Eco-Friendly

In an effort to create low-cost, sustainable housing, researchers have created a composite material by replacing sand in concrete and mortar with a common, non-degradable waste product: used disposable diapers. But would you build your house with it?

The built environment often has a negative impact on wildlife and the environment, but this international architecture competition turns design on its head and puts plants and animals in the spotlight. The results are simply breathtaking.

Acer is adding a new laser projector to its eco-friendly Vero range, which features a chassis containing a significant amount of recycled plastic, needs less power to run compared to its lamp-based cousins, and will ship in fully recyclable packaging.

Architectural studio Parma Arquitectura has recently created the ideal desert-proof tiny home. Santerra House boasts a rammed earth and burnt timber shell, resembling the soft shades of sandstone and the surrounding landscape.

Architect Ludwig Godefroy has created a minimalist hotel that embraces environmental consciousness and social responsibility. The result is a collection of nine bare-boned concrete suites that seem to be taken over by the surrounding natural jungle.

Swedish e-mobility company Cake is looking cut back or cut out the plastic used in the manufacture of its electric motorcycles, and has partnered with PaperShell to evaluate the use of its natural fiber composite instead.

Studio Puisto has completed a modular eco-hotel concept, made up of three U-shaped dwellings located in Finland's Kytäjä Golf. Each prefabricated module hosts three suites and is designed to be transported on the back of a standard truck.

German startup Cabineer presents a more sustainable breed of truck camping. Made from natural-fiber composite and insulated with cork, its midsize truck camper comes outfitted with a space-optimized interior complete with toilet and shower.

April 22nd is Earth Day, an annual event that promotes environmental awareness throughout the world. To mark the occasion we've chosen five inspiring architecture projects that we feel are excellent examples of sustainable design.

If there's one way of getting automobiles to use less gas, it's by lowering their weight. With that in mind, European researchers have now created a plastic camshaft module, which they claim offers more advantages than simply being lightweight.

Skin-worn flexible electronics show great promise, in applications ranging from health monitoring to gesture control. The devices could soon also be more eco-friendly, as scientists have recently developed a method of making them from fish scales.

While it's good that there are plastics which biodegrade, the glue used to join pieces of those or other materials together isn't as eco-friendly. Scientists have set about addressing that problem, however, by developing a biodegradable adhesive.