That green bandwagon is speeding down the global highway at break neck speeds and corporations are rushing to hop on. That’s the good news… the other good news is that electronics giant Siemens is looking for ways to make bold and beautiful green statements with these cordless telephone designs. Siemens Home and Office Communication division commissioned design firm Formwelt with guidance from Hans-Henning Brabänder to dream up these ultimate green phones for the home or office. The “Gigaset Eco Visions” “Leaf” and “Solar” are made of recyclable raw materials, such as eco-plastic and liquid wood. Sun-light is used as a natural energy source for handsets. An eco-index provides the “nutritional facts” regarding the environmental-friendliness of each phone. This includes the percentage of organic materials and number of components used at disassembly, the energy consumption and emissions in use and production as well as the how recyclable each product is. So much more relevant info on all the ways this design is innovative below.

Designer: Formwelt Studio

Leaf has a unique natural design reminiscent of a leaf in spring. The eco plastics provide sensational haptics and substantial convenience. The invisible OLED display is embedded in a translucent lens encasement, giving the phone a futuristic touch.

Light Gap is a concept clock with solars cells on its backside. You stick it on a window so sunlight can illuminate the slit on the face to form the hour hand. As day moves into night, batteries kick in to illuminate a row of LEDs in the slit, thanks to the aforementioned solar cells.

Light Gap is a Red Dot Concept Design 2010 winning entry.

Designers: Chengyuan Wei, Fangtian Ying, Duyin Qin, Pengxiang Jia, Fan Zhang, Huabiao Shan, Yu Zhang, Chen Zheng, Guanyun Wang & Lifu Yao

Nothing will put a stop to your day of running around the city faster than a dying phone battery! CityCharge gives users who are on-the-go a place to sit and relax while their devices charges. Powered entirely by solar energy, it features 6 charging cables that can accommodate most smartphones and tablets. A success at their new home in Bryant Park, NYC, the design is round, easy to move, and also has a communal table that encourages social interaction!

Designer: Ignacio Ciocchini

It’s here in concept and I simply love it! The Tanning Printer is a solar powered printer that doesn’t use cartridges. Instead it uses the process of sun-tanning the paper! You got that right sir…sun tan! It seems outlandish right now, but trust me the idea is worth exploring… the design is here, it looks neat and sleek; now let the engineers figure it out!

Designers: Hosung Jung, Junsang Kim, Seungin Lee & Yonggu Do

Welcome to the future – where plants take us by surprise and seal our fates as the dear or dying species on this planet! Our only defense is the “Jaguar Mark XXI.” Designer Christopher Pollard has made this nature defense vehicle. It drives like a mother. Then when parked, the black panels activate. These panels are photovoltaic, lift from the car automatically, and face the sun, like the sunflower. Scary, right?

It’s totally science. Watch the video. You’ll see it.

The “living” panels signify “the synergy between the car’s energy replenishing function and the natural science from which it takes its inspiration.” The photovoltaic panels use solar power – a power you may have heard of – to power the car. Additional details bist written below. It’s like a -oh what to do you call it – Transformer!

Green car / in disguise!

Designer: Christopher Pollard

Loop explores the relationships between the present and the future. Loop is Peugeot’s green thinking for tomorrow’s megatropolis. It signifies the use of green thinking – how we use our resources today determines what we will receive in return in the future.

The roof spreads along the entire length of the body maximizing space for a solar panel which acts as a secondary power source for this family car. It also creates an interesting visual pattern. The primary energy source is a rechargeable lithium battery located at the rear of the vehicle. Materials proposed for the vehicle are eco-friendly tho the designer doesn’t specify what exactly.

A gangway feel is provided between two rows of seats. Semi-circular bags are located along this gangway. They come with customized options for storage, entertainment, interaction, etc, providing the user with greater flexibility and ease of use.

Space is also provided for a small indoor plant. This brings the outdoors into the interior and gives a sense of the natural surroundings beyond the gull-wing doors.

Another feature is a Hi-tech concept camera, embedded within the passenger windows. Whenever anything interesting is seen on the road, passengers touch their window to capture a snapshot.

Designer: Abhinav Dapke

If I have to sum up the innovative quotient in the Kira Yacht, then it has to be the lead in the keel of the boat, which is designed to become a giant battery charger thanks to the solar cells in the sail. 40-meter Sail Yacht allows the owner to live in complete comfort and with zero carbon footprint.

The physical model is a 3D Print, printed in multiple parts, detailed and assembled by the designer.

Designer: Sebastian Campos Moller

Designed to aid in providing safe drinking water for people in developing countries, Gabriele Diamanti’s Eliodomestico water distiller harnesses the sun’s power to produce up to 5 liters of drinking water daily. Eliodomestico is almost 3 times as efficient as traditional solar stills and functions without electricity or even much maintenance as it works autonomously during the day. Made from only terra-cotta and zinc-plated metal sheets, the design could also be produced or repaired by locals quite easily.

The distiller itself is very easy to use: in the morning simply fill the water tank with salty or dirty water from a local source, and in the evening collect clean, evaporated and re-condensed water in a portable recipient placed underneath the tank.

Designer: Gabriele Diamanti