You may not believe this but you can get energy from a regular natural tree and have an LED light powered by the tree itself. Theresa Harmanen‘s Alma Tree Lamp is an innovative lighting design concept that takes energy directly from nature without destroying it. Designed to be plugged directly into a tree, this project explores the energy created when a tree “communicates” with its soil. By harvesting and storing this energy, Alma forgoes the need for a grid power source, lighting up the streets while highlighting the beauty of plant life.

How does the tree produce energy?
Trees produce energy in the process of maintaining a PH balance between itself and the soil, and the Alma concept uses this energy through a tree metabolic energy harvesting technology. Storing the energy is done by using long-lived thin-film batteries containing non-hazardous materials, and the harvested energy can be used to power LED lights activated by motion sensors. The individual units can be placed according to the size of the tree….More at Theresa Harmanen’s ALMA Lamp Is Powered by Trees | Inhabitat …

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Samsonite in cooperation with another company created a great new idea product called Micro Luggage. Its a combination of hardshell carry-on bag and scooter. The case from Micro allows you to always get to your flight on time.

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While there are debates on banning plastic bags in groceries, one woman is upcycling them into unique fashionable bags and accesories.

Based outside of Washington, DC in Stafford, Virginia, Tina Dean Designs is owned by Tina Dean Allen. No one will guess that these stylish accessories were once grocery bags. Plastic bags are prepared into plarn (plastic yarn) and hand crocheted into contemporary designs for every woman. A large TDD tote takes a minimum of 100 bags out of our landfills and waterways.

“It’s a wonderful experience to share with the world that plastic can be ‘haute’. My products are not only recyclable, but will likely outlast the user,” says Allen.

In addition to purses and totes, TDD creates kitchen and bath baskets. “My baskets are also great accessories as they are a stylish and conscientious way to organize; and wash like a dream. In that sense, my designs are not limited to the women of the house but are also a wonderful gift for any ‘go-green’ member of the family,” Allen says.

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Relatives wanting to pay respects to loved ones in natural buried grounds are usually given coordinates to locate the deceased. Now in the US, the Hippensteel Funeral Service and Crematory has launched the first RFID tracking system designed to pinpoint the precise place of burial.

Hippensteel Funeral Service and Crematory in Layfette, Indiana is offering the transmitter disks and balls — provided by Memorial Markers — in the casket or grave of anyone buried or cremated at a 1.5 acre natural burial site called The Preserve. Hippensteel is the only company to have carried out eco-burials on the Preserve since 2008, and it is offering the new service free of charge as standard for all its burials on the site. A hand-held reader can be used to locate the marker disks or balls, which are roughly the size of a hockey puck. The readers can detect the markers up to a depth of five feet and will enable family members to find unmarked graves, or graves that have been damaged by natural disasters, weather conditions, or vandalism. It is also believed they will be used by staff when graves become buried in plants and grass.

Although the Daily Mail claims the system is based on GPS technology, the smart marker system in fact uses RF signals to locate the markers. For those in the industry here in the Philippines, inspiration for more natural and eco-friendly burial services?

springwise

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This one is a very nice idea for a sustainable and throwable rain coat. Equilicuá’s Spud Raincoat is made from potato starch and impregnated with seeds, making it fully biodegradable, compostable and suitable for planting.

It’s one thing for a cardboard box to be infused with seeds and designed for planting at the end of its useful life. It’s quite another, however, to see a similar concept in something made from plastic. However, it’s no ordinary plastic used in Equilicuá’s Spud Raincoat — rather, the PVC alternative is made from potato starch and fully biodegradable, compostable and suitable for planting.

Equilicuá’s Spud Raincoat can be reused numerous times, its maker says, since it’s only biodegradable under specific conditions. Available in white with red print, the poncho-style garment is priced at EUR 15. Once the user is done with it, however, the Spud Raincoat can be planted in the ground. Not only is its potato starch-based “Fantastic Bioplastic” fully compostable, but — through a collaboration with La Fundación + árboles — it’s been impregnated with the seeds of various Mediterranean plants and shrubs. For that reason, in fact, Equilicuá currently distributes the raincoat only in the European Union and Mediterranean countries where the seeds are native; coming soon are versions with seeds derived from other parts of the world.

Green innovations are no longer just the reserve of obvious ecological offenders such as those in the automotive industry. No matter what your product or service, there’s no longer any excuse for not doing it greener. This sustainable idea is the ideal way for us here in the Philippines to practice specially for the entrepreneurs.

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A company in the U.S. started an almost plug and play sustainable eco friendly business called CompostNow. With CompostNow you can home compost, without composting at home. Members receive a small bin to keep in your kitchen or on your back porch. Fill it with all you organic waste. This includes all food waste, paper products, and anything else compostable.

As a CompostNow member, you are entitled to receive the final results of your composting efforts. Here’s the deal, on average composting yields about %50 of the original weight of waste. In other words, if they’ve collected 100 lbs of waste from you, you are entitled to have up to 50 lbs of nutrient-rich soil delivered right to your doorstep. CompostNow costs $25 for weekly pickups and is only available in Raleigh, North Carolina. Could this work here in the Philippines? This might be the solution to our garbage problem that clogs our drainage which cause flooding.

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Business ideas can come from anything and one man just thought of a great idea using Bernie Madoff’s clothes turned into Iphone covers. Here is the whole story from CNN Money:

If you’ve ever dreamed of turning the tables and taking Bernie Madoff to the cleaners, here’s your chance. John Vaccaro, a New York entrepreneur, is selling iPad covers made from the disgraced financier’s tailored clothes. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison in June, 2009 for swindling billions of dollars from clients in what has been called the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history.

Last November, his clothes and personal possessions were sold at auction sponsored by the U.S. Marshals Service with proceeds going to help those who lost money from his scheme.

One of the bidders at the auction was Vaccaro, 41, who had just launched a new company, frederickjames.com selling eco-friendly customized iPad covers made from cashmere and other fine fabrics. Vaccaro first conceived the idea for his unique covers after purchasing an iPad and searching for a cover that would prove to be both scratch-resistant and fashionable.

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A member-owned supermarket or grocery store is not so common here in the Philippines except for some grocery stores under large cooperatives. But this member-owned supermarket has a different twist that may click here in the Philippines for thrifty Filipinos.

A supermarket is recently launch in London called the People’s Supermarket. Only members can shop at the People’s Supermarket, but they all get a 10 percent discount on prices as well as a say in how the store is run. In exchange, members pay an annual membership fee of GBP 25, and they also pledge to volunteer four hours of their time per month working as store staff. Because the supermarket’s workforce is nearly all volunteers, staff costs are kept low this way — an advantage that can be passed on in lower prices. Any profits that are earned, meanwhile, get put back into the store to bring down prices even further.

Food co-ops are not uncommon in the US, but it’s interesting to see their reemergence in the UK following a bout of unusually tough times. Could this be a great solution for the Filipinos to end poverty in our country…?

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A new kind of adhesive is reported from Gazette-Times, Kaichang Li, a professor of wood science at Oregon State University, receives a dozen calls each day from businesses interested in his laboratory’s latest invention: an inexpensive adhesive made of natural materials.

He said they’re interested in the adhesive’s use of simple, reusable ingredients, including vegetable oil, which keeps costs down.

“If I gave you the recipe, you could cook it in your kitchen at home,” Li said.

Li and his team stumbled upon their discovery while trying to develop an all-natural adhesive that melts at high temperatures but is solid at room temperature, used for cardboard or wood furniture.

They didn’t reach their original goal, but found a pressure-sensitive adhesive – one that requires pressure for use – that can be used on all types of products, from duct tape to sticky notes to labels.

The vegetable oil-based adhesive is posed to make an impact: Li said environmentally friendly adhesives on the market today are expensive, adding that nearly all adhesives are made from petroleum-based chemicals.

“Even if we use up the world’s oil supply, we can still make tape” with this technology, Li said. A great negosyo idea for environment conscious entrepreneurs.

Photo by Gazette-Times.

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