How cool is this concept? People suddenly want to throw away their garbage – not to metion everyone else’s – just to hear that satisfying crash at the bottom of the bin. Maybe if our light switches were rigged to continuously stream clips of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,’” we’d be a little more inclined to turn them off. Eco-innovation at its finest! (more…)

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Did you know that building a “too small” house is actually illegal in many states? People want to downsize mortgage payments, minimize their carbon footprint and live the tiny house lifestyle, but there are still some difficult regulations in place. Once they do make the switch, however, the tiny homes are above-board in cost, efficiency and environmentalism.

A Little Background on Small Housing

Jay Shafer, a small-living expert and owner of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, believes that the policies against small dwellings were endorsed and pushed by the housing and banking industries to increase profits. The result? A trail of unsightly McMansions, construction waste, higher CO2 emissions, and more recently, an exorbitant real estate market. Concerned about the environment, Jay downsized to his 89-square-foot hand-built California home, smaller than some people’s closets, where he lives happily today. (more…)

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What began as a father/daughter project ended up the $75,000 winner of the Financial Times Climate Change Challenge. Inventor John Bohmer assembled the Kyoto Box, a $5 eco-oven designed to help combat global warming and world hunger. This small solar-powered oven is made from two cardboard boxes, an acrylic cover that allows in and traps the sun’s rays, and black paint and tin foil that help concentrate the heat. The oven cooks casseroles, bakes bread and boils water.

Mass production of the Kyoto Box could drastically improve life for rural Africa, where food is often cooked exclusively over log fire. It’s estimated that about 3 billion people worldwide still cut down trees for firewood. That decrease in deforestation is essential to combat global warming. “This took me about a weekend, and it worked on the first try,” Bohmer said. “It’s mind-boggling how simple it is.” (more…)

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