Best Buy, the Mecca of electronic doodads and thingamabobs, is ramping up its sustainability initiatives with an ambitious plan to collect one billion pounds of e-waste over the next five years.

It’s a clever marketing move—as consumers become more aware of the issues surrounding e-waste, they will increasingly want to shop at responsible electronics retailers. And Best Buy is firmly establishing itself as the easiest retailer for e-waste recycling.

Accepting responsibility for old stuff in order to sell more new stuff. Not exactly a wash, but it’s a huge step in the right direction.

(via bmdesign)

These are just a handful of the amazing homes entered in the Solar Decathlon, a global competition to design the most efficient and sustainable solar powered house. Check out more photos and coverage of the event at Inhabitat.

The New York Times has always been known for top-notch reporting on energy and the environment, as well as great overall web design. Now they’ve updated their Green Blog (formerly Green, Inc.) with the help of these modernist icons by Minneapolis illustrator Katie Kirk. The icons represent (clockwise from top-left): main icon, lifestyle, business & technology, science, and politics & policy.

Just this week, the blog revealed a consensus among climate scientists:

Of the top 50 climate researchers identified by the study (as ranked by the number of papers they had published), only 2 percent fell into the camp of climate dissenters. Of the top 200 researchers, only 2.5 percent fell into the dissenter camp.

So, this is the scientific “debate” we’re waiting on?

This witty comic was found in a really interesting discussion on the current state of U.S. energy politics.

If we had a time machine now, we could go back 31 years and listen to Jimmy Carter’s powerful address to the nation on energy consumption. We probably could have avoided many of today’s disasters if we acknowledged these problems and actually worked towards real solutions. Will we ever learn?

This new interactive data visualization for GE is a pretty neat way to calculate which household items are most costly in terms of watts, dollars, or gallons of gas. By clicking on and off the icons, you can customize it for your own home. Apparently heating and cooling appliances (central air, water heater, furnace) are the biggest hogs in your house, so they should get the most attention. The site also shows how long it would take for a new Energy Star appliance to pay for itself in savings.

The design of the site is by none other than Pentagram. Check out some of the nice icons they made below.

(via swissmiss)

Domestic Transformer

Holy minimalism! Hong Kong architect Gary Chang is a master of efficient living. Using a sliding wall system and smart lighting solutions, he can convert his tiny apartment into 24 different rooms.

(via)

These awesome posters come from a late ’70s campaign to show Chinese citizens the potential of modern civilization. I’m sure they were very futuristic at the time. A great example of using design to help people envision a better way of life. Whether or not they have that now probably depends on who you ask.

(via)

Productivity Future Vision

This is a pretty awesome video by Microsoft showing a glimpse of what our increasingly digital future will hold.

Behold, the home of the future. This model of sustainable living is currently on display in downtown Vancouver. Made from two shipping containers and wrapped in cedar and pine beetle wood, the home features local and recycled materials, energy-efficient appliances, solar panels, and a green wall on the exterior that shows how you could insulate the structure from hot and cold temperatures.

Via Jetson Green:

Perhaps the size of the home alone is a good signal of the form shelter will take in years to come.  It’s a mere 680 square feet, which is quite different from the average home of today.

More info on the home at BC Hydro

I’m digging this Looptworks laptop sleeve which was assembled from the leftover neoprene scraps from a wetsuit factory.

(via)