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Clay: it’s good for more than just pottery. A report in the American Chemical Society’s Macromolecules journal claims that natural clay could be used to produce a cheap, flame-retardant substance that might one day replace the main compound used in plastic nanocomposites. Eco-friendly superplastics could, in other words, soon be on their way.

Just when you thought the dust was settling on the best wind turbine design, the stakes have gotten higher — or in this case, wider. A new design called the Aerogenerator X (‘X’ to make it sound cooler?) would have a massive span of 275 meters and would produce a whopping ten megawatts of electricity--that’s three times the production capacity of typical modern commercial horizontal axis turbines.

Greenwashing apparently knows no boundaries, either geographically or by industry. For example, Korean supermarket aisles boast products touting their "well-being" attributes, without explaining how they could possibly make anyone well. The Shanghai Expo touts its green activities, as if all that frenzied construction could somehow be offset or mitigated. The electronics manufacturer Canon has launched an ambitious green marketing program in Asia, which is smart marketing because consumers in the Pacific Rim region are becoming more aware of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.

Think gadgetry can’t be “green”? My family’s favorite home-entertainment gadget turns this stereotype on its head! In my household, the hardest working gadget is our Roku Box — or as we often call it, the Netflix box. Despite our nickname for it, we love it just as much for watching new releases, listening to music and viewing photos, too. This lightweight, compact little black box is Wi-Fi ready and streams content from the Web onto our TV with ease, entertaining my kids for hours, without DVDs, Netflix mailers or any other excess clutter.

Most large urban areas are located next to a large body of water – whether it is a canal, river, lake or ocean. As a way to combat commuter and residential pollution, parts of these waterways can be utilized as ‘off the grid’ marina-style living spaces. Created by Heck Yes Design, the Uboat is a floating, green urban living space that comes well-equipped with self-sustaining technologies.

These colorful Fold-out Pallet Chairs from Gas & Air Studios combine strength-of-form with environmentally-aware design. Each chair is hand made from a single recycled wooden pallet – thousands of which continue to fill landfills across the UK each year. No extra treatment is used on the wood during the production process, and the paint used is solvent-free.