The 2012 London summer Olympics are almost upon us. And if you’ve forgotten what strenuous activity many of the competitors will undertake during the event, artist Monica Bonvincini hopes to jog (ha) your memory. Commissioned by the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) Art in the Park program, RUN is a giant RGB LED sculpture of a word sure to be uttered many times over during the Olympic games.  At 30-feet tall, the sculpture is the largest freestanding artwork in Olympic Park, and was reportedly inspired by popular music titles, including Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run’, Neil Young’s ‘Running Dry’ and The Velvet Underground’s ‘Run Run Run’. Each letter of the sculpture is sheathed in a mirrored material, which creates fun interaction for passersby, and also allows the sculpture to create abstracted reflections of its surroundings.

At night, however, things get even more interesting, when the letters transform into an animated and mesmerizing light show thanks to DMX LED lights. The sculpture contains over 300 feet of LED lighting strip, which reflects off of an internal network of curved mirrors, creating a hypnotizing effect for the viewer. Monica Bonvicini says, “It’s exciting to see the work finally start on site after being awarded the commission in summer 2010. RUN is already blending in perfectly in the landscape, avoiding monumentality through the mirroring of the surroundings.  At night the psychedelic light reflections will illuminate the work in an exciting, elegant and witty way, reflecting the great liveliness of London.”

Thanks to London Olympics for the quote and Design Boom for the images.

This Thursday, May 17^thover 700 underserved school children from San Francisco and Marin school districts will travel to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach to celebrate Kids’ Ocean Day. To celebrate, the kids will be giving the beach a much needed cleaning; they’ll be combing the beach, looking for trash and properly disposing of it.

They will also be participating in a human art project, which entails organizing the kids to stand in a formation that has to do with the ocean.  Then a helicopter will fly overhead and take a photo of the formation.  In previous years, the kids made a picture of a shark and a bat ray.  This is all part of an effort to have a more sustainable San Francisco, have a clean beach and teach kids the importance of being responsible stewards of their environment.

I must say, as someone who frequents Ocean Beach, I am excited to see it being cleaned up.  700 kids is a lot of manpower and they can really make a difference.  Plus, It allows kids to spend a day outside, learn about ocean health and understand the importance of protecting the local environment.

I will be volunteering with the group to help organize the event, help kids pick up trash, participate in the human art project and have fun.  More importantly, it gives me a chance to clean up a beach I like to frequent.   If you are interested in participating in the cleanup day, come down to the beach and help clean up.

The event starts at 7:30 am and goes till 2pm.  People will be meeting in front of the Beach Chalet, in San Francisco.

Ocean Beach, ~1000 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA  94121

See you there!

Thanks To Baynature.org for the photos.

So many architectural icons in the US and around the globe have made the switch to LED lighting. I’ve featured most of them on this blog, from San Francisco’s Bay Bridge to The London Tower and Itay’s Mole Antonelliana.

And now, one of the world’s most recognizable buildings is about to make that same, inevitable leap. NYC’s Empire State Building has announced plans to replace the illumination in its tower’s apex with an RGB LED lighting system, including a DMX LED controller that is completely customizable via a computer network. Reasons behind the retrofit are obvious: the current lighting system allows for 10 different color displays and takes hours to modify, while the new outdoor LED lighting fixtures will include a range of over 16 million colors and can be changed with the press of a button. And besides colors, myriad effects will be available, including rainbows, ripples, flashes, fades, animation and more. Top it off with huge energy savings and reduced maintenance costs, and one begins to wonder why the city officials didn’t begin the retrofit, which is planned for September 2012, sooner! Though New York City claims to be ahead of the trends, when it comes to LED lighting, they’ve arrived fashionably late. Either way, welcome to the party, NYC, so nice of you to show up.

Thanks to My Gay for the image.

Okay, so the picture’s a little creepy, but the intentions behind this clever invention are innocent enough. We’ve all been there: fumbling for a flashlight in the dark while trying to complete some important nighttime task, like slashing through rope (night fishing anyone?), cutting zip ties (breaking down a shade structure in a wind storm, perhaps?) or diving into a wedge of cheese. Yes, midnight snacks count as an important nighttime activity in my book. Well, fret no more, the SOG Bladelight Knife is here! This switchblade is equipped with six tiny but high-powered LED lights on either side, which can be turned on and off for day or night usage. Talk about stealth-mode! With Mother’s Day around the corner and many of you sans gift (tsk-tsk!), might I suggest the SOG Bladlight Knife? Mom is not only the toughest person you know (it’s ok, you can admit it), but she is also queen of the midnight snack–and who needs more flowers or another apron? Pair it with some LED puck lights or under cabinet lighting for her kitchen and you’ve pretty much solidified your position as “favorite child” for the rest of the year, trust me.

Thanks to Hypebeast for the image.

I knew it was only a matter of time. First, IKEA switched to carrying only LED light bulbs in 2011. (Read about it here!) Now, the home furnishings giant has fully embraced its decision by releasing a line of creative and quirky LED chandeliers, called IKEA Experiments in LED. Created by an array of talented designers, the home LED lamps employ everything from dimmable LED lights to LED puck lights and LED tape. Many of the designs were inspired by nature, including abstractions of ocean waves and fireflies. For instance, the lamp on the far left is called Solullen, and casts psychedelic, oscillating patterns on the wall thanks to its delicately cut shade. The Onsjo chandelier (center) creates a star-like effect with tiny LED diodes on the end of loops, and the Haggas pendant lamp is a beautiful cascade of diffused light. The lights are not yet available on IKEA’s website, though they are mentioned in its April 2012 newsletter. I’m very curious to see how they do when released to the masses… I’ll be sure to report back when I know more. For now, it’s nice to see energy-efficient, artistic lighting made available for all! Thanks, IKEA!

 

Thanks to Gizmodo for the image.

PuurBuy, and new iPhone App that locates sustainable, organic restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, is gaining steam.  How does it work?

Just download the app to your smart phone and, just like searching on yelp or google maps, the app locates sustainable organic restaurants in your area and pinpoints them based on your location.  You can filter your search results by type of cuisine, type of dietary needs, neighborhood and more.

PuurBuy’s app accesses inside information on the restaurants’ health and sustainability practices.  One can find vegan, vegetarian and organic food options.  The app will eventually be able to track food back to the farms they are grown and raised on so you can see if the eggs you are eating are pasture raised.

75 restaurants were included in the initial launch and the number continues to grow.  Not only does this help consumers identify healthier, more sustainable eating choices, but it puts pressures on restaurants that don’t have sustainable practices to adapt and become more sustainable so they can gain a piece of this market.

I don’t own a smart phone.  Yes… yes I realize I am living in the dark ages… but if I did have a smart phone I would get this app.

Thanks to PuurBuy.com for the photo

I’ve thought for a long time that we should be harnessing the energy created via exercise machines, but aside from a few smart gyms, no one has really done it. Finally, WeWatt, a Belgium sustainable design company, stepped up to the plate, tackling two serious problems with one genius product: the WeBike Pedal-Powered Desk. First off, there’s the busy/no exercise problem. We’re shackled to our computers, working our fingers (but nothing else) to the bone. Secondly, there’s the energy crisis—how do we power our ever-expanding society while still reducing our carbon footprint? We-Watt’s WeBike provides a solution for both concerns in a stylish, pedal-powered desk. According to the website, “WeBike converts human power into useful electrical energy. WeBike communicates autonomously and provides information on your performance.” That’s right, LED strip lighting embedded in the desk gives users visual feedback, letting them know when they’ve pedaled enough to power the device plugged in to the desk. Designers construct WeBike desks out of sustainable materials: aluminum and steel, reused cedar wood and energy-efficient led under cabinet lights. According to We-Watt, a cyclist can generate around 230Vac or 30Watts per seat. The design is sleek, modern and comfortable, and most importantly, it gets people moving while they work, without creating a speck of pollution. Well done, We-Watt!

Thanks to Trendhunter for the images

About a month ago I wrote an article about Bay Area Ranchers who are land conservation activists.  Koopmann’s Ranch, located in Sunol, hosted a tour of their ranch to show people what it means to privately own land, protect its resources and how that benefits both the wildlife and the residents surrounding the property.  The tour has come and gone and I wanted to follow up on some of the lessons the tour had to offer.

“The Koopmanns are proof that ranchers are some of California’s best conservationists,” said Ashley Boren, Executive Director of Sustainable Conservation. “The tour enabled us to see firsthand how sound stewardship of rangelands in the Bay Area can, for example, increase species diversity and enhance conditions for endangered animals and plants. I encourage everyone to visit a local ranch to see how they help in maintaining a healthy environment.”

Water also has a lot to do with how the Koopmanns’ help the surrounding residents.  Water flows from their land into housing developments and golf courses.  Their dedication to keeping water quality high benefits the residents who are down hill from the ranch.

Another issue that continued to come up during the tour was who was going to take over when the Koopmanns retired and what would happen if they sold the ranch.  With encroaching development at their doorstep, there has been many offers to buy the ranch.

“We had plenty of opportunities to sell the ranch in its entirety, which could have been done easily,” Tim Koopmann said. “But there was, since 1918, too much in the way of blood, sweat and tears in this family operation that we made the decision not to sell.”

Plus, the Koopmanns put a few environmental easements on the property to restrict development of the property and reduce the value so developers would be less likely to buy the property and build on it.

The moral I took away from this story is that no matter how much money you throw at someone, it will never replace the connection they have with their land.  In fact, it takes courage to say “No!  I don’t want houses and shopping malls on my home even if it means millions in my pocket.”

Thanks to all the ranchers out there who are tied to the land and protect it.  Thank you for being better stewards than we are.  Thank you for setting an example of how we need to reconnect with nature and appreciate the value of our environment.  Because somewhere along the way we lost those values and don’t even realize we are starving for them.

Thanks to www.rangelandtrust.org for the photos

Hypoxia, the environmental condition characterized by low oxygen levels that causes ecological “dead zones” in aquatic environments, is increasing in our lakes and oceans at a shocking rate. Besides depleting more overt biodiversity, Hypoxia kills off healthy blue-green algae, causes an influx of harmful algae blooms (HABs), contaminates drinking water and results in beach closures. In short, hypoxia isn’t pretty. But LA-based designer and fabricator James Peterson made a hypoxia-inspired artwork that is.

Installed at the Los Angeles Convention Center in January of 2012, Hypoxia utilizes a motion sensitive controller outfitted with infrared LED lights and illuminated with RGB LED lighting. Participants wave their hands over the controller, which initiates fans and LED tape housed inside custom-built pods on the floor. Breeze from the fans causes an overhead cluster of green feather boas to flutter gently, much like an underwater bloom of algae.

Peterson hopes his piece will inspire others to become educated about the dangers of Hypoxia, while also providing them with a little bit fun in the process. “The intention is to create enjoyment with content and thus to inspire people to engage the artwork and ask questions then as a result get informed. My formula is the “palatability of information” rather than shoving my opinion down peoples throat, [I aim to] create a space to entice education. I believe in art with content but beauty, interactivity, and joy share equal importance,” he says.

To see Hypoxia in action, watch the video, and to see more of Peterson’s work, visit his website, Art Contraptions.

Thanks to Michael Nelson and James Peterson for the images.

New Lighting Retrofit Program at Elemental LED Offers LED Replacements for T8 and T12 Fluorescent Tubes

Elemental LED, a San Francisco Bay Area-based LED lighting company, just launched Build, a new program for building professionals. The program, which has been under development for the past several months, offers commercial-grade LED lighting products for building retrofits, as well as end-to-end energy saving solutions.

Among the most popular Elemental LED Build product offerings are T8 and T12 LED fixtures from On-Q that replace T8 and T12 fluorescent tubes. On-Q LED T8 tubes use only 16 watts of energy and reduce energy consumption 30% to 70% from traditional fluorescent fixtures. These LED replacements also don’t flicker or hum and don’t experience delay when turned on. They have a significantly longer life so they don’t need to be replaced as often.

“LED replacements for fluorescent T8 tubes is one of the most sought after retrofit products these days. Elemental LED is excited to join the market for this super cost and energy saving tool,” says Matthew John, Director of Business Development at Elemental LED.

Retrofit products are not the only energy saving tools now available through Elemental LED Build. Project management, contract pricing, product samples, energy-saving calculations, and rebate and incentive discovery are all services Elemental LED is offering customers through the Build program. In addition, Build has partnered with an energy-management software company so that it can offer customers long-term energy and cost management.

“Customers can easily get ahold of a lighting application specialist during business hours by calling us directly or contacting us through the Build web portal,” says Craig McCauslan, National Sales Manager at Elemental LED. “We’ve got folks standing by to talk to customers about their lighting needs and the challenges they face in retrofitting to LED.”

The new Elemental LED Build portal offers information on all Build product offerings, including the T8/T12 LED replacement tubes, with downloadable spec sheets and IES files. The web portal also gives customers access to several case studies that illustrate real applications of the LED retrofit products and a breakdown of the cost and energy savings associated with the retrofits.

To learn more about Elemental LED Build and T8/T12 LED Replacements, please visit www.elementalled.com/build.