperless? Not only is this an efficient way to refine your business’ efficiency, but to make a conscious social decision to take a stand against the waste created by paper in our industry. With the elimination of paper documents, no longer are the days where sheets and forms go missing, become inaccessible, or need to be mailed. By switching to a digital business model you can refine your business process, access documents from virtually anywhere, distribute and share information instantaneously, while having a rested conscience from taking a personal stand against environmental destruction and paper waste.

For more environmental and real estate news, check us out on Twitter @enviromint.

 

image courtesy of Horia Varlan

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New York Dodged a Bullet…Financially

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Though it may be bitter-sweet, New Yorkers will fortunately not be subject to an even further ‘worst-case-scenario’ in terms of dealing with the aftermath of the notorious Frankenstorm, better known as Hurricane Sandy. According to a recent CNN article insurance claims for hurricane Sandy actually have an up-side…sort of.

Let’s face it, nobody likes paying insurance deductibles, but in this case the deductibles due by New York residents could be far worse, whether you can believe that or not. Typically, hurricane insurance deductibles are weighted as an amount variant between 1% and 5% of your entire property’s value. So, if you had a residence worth $300,000, and you had to pay a %5 deductible, there goes $15,000 of your hard-earned dollars just to get the insurance company involved. However, since Hurricane Sandy did not sustain 74mph winds long enough to be considered a Class 1 hurricane, the above framework doesn’t apply, and instead regular deductibles (generally between $500-$1,000) are all that will be required of New Yorkers.

The situation isn’t great, but (despite the obvious damages and destruction) the outcome, in this sense, could be even worse.

Our thoughts and hearts go out to the Hurricane Sandy victims.

 

image courtesy of david_shankbone

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