The Big Sur PreFab, created by Jennifer Siegel and Office of Mobile Design, rests high-up amidst 217 acres of California mountain wilderness.  The self-sufficient residence is designed to be independent and connected to the surrounding landscape.

The folded standing seam metal roofline provides an armature to enhance the productivity of the home’s twenty solar PV panels and two solar thermal panels while also creating passive shading from the southern sun.

The 2150 square foot, 2-story home is constructed with structural insulated panels (SIPs). The prefab was created via a process that produced less material waste, a faster construction cycle, a tighter building envelope, green finishes and higher insulating properties – green building features that resulted in a lower total life-cycle cost of the home.

The first floor utilizes an open layout that emphasizes the strong relationship between the indoor living/kitchen/dining/reading (more…)

If saving money isn’t enough motivation for switching to a programmable thermostat, maybe style is. Transform your dowdy-looking old thermostat into a visually interesting photo viewer. Venstar just introduced a new – albeit expensive – thermostat with some interesting design features. The new ColorTouch thermostat is a programmable touchscreen thermostat with some visual sizzle – it allows home owners to upload up to 100 customizable backgrounds, including their own photos, which can rotate as a slide show when the thermostat is in standby mode.

You can also match your home’s color scheme with the thermostat’s customizable faceplates. (more…)

The spirit of a sportster squeezed into a golf cart?  Nissan’s newest zero-emission concept looks the part, and with a name like Twizy (its sister company counterpart), how can you not fall just a little in love with the ultra-compact urban car?  The automaker thought-up this two-seated, futuristic ride when considering the growing number of single households and the need to drive shorter distances in smaller groups.

Offering 100 percent electric power, Nissan’s New Mobility (more…)

Feeling bloated from clothing overload?  According to growNYC.org, the average New Yorker tosses 46 pounds of clothing and textiles in the trash each year.

Donate your unwanted clothing, linens, paired shoes, bags and other pre-loved textiles to GrowNYC’s Million Pound Challenge now and they’ll handle the recycling of these items.  Organized by borough, it makes recycling a cinch.  Clean out your closet and drawers but do it in sustainable style – keep that stuff out of our landfills!

Related:  previously on altCon

• How to Recycle Clothes
• Recycling Pros and Cons

• Coincidence? Didn’t the Tea Party get a lot of cash from ‘big oil’? Mid-Term Defeat Leaves Obama’s Climate Change Agenda Hanging by a Thread – businessgreen.com
• This didn’t end well…Japan Dolphin Slaughter Town Meets With Activists – myway
• The new CO2 diet…Every Person Emits 2 Tons of Carbon Dioxide a Year Just by Eating: Spanish Study – sciencedaily
• Will the newly minted Republican House majority try to push for more offshore drilling? Study: Toxic Chemicals Still Prevalent After BP Spill – msnbc
• World’s Smallest Frog Packs Poisonous Punch – livescience
• Today’s favorite word. Johnny Cash’s Daughter Calls GOP Leader an “Asshat” – raw story

UPDATE: It’s official, our lucky winner is Beth B. of PA.  Thanks to everyone for participating and leaving such amazing comments.  Don’t forget to check out our next giveaway – there’s always an exciting new ecofriendly product to check out.

This Great Green Giveaway is sponsored by our friends at Georgia-based, Earthlover Shopping, supporters of Fair Trade made, earth-friendly goods.  One lucky winner will receive this darling English Retreads Bag.  Vegan and ecofashionable, the Coupe is handmade in Boulder, Colorado – created from recycled tires! (retail value $79)

Winner will be selected in our Random Drawing, and notified by email. Contest ends Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 11:59p (EST). Winner has 24 hours to claim their prize, or the offer is null and void. Winner’s name will be included on this post. Prize includes free delivery to anywhere in the USA.

Here’s how to enter: (more…)

Are your feet winter-ready?  Check out eco-friendly shoe designer, Po-Zu’s Autumn/Fall line of seriously environmentally friendly shoes and boots.

Po-Zu’s warm winter shoes are also breathable because they’re lined with naturally thermal bio-based materials, such as unbleached and undyed pure felt wool and vegetable tanned sheepskin.  Po-Zu is now treating its tweed, felt and sheepskin shoes with an eco-friendly water-resistant coating.  Waxed suede shoes are treated with coconut shoe cream to improve water resistance.

Po-Zu makes an effort to be green in all phases of its operations: they use the purest bio-based environmental and worker-friendly materials throughout our supply chain – maximizing the use of truly sustainable and renewable natural materials, such as hemp, cork, latex, and wool.

It gets greener – Po-Zu avoids harmful glues by (more…)

For me — when playing golf, aside from the rush of chipping in from off the green, nothing beats an exhilarating spin in a golf cart.  Especially on that mountaintop course.

Take that fun factor, add a few engineering tweaks, and put it on the road.  Now you’ve got yourself a shiny new toy.  Upscale golf cart maker, Garia just launched the first-ever, mini roadster of sorts, the Garia Golf Car.  The Garia LSV electric vehicle will get you where you need to be via the roadway as long as you don’t mind taking the slow lane  (LSV is short for Low Speed Vehicle).  Ideal for local spins…it’s the perfect little ride for the beach shack to farmers’ market to country club commute.

Related:  previously on altCon

Garia LSV electric vehicle (2.24.10)

Who says going green can’t be fun?  This watch may not be everyone’s style, but if you love Japanese animation and feel a need to express your affinity for kitschy fun, this Eco Solar Watch may be just the deal for you.  This battery-saving solar watch features fun-loving graphics in addition to solar capability.  The canvas and leather strap (not vegan) hosts its own playful graphic designs.

The watch’s dial contains a solar panel which charges the quartz movement of the watch.  Hour and minute hands feature images of a cloud and sun.  The second hand is designed in a recycling logo. This timepiece is water resistant to 50 meters and comes packaged in a tokidoki gift box.

$175 @ amazon.com