bPSE Structural Engineering

Lemon leaf with interconnected loops. Photo: RU A team of biophysicists at Rockefeller University recently published a paper in Physical Review Letters about a new way to design distribution networks based on the veins that carry water and nutrients in most tree leaves. This is a great example of biomimicry! Evolution by natural selection maybe be blind, but it has had billions of years of trial-and-error to figure out efficient and robust ways to do things. The interconnecting vein loops in leaves are a good example of that, and we can learn... Read the full story on TreeHugger

A lot of lessons have been learned over the last decade as architects and manufacturers try to make modern green prefab affordable and accessible to a wider audience. A new entry into the market is Challenger, a modern architect-designed line of houses from Manitoba, Canada's Conquest Manufacturing. They recently displayed a new model, the Cube, at the National Home Show in Toronto. By way of background, prior to coming to TreeHugger I spend a number of years trying to introduce modern modular to the Canadian marketplace, and did just about everything wrong. Looking at the Challenger line, I think that ... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo via Joe Seggiola Well, it's almost no surprise, considering how popular LEDs have become for everything from lighting up thousands of Starbucks shops to fashion-centric crafts. The popularity of LEDs - or light-emitting diodes - is likely to cause a shortage this year, and it could lead to even higher prices for the already expensive t... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo: Lauri TG. If you liked the house made with plastic bottles in Parque Iguazu, this one will blow you away. Tito Ingenieri, a character from a city called Quilmes, about an hour south from Buenos Aires, has built a massive home made entirely from beer bottles and trash. And by massive, we mean...... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image credit: Bioregional Development Group From the Clinton Foundation's Global Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program to a major prize for sustainably 'reskinning' old buildings, there's a lot to be said for improving the efficiency of our existing building stock. But upgrading old buildings can be an expensive business, and once you tackle the low hanging fruit, there is inevitably a law of dim... Read the full story on TreeHugger

Images by B. Alter, from: Panda Eyes Now in their third year, the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year Awards show the most innovative and forward thinking designs from around the world. The short list has just been announced and all the designs and models are on display at the Design Museum. Chosen by a jury and covering seven categories: architecture, fashion, furniture, graphics, interactive, product and transport, they ar... Read the full story on TreeHugger