Unless a product is nicely wrapped up or advertised like hell, it’s really hard for people to choose it over another one. Same goes for eco-friendly products that are not getting enough promotion these days. But famous shampoo company, Pantene, is trying to do something different. They’ve got beautiful Padma Lakshmi as “face” for their new Pantene Pro-V Nature Fusion line and count on getting people jealous on her amazing curls.

Featuring several plant-based ingredients – Cassia plant that makes it shiny and soft, bamboo, avocado. ginger, aloe vera and calendula, the new line will sell for $3.99 for the shampoos and conditioners, and just $5.99 for the smoothing crème. Would you try it? (the new Pantene line, that is …)

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There’s a company in China that makes eco-coffins, eco-friendly coffins, um…okay, you tell me what I should call them.

The company boasts caskets woven from wicket willow, bamboo, seagrass and corn skin. They have been “natural willow caskets, woven bamboo coffins, corn skin coffins, sea grass coffins or biodegradable coffins and eco-coffins, wicker urns, wicker pet coffin casket, wicker sofa, pet urns, wooden pet casket and pet bed, and children’s sizes.

Who’d a thunk there were so many ways to rest in eternity, eh?

The company has been making these coffins for some 15 years in “line with our company’s strong green beliefs.”

Researchers are finding interesting things that coffee seeds can do apart from the energy caffeine induces on a sip-by-sip basis. Recent reports suggested that coffee grounds could be used as raw material to create biofuel and now a wiser individual has created a printer that uses coffee grounds for ink.

Korean designer Jeon Hwan Ju has created an eco-friendly RITI Coffee printer that actually uses nothing beyond coffee grounds, and every time you need to print a page you also get the added bonus of building up your biceps. How is that, you may ask? Well, the printer designed by Jeon works on mechanical power and hence you will just need to pour in the dregs and move the handle back and forth to get your printout.

This obviously means that you won’t rely on electricity for printouts and that sounds like an added bonus. So what if the pages smell like coffee? That only helps you wake up from your afternoon slumber at work. Right?

Just a prototype for now, the invention could well find a commercial version sometime in the future; or at least we hope so. [via GreenDaily]

Just a simple look over New York’s Governors Island and it would be hard to imagine that the decaying coast guard structures would be soon transformed into arguably the greenest eco-park on the planet. But that is exactly what West 8, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Rogers Marvel Architects are set out to do by 2012.

Taken up prestigiously by the State of New York, the project will give the world a breathtaking recreational center home to a stunning Marine Exploration Center that consists of a set of off-shore “programmed structures” including a coastal plant greenhouse, marine life tank, vertical reef, and two restaurants. Add to it the unreal floating structures that will emerge like giant bubbles on the waves and a restaurant on an artificial island that will look at Lady Liberty and this will be an exhilarating trip for both the young and the old.

While one part of the island is going green with marine ventures, the other side will sport artificial hills that will look as natural as any. This half of the island is to encourage activities like trekking and cave exploration. The best part is the wooden complimentary bikes crafted by the designers that will be handed out to the visitors of the island to go across the new eco-park.

This is arguably the best investment New York City has made in sometime, isn’t it?

[DesignBoom via Inhabitat]

It is one thing to go to bed after having a glass or two of the fine French wine that comes from the famous French chateau, but it is altogether a different experience to sleep in a wine cask that once stored this intoxicating drink. The De Vrouwe van Stavoren Hotel in Netherlands has converted four of the giant old wine casks into four simple yet stunning rooms that are spacious enough to house a couple.

The rooms look spacious for a simple hotel room and have all the basic facilities that you expect to find in a simple hotel room.

Crafted from the salvaged wine casks, spacious and with all the basic facilities that you expect to find in a simple hotel room, this must be a great experience no matter if you love French wines or not. For the holiday season each of these wooden wonders will cost you from €74 to €119 a night, but off-season you can get a deal for as little as €18 a night!

Apart from a great example of recycle and reuse, the De Vrouwe van Stavoren hotel also manages to add some extra flavor to your trip to the Netherlands! [via Treehugger]

It seems a bit odd that the idea of 21 year old British student Emily Cummins is really being seriously looked at, now when you consider that both the blueprint and the usage of a simple technique of evaporation to cool things has been in operation since long.

The not-so-unique cooling device conceived by the young Brit is a simple machine that contains two cylinders. The inner metal cylinder holds the perishable stuff while the outer cylinder that is soaked in mater and made out of wood helps keep stuff cool (keeps everything cool for days) at a comfortable 6° C without using any power.

The ironic thing is that the technique that is being hailed for its simplicity and convenience – apart from its cheap cost of production, has been something in use since long across he planet. Pot’s made out of clay and covered with a jute fabric drenched in water are used extensively in eastern countries as water cooling units, while using ice in a beer container to keep it cold is no different to a certain extent.

The simple unit of refrigeration developed by Cummins might be an upgraded version of the existing technique, but it is unlikely to set anything on fire.

Yet, one must appreciate the effort of a college student when it comes to her commitment towards cleaner and better future. If college students can do this, surely top notch IT researchers can give us much better! [via CleanTechnica]

Image courtesy of Darren Hester

Japan gets almost all of its oil from the Middle East and has nothing to give in return…except water.

Ultra dry Middle East needs water, (doesn’t everyone?) and must produce it from the salt water nearby. There’s a consortium including Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. and Toray Industries Inc. that is developing a desalination plant. That’s not new news. But the plant will use half as much power as existing facilities. That’s BIG news. Imagine, using less fossil fuels to produce electricity to desalinate.

Desalination Process

There is a group of 14 companies, including Kajima Corp. that will build a prototype this year. They will work together in such areas as membrane production and plant design. More energy savings will come from reworking the water-treatment process. The new process exceeds current quality standards.

The Middle East is the target of the consortium. From 2010, other countries wil be in their sites

Sanyo Electric is the world’s largest Li-ion secondary battery maker. At Eco-Products 2008, Sanyo introduced a street lamp that operates on solar power. The lamp stores power generated when the sun is up, then uses a built in capacitor for illuminating at night. This strategy along with low-power white LEDs is becoming the trend. Sanyo hopes to replace the lead batteries in use with current solar-powered lamps with Li-ion secondary batteries win 2-3 years.

Meanwhile, Fuji Heavy displayed a rechargeable lawn mower that also uses a Li-ion secondary battery module. The lawn mower (disguised as a weed cutter) can be charged in about 60 minutes. It used to take me about six minutes to cut my lawn with a pair of scissors. Seriously! My lawn was that small.

Now we can mow our grass at night and not use any fossil fuels, eh?

A Japanese group was able to charge a Li-ion secondary battery with DC power generated by solar cells and supply it to home appliances without using AC conversion.

The test was part of the Development Project of Energy-saving Technologies for Weak Energy Storage Type Eco House.

The program was conducted by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment with an aim of developing technologies to prevent global warming.

Until now, existing home-use solar power systems converted DC power into AC power before supplying it to homes. Power generated by solar cells had to be converted twice because home appliances use DC power.

This new system can boost efficiency use because it directly supplies generated power without converting it, much less converting it twice.

CO₂ emissions generated by a typical home over a period of four hours can be cut by 40%.

Next up, a wooden laboratory building that uses the DC power supply system by 2010.

Get this – the group aims to cut CO₂ emissions by charging Li-ion secondary batteries with hydroelectricity generated by:

1. a waterwheel set in the drain in the bathroom
2. by a light breeze that blows through a room
3. by a man riding on a fitness bike.

Go Japan!

Source: NikkeiBP (Image by Marufish)

Panasonic is planning to spend Y100 billion ($1billion+ depending on the yen rate) to develop eco-friendly energy technologies like rechargeable batteries and solar cells.

This plan is in align with the company’s desire to acquire Sanyo Electric for a sum close to $9 billion.

Sanyo’s strength is in rechargeable batteries (leader in Li-ion batteries) and solar cells (ranks 7th), which Panasonic considers as strategic areas.

“We needed to take drastic measures to secure growth amid a global economic downturn and structural changes in the electronics industry,” said Panasonic’s President, Fumio Ohtsubo.

When the two are combined it will create a giant manufacturer more competitive to ride out a worsening global downturn, with consolidated sales of more than 10 trillion yen, equal to Japan’s No 1 electronics and electrical machinery maker – Hitachi Ltd.

The Panasonic/Sanyo duo will also make for a powerful force in developing eco-friendly technologies, too.

Source: Nikkei (sub req)