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Congratulations to SendtoNews Video Inc., #4 in 2012’s Most Innovative Companies in B.C.
http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/innovation/sendtonews-video-inc

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2012’s Most Innovative Companies in B.C.
http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/2012/innovators

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Unique Tsunami Boat Wood Furniture Pieces Offer Style, Economic Support

Monarch Furnishings is now helping artisans who are rebuilding their livelihoods after the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Furniture artisans along the coastlines are using wood from boats that were left destroyed on the beaches to create unique furniture pieces. In addition to creating completely original pieces that retain much of the character of the boats they came from, the furniture is also part of the rebuilding of local economies while assisting in cleanup efforts. 

Constructed in Indonesia, boat wood furniture pieces include benches, coffee tables, dining tables, entertainment units, stools and buffets. Pieces are made from teak, mahogany and mango wood that has been salvaged from the destroyed boats. 

“We were pleased to work with these artisans and bring these unique pieces to Victoria,” says Tony Martin, co-owner, Monarch Furniture. “Not only are the pieces beautiful, they are sustainable because they are made completely of reclaimed wood, sometimes of rare kinds that can no longer be harvested. And it’s directly helping those communities rebuild.” 

There were between 7,000 and 8,000 boats destroyed or severely damaged in Indonesia alone in the 2004 disaster. Many contained wood that is no longer legal to obtain or that simply doesn’t exist anymore such as aged teak. Many boats, pushed inland by the giant wave, were unsalvageable, becoming part of the mass of debris left behind by the tsunami. 

About Monarch Furnishings

Monarch Furnishings, located in downtown Victoria’s Design District, imports unique artisan crafted product lines that combine modern style with sustainable exotic hardwood home furnishings. Exclusivity with its Central Java suppliers provides Monarch with products that cannot be found anywhere else in North America. Visit their Warehouse Gallery at 1807 Store Street. For more information on Monarch please visit www.monarchfurnishings.com or telephone 250.590.3955.

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By Tom Griffiths - Publisher LIGHTimes News 

February 9, 2012…The leading annual US exhibition and conference for the broader LED industry supply chain, Strategies in Light, took place this week, and there is no doubt we’re seeing a lively industry. Revenue growth at the packaged LED industry has been moderated a bit by the overall economic climate, but with most segments growing simply because LED-based solutions make sense, the overall picture is good and should continue that way. Here are some of the highlights that struck us, both in and around the event:

A vision for the future… Awareness seems to be building that now that LEDs are able to begin economically serving a number of areas in lighting, we can afford to expand our vision beyond just replacing the current lighting out there, to instead beginning to see where this could all go. Much as optical communications gave life to a whole new, and really-really big thing called “e-commerce”, the fundamental technology of solid state light opens the door to “apps” none of us had previously imagined. For lack of a better term, lets call it “adaptive, responsive, interactive lighting”. In a reception hosted by Light Based Technologies, the execs there did a good job of summarizing a concept of “personalizing” light by accepting inputs at a level of granularity relevant to an individual “user” and then responding at that same user level. Communicating information back up the hierarchy, for instance to that section, of that floor, of that building, on that grid, can allow those progressively larger functional blocks to take those conditions at the user level into account in “the big picture” of energy and environmental management. It can start to get very abstract, very quickly, but if we acknowledge that our health, happiness and productivity can all be influenced by light, and that now we finally have the technology that enables us to control it with unprecedented precision, we’re off on a hunt to truly understand it. The discussion has just begun, and I, for one, look forward to “the more” that we’ll uncover in the process.

 

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One of seven high-end homes in Abstract Developments’ VUE project has sold for $2.2 million. A local buyer purchased the home and the deal closed January 20.

VUE is the latest project for national award winning local builder Mike Miller and his company, Abstract Developments. VUE is located next to Moss Rock Park in Fairfield. Keeping in line with the caliber of previous Abstract Developments projects, homes in the VUE project feature West Coast contemporary design with panoramic ocean and city views.

Google SketchUp, a 3D software tool was used for the first time to lay out each home site for the best views from this spectacular site, maximizing the field of vision to the Juan de Fuca Straight and picturesque Fairfield and Oak Bay areas.  

The homes showcase sustainable building practices, recycled materials, solar heat windows, insulated concrete form (ICF) foundations, and the latest Smart Home technology for managing water, energy and heat usage, waste reduction and air quality.

Now in his thirteenth year of building homes, Mike Miller has designed and built over 50 homes in Victoria. He has received over 30 Gold home building awards and has been touted by Architectural Digest Magazine as one of his industry’s “most accomplished practitioners.”

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The new chief executive of Carmanah Technologies said the solar lighting and power company will aggressively expand markets in emerging countries. Bruce Cousins said Latin America, Africa and Asia will be key targets for Carmanah’s energy-efficient lighting… http://goo.gl/SfFfi

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http://abstractdevelopments.com/projects/vue/

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Canada has officially declined an invitation from the South Korean government to participate in Expo 2012, saying it can’t afford to attend the World’s Fair.

 Officials at the Korean Embassy in Ottawa confirmed Tuesday they received a letter last month from Heritage Minister James Moore sending his regrets that Canada will not participate in the event.

 Korean embassy spokesman Heon-jun Kim said the Republic of Korea tried its best to convince Canada to attend Expo 2012, but was not successful.

 “We tried very hard to persuade them to participate in the event next year, but we have to respect their decision-making,” he said. “We are really sorry about that. We really worked hard to invite them.”

http://bit.ly/oYENli

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