Want to take camping to a higher level? Tentsile, a UK-based tent company has developed a novel treehouse tent that is bound to attract attention. Slung between three trees, and hanging a yard or two off the ground, this two-person tent feels like something between a shelter, a hammock, and a fine solution for smuggling chocolate into your sleeping bag without worrying about prowling bears.

While wild animals may not be the biggest concern for campers in the Levante area (countries like Israel, Lebanon and Syria) wild bears are still endemic to Iran, and countries like Turkey.

The Tentsile tent for obvious reasons will not work well in desert locations, but is ideal for a novel camp in forests or jungles anywhere. It reminds me of my travelling days to Turkey. I spent two months there one fall, and about 5 days at a treehouse camp in the south.

In the photos below, you can see how it works in Jaffa, Israel where I have installed it between two palm trees and a large jacaranda. My daughter is the model. The pictures show how the tent looks from delivery, all the way to set up. I’ve included an aerial photo as well from the roof of my house.

The Tentsile package arrives by courier:

This two-person tent by Tentsile, called Connect, does just what its name implies. If you and your two friends each buy one you can connect them in a triad forming a larger triangle.

Setting up the Tentsile suspension system between the palms:

Setting up the tent is quite easy, and handily there is a sewn-in instructions page with pictures that are easy to follow. I was missing instructions on how to use the winches to secure the tent to the trees, but after some trial and error and hanging on to the tent with my test weight I figured it out. I had four palm trees I could have worked with, but there was a better triangulation made with a jacaranda tree in the front yard to the side of the house.

An additional fly, not pictured here, will also come in handy during the rainy winter season in the Middle East. It has just started to rain.

Without the fly, the tent looks very unique. It’s definitely a showstopper. With the fly it looks like a strange large spider strung inside the trees.

Here is the Tentsile tent set up at our house in Jaffa 

As someone who has been camping since the age of zero, and buying and setting up tents in the wild forests of Canada, all the way to the jungles of south America and the deserts of the Middle East, this is what I can say about those interested in buying this tent after trying it out:

What I love about the Tentsile Connect

First thing, the egoist in me loves how it looks. You’ll definitely catch a lot of attention with this beauty. Wanted or unwanted. This could be a great solution for art and music festivals where you have to find your tent in a sea of other similar looking tents. The tent could provoke unwanted attention, so be prepared that people might be inclined to tickle your bottom while they walk by.

Hanging out with my daughter in the Tentsile tent:

Again, this is a plus or minus depending on the situation.

If I were a teen or in my early 20s, my inner attention seeker would love to have this in my backpacking tool kit. Coming in at 7.5 kilos, it’s not the lightest 2-man tent in the forest, but worth lugging around on canoe trips or backpacking when not a lot of hiking is involved. Or give it to your boyfriend to carry! He he.

Aerial view of Tentsile from my roof:

If you set it up high enough (you can buy a portable ladder for climbing in), and the space below it forms an instant covering against sun and rain.

In cold climates, using this tent may let you forego using a ground sheet or thermal insulating on the bottom. You’d have to try it out first in cold climates for conformation.

No bottom touching the ground means no leakage when it rains, and the tent preserves vegetation below it. You can quite literally set your tent up above flowerbeds or above a river. Imagine that?

Extra fly material can be draped to form extra canopy.

While I haven’t slept overnight in it yet, the tent cradled me as though I were sleeping in a hammock, a position supposedly good for blood circulation.

In countries where wild animals are a concern, this tent will definitely give you peace of mind, unless you are using it where monkeys, sloths and snakes are endemic. In this case the zippered flies should offer you enough protection.

The design is very sleek and sexy.

Shortcomings of the Tentsile

The tent is obviously very well designed and constructed, and the designers considered the mass issue of a hanging tent that can hold up to 600 kilos. The zippers however seem very delicate. I would consider using them sparingly, and only the ones on the side of the tent, and while one’s weight is centred just so. The zippers do look like they would be easy to replace, if needed.

If you like to toss and turn and zip two sleeping bags together for a snuggle on cold nights then this tent might not be for you. The Connect is made with two distinct sleeping cells, with a seam between them running in the middle.

The weight issue, mainly due to the winches that keep the tent secure to the trees, might be a misgiving for the campers in us who need to pack light for long-haul trips. And relying on trees to connect with may not be a luxury for everyone in every country all the time.

If you sleep lightly, sharing this tent my be a problem if your partner moves a lot at night. The feeling is much the same as sharing a waterbed.

The instructions say not to hang the tent above sharp objects and not higher than 1.5 meters off the ground for safety considerations. Or what would happen if lighting strikes?

The only other shortcoming I see would be privacy issues: if you are using this tent in a public or semi-public space like a camp ground and want to get romantic with your partner. If the tent’s a rocking, don’t come a knocking, we used to say back in the good old days. But this tent would be swinging. Again, it all depends on one’s outlook to these sorts of things.

I personally was very afraid of the so-called hermits that are thought to live throughout Canada’s wild and vast national parks. These are people who go into the park and never come out. Thinking a hermit might be underneath me while I sleep, however unlikely, might affect my peace of mind. A window on the bottom of the tent, like a glass bottom boat might solve the problem or make it even freakier. This fear is canceled out by the fact that no bears would be able to claw open the tent looking for my M&Ms.

Sum up: the Tentsile is a good #2 “alternative” tent for an Alpha male or female outdoorsy sort who wants a little attention, and another way to camp in a little unconventional way. It’s also a great day tent for outings with the family to the forest where you want a space to have a bug free, possibly toddler-free nap, high up in the trees with the wind blowing and the bugs out of your nose. It’s made well and if cared for could last a long time. It would be a great gift item due to its novelty and usefulness.

I love this tent and am looking forward to using it.

Buy your own Tentsile here on the Tentsile website. The tent costs about $500 and it ships for an extra $70, by courier. Accessories like the ladder are extra.

The post Tentsile tent cocoon for palm trees and attention seekers appeared first on Green Prophet.

How AI Is Making Buildings Smart and Intelligent

One of the most important components of smart buildings is AI. Without it, a building can hardly be considered intelligent since, without it, owners and managers would be unable to provide the safest and most comfortable environments possible for their tenants.

In order to collect data from many sources, a building platform needs first to acquire information from the building management system and other smart technologies. One good example is Infogrid. It should then feed this data into an adaptable, scalable cloud-based platform that standardizes the data and saves it safely. However, that does not yet qualify as a smart building.

The actual innovation occurs when using a platform with built-in AI. By integrating and enhancing intelligence throughout a building or estate, these technologies enable better building operation for its occupants. This includes modeling building and equipment performance as well as accounting for data from the building’s systems and outside input like weather or traffic. 

In turn, this enables machine learning to continuously optimize building areas to cut down on energy use and waste.

For instance, energy savings can be achieved by automatically reducing electricity use in low-traffic areas, by watching sensors around a facility, and by making decisions in real-time based on the data. This helps the building’s bottom line and the environment while ensuring that its people are constantly comfortable.

The following are ways in which the use of AI influences the intelligence of buildings.

Realizing smart and sustainable construction goals with AI in buildings

Large amounts of useful data are gathered from every nook and cranny of a structure with the aid of inexpensive, easily accessible, and sophisticated IoT devices. Data collection has the potential to provide managers with useful operational insights for making decisions if it is properly examined and processed. 

AI also plays a big part in turning raw data into usable intelligence. The information acquired would be useless or senseless without this remarkable technology. Building managers may increase asset utilization, increase tenant comfort, and ensure operational efficiency to a greater extent with AI. This is exactly what you get by using Infogrid.

Building maintenance

Everybody wants the areas of their buildings to be hygienic, maintained, and secure. Building managers may guarantee that the buildings are consistently clean and secure by partnering with expert cleaning companies. 

Every nook and cranny of a building can be captured in detail by sensors and cameras. When this data is loaded into an AI tool, it can alert building management to areas that need immediate cleaning, improving the experience for residents.

Management of water

90% of our time is spent indoors. Consider the volume of water we use each day for a variety of uses. An average American household uses 300 gallons of water daily at home, according to a ballpark estimate. Consider how much water is used on a global scale. 

Resources for water are running out. So, it’s crucial to think about how much water we use and take the necessary steps to cut back. Therefore, building managers need to keep a tight eye on how much water each family or office is using. 

However, it is extremely impossible to manually keep track of water usage. Here, AI can be quite helpful.

Parking support

In today’s fast-paced world, parking is a big problem for many. Finding a parking spot might take a significant amount of time when visiting any new location. People would rather not interact with other people unless it is absolutely essential. 

AI may be very important in these situations. Parking lots can be studied using the pressure sensors on the ground and the several cameras nearby. When fed with this information, an AI parking tool will analyze parking spot utilization and provide comprehensive information on vacant spaces. 

Visitors may access detailed information about available parking spaces with just a few taps on their smartphones. In fact, the app will direct users to the proper parking space. Such support will enhance the experience of tourists while also reducing energy use. That is the strength of AI and smart structures.

Detection of Fault

To maintain safety, buildings must be continuously checked for problems and anomalies. Building managers require a committed group of experts to oversee building upkeep in order to do this. 

Nevertheless, depending on how complicated the buildings are, this could turn into a hassle. AI has the capacity to continuously process data from a variety of sources. The AI tool will examine inputs, look for trends, and uncover undiscovered information about any problem or technical issue. 

For instance, sensors and cameras installed in the lift will record data regarding the lift’s operation. An AI tool will then evaluate the data to determine whether the lift is operating properly or is likely to malfunction. Then, proactive corrective measures can be implemented before the lift ceases to work properly.

Occupancy Monitoring

The use of AI helps to build owners track how people use their building. As a result, you, as the building owner gets to create a safer working environment for your staff.  Infogrid is one of the best platforms in the market for the occupancy monitoring system.

Putting AI to use for you

The most crucial factor in smart building technologies is that they function as intended. Every building manager, operations executive, or health and safety officer may connect to the platform and make decisions based on real-time data, which is why AI is such a powerful tool. 

This results from building a scalable cloud platform that assists in monitoring and taking action on anything from HVAC to access control to occupant experience to fire detection. However, anyone can use AI; it’s not just people who are in charge of the building’s operations. 

Nowadays, many smart buildings give their technology to every resident, whether they work in an office, are teachers, CEOs, or nurses. With the touch of a finger, visitors may reserve conference spaces or operating suites, get directions from A to B, or alert maintenance when something is amiss with smartphone apps that are specific to your building or estate.

By implementing the right AI technologies in the right ways, building management firms may be transformed, becoming more aligned with tenant organizations’ businesses, providing the experiences that tenants need and want, and supporting their own operations and financial health. 

In addition, making buildings smarter – or wiser overall – will help us overcome some of our most difficult obstacles, particularly the strict net-zero and sustainability standards that enterprises must now meet.

The post How AI Is Making Buildings Smart and Intelligent appeared first on Green Prophet.

Working with NASA as part of an initiative to design homes fit for space, Iranian architect Nader Khalili conceived the dome home, pictured above, as an affordable, accessible, easy to build, and environmentally sensible housing solution. This works in dry desert climates such as Iran, Israel, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority.

Nader first presented his Superadobe construction method, which involves stuffing bags full of readily available dirt and then stacking them in a circular form. The bags are held together with barbed wire, and then covered with lime plaster. Any holes are filled in with grout.

The resulting homes are so well-insulated, no air-conditioning is necessary in summer, and in winter, the thick walls retain enough heat to keep the interior space comfortably warm

In 1991, Khalili founded the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth), which continues to provide workshops and empower people around the world with these low impact structures.

Related: Nader-Khalili inspired eco resort in Oman wins big accolades from WAF

For SharmsArd, a Palestinian firm that Ahmad Daoud commissioned to build his home in Jericho, building with Earth was an obvious choice that allows them to feel empowered in the context of the nation’s ongoing struggle towards a peaceful unification with their neighbours.

One of the firm’s partners, Danna Massad, expresses their collective desire to operate independently of the foreign aid that so many Palestinians have to rely on to make any kind of respectable living in Palestine.

“I think the Palestinian society is oversaturated with international aid,” she told NPR’s Emily Harris several years back.

“Of course, we’re not the only example of a local business that refuses any kind of aid, but we can see how excited people get … to see how you can actually do something without being dependent.”

Despite some skepticism from his community, Daoud is chuffed with his new home. “It’s an environmentally friendly house,” he told NPR. “I can tear it down and nothing will remain. In the summer, I don’t need air conditioning, and in the winter, I don’t need heat.”

More photos of Super Adobe in Jericho:

Photos of the construction process taken from SharmsArd Facebook Page.

:: NPR

The post Super Adobe by Cal-Tech and Nader Khalili appeared first on Green Prophet.

If your height is taller than average, you might have already faced the issue that not all items used by common people are equally comfortable for you. But what can you do if you work at a PC or do other office work? How can you arrange the workplace in a way to feel comfortable and avoid all the discomfort connected with a too low desk?

The reply is rather on the surface: you can purchase a standing desk or build one.

Buying a ready desk is suitable if you have the needed funds and find a model that you like.

Choose the Desk Correctly

A height-adjustable desk is not a cheap item. To get a desk that will serve you for ages, you need to pay attention to a number of features. There are some details that are decisive if you want to enjoy your new item:

• The stroke length: in your case, it is one of the most crucial features. The desk in both the sitting and standing position shall allow you to work comfortably. You might need a standing desk frame with a slightly longer stroke length to be able to work comfortably in a standing position. 
• The lifting power: this parameter might be skipped if you need just a computer to work. If you need to install additional equipment, we recommend checking the lifting power.
• The speed of movement: while for many people, this parameter doesn’t seem important, it shall be considered. We believe that if a desk moves too slowly and takes around 1-2 minutes to be adjusted in the needed position, it isn’t crucial at all. Calculate how much time you waste if you adjust the desk height, say, 6 times a day. You spend approximately half an hour on it. How much work can you do within this time? Therefore, the faster the desk moves, the better it is. 

Don’t be afraid to choose such items online. It is possible that your closest furniture shop doesn’t have a sufficient choice or doesn’t sell height-adjustable desks at all. 

How to Use Desk Builder 

A good online store from a reliable manufacturer guarantees not only the best choice but there, you can consult about all the technical aspects of your future piece. And a special tool online called desk builder will help you to build the desk online, compare the item’s look with different elements, and to make the best choice.

The tool is very easy to use. All you need to do is to open the respective page. There, you will be offered to choose the desk model. Click on the desk you want to build. It will appear on the left side of the screen. Now, the selection process starts. By clicking on every offered item, you will be adding it to the desk. You start with a desk frame and complete the project with accessories if needed. 

Before choosing one or another element, check its features. For example, before selecting a frame, check its lifting power, materials from which it is made, and similar. Before choosing a desktop, check the materials from which it is made, whether the desktop is water- and scratch-resistant, and similar. 

Desk builder shows not only the table while you are constructing it online. The price is displayed, too. So, you can adjust it if you see that it exceeds your budget. 

Once the table is built, you can pay for it, and it will be delivered to the indicated address.

Don’t Hesitate to Ask

It might happen that you will not find the needed shape, size, model, or it might be that some of the technical features will not comply with your requirements. In such a case, you can contact a company representative and ask whether they can make for you a custom desk. Most companies will offer you some customization options. 

Some manufacturers can even make a custom desk based on your requirements only. In both cases, it will cost significantly more than a ready desk does but, in the end, you will get the perfect item.

Final Touches

When the desk is already delivered to your address, adjust it properly. A correct adjustment is not less important than the desk itself. So, to make the use of your height-adjustable desk the most beneficial, you need to adjust its height so that in both, a sitting and a standing position, you have:

• Your arms bent at the angle of 90 degrees;
• Your hands rest on the keyboard;
• Your feet stand completely on the floor;
• Your back is in its natural position;
• The PC monitor at the level of your eyes.

Don’t forget about a good height-adjustable chair and an ergonomic carpet. The chair will help you to feel comfortable in a sitting position, and the ergonomic carpet will prevent pains in the feet. 

The post Standing Desk for Tall People and How the Online Desk Builder Works appeared first on Green Prophet.

At present, we’re dealing with major disruptions to our daily lives because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many people being forced to stay at home. Digital technologies help ensure continuity during these disastrous events by enabling the transition to an age of knowledge and productivity. It sounds so obvious and simple, yet digitalization is often overlooked.

What’s more, it’s commonly misinterpreted and misapplied. Digitalization means more than just making the conversion from analog to digital. It implies leveraging digitized data to impact how things get done. 

Equally important, environmental sustainability can be achieved via digitalization. As digital technologies become more integrated, we and the planet benefit. Maybe digitalization won’t save us, but it will have a fundamental impact. Digitalization isn’t an option anymore. It’s a necessity. Our planet needs to be taken care of and there’s no question of delay or postponing. If you’re curious to know how digital transformation can lead to a greener planet, please continue reading.  

Working from home 

There’s no person that doesn’t like working from home in their pajamas. These days, many companies let their employees work remotely, which is great news for the planet. Working outside the traditional office environment reduces the number of cars on the road, so there are fewer greenhouse gases to worry about. Most importantly, people are motivated to save energy, which reduces air and water pollution. Different tools enable telecommuting, fully covering the needs of remote teams. 

Influx of apps for communication

Effective communication is important no matter what times we’re living. Information needs to be accurate, authoritative, reliable, and easy to understand. Websites, but most importantly apps, help disseminate information and make it possible for people to stay connected. Social networking apps don’t exactly offer trustworthy information, but they help people stay in touch. It’s no longer necessary to use pen and paper. Even businesses can improve communication with clients through social media apps. All in all, electronic communication is more convenient for the environment. 

To sum up, digitalization is a great way to accelerate the transition to a greener planet and a more resilient economy. Valuable time and energy can be saved by letting go of manual processes. There has never been a better time to digitize operations. It’s time to redefine how we do things to save the planet. If we don’t act now, who knows what will happen.

The post How digitalization can lead to a greener planet appeared first on Green Prophet.

When I was a young teen ––everyone, including me –– wanted a Swatch watch. It was the height of the ’80s and having a Swatch watch meant customizable, interchangeable and yeah, all those throwaway watch bands. If that wasn’t enough everyone wanted different watch faces to customize with their bands. So I had a few watches and for some ’80s fun we could wear a few watches at the same time.

Global warming, and Covid comes along and the world in general has changed a lot in values since then. Though newspapers like the New York Times heavily advertise expensive watches that can cost $10,000, a new kind of watch has come into being –– using mechanisms and materials that are timeless. 

Svenn, a company based in Turkey –– built by friends, two couples –– has created a European-style common-sense wooden watch. They aren’t the first to turn one of the world’s most renewable resources, wood, into watches and accessories, but they might be the most accessible with their price point and design.

With prices ranging from $99 to $200 you can buy a timeless treasure that can continue on to be a family heirloom –– or you can save the mechanical, Swiss-made parts, and compost the rest. Creating appliances from wood, like speakers and even desktop computers started about 15 years ago, and the trend is here to stay. 

Svenn is now making watches from wood which are a godsend to people who are allergic to wearing metals like nickel and alloys. Svenn watches don’t react on the skin and are 3 times lighter than metal. They are definitely something to talk about on a first date, and with the ability to engrave personal messages offer a lovely gift to couples on wedding days and also on birthdays. 

You can customize your watch by writing a special note to be inscribed on the watch. This way, you can give an unforgettable gift to your beloved one. You may use your own handwriting in the design.

Green Prophet asks Merve, one of the founders of Svenn, how the idea all started, and what was the impetus. She tells us: “Our journey started during intimate and deep conversations among us four close friends,” says Merve (pictured left below)  currently based in Izmir, Turkey. “Our dream was better lives for all people in the world and to make sure that beyond fair trade labor practices we would be respectively to nature in anything we were to create.”

“Covid accentuated the needs of our time… we are all wishing to better our lives and the planet of course,” Merve explains and “the dream of change became the main topic of our endless conversations. We realized that everything starts to change with individuals so we had to do something under the mantra that one person can change the world,” she tells Green Prophet.

“We believe in it and with this notion Svenn was established.”

We ask some additional questions. 

Tell us more about the team: We are four close friends (two couples) who live in Izmir. We know each other from high school. Two of us are mechanical engineers, one of us is a logistics specialist and one of us is a teacher. We all have different kinds of talents to contribute. This makes it easier to create a good product.  We have a sister in the Netherlands. She helps us a lot.

What drives your passion? One special watch can be a meaningful gift. Something that can make somebody smile. And smiling people makes our life better and worthwhile. A special watch can create beauty in someone’s life. 

What’s next? We have plans to grow in the accessories field. We will move onto vegan handbags before this Christmas. The second step might be jewelry. Above all, we would love to provide work opportunities to other people in a respectful environment and share and enrich our values with them. It seems like walking on the way we dream … drawing the picture of our lives.

How durable are Svenn watches? Svenn wood watches are 3 ATM water resistant and our company provides warranties under this scope. Do not forget that wood is a natural material and normally it is in durable against water and humidity. 

Also thanks to a heat treatment process which is applied to our wooden watches during production; splashes of water do not cause any deformation or damage to the watch. Wood watches should be protected as much as possible against water, but off course you could wash your hands like you wish or you could use it during rainy days. Please do not use your watch under conditions which can cause exposing excessive water and humidity to it, like swimming and taking a shower.

Can a watch save the world? “I would like to add an explanation about the expression you’ve quoted: (We realized that everything starts to change with individuals so we had to do something under the mantra that one person can change the world) ––

In fact, we believe that one person can change only himself/herself –– not the whole world. But the changing of one person (even one person) is vitally important for world. Because if people learn not to feel weak and do something and stand behind their ideals, the world starts to change for the better. Even one person can be a good role model for his/her little world and be the spark to change the entire planet.

::Svenn Wood Watches

The post Svenn wooden watches are the sign of our times appeared first on Green Prophet.

Good science is about using evidence, data, and hard facts to make assessments about our reality. It’s not perfect, but with enough peer review on each finding, we have been able to discover core truths about our world that would have otherwise remained a mystery.

One of those truths is the growth in both quantity and severity of air pollution. Just two hundred and fifty years ago, smog in the world’s major cities was virtually unheard of.  Only the areas around the largest mines and refineries were truly polluted.  In the cities, where horses were the only source of transportation and oil had yet to be refined en masse, the air was vastly cleaner than it is today.

The industrial revolution, the rise of oil and coal as fuel, and the introduction of toxic chemicals have led to a sharp decrease in the average safety of the air around us.  In China, for example, air pollution is leading to almost a million premature deaths per year.  

Air pollution has been getting slightly better over the years, thanks to regulations on emissions from vehicles and factories, along with key innovations in emissions control and renewable energy.  But there’s another factor in the control of air pollution that few things about – air purification.

Earlier this year, Delhi installed a 20 foot tall air purification tower in its popular Lajpat Nagar market.  The tower draws in air, cleans it, and then distributes it back into the market.  The visitors to this market enjoy cleaner smelling air, and lower risk of lung damage and disease as a direct result of the construction of the tower.  Similar towers have been built, or are being planned, all over the world.  Air purification on a large scale is a practical method for clearing up our air and returning it to its natural state.

But what about air purification on a small scale?  Most people have a form of air filtration in their homes that they completely forget about.  If you have a home HVAC system, your AC is filtered constantly through the air filter, giving you cleaner air as you go about your day.  All of the air that is in your house right now was once air from outside.  This means that, when you open a door or window, polluted outside air is getting into your home.  Contaminants can even be tracked in with clothing and shoes.  Scented candles, cooking, and dust also contribute to the pollution in your home.

This means your air indoor can be just as polluted as the air outside.  In fact, studies have shown that can be even more polluted, since contaminants can get trapped and concentrated more easily.  There’s evidence that air pollution indoors is around 2 to 5 times more severe than pollution outside, with some homes (particularly those with smokers) showing pollution levels of 100 times the safe outdoor limit.

How can we counteract this?  How can we protect our family’s lungs from harmful chemicals and smog?

The easiest and cheapest answer is to invest in a higher-grade air filter.  Air filters are ranked by their MERV rating.  MERV, or Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, is a number that measures how effective a filter is at grabbing small particles.

A MERV of 1 to 4 characterizes a filter which can only trap 20% of particles with a diameter of fewer than 10 microns.  A MERV of 8 can trap around 70% of those particles.

MERV 11s are a sweet spot, balancing cost with effectiveness.  They trap about 85% of particles smaller than 10 microns in diameter.

For those with more sensitive lungs, a MERV of 14 can filter out 90% of particles under 3 microns in diameter.

For specialized clean rooms, Ultra Low Particulate Air Filters with MERVs of 20 or higher filter out 99.99997% of particles smaller than 1 micron in diameter.

Indoor air pollution usually consists of smoke particles and aromatic particles.  In order to combat it, you’ll need a MERV of at least 13, which can easily be purchased and delivered from air filter stores like Filter King.  Prices vary by store, but you can expect to spend around $30 or $40.  Buying in bulk, as with most things, gives you a cheaper per unit price.

But a high MERV number is only half the battle when fighting your indoor air pollution.  The other half is the frequency with which your air is cycled through the fitler.  The best MERV in the world does nothing if no air goes through it.

We measure air movement with cycles per hour, which is calculated by dividing the volume of air an HVAC system is passing through itself by the volume of air in a given room.

The higher number of air cycles per hour, or ACH, the cleaner your air will be.  If you can sacrifice some electricity, leaving your AC on higher and longer will help reduce the amount of pollution in your home.

It also helps to turn on your fans, which will mix the air in your home and prevent one area from trapping contaminants.

Pollution is bad, both inside and out.  Outdoor pollution can be fixed with technical innovation and regulation.  But indoor pollution is something each individual must focus on in their own home.  By buying a better filter and allowing your air to cycle more continuously, you make the active decision to protect your family and guests from harmful contaminants.

The post How can air filters control indoor pollution? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Is laminate wood flooring a sustainable option?

The short answer: it depends. The easy answer, probably not. The likely answer no way. Laminates are bonded together with toxic glues and made to look like wood. 

They look like wood and feel like wood but many of today’s low cost wood floors are laminate. That means they are made with crushed up wood and mixed together with glue, much in the same way magical cardboard bikes or bamboo plates and furniture are put together. Taking a natural material and then bonding it all together with plastic glue does not make a product green. Remember the ramen noodle guy? He can fix anything with ramen noodles and crazy glue. That’s what laminate flooring is and basically most bamboo products. Don’t get bamboozled. 

One one hand manufacturers use renewable resources but on the other hand, everything is held together with petrochemical-based glues which contain neurodisruptors and toxins.

The most eco way to make a wooden floor is to use reclaimed wood from building sites. Or from sunken logs brought to the surface and processed. With a little hunting around you can find gorgeous ancient wood that you can replane at a carpentry shop and you have an ancient 100% eco floor. Or maybe when you dig up the old tiles in your house you might find a perfectly gorgeous old wooden floor or another set of tiles. 

Another wooden floor option is to buy new planks from sustainably farmed wood. Look for the FSC stamp but that’s not perfect either. And the cost of wood since Covid hit the world has made reflooring or home improvements right now a not so sustainable option. 

Rcycling old wood into new laminate with veneeer is an option. In fact, most laminate flooring manufacturers now explicitly point out how sustainable and eco-friendly this flooring option is and use it as a major selling point for their product. I’d look at their safety and materials data sheets before buying laminate of any kid because it might contain formadehyde and all sorts of other toxins you’d be living and sleeping with. 

Most laminate products are flasely labelled. And if you seacrh on Google they will scream for your attention. That means that we need to perform our due diligence and proper research before we can truly walk away knowing we’ve done what’s best for the planet.

As laminate flooring is made from a mixture of potentially toxic resin (glue) and fiber-board, how the materials made can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

It is possible to find eco-friendly laminate flooring, but the chance is doubtful that it will be unless you find a very specific company. Look around. Ask your friends. Although, even the most sustainable of practices surrounding production aren’t worth much if the product itself isn’t very sustainable, further complicating the issue. You’d need to look into greenhouse gas emissions and life cycle of the product. 

Laminate Materials & Their Harvesting Checklist

To understand the ecological impact of laminate flooring, it should be understood exactly what it is made out of and where those materials are made from.

Sustainable laminate flooring that comes from FSC & PEFC sustained forests is essential to long term sustainability of this textile. About three ingredients make up the bulk of laminate’s four layer design. The topmost layer is typically made from aluminum oxide as a way to protect each individual plank while the rest of a plank is made primarily from fiberboard and resins.

The fiberboard needs to come from a sustainable place, as it is primarily made from wood. When laminate flooring is FSC & PEFC certified, it means that the wood used in the construction of each board comes from a forest that adheres to strict sustainability rules when it comes to how many trees and cut and in what configuration.

If laminate doesn’t carry this certification, there’s a risk that it was harvested from forests where clear-cutting and other bad environmental practices are in place. When harvested properly from forests that adhere to conservation rules laid out by governing bodies, the harvesting of the wood itself is eco-friendly.

Laminate Is Recyclable

When it comes to tile flooring and hardwood, very seldom are the materials recycled to be used in further building developments. The tiles often go to the dump and the hardwood will either suffer the same fate or become wood pulp at best, assuming whoever is disposing of the hardwood planks cares enough to make sure it goes to a recycling facility.

Laminate however is completely recyclable (in theory) though doubtful because of the toxins and glues in them. and there are many facilities equipped to separate the individual ingredients for reuse. The particle board interior layers are easily repurposed to give these materials a second life. If you have the energy for that.

Even the most battered and beaten laminate flooring can be sent to a chipboard center and properly converted into wood chips and fibers. Since only the top layer needs to be aesthetically pleasing, it doesn’t matter the condition of the individual planks being recycled. More often than not the new material used in the production of laminate flooring is the new layer close to the top with the design picked out by the customer. Check before you buy that your laminate is recyclable.

Waste From Other Industries Can Be Used

The wood fibers and chips that make up individual fiberboards present in laminate flooring don’t just have to come from other laminate floors, many other industries create massive amounts of bark, sawdust, or miscut wood, all of which can be sold to a laminate floor company for a fraction of the price and at a fraction of the environmental impact of felling new trees. You can make laminate from any sort of material, probably even ramen noodles. Remember: it’s not the material they are selling that you need to look at carefully. It’s how it’s all held together.

If you think about the sheer volume of industries that make use of wood and end up with lots of scraps at the end of the day, it is easy to see how the laminate flooring business can help put those scraps to better use. Very few products have the distinction of being able to deal with waste from other manufacturing processes, making this kind of flooring in a class of its own. That is a positive step.

Sustainable Creation Practices

The resins that keep laminate board together and at their strongest is primarily melamine, a resin recreated by a reaction of formaldehyde with a few extra toxic ingredients.

The overall amount of formaldehyde used in each board and at the factory as a whole has been on the decrease over time but it is a risky and toxic material. Laminate flooring that uses less formaldehyde is often marked with a CARB, P2, E1, or E0 designation that signifies a lower overall formaldehyde level. Think about whether you want to expose your office workers to this material before you cover the office in laminate.

When laminate flooring comes from FSC & PEFC certified forests, consumers can rest assured that no pesticides were used and that no heavy metals are present in any of the boards.

Even at the manufacturing plant most laminate flooring producers are tending towards equipment that has lower overall emissions to take advantage of the many different government incentives for doing so. This means that the manufacturing process is as environmentally friendly as possible, with new leaps in sustainability occurring on a very frequent basis. Again, look for materials data before you buy.

Installation Is Easy

No special adhesives are required to keep laminate flooring in place, this reduces the overall use of volatile organic compounds that are bad news for the health status of any living things nearby. This is true but if you are actually trying to isolate sounds in your home between floors you will need layers of plastic padding and piles of off gassing glue.

Laminate flooring can eliminate the need for VOCs altogether assuming you have purchased the variety that doesn’t need any adhesives whatsoever, which in today’s market is nearly all varieties. 

Laminate can be LEED Certified

In response to poor practices in design that lead to deforestation and pollution of the environment, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program was created in 1993 to work as a watchdog in the building sector that wishes to ensure sustainable practices.

Building materials and techniques are ranked based on their overall impact on the environment, with everything from emissions during production to ramifications of installation & use taken into account. Most laminate flooring holds a LEED certification of at least certified, with some even going as far as silver and above in overall sustainability. Again look at the materials in the resins.

This burden hinges on the manufacturer, as it is their responsibility to ensure that they conform to all of the requirements of LEED as well as only obtaining their materials from FSC certified forests.

Any manufacturer that has done so will display this fact prominently, so if you can’t find these certifications from a certain manufacturer then it is best to keep shopping around until you find one that you can confirm without a shadow of a doubt contributes to sustainable building practices.

Cork might be the better option if you can find cork board that’s glued together with a natural resin. Or tile, or upcycled old wood. Or maybe just keep living with the old floor. 

The post Can Laminate Floors Be Eco-Friendly? appeared first on Green Prophet.

The star-shaped structure is modestly sized at about 6,000 square feet and will feature a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and central “great room”.  Floor-to-ceiling glass walls permit panoramic views of the surrounding desert scenery. These fixed-glass “windows” will be electrochromic; mechanically tinted for shade and privacy with a press of a button that activates ionic motion within layers of glass, quickly changing the glass panels from clear to opaque.

Baharash Bagherian, founder of the design firm that bears his name, said in a statement, “We are seeing a new generation of Emiratis who are looking to lead a more sustainable lifestyle, in line with UAE’s vision to become one of the most sustainable countries in the world.”

The project press release did not define other sustainability features planned for the estimated $2 million vacation home. Simple technology for solar energy production can readily supply the building with all its daytime electricity needs, but there is no information about nighttime power consumption.  Similarly, there is scant info on planned efficiencies for building systems and appliances.  Will the structure be insulated to reduce heat gain and loss?

Eco-friendly construction is becoming prioritized in the UAE, specifically as relates to energy consumption, and the nation is a regional leader in renewable energy generation and municipal recycling. But in the Middle East, water is a greater priority. Many modern MENA municipalities still run on a pumped water procedure, where homes feed off personal water storage tanks which are periodically replenished from a city supply.  Said differently, there isn’t always water when you turn on a tap.  How will potable water be conveyed to this structure?  And – on the flip side – how will sewage and waste be removed?

There’s an outside chance that green specifications are lost in translation; that press coverage of purportedly “green” buildings is selective, overlooking system technology and focusing on structural form instead.  But by glossing over the fuller environmental impacts of a new building (how will it be accessed? does it need new roads? will it encourage more development in an otherwise pristine and ancient natural setting?), projects like these resemble little more than “lipstick on a pig”.

Photography courtesy of Baharash Architecture

The post Solar retreat in the Liwa Desert: futuristic functionality or lipstick-on-a-pig? appeared first on Green Prophet.

You’ve got open eyes. You’ve read the reports, like this one from the WWF on how polluting we’ve become. Yet we can’t get enough of consuming stuff on planet earth. Pick up the New York Times and see an editorial running on watch ads. Fancy, crazy expensive watches for elite people, not this planet in peril.

Enter Hunter Green. This is a new watch line that’s made with practically everything that will make an eco-lover tick. The watches are biodegradable eventually, and are made to be lead free, and mercury free with zero toxins.

The watches have been made with biodegradable and organic corn resin so that modest earth lovers like you and me can express ourselves. Isn’t that what green fashion is all about?

See this eco-friendly watch come to life through Kickstarter

Into the Hunter Green watches you’ve also got an organic cotton and cork (a very sustainable renewable resource) strap.

Designer Hunter Mayers, now looking for a $30,000 launch fund on Kickstarter (and which is about 1/4 of the way there!) was inspired to start this new line of watches after meeting film director David Lynch.

He tells Green Prophet: “I have a background in the Film/TV industry as a Designer and Graphic Producer. I was at David Lynch’s house for a charity event, (sounds more glamorous than my real life actually is. ha!)…

But…

“His house is very modern, as was his outfit that day. Dark colors, nothing flashy. I noticed David was wearing a bright neon yellow, cheap plastic, wristwatch. He was expressing himself,” Mayers says. “After my visit I wanted to purchase a watch like his, to express myself. I found many watch designs I liked but none that were good for the environment. I was shocked to see the lack of eco-friendly choices.

“I have a design background, so I started designing… Hunter Green was born.”

Putting a watch to task

Mayers grew up surfing in Maryland and put time into thinking about saving our planet from pollution after seeing so much trash out at sea. To raise awareness, he’ll be giving 5 percent of every sale of his watches to the Plastic Pollution Coalition (of which Green Prophet is a member). The watches which will be available to ship in about half a year and will cost about $125.

Getting to the point of a Kickstarter that could deliver on time wasn’t trivial, says Mayers: “I had many issues trying to locate a watch manufacture…as the materials I wanted to use weren’t widely used in the watch industry.

“This struggle, although frustrating, made me what to see this through even more. I felt like I was onto something special,” Mayers concludes.

Think so too? While it may seem trivial that a watch could actually save this planet, we love the project for the awareness it brings to the watch industry and the way timepieces are made. And it makes me think of my dad’s old collection of pocket watches from one hundred years ago. Watches that none of us will probably ever wear again, begging the question: Do watches in the 21st century really need to withstand the test of time? I’d rather mine melt into the earth when I am done with it.

Fund Hunter Green watches here on Kickstarter

The post Hunter Green: a biodegradable watch for a planet living on borrowed time appeared first on Green Prophet.