Artist Elisabeth Buecher has invented a shower curtain that cuts short your shower after four minutes, to save energy and water.  The curtain has inflatable spikes that fill with air after four minutes, nudging the user out of the shower.  ’Spiky’ the curtain also has a cousin, which inflates to trap you inside the shower as a sweaty punishment for your water waste.

Read more

Guernsey Gas, in partnership with Sure CW, is sponsoring intrepid Channel Island adventurers Steve Wright and Simon Elmont on their Spring 09 expedition across Greenland – a trip designed to raise awareness of important environmental issues to school children in Alderney, Sark and Guernsey (through interactive experiments, devised by the students themselves), as well as charitable fund raising in aid of Motor Neurone Disease (for full details, visit greenland09.com).

Read more

Betley Whitehorne and Guernsey Gas have launched Greener Guernsey, a website dedicated to helping you save energy, money and the environment. With global warming becoming an ever bigger topic the time to act is now. You may feel that you can’t do much to help but even small changes can help make a big difference if we all get involved.

Packed full of useful tips and great offers the site is well worth a look. For instance, did you know that simply fitting the correct heating controls in your home could reduce your energy bill by up to 15%.

For tips, offers and advice visit Greener Guernsey.

An extraordinary piece of architecture and engineering, this 80 story building scheduled for completion in 2010 should really make people think differently.  The tower, located in Dubai, will house 20 floors of retail space, 15 floors for an extravagant hotel and the remaining floors for residential apartments with the top 10 floors set aside for luxury villas of up to 12,900 square feet in size.

Designed by Italian architect Dr. David Fisher the tower will rotate to benefit from the sun and adapt to the wind. It even generates it’s own energy by cleverly integrating 79 wind turbines between floors and using photovoltaic cells on the roof of each floor.

Read more

I like this on many levels. Not just because it’s a clever way of demonstrating the effects of global warming and certainly not because it’s in a location which means that only a few will ever see it. For me it doesn’t really matter, the PR generated from creating something original must make it worth while? After all traffic to their site has gone up 300%.

The ad, created by Ogilvy & Mather, for HSBC’s global warming initiative features a giant aerial photo of New York.

Read more

Guernsey is nearly devoid of large scale outdoor advertising. Is there demand or a requirement for outdoor advertising? Would it benefit local businesses or be an eye sore that spoils our island home?

Read more

Here in Guernsey there is very little outdoor advertising, no large scale billboards, few posters, in fact very little beyond store fronts is vying for your eyes attention. The only regularly seen advert I can remember is the annual drink-driving campaign around Christmas time. This is in total contrast to the world major cities, so imagine São Paulo, a bustling metropolis of 11 million people, with over 8000 billboards. Now imagine that city being stripped of advertising. No Posters. No flyers. No ads on buses. No ads on trains. No Adshels, no 48-sheets, no nothing.

Read more

I don’t usually drool over cars and am far from a Top Gear fanatic but must admit to being rather impressed when I caught sight of these two concept beauties on display in Paris recently (although the Peugeot would definitely suit Guernsey’s weather rather more than Hyundai’s futuristic open air version!). Wonder when either will (ever) make it off the production line.

Many more super markets are trying to reduce the production of plastic for their products. One is Marks and Spencer who have recently announced that they will be charging five pence for their plastic bags. It seems that if we don’t already use a bag for life (which we should) the remainder of people will do soon, and what better way to carry your shopping than in a specially designed carrier bag.

A recent exhibition called Re-Bag showcased fifteen reusable canvas bags designed by some leading UK design practitioners. The artists in question were Design Project, Airside, BB/Saunders, Nick Jones + Browns, MadeThought, Multistorey, NB:Studio, Non Format, ODD, Saturday, Sea, Spin, Supermundane, Winkreative and The Designers Republic.

Read more