The future is here, and it's in your kitchen! Electrolux, best known for its fridge freezers and washing machines, has come up with a fabulous concept that brings household appliances to life.
The hydrosphere is a small self-efficient green house that manages to be a light fixture and science lab all in one. The glass orb contains mineral enriched solutions instead of soil, and the central lamp functions as a gentle heater as well as providing light for your home. Within it you can grow herbs and even small fruits and veggies, making sure you always have some fresh greenery on hand for your healthy lifestyle. [Via Inhabitat]
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Anyone who's ever transported a country bloomer or French stick will know that fresh bread doesn't like plastic, and paper has that annoying tendency to break. But now it seems our old friend bamboo has come to the rescue, and is being touted as the ideal fabric for storing bread.
With this in mind, you can now buy a specially-designed bag made from bamboo fabric, which being naturally water-absorbent and great at repelling bacteria keeps your bread fresher longer. Plus, it's much better for the environment to have a re-usable bag. The 'loaf pouch' pictured above will keep most standard sized loaves, and there's another one designed for baguettes. From $16 at Bamboo bags
[Via Popgadget]
It's probably true to say of most gadgets that the smaller they are, the greener they are likely to be, and let's face it, unless you've got a family of five you're not going to be needing a giant, dust-guzzling beast every time you want to do a bit of hoovering.
That's why I'm a fan of this cute little vacuum cleaner from Morphy Richards, which is part of the new 'essentials mini' collection aimed at single-person households; all of which is worth checking out if you want to downsize your life and lessen your impact. As well as being tiny, the vacuum cleaner pictured here has an 'eco switch' that puts it into a power saving mode for lighter jobs. It's affordable too, at just £29.99 from Morphy Richards.
Ever been so hungry you wanted to wolf down the bowl and cutlery along with a delicious meal? Well, now you can because as Japanese inventor has come up with a set of edible crockery with matching chopsticks.
The edible tablewear by Rice Design, which is surely the greenst form of 'disposable' crockery out there, is baked from traditional sailor's hardtack--a simple dough of flour, water, and salt. The bowls and chopsticks are shelf-stable for several months as long as they are kept dry. Just make sure you don't nibble on the chopsticks too much during your meal!
If you're concerned that you and your family are sending gallons of potentially useful water (literally) down the pan, help could be at hand from Hippo the Water Saver; a simple and cheap bit of kit that reduces the amount of water wasted by your loo.
The hippo is made from a squishy plastic composite that opens up "origami style" when placed inside the cistern. It absorbs excess water, and When the toilet is flushed, the water confined within the Hippo is the volume saved. The hippo has a lifetime guarantee, and works with most toilets, saving at least 33% of the water we regularly flush away. A pack of 3 Hippos costs just £7.99 from Hippo the Watersaver
Related: Know your water footprint
Following his success with eco-friendly paints, Oliver Heath has just launched a range of stylish, sustainable wallpapers to his collection at EcoCentric.
The four nature-led designs -- rainforest, fossil, eco highway and bittern (pictured) -- use materials sourced from FSC accredited forests in Finland. They are printed with VOC free inks, and all design and manufacture is done locally, here in the UK. Available at Ecocentric, the wallpaper costs £29.99 per roll.
Related: Beautiful, recylced bird-cage wallpaper | Non-toxic DIY wallpaper paste
Let's be honest: nobody uses a soap once it's gone below a certain size, especially when there's a nice packet-fresh new one waiting in the wings to be used. So what do you do with those elderly bars of soap that can sit cracked and yellowing on your sink for weeks?
Here's a great solution that will mean you'll never have to throw away an old bar of soap again. The Soap Bank lets you deposit the old bar into a flexible dispenser, which squishes it up so it comes out pre-lathered into your hands. What a great idea for recycling a product which I'll bet is simply thrown out in most homes. It's made by an innovative Korean design team called DesigNoDoubt [via got2begreen]
The future is here, and it's in your kitchen! Electrolux, best known for its fridge freezers and washing machines, has come up with a fabulous concept that brings household appliances to life.
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