Ethical and Green

The French designer Phillipe Starck has turned from more mainstream design to designing items to help the environment.  It would be fair to say he has gone green and has even described his previous work as ‘unnecessary.’

Starck is known for his iconic designs for everything from juicers to hotels.  His focus is now on the environment and Ethical and Green think he is going to have a huge impact.  Next year Britain will see the launch of a designer wind turbine.  We’ll take their word for it that it is in fact a wind turbine as it doesn’t have the classic design that is more windmill-esque!  In fact it looks like something that you could easily have in your garden and make a feature of.  The best thing about the turbine is that it will extremely cheap at £400.  Even better is the fact that it can provide a small house with around 60% of the power needed for heat and light.  Light at the end of the rising costs of fuel?  Critics think you will need five of Starck’s turbines but time will tell…..

Other designs Starck has for the environment are solar panels, a hydrogen powered boat, ab eco-moped an eco house and an electric car.  With Nissan and Mercedes launching electric cars we’ll have to see how popular Starck’s car will be.

As some observers have commented the wind turbine may help cut your carbon footprint long term but what is the carbon footprint of making it?  The design is good but what about the materials?  Where are they sourced from?  Possibly then it won’t be the most ethical and green wind turbine out there.  In fact you will most probably find that it will appeal to those who are fair weather greens and do it more as it’s popular as opposed to being truly eco-conscious.