California-based Soil Retention is behind a product, Drivable Grass, that many of you may be interested in. The name is somewhat of a misnomer, because, as you will see below, the infill doesn’t have to be grass. It can be gravel of various kinds, too. Drivable Grass is a flexible product that can be used as a substitute for concrete and asphalt driveways, patios, parking lots, RV pads, boat ramps, and the like.
You’ve probably already seen this toilet and sink combination before. It’s the W+W – short for washbasin and watercloset – from Roca. The product, currently available overseas, reuses waste water from the sink in the discharge of the cistern, which helps it reduce water usage by up to 25% compared to a standard 6/3 liter dual-flush toilet.
Water efficiency is an important measure in green building everywhere, but in Australia — one of the driest countries in the world — water conservation is more widely practiced and water awareness is generally higher than it is in North America. In addition to pioneering water efficiency, Australians have discovered some problems due to the use of efficient, low-flow fixtures. One is the potential problem of "dry drains," however, a new invention called the Drainwave aims to solve the problem.
Recently, Knibb Design let us know about their new endeavor to modularize landscape design with a new site: Knibb Modular Garden. Knibb Modular lets you create a custom residential or commercial garden online in about four steps. When you're done, you'll have an estimated total cost of all the materials, which should be about $12-$16 per square foot. Unless you install the garden yourself, installation will run about $4-$6 extra per square foot. So all in, a modular garden like this will cost about $16-$22 per square foot, sans land preparation costs.
Oxygenics was kind enough to send us their new STORM showerhead, which was designed to provide 20%-70% water and energy savings. The unit has 54 spray nozzles that shower you with 30% more water pressure compared to other brands. They do this with their Pressure Boosting Technology (see below), which squeezes the stream of water while adding air to it.
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