Bamboo
Surfing Firewire – Eco Friendlier Surfboards
If you haven’t been up on surfboard technology, things have changed. In 2005, Clark Foam, the largest foam blank supplier closed its doors citing new environmental regulations which would have crippled its business. The standard for surfboards since the late 50’s when polyurethane foam and fiberglass-resin boards replaced wood boards, had come to an end.
Opening up the market to new innovations and materials, San Diego based Firewire Surfboards was ready with their new carbon and bamboo creation. Lighter, stronger and more flexible, Firewire’s boards are also more eco friendly emitting only 2 percent of volatile organic compounds and are 50 times less toxic to the environment than polyurethane foam. No masks are needed around this stuff, and you can walk into any of their factories without getting an instant headache.
Using an environmental sensitive laminating process, the Rapidfire line uses basic cooler type EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) foam inlaid with carbon rods for flex and topped with finished bamboo for strength and stiffness, replacing the standard wood stringer. All excess EPS foam is recycled at the end of the building process. They even won the coveted EuroSIMA Environmental Product of the Year Award in 2005.
Plyboo Bamboo Plywood and Durapalm Palm Tree Sustainable Flooring
I love bamboo. Its beautiful, its durable, and its a great sustainable and renewable resource, so I am pretty excited about Plyboo by Smith and Fong. Certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and available for LEED credit by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), these surfaces and flooring are all about sustainability. Made from FSC certified bamboo and palm, these flooring and paneling alternatives have a beautiful and unique modern but warm look.
Smith & Fong’s Plyboo flooring, plywood and veneer are derived from Moso bamboo harvested from a forest that requires no irrigation, fertilizers or pesticides. Each year, only 20 percent of the plantation’s bamboo (or only the five-year growth) is cut, ensuring the forest canopy remains intact and the ecosystem is not disturbed.
Both the Durapalm and Plyboo flooring, veneer and plywood use a urea formaldehyde-free adhesive called PlybooPure™ and pass the California Air Resources Board (CARB)’s formaldehyde regulations for composite panels. It also earned the world’s first non-wood FSC certification for its bamboo resource in China, providing third-party validation of a truly sustainable industry. Additionally, Smith & Fong retain a relationship with the actual bamboo farmers, to ensure the quality and sustainability of the operation.
Eco Game of High Low – Green-ish Turntable Record Players for all you Vinyl Lovers
I am starting a little game of High/Low which will bring both the “high-end” expensive items with more reasonably priced counterparts for the rest of us. I’m going to start this game off with something a little old school- turntable record players.
Eco Chic High
The “High” comes to us from German-based company Montegiro, and is quite beautifully built with a very clean design. This bamboo and steel Legno turntable promises chic style and a functional design with a stable steel chassis and resonance vibration dampening bamboo. The price reflects the overall design and build quality more than the audiophillic sound it produces, although, I am sure it is probably one of the best sounding turntables out there. Priced in at $13,240 – you can pick one up through Koetsu.
What makes it Green?
This one may be a bit of a stretch, but it is made from renewable bamboo and paired with recyclable steel.
[via dvice]
Eco Friendly Low
The “Low” is simple- buy used! There are thousands of these out there for sale. By purchasing a used record player, not only are you keeping one more out of a landfill, you are also not using the resources to build a brand new one. You can even find wind up players to be even more green! Cost – anywhere from free on up. Check places like craigslist.org, freecycle.org, pawn shops and ebay for a turntable that suits your needs.
What makes it Green?
Its a reuse!
I Bet You Can’t Make That Out of Bamboo! Green Gone Mad
I wasn’t sure to file this under green design, or an attempt at sustainable design gone bad. As we all know, Bamboo is the darling of the sustainable green movement. It grows fast, requires no pesticides, is very hard and durable, and grows just about everywhere. With that in mind, bamboo can be found in all kinds of products that are trying to be green – some, like bamboo flooring, bamboo furniture, bamboo cutting boards, etc, make sense. Some do not. That said, I present an homage to all things bamboo (green washed and all).
1. The Bamboo Laptop
The Bamboo laptop. I don’t even know where to begin, although im not sure if the laptop itself is more or less shocking than the accessories (the bamboo keyboard and the bamboo mouse). Several manufacturers have released a bamboo cased laptop, with varying degrees of actual substance (some are little more than veneers).
[via treehugger]
2. Bamboo Mountain Bike
Now this actually makes sense, but it is really weird to see a bike made out of wood. I guess it would have been just as silly to have thought of a bike made out of carbon fiber 10 years ago, but don’t those still have an internal frame of metal? Calfee Design seem to be the big pioneers in this field, and from the reviews, they are pretty sweet.
[via ecoshopper]
3. Bamboo Sheets
Now this may seem odd at first, but they are incredibly well suited for this type of material. They have a real silky feel to them, are pesticide and chemical free (usually) and antimicrobial.
[via apartmenttherapy]
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