Getting people to change their ways isn’t an easy thing to do, and while the green-living initiative has been gaining speed, it’s been at a painfully slow pace. It’s this reason that designers the world over have been working, mostly as unpaid side-projects, to bring the consumer populace reasons to go green. Breaking the hum-drum paradigms of the past is difficult work, but many new and potentially effective ideas are born each day now. These examples are of some of the newest, most adventurous, mostly practical green product designs floating around studios or stores today.
Green for Greenery
(images via Ji-Hye Park, Ashley Marsh Croft, Daniel Schipper)
Since even small efforts can pay off, the Flower Clock is a great spirit-lifting way to boost the green atmosphere of your home or office. No batteries are wasted, as it uses a solar charge. The Droplet lawnmower is an idea for getting more people to go electric on their lawn care; innovative design makes it appealing to the eye as well as the pocketbook. The Folding Greenhouse could vanquish any excuses that once stood against micro-gardening, since it’s lightweight, small, and infinitely reusable as it’s made of only plastic.
Clever Metering
(images via Adam Kereliuk, Katrine Knudsen)
There are all kinds of new methods in the works for getting people to actively monitor their utilities usage nowadays, and for good reason. Unfortunately, many of them are too complicated for most people to commit their time to learning. That’s where products like the Personal Water Meter come into play; installed in water fixtures such as sinks and showers, it gives an accurate reading for water usage in real time. The Flower Pod doubles as home decor while it reflects power consumption, the digital flower wilting with waste and vibrant with conservative efforts.
Row, Row, Row Your…Car?
(images via Da Feng)
Marketing to the ever-growing fitness demographic, the GYM concept car takes roadtripping to a new level by allowing the driver to charge its power-cells by working out. There is no tedium to this, as equipment is built into the cockpit-like cabin to emulate a rowing machine, stepping machine, curling weights, pull-up emulator, and a bench-press. The car itself uses carbon-fiber and green materials, and the battery is wall-chargeable.
Paper, Plastic or Stylish?
(images via Yanko Design)
While this very simple issue is often overlooked, it’s really quite serious. Countless millions of people go grocery shopping every day, and they all use bags. Nearly all of those bags, whether they be paper or plastic, wind up in the garbage, and despite best efforts only a small fraction of those make it to recycling centers or get otherwise reused. The Flip & Tumble Loopt bag aims to help alleviate that issue. It’s a washable, reusable, heavy-duty plastic bag that’s been made to last, and stylishly at that. Many grocery stores in urban areas are beginning to offer discounts for shoppers who bring their own bags, efforts like that would go well hand-in-hand with a product like this.
Soylent Feeders
(images via Nadine Jarvis)
Sometimes a good shock is in order, at least that’s what designer Nadine Jarvis thinks when she goes to build a greener bird-feeder. The concept is shocking at first glance, but after it sinks in, it’s really quite beautiful that these feeders are made from people. Bird seed is mixed with human ashes into the dew-drop form surrounding a wooden perch that will remain once the seed is all eaten. That perch would have an inscription memorializing the person whose ashes helped feed the local birds. Strange, yes. Strangely poetic, also yes. It’s definitely zero waste.

