Normally big is the opposite of green. These three tech companies prove that being massive doesn’t mean you can’t be environmentally responsible.

Chances are, you’re reading this on a device made by one of the big three tech companies: Apple, Google, or Samsung. Between them, this trio of corporations are responsible for a vast majority of the mobile technologies on the market today (and as we all know, Google pretty much has a lock down on internet search).

These tech companies aren’t perfect, and they deserve the flack they catch for contributing to the growing e-waste problem, avoiding taxes, and allowing  unsuitable working conditions in their overseas factories. But with billions of dollars of revenue comes the ability to make big green changes. They may not be able (or willing) tackle the social injustices that arise from their industry, but they are taking steps to reduce their footprint at home.

1. Samsung – North San Jose Megacampus

Samsung recently broke ground on a 1.1 million square foot research and development headquarters north of downtown San Jose. Designed by NBBJ the 650,00-square-foot office looks like a layer cake, but what hides inside is a lot more exciting than icing. The design “embraces the new urban design guidelines developed by the City of San Jose which call for densification, more active streetscapes, and environmental stewardship,” explains Samsung.

The entire site will be divided into four zones, which move from ‘urban’ to ‘garden’. Various courtyards will feature porous pavement, and lush native trees and plants. The tower itself will be clad in white metal and clear glass, carefully balanced to reduce solar heat gain and provide a sense of lightness. The goal is that no employee will ever be more than one floor away from green space.

2. Apple – Cupertino “Spaceship”

Looking a lot like a UFO Apple’s new 2.8 million square foot facility [PDF] will house up to 14,200 employees, and almost as many trees. Designed by Foster + Partners, nearly 80 percent of the massive campus will be green landscaped, including a company garden.

The parking lot would be house underground, avoiding the runoff that usually results when you pave paradise. According to recent design documents, Apple hopes to make the entire edifice “net zero” by generating a significant amount of the Campus’ energy from on-site renewable sources, and developing partnerships with renewable energy providers for grid-purchased renewable energy.

3. Google – The Googleplex

This spring, it was announced that Google would begin construction on a new 1.1-million-square-foot headquarters in Mountain View, California. Also designed by NBBJ (nobody saw that as a conflict of interest?!), it will be the first time Google has built its own facility from the ground up, and company officials promise it will break new ground in environmental sustainability.

Each of the nine buildings strewn around the campus will face west and east to minimize heat and glare from the morning and afternoon sun. The buildings’ narrow design ensures that no matter where your desk is located, you’ll have plenty of natural sunlight, thus minimizing lighting costs. The Google HQ will make prolific use of solar panels, while a low-energy heating and cooling system will allow it to supply 100 percent fresh air without breaking the bank.

Images: Samsung, Google/NBBJ, Apple/Foster + Partners,

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Who knew remodeling with recycled tile could be so good for the environment AND the local economy? Apparently, Fireclay, a U.S.-based tile maker.

Tile is an incredibly versatile building material. Put it on the floor, the wall, or the counter-top, and you’ve got a durable surface that’s easy to clean. Like paint and wallpaper, however, tile can be boring if you’re not careful.

That’s why Fireclay, which specializes in recycled glass and ceramic tiles, recently launched the Color-It tool. With just a few clicks, you can choose from hundreds of unique Cuerda Seca-style patterns. (Cuerda Seca is a hand-painting technique used to simulate mosaic and cloisonné enamel effects in colored ceramic tiles that’s very popular in classic Spanish architecture).

Just like a color-by-number, the Color-It tool offers over 100 recycled tile designs available in 4×4 or 6×6 sizes. Choose from style families like Flowers, Geometrics, Knots, Crosses, Old California or Stars. Once you’ve found a pattern that delivers the mood you’re going for, it’s time to move onto color.

The Color-It tool offers more than 80 colors, enough to satisfy even the most unique color profile. Build your own color palette by clicking on colors of available gloss or matte paint, or choose from a series of convenient suggested palettes. Then, simply drag a hue from your palette into the large image of your tile to color it!

The great thing is, although you’re adding color to the large tile, every selection is automatically repeated in a grid of 16 smaller tiles off to the side. This allows you to get a feel for the overall effect of your color choices. There’s also an option for previewing a border configuration if that’s what you’re considering.

Once you’ve decided on a pattern and color you love, Fireclay uses a proprietary wax resist technique to print a black outline on their Debris Series Recycled Ceramic Tile, which features more than 70 percent recycled content sourced from within 50 miles of the factory. Once the pattern is printed, skilled California artisans hand glaze the colors of choice within the selected pattern. In just about four weeks, the one of a kind recycled tile  is shipped right to your door.

Images: Fireclay Tile

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Concrete gets street cred.

How many times have you slagged off a building – e.g., a school, shopping center or intentional eco community – for being concrete, and thus ugly? When I was kid, our next door neighbors moved out of their brick house into a concrete one (the dad invented some new kind of livable concrete) and I deemed them aesthetically challenged.

Concrete has emerged as an invaluable material in sustainable construction. Limestone, the most abundant mineral on earth, is the predominant raw material in the cement that makes the concrete. It can also be made from waste byproducts like fly ash, slag cement, and silica fume. It’s also a durable, long lasting material (just ask the Romans) and homes built with concrete walls, foundations and floors tend to be highly energy efficient. Moreover, since concrete can be produced as needed, it’s easy to predict how much you will need and excess can be crushed and recycled for use in other concrete structures.

In interiors, designers are molding concrete into unexpected, pretty things.

For example:

Stitching Concrete is a project by Florian Schmid created by manipulating folding fabric soaked in cement and water.

The Aplomb suspension light from Italian lighting company Foscarini.

The Espresso Solo, a conceptual product by Shmuel Linski. The goal was to make concrete into a “desirable consumer product.”

Also by Linski, his speaker collection, aptly named “Exposed.”

A concrete bench from Berlin-based firm Metrofarm.

A concrete television cabinet by Canadian industrial designer Jean Willoughby.

Another from Willoughby: a concrete table.

…in what appears to be snake print.

The post 8 Surprisingly Pretty Things Made From Concrete appeared first on EcoSalon.

For an exhaustive look at optimizing energy use, look no further than self-professed “green geek” Catherine Mohr:

Robotics engineer Catherine Mohr is tired of enviros “long on moral authority and short on data.” She’s got a smart TED talk clip about the greenest options for (a) wiping up a yogurt spill and (b) building a house. The point in each case is that the best option is often not what you’d expect.

Continue reading the full story over at Grist.

Image: billhr

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Growing up, I spent countless hours at my local library immersed in the worlds of Anne Frank or Judy Blume. I’m still enamored with libraries, and the latest addition to the New York City Public Library system literally has me green with envy, making me wish I lived closer to Battery Park so I could take advantage.

Battery Park City’s public library branch is New York Public Library’s first LEED certified  Gold branch in Manhattan. The 10,000-square-foot, $6.7 million space opened on March 18. Every detail – from the recycled cardboard circulation desk to the terrazzo staircase made from recycled glass chips – was designed by the firm 1100 Architect to reflect an eco consciousness.

Naturally, there is a bit of political drama associated with the library opening, which was over a decade in the making. Critics say that Battery Park is already blessed with posh amenities, so perhaps a less fortunate neighborhood would have benefited more from a new library branch? Ultimately though, money talks, and when Goldman Sachs relocated to Battery Park fifteen years ago, the company donated $3.5 million to the new library branch. Sorry other neighborhoods in need of a library!

We can only hope that other library systems will take notice and adapt some of these green initiatives for their own branches.

Image: Punxutawneyphil

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