L to R: Nick Rouse, Liz Mandeville, Miles Jenner (Harveys), Howard Johns, Dirk Campbell, Hamish Elder (Harveys), Chris Rowland. Credit: Tony Smedley.

Whether it is one guy convincing 100 neighbors to go solar, or a cooperative of community-owned wind power, “power to the people” takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to distributed ownership of renewable energy. Now Rob Hopkins of Transition Culture reports that a group of residents in Lewes, England, are banding together to fund the installation of 544 solar panels on the roof of their local brewery to create a community-owned power station. They just have a race against the clock to beat Government u-turns on the solar subsidies that make it viable:

The 544 solar PV panels will generate 92 kilowatts peak, an estimated 98,000 kilowatt hours per year. If the installation is completed by August 1st this year, all the power generated will qualify for the top rate feed-in tariff 3 of 34p per kilowatt hour, ensuring returns to investors of 4% per annum over the 25 years of the scheme. Unfortunately two blows have recently fallen since the scheme was first planned: Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has decided to cut the tariff above 50 kilowatts to 19p as of August 1st, and George Osborne has decided to remove EIS tax relief from FIT businesses. [...] Despite these setbacks Ovesco will go all out to complete the installation by early July.

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Using graffiti to put precious  back into the urban jungle is the Belgium-based street artist Rao, who is known for his unique black and white large scale versions of wild animals. The talented artist unleashes the dilapidated, coarse interiors and exteriors of the unyielding landscape as a canvas to portray his huge creatures. His extraordinary artwork is his little way of educating people about how the urban lifestyle imposes difficulty for innocent animals to survive, but they still adapt to it. His dramatic paintings feature hares, crows, seagulls, squirrels, moles, etc. Here’s hoping that his enthralling work of art will encourages all the urbanites to contribute in saving animals and show some compassion toward them.

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An incredible set of massive wooden parasols is currently springing up in Seville, and when they’re completed next Spring they’re expected to form the largest wooden structure in the world. The urban project, called Metropol Parasols, will create a sheltered plaza that hosts a museum, a farmers market, and a cultural center. Residents and visitors will flock under the giant umbrellas to take refuge in the microclimate while socializing and taking in the city.

Amazingly, the covered courtyard project isn’t just an attempt to give the people of Seville a shady place to hang out. The site was originally meant to be a parking garage, but during excavation in the early 2000s, workers discovered a hidden archaeological site. Thankfully, instead of going on with the original plans, they decided to make the space into a culture and community center, which will be called the Plaza de la Encarnacion.

Underground facilities have been constructed to assist with the archaeological dig, while the street level hosts a covered farmer’s market, a public plaza, and multiple restaurants and bars. Visitors can also take a promenade up top on the parasols, which will offer incredible views of the city. Access to the museum and archaeological site as well as the rooftop promenade is provided via the columns.

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The all amazing Pumpkin Boat Race aka the Kürbis Regatta is making heads turn at the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival. The partakers hollow out giant pumpkins, which normally weigh at over 200lb, just to fit the racer inside it. The pumpkin’s waste pulpy tissues are supplied to the 17th Century Castle Ludwigsburg to make pies, curries and hearty stews from it. The annual festival is held annually in front of a former royal palace in Southwest Germany.

Aside from the boat race, the event sees sculptors to creating animals- and abstract-sculptures from 450 different varieties of pumpkins. The Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival will continue until early November.

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It seems like every company is offering sneakers that replicate the feel of running barefoot. The idea is that in a (virtually) shoeless state, you stride as you were born to—striking the ground with the foot’s midsection, not the heel (a habit people have picked up from overly cushioned sneakers, says some research). The jury’s still out on the health benefits, but these three pairs made running “playful and fast,” according to an O tester. Introduce them into your workout gradually, building from just ten minutes at a time, so muscles can adjust.
This design trains your feet to land flat for less shock to knees.

Gravitas, $175; NewtonRunning.com

Get a feel for the ground in protective, glovelike sneakers.
Bikila, $100; VibramFiveFingers.com

Customize the look of these lightweight leather mocs—especially comfortable for wide feet.
RunAmoc, from $87; SoftStarShoes.com

Customize the look of these lightweight leather mocs—especially comfortable for wide feet.
RunAmoc, from $87; SoftStarShoes.com

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Foursquare, the location-based check-in game, has expanded to the last location: space. Astronaut Doug Wheelock checked in while on the International Space Station today, earning himself an oh-so-exclusive “NASA Explorer” badge. But Foursquare is also partnering with NASA to encourage all kinds of terrestrial space-knowledge exploration.

This check-in kicks off Foursquare’s NASA partnership, which will make various NASA badges available to those who check in to space-related locations here on Earth. If you visit the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, U.S. Space Camp, or a host of other spacey places that don’t require years of training and a rocket, you’ll be able to compete for badges including the NASA Explorer badge.

These badges are just another way to encourage more learning about space, and go along with the space program’s recent push towards social networking. Little moves like posting amazing images to TwitPic, live-tweeting from space, and now this Foursquare integration are all serving to make space a little bit more tangible and approachable–fun, even. The Foursquare integration might be the best yet, actually, because it encourages people to explore space-related centers while remaining on or relatively near the ground. You could even look at it as incentive to get those outer-space colonies we’ve been wanting constructed ever-faster–can’t let Wheelock have that badge all to himself, right?

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Finding use in junk artist Zac Freeman has created unbelievable portraits from objects he started gathering way back in 1992. Using scrap as a medium of art Zac’s compositions have been assembles from throwaway old buttons, LEGO bricks, keyboard keys, pieces of wood and what not. The visual rendering spots utility in trash and for Zac these carry energetic presence even though they have been crafted from waste.

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Israeli industrial designer Nimrod Sapir knows it well that folks would love to get their feet off the ground if the concept machine could promise some thrills while on the move. So, he comes up with a new brand of portable Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) which he dubs as MYWAY. The E-scooters guarantee 100 times more energy efficiency than any car you run these days.

The express commuter vehicle allows one to speed up to 25kmph for 20 km on a single charge. And that’s four or five times the speed of walking. With no enmity posed to traditional vehicles, MYWAY could be carried around in any of them. Needless to say, it’s a compact vehicle that could add a fine distinction to the way you move through the city.

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French artist Anastassia Elias provides you all with a reason to admire paper art more than you did it ever before. Over the years, she has mastered the art of molding paper into fanciful, small figurines. She cuts small paper shapes and fit them into toilet paper rolls with the help of tweezers. Her art is as inspiring as Dalton Ghetti’s pencil art was.

Just to make people believe that recycled paper figures are parts of the roll itself, she carefully selects same color for paper and roll as well. Contrary to what you might be thinking about the recycled art, each piece comes out complete in a few hours. Despite all its complexity, it’s a superlative feat of amazing precision and superb artistry. What do you say?

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Most of us will agree with the age-old saying that “patience is a virtue.” How many of you, however, would actually hang on for two years and a half to bring a piece of art into existence? Dalton Ghetti, 49, a Bridgeport artist, has spent 25 good years working with a razor blade, a sewing needle and a sculpting knife for carving his unique art on the graphite of pencil.

The artist says:

I don’t make money from it but I would love a gallery owner in England to fly me over and put on a show.

The inclination to fashion something new did not surface all of a sudden. Rather, a childhood hobby evolved into remarkable art with time. You could see, in below images, how he utilizes the leftovers of used graphite pencils to create tiny sculptures. His projects include a line of 26 alphabets, a handsaw, a single rice-grain-sized teardrop for every victim of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and much more…

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