I recently made a trip to the Design Museums Sustainable Futures exhibition, definitely worth a visit.A variety of different sustainable solutions on display, below are some of my favourites:
AIR TREE - ECO BOULEVARD. Spain.
Socially sustainable, environmentally friendly materials and construction methods.
Self-sufficient and can be dismantled.
Consumes only what it can produce.
Project demonstrates how temporary structures can bridge the gap between the built environment and its community, providing greater awareness to sustainable issues.
Addressing sustainability from the standpoint of material and energy consumption, but also in community development.
MASDAR DEVELOPMENT. Abu Dhabi.
City design that aims to be carbon neutral and recycle all of its own waste.
PUMA SHOE PACKAGING
Shoe bag instead of a box which protects the shoe and also means there is no longer the need for a plastic bag at point of sale.
Less material used - weight is reduced during transportation.
8,500 tonnes less paper used.
20 million megajoules of electricity saved.
1 million less litres of fuel oil used.
1 million litres of water saved.
500,000 litres of diesel saved and 450 tonnes of plastic.
Packaging is still aesthetically pleasing.
PUMA T-SHIRT PACKAGING
132 tonnes of plastic saved by switching to a corn starch bag, and by folding the t-shirt 1 extra time.
LIFECYCLE ASSESSMENT
Choice of material can't make a product sustainable on its own.
How the material is applied, function it's aimed to serve, how its lifecycle is considered are all important.
CHANGING HABBITS
http://www.changinghabbits.co.uk
Online programme created to calculate carbon footprint.
Can be used as part of a businesses CSR programme.
A420
A420
www.a420.com
Provides designers with information about how to systematically navigate sustainability issues.
