In the past few years, we’ve seen some interesting shifts take place between urban and suburban dwellers. Gas prices have risen and the life of the commuter has gotten to be too expensive for many; massive foreclosures have prompted countless former homeowners to downsize to urban apartments; and a move toward a greener lifestyle has driven a growing segment to move to the inner cities where owning a car isn’t a necessity. So for the first time since their inception, we’re seeing the suburbs becoming the less desirable place to live. But the homes, supermarkets and big box stores are all still out there, languishing in the urban sprawl. What can we do about it? Short of demolishing entire neighborhoods and wasting the space, we can haul out the repair kit and start fixing the suburbs.

Reburbia was an inspiring design competition run by Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat. It called for planners, urban designers, architects and engineers to come up with a way to re-use suburban space in a positive way. All of those wasted areas with nothing in them (many part of the original suburban design), all of those big box stores with their massive parking lots, and all of those McMansions with their ridiculous array of way-too-many bathrooms and wasted yard space would be repurposed into something useful and beautiful – something that would serve future generations of Earthlings. These are the four winners of the Reburbia competition.

First prize went to designer Calvin Chiu for his project Frog’s Dream. He envisioned turning abandoned suburban neighborhoods into wetlands and natural water processing centers for nearby urban centers. A natural population of plants, algae and bacteria would purify the water that would then be transported to the closest city. While it may not be the most immediately do-able idea, it does demonstrate just one of the many ways that we can start transforming deserted suburbia into part of a new and improved urban support system.

Entrepreneurbia, the entry from Urban Nature, F&S Design Studio, Silverlion Design, took second place in the competition. It’s less a model than it is a simple, common-sense suggestion: change rigid suburban zoning laws to allow for more constructive use of the space. The entry suggests that when living, eating, shopping and working spaces are no longer segregated, these formerly suburban areas become self-sustaining communities. Residents wouldn’t need cars because everything is within walking distance, but public transportation would exist to carry them into urban centers when needed. Forward-thinking business owners would be drawn to these promising new areas. Overall, suburbs that used to be sterile and boring would become vibrant, independent cultural centers.

Forrest Fulton took third place with his proposal, Big Box Agriculture: A Productive Suburb. The idea is a somewhat radical one: take supermarkets away from being resellers of food to being producers of food. According to the designer, as suburban businesses close their doors for good there will be a growing number of empty buildings, lots and parking areas going unused. Fulton suggests that we reuse those areas to grow sustainable crops: container farms can be built right on top of the asphalt, the interior of the stores can double as restaurants and greenhouses, and customers can pick their own produce. Customers would even have the option to bring their harvest right into the store to an on-site chef and enjoy one of the freshest meals they’ve ever had. Putting the food production in suburbia reuses the land wisely, drastically cuts down on food transportation costs, and as a result of both lowers the cost of food.

The Urban Sprawl Repair Kit from Galina Tahchieva took the special People’s Choice Award, and for good reason. Her thoughtful, practical suggestions are by no means out of reach for today or the future. She suggests making use of the typically wasted wide open spaces that define suburbia, putting homes and office buildings into the vast unused street setbacks and parking areas. She also suggests building onto existing buildings to make the formerly monofunctional space into a multifunctional one, cutting down on the long drives to get anywhere that mar suburban life currently. Even the foreclosed McMansions can be revamped into senior centers and community centers without demolishing any existing buildings or erecting any new ones.

The other entries, though they didn’t take a prize, were all thought-provoking and brilliantly conceived. While they may not all be suitable for immediate (or even eventual) implementation, they do deserve a real, honest look. Projects like the above from Ha Young Ihn and The Miller | Hull Partnership encourage us to think about all of the ways existing buildings and infrastructures can be re-used in a positive way. By turning dead shopping malls and empty big box stores into green markets, community centers, and even suburban farms, we can revitalize faltering areas without making the economic and environmental impact that comes with new construction.

Some of the entries focused less on living and working spaces, and more on energy generation. Proposals from Alan Berger & Case Brown and Joseph De Le Ree showed us that we can exploit existing structures and highways to generate cleaner energy for everyone. By reusing abandoned big box stores as biofuel generators or putting massive wind turbines over heavily-used freeways, we would be giving something back to the environment and to the citizens of the area.

The entries that dealt with housing were perhaps the most inspiring: both where to house people in suburban-turned-urban environments, and what to do with the abandoned foreclosed McMansions that dot the suburban landscape. The two above were incredibly creative in their visions: LivaBlox from Evan Collins proposes re-using existing big box stores (and their cargo containers) as residences, then using the tops of the buildings for urban farms and solar power collection. T-Tree, by Adil Azhiyev & Ivan Kudryavtsev, proposes social housing built on currently unused suburban land. The solution would cut down on energy and living costs; wind mills on the top of each structure would further reduce utility costs.

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(Image via: Matt McGee)

Our relationship to ultraviolet light is an environmental pickle. On the one hand, Westerners chase that perfect Californian tan (while other parts of the world pursue pastier complexions) and flirt with unsightly, permanent sun-damage – and on the other, they plaster themselves with non-biodegradable chemicals that coat the surface of the sea, blocking sunlight and causing mass extinctions. Can’t we change the way we use UV for the better? You bet – as the following two examples show.

(Images via: Josh Spear and SteriPen)

UV plays havoc with our skin because it disrupts living tissue, right down to the DNA level – making it a natural, zero-chemical method of killing viruses and bacteria in places that need to be sterile, such as hospital wards. The World Health Organisation already recommends solar water disinfection as the most effective method of scrubbing toxic organisms out of water supplies – and the makers of SteriPen have taken it further, with a battery-powered UV lightstick you poke into your waterbottle to rid it of nasty gremlins. It’s cheap and portable, and unlike using water purification tablets, SteriPen renders your bottle of mountain springwater bacteria-free without compromising the taste.

(Image via: Yanko Design)

So, UV packs a lethal punch. So how do we feel about putting a low-powered UV lamp in our mouths?

(Images via: Yanko Design)

The Shake Toothbrush, as featured at Yanko Design, powers itself up while you’re brushing your teeth by converting that kinetic energy into an electrical charge. When you’ve finished, you press a button and the energy expends itself through LEDs houses behind the bristles, drying the brush head, dousing it in UV and killing off any lurking bacteria. Perfectly hygienic! Except – it looks like you can turn that button on while you are holding it, including when the brush is in your mouth, and here is why that has us worried. Great idea…but let’s have the lightshow docking-station only, please?

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OLEDs are like a new type of magical material, self-illuminating and eco-friendly. They are organic and work in a way similar to the bioluminescence that makes a firefly and certain deep sea fish glow. OLEDs can be extremely thin, flexible, varying in shapes, colors and sizes, some are even transparent while providing a lovely ambient glow. The function and creative possibilities of OLEDs in clothing, furniture, jewelry, and art are only as limited as the creator’s imagination. Here are 33 excellent OLED eco-friendly and energy efficient designs, from the super-sly spy to the interactive.

The Future of OLED Lighting

(image credits:GE,GRC blog,printed electronics,random ruckus)

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are a new type of LED where a thin film of organic compounds is used to produce electroluminescence. This means that OLEDs can produce paper-thin lights and displays — even fold-able ones. Can you imagine rolling down your blinds to brighten your room? How about wallpaper with transparent OLED lighting? These are in the early stages of development as well as illuminated outwear such as for firefighters, portable and flexible lamps, and reflectors for bicyclist. These super thin, stretchable and bendable OLEDs are in development to become a part of everyday settings.

Advancing Leaps and Bounds

(image credits:youtube,GRC blog,Gizmag)

In 2008, roll-to-roll processed OLEDs became a reality. Shortly after that, the first ever OLED Christmas tree was displayed by GE. Recently however, there has been yet another leap forward in design, new efficient OLEDs cavities. These new OLEDs are five times as efficient as standard OLEDs and use five times as much light per watt consumed. They are ready to make white light by mixing green, red and blue OLEDs. This new tech could arrive as soon as 2010.

Super Thin TVs

(image credits:OLED Display)

OLED technology delivers a more energy efficient means of utilizing light. It generates by the organic material in the OLED itself instead of a backlight that is always “on”, meaning when they are “off”, they consume no power whatsoever.  Over a year ago, Sony sold 11-inch OLED TVs. It was the first time in the world for such a feat where the super skinny TVs had OLEDs that measured 3mm at the thinnest part! The remote control from the XEL-1 was only 10mm thick. More companies continue to follow suit.

OLED in the Now

(image credits:current,TechFresh,OLED-Info)

Some cool products have recently been released that incorporate OLEDs. The Murakami chair is attached to an OLED light source that is powered by rocking back and forth. But what if you rock during the daytime when it’s light? The OLED lamp senses light or dark and will store the energy you create by rocking in the day, so you will have light at night. Another cool product is from Ennova Direct Corporation who created the world’s first USB flash drive which comes equipped with an OLED display. The retractable USB device has an integrated biometric fingerprint scanner on the interactive OLED display that changes color upon of the success or failure of each finger swipe. Lastly, Visionox has come up with wall art that has decorative OLED-lighting built into the designs.

OLED Lighting Goes Mainstream in 2011

(image credits:OLED-Display)

OLED technology has mainly been used in display applications like TVs, handset products and lighting applications. But OLEDs have a bright future, since the thickness of OLED panels are reaching less than 1mm thick and the flexibility has become more and more limitless. Now their eye-catching illumination and design elements may start to show up in more than products with tight spaces for lighting. The above photos were snapped at in Frankfurt, Germany. These are new lighting and lamp designs.

Tranparent OLEDs

(image credits:OLED-Display)

Transparent OLEDs are coming. Scientists from Philips Research are currently advancing towards the development of transparent OLEDs like the ones pictured above. Philips shared these images of see-through OLEDs as new lighting applications.

OLED Prototypes

(image credits:technabob,OLED-Display)

Philips showed off their latest efforts in OLED lighting at the “100% Design Fair” in London. The prototype hanging lights have an appealing design and OLED illumination. They are made with the consumer in mind, but also promise lower power consumption. Also in the motion-sensitive product range, they have “pebble” decorative lamps. The left bottom two images are more than prototypes and can be purchased in varying shapes and colors from their Lumiblade shop.

lumiblade glow

(image credits:slash gear)

This Reflections mirror automatically dims and brightens squares of OLED light around your refection. Philips has many interesting lighting concepts in their Lumiblade shop where you can purchase an “experience kit”, but this mirror is not yet available.

Read, Wear, Play

(image credits:electric pig,green tech media,design bloom)

E-readers are dropping in prices and incorporate OLEDs in the reading screen. Marvel promises super-fast E-readers and a substantially lower cost to the consumer, so the products in the CES shows will no doubt continue to get cooler and more energy efficient. In the middle, that is OLEDs used as jewelry, a bracelet, a watchband, and a light all-in-one. Leave it to Japan to keep coming up with new OLED uses. Philips unveiled their OLED interactive lighting experience during a Milan Design show. This cool Interactive Light reacts to simple gestures as people move in front of it.

OLED Data Glasses

(image credits:gizmag)

Ah, using OLEDs like you are a super-secret spy is not science fiction anymore. These interactive data eyeglasses are being developed by students at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany. They project an image onto the retina from an OLED micro-display, making the image appear as if it’s a meter in front of the wearer. Unlike other glasses that throw up a static image, these will allow eye-tracking technology so the movement of the eyeball will scroll through information, menus, or move elements about. The glasses are designed to provide information to people wearing them who don’t have their hands free to operate a keyboard or mouse.

Coming in the near future?

(image credits:OLED Design Contest)

In a recent OLED design contest, these a but a few of the winning ideas. On the left is an interactive game for kids that provides multi-sensorial feedbacks stimulating vision, hearing and touch. The middle image is a table lighting application featuring an interesting tri-dimensional representation of the light source. That is more than art pictured on the right. It is a non-conventional solution for time measurement with a clear functional link to traditional hourglass. OLEDs will only continue to become more energy efficient, cheaper, and the usage of OLEDs is only as limited as the creator’s imagination.

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(Image via: Planetary Gear)

Now that Winter is drawing in, we start to appreciate the things taken for granted in the balmier months – such as well-sheltered bus stops. The good news is that the latest designs are more luxurious and more eco-friendly than the soulless gappy cubicles we known so well, as these three designs show.

(Image via: Planetary Gear)

Firstly, the solar-powered Eye-Stop currently being testing in Italy. It is comprised of a dazzling array of interactive screens that let you plan your route, check your e-mail and monitor local air quality. If you want to get updates on the move, you can synchronize your cell-phone with it to receive timetables and updates. As well as the walled & ceilinged version, the Eye-Stop will also come in pole form – which will glow brighter and brighter as the next bus approaches.

(Images via: Keetsa)

For areas with less than ambient environmental conditions, the new bus shelter by Trueform offers air-con (maintained at 20 degrees Celsius whatever the weather), electronic displays and even a washroom. It can be fitted without the need for costly earthworking – and all that techno-wizardry comes courtesy of solar power.

(Images via: Christopher Fennell via EcoFriend)

But if municipalities want to go for a lower-tech green option – what could be more appropriate than recyling buses and turning them into bus stops? Sculptor Christopher Fennell has taken three decommissioned vehicles and turned them into the above shelter in Athens, Georgia, with deliciously retro results. Buses become bus stops – so we have to wonder, is there anything that bus stops can become? Upcyclers, we await your suggestions (in an orderly queue, of course).

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(Image via: Inhabitat)

As world-savingly admirable as wind turbines are…well, they kinda stick out. Putting aside the question of whether the colossal wind-turbines we are growing accustomed to seeing are bad for our health or for local wildlife – they’re definitely bad for the view. In fact they’re as incongruous as lamposts in a field of corn. But maybe we don’t need acres of whirring behemoths – we should just design our homes a little differently. Here are three examples of how we might achieve this.

(Image via: Inhabitat)

Released last year, the Broadstar Aerocam (pictured above and top) is a multi-layered horizontal turbine that follows the wind around at a price translating to less than $1 per watt. Its blades continually adjust to find the optimum pitch to bite into the wind, collecting energy the same way the surface of an aircraft wing collects lift. The Aerocam units can be positioned at points between or atop buildings where the wind is strongest – but unobtrusively, never lifting above the skyline.

(Images via: Cleantechnica)

Taking the idea a step further is the Ridgeblade, a turbine that is part of your roof. The genius of this design is the unit’s length – potentially as long as a traditional sky-high turbine – and the Ridgeblade has already won its designers (the UK’s The Power Collective) a prestigious $750,000 award.

(Image via: Ecofriend)

But why stop at houses? Think of all the bridges, road-signs, walkways, billboards and lamposts out there. Think about the artificially-induced wind of road-traffic – as utilized by this design by Arizona State University – or from the passage of trains or aircraft. If we could work horizontal turbines into our existing structures in such a way that they’re out of sight and out of mind, then could we meet our energy needs while keeping our treasured natural views…and bequeath the sky to the next generation?

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(Images via:  YLighting)

Are we making the most of the creative possibilies of LEDs? From the fan-cooled SoL R38 to the coolant-filled 360 Degree Light, the shape of the next generation of home LED lighting is looking decidedly familiar. Maybe that is to be expected, considering the green, practical need to fit all those screw and bayonet fittings in existing lamp designs – but are we missing a chance to rethink our lighting needs and come up with something neater, energy-thriftier and much more fun? Take the Abyss table lamp – like a corkscrewing paper sculpture (or if you want to be less kind, a length of glowing intestine), it can be bent into exactly the shape you require.

(Images via:  Technabob)

Or the Fragile Future 2 wall-lamp, an ivy-like sprawl of square-edged modular “circuitry” (you can assemble it to fit your wall-space), set with lamps that shine like dandelion heads? This dazzling effect is achieved in the most obvious way possible – by surrounding LEDs with dandelion seeds!

(Images via:  3rings)

Or how about hiding your lighting away in the walls? The appropriately-named Torn Lighting pretends that your wallpaper is hiding a brightly glowing wall, by hiding an LED behind a tailored, faked rip in the fabric. (This would also work nicely with furniture). Those who had nightmares after watching Poltergeist may wish to sit this one out.

(Images via:  Pieke Bergmans)

But for sheer irreverent cheek, it is hard to beat the work of Pieke Bergmans. Her Light Blubs (that’s not a typo) poke fun at conventional lighting by being victims of the “Design Virus”, an affliction that makes them sag and drip like candlewax.

(Images via:  Pieke Bergmans)

Crafted individually to suit their surroundings, these Blubs are made from handcrafted crystal inset with LEDs, and therefore at the other end of the scale from mass-produced domestic lighting – but they crack a much-needed grin at our obsession with ‘bulb-shaped’ bulbs. Maybe it’s time we joined in the fun.

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Solar energy may seem freely available to anyone with the right tools to collect it, but there is still a price we have to pay – and it is geography. Researchers may be pushing solar cells technology to ever greater levels of efficiency, but even the current leader in the field captures less than half of the sunlight reaching it. To gather practical amounts of power, solar panels still need a huge surface area – so, still no good for our favorite modes of personal transportation? Not so, say these three cutting-edge vehicle designs.

(Images via: Gizmodo)

Problem: as you drive your panel-studded car around, your angle in relation to the sun changes and your solar cells fail to fulfil their (modest) potential. Solution? Change the shape of your car. The BMW Lovos concept car may look like it lost a fight with a combine harvester, but in fact all those metal plates are individual solar panels that independently rotate to capture the maximum possible sunlight, and even double as airbrakes. (Presumably they would require a lot of power – well, you see the problem).

(Images via: TechFresh)

Or you could stick to a more conventional design by flattening your vehicle and sweeping your solar panel in an unbroken arc over the top of it, as with the Quaranta from Italdesign Giugiaro. It looks gorgeous, but it is still a long way from being an electric car – that huge panel only collects enough juice to charge the battery and feed the onboard electronics. Under the bonnet the Quaranta is a cutting-edge 4WD 268-horsepower hybrid.

(Image via: Autoblog Green)

No, the designers of the SunRed solar powered motorbike do not expect you to squint through a tiny window as you gun your wheels down the road. The clamshell cover only opens out fully when the bike is at rest, providing an impressive 3 square metres of solar panelling. Nice idea if married with a bigger battery (this concept design only stores enough power to propel you 13 miles) and it focuses on the longest part of a vehicle’s life, the time it is at rest. So how about a design that blends all three of these innovations – and would it make garages a thing of the past?

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Regular readers of both WebEcoist and WebUrbanist are going to get a double-dose introduction today to the newly-launched Gajitz dot com, a fresh site from the founder of Webist Media. Ecoist fans are familiar with the timeless lists on far-reaching topics that are at the heart of this site. Gajitz, like Dornob (its sibling site focused on design), takes a bit of a different approach, covering more of the latest and greatest discoveries and inventions as well as creative transportation and world-changing vintage and retro tech.

In short: Gajitz brings you most sensational, educational and inspirational content featuring the past, present and future of gadgets, science and technology – from history-shaping photo-edits of centuries gone by to a just-discovered cure for color blindness to self-driving concept cars, space elevators and teleportation devices of the not-too-distant future.

The new site will feature two familiar faces/names: Kurt (often known simply as Urbanist or Ecoist on each of the two Webist sites) and Delana (a long-term veteran author and editor on both sites as well). Like its sibling site Dornob | Design Ideas Daily, Gajitz will be updated multiple times a day with relevant targeted articles on specific subjects – you will be able to sign up for the main site feed as well as following particular topics via main categories and category feeds: Gadgets, Science, Technology, Transportation, Vintage & Retro.

Any time we have news related to new projects within or outside of Webist Media, it is always essential to note how indebted these sites are to the core authors including Angel, Chris, Delana, Mike, Stephanie and Steve, who make this weird and wacky website work Click here to check out Gajitz, and be sure to follow up on Twitter, friend us on Facebook, subscribe to the new RSS feed and spread the word around the interwebs however else you wish. Once again, thanks for reading, sharing your thoughts and lending your support all along the way – you are what keeps us going!

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(Image via: Zedomax)

In our search for the best way to array our new-fangled solar paneling, we’re going back to the oldest design of all. A few years ago the solar tree was little more than a stylish concept drawing, as with the above gadget-charging proposal…

(Images via: Metaefficient)

…but now you can find solar trees lining streets. Artificial trees are making headlines for other reasons, but the variety featured above are designed to light our sidewalks, not scrub the air. With luck these are the shape of Northern European streetlights to come – by day trapping the energy from sunlight, and by night expending it downwards using directed LED lighting. For anyone having problems with the phrases “Northern Europe” and “sunlight” occupying the same sentence, the lighting allegedly stores enough during one full day of sunshine to be able to illuminate for four nights running. Efficiency? Getting street lighting off the grid will reduce European electricity demand by a whopping 10%.

(Images via: Yanko Design and EcoTech Daily)

But we can all join in the fun. If you want to charge your favorite gadgets while you hit the surf, stick the Solar-Tree in the sand, hook everything up, and away you go. The device promises to fit every conceivable gadget. Top marks for the idea – but we have questions. Exactly how much energy can you collect from a panel that size – and how much will it cost in the shops?

(Image via: Inhabitat)

Individual solar trees are all very well – but what happens when we make a forest of them? Designer Neville Mars has developed the idea of a photovoltaic “parking grove” – a place where electric vehicles can tap into a constantly renewing source of energy. The overlapping panels automatically rotate to find the sunlight. Who would believe a car-park could look like that? Stunning. There is only one thing missing, a piece of sustainable, eco-friendly technology that has served our planet well enough for the last few million years – because there is no beating the original.

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The push to create and implement greener energy sources has mostly centered on thermal, hydroelectric, solar and wind power. But innovators are always thinking of ways to produce and/or harness power to fuel our world. UK grocery chain Sainsbury’s has begun using kinetic power from their parking lots to fuel checkout stands in one of their new locations.

The Sainsbury’s in Gloucester, which opened in June 2009, has several kinetic energy plates installed in their parking lot. Each time a car drives over the plates, the motion of the plate creates energy. The energy is then stored and sent to the store to provide power to the checkout stations. Sainsburys says that the plates can supply 30 kWh of energy per hour. This type of kinetic energy-gathering isn’t entirely free: it does bump up the fuel consumption of each car a very small amount when driving over the plates. And, of course, since most cars are still fueled with eco-unfriendly fossil fuels, the weekly shopping trip is still hard on the environment if you’re driving there. But if we assume that the kinetic energy plates are being used in place of speed bumps that are frequently found in supermarket parking lots, the energy expended by each car will be the same as it was before.

(image via: Daily Mail)

Highway Energy Systems, the company that designed the kinetic plates for Sainsbury’s, also designed an electro-kinetic road ramp for widespread usage on public streets. They address the question of whether this type of energy costs users money in this way: “The ramp is designed to be situated in parts of the roadway where vehicles are having to slow down, for example on downhill gradients, when approaching traffic lights or roundabouts as well as replacing sleeping policemen and traditional traffic calming measures. In the these situations, the kinetic energy of the car is being dissipated into heat (i.e. through the braking system) anyway; the ramp at this point scavenges a degree of kinetic energy as the car passes over it, but this is far less than is lost through other mechanisms.”

Sainsbury’s expects that the kinetic energy plates will have paid for themselves within two years of their inception. The supermarket giant is doing more than just harnessing the energy of passing motorists, however. The Gloucester Quays store also boasts a rainwater collection system that will use rainwater to flush its toilets. The store is equipped with large windows for letting in natural light and decreasing the dependence on artificial lighting, and solar thermal panels will heat the store’s water in the summer.

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