Smart Design: Water Faucet Innovation

After a successful first meeting at my new job, I feel that I can finally concentrate long enough to write an article of substance, so here we go!

I was perusing through Designyoutrust.com the other day and I came across a pretty ingenious design of a water faucet which I wouldn't mind investing in the near future.

This faucet is designed to distribute only 1 liter of water per use because, according to the designer, people will use up to 6 liters of water when only one liter is necessary. As you can see from the picture below, this design looks cool as well as serves an important function.

It may not come as a surprise to any of you that I am pretty aware of my environmental impact and I try to be as good as possible when it comes to consuming resources, but when it comes to water, I think we are all pretty guilty of overconsumption.

I know it is bad, but I really do enjoy taking long hot showers, and I have been known to leave the faucet running while brushing my teeth/doing dishes (even though I have been getting better).

With a design like this, I believe that many of those bad habits would be addressed out of functioning constraints and not conscious decisions. I know that leaving the faucet running is bad, but for whatever reason I am constantly forgetting to turn off the faucet.

Having a faucet that still works easily but keeps you using excessive amounts of water could be very useful for a person like me, and I suspect it would be well suited for the vast population of America/ROW.

Does Sustainability Mean Sacrificing Aesthetic Value?

One of the shallower complaints about alternative energy, most notably wind energy, is that the structures are not aesthetically pleasing.  These complaints hit a fever pitch during the debates about placing a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod in the Nantucket Sound when old rich people said that it would ruin the scenery.

The fact is that these wind turbines would have been barely visible from the shoreline, amplified by the fact that most of the people fighting Cape Wind are over 60 with worsening eyesight, really rubs me the wrong way...but that is neither here nor there.

Today I stumbled across some pictures of some gorgeous sustainable architecture that can be found in Miami.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but these are great examples of the unlimited possibilities of green architecture and why we need to keep on challenging ourselves to be more efficient without thinking that we need to sacrifice style.

Estimated completion in 2011.
(http://www.oppenoffice.com/)

View from inside.
(http://www.oppenoffice.com/)

For more information and pictures, go to GreenMuze or Oppenheim.