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Sustainable Industries has launched their 5th annual Top 10 Green Building Products 2010. They will be including the winners in their June 2010 issue and announce them during a live webinar on June 2010. I am nominating products and am a judge. So if you know of important products that are making the world a [...]

When friends who are visiting San Francisco ask for a recommended hotel, I usually have different categories with different criteria and it becomes a matrix of qualities that the particular friend might be most interested in. However, now it is simple. What hotel do I recommend? The Good hotel by Joie de Vivre. The Good Hotel [...]

In Yelapa, Mexico, the Verana resort has built these interesting structures they call The V House. The V-shaped steel structure forms a truss, but also allows these guest rooms sit very lightly on the ground, which is especially important on water-front hillsides. The allow nature to be fairly undisturbed around them, creating a magical treehouse [...]

The Smart Home: Green + Wired reopens today at the Museum of Science + Industry in Chicago. With the help of Midwest Living, the tech geniuses at WIRED magazine, and the amazing MSI team, the home is filled with all new sustainable products, materials and smart systems in this spectacular home that we designed. The earthy [...]

The Smart Home: Green + Wired reopens today at the Museum of Science + Industry in Chicago. With the help of Midwest Living, the tech geniuses at WIRED magazine, and the amazing MSI team, the home is filled with all new sustainable products, materials and smart systems in this spectacular home that we designed. The earthy [...]

Eco-adventurer David de Rothschild and his crew officially unveiled the highly anticipated Plastiki – a sail boat made in part from 12,500 water bottles – recently at Cavallo Point in Fort Baker before heading out on their adventure across the Pacific Ocean. There was a big crowd and a lot of excitement at the event, [...]

  One of the eco-principles we use when designing homes is using eco-materials – materials that are renewable or recyclable. A good example of this is to use glass tiles made of recycled glass. One of my favorite examples of beautiful recycled tile is Maienza-Wilson’s gorgeous house in Montecito (image above and below by Jim Bartsch, [...]

When I was in school, one of my professors would suggest that if you are ever stuck on a design, turn your (printed out) drawing upside down. By looking at it from a new perspective, one’s mind typically would open up to new possibilities. I am reminded of this practice with the Taylor House designed by [...]

During this trip researching eco tropical designs, I’ve found that I am all for conserving energy (it only is available from the small PV solar panels), am willing to take showers outside in the only shower (ok, truth be told, that is a pretty lovely experience), prefer the natural breezes over AC, don’t mind having [...]

Kevin and I have rented a cottage in the Bahamas to be our “base camp” while we do day trips on the boat while I am researching climate-based designs and eco-resorts and homes for a few projects I am working on down here (I will be able to share more on those projects next month). The [...]

Last week at the TED conference, there were many exciting talks and presentations. But none more game changing that this one. This is exactly what the green movement needs: Bill Gates. Watch his 20 minute talk here on “Innovating to Zero”. Having Bill switch his focus to zero carbon is a huge endorsement, and he is [...]

I always enjoy checking out what thoughtful architects in Australia are doing.  In general, they have been ahead of the U.S. in terms of incorporating energy and water saving design elements and systems into their homes. It has been a part of their overall design philosophy for decades. This recent project by CplusC architect’s is [...]

by Kevin Cullen Water is the next Oil. Really? When was the last time you got a look at an ocean? Or at least saw a photo of one. Pretty vast, no? Too bad about all that salt… and affordable desalinization seems decades away, at best. One of the worlds largest aquifers, the Ogallala, located under the Great [...]

As part of an enhancement to it’s Net Energy Metering program, PG&E announced this week that a customer who produces more power than they use, referred to as a “net generator”, will be eligible for reimbursement. The program, part of Bill 920-Huffman- Solar and Wind Generation, approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzengger in late 2009, calls [...]