The Week in Green Design: The Best of Milan, Google Goes Solar, and the Mies van der Rohe Award!

Dear Inhabitants- Did you notice that we rolled out a brand new design for Inhabitat.com this week?  We redesigned the look and feel of our website to try to bring you a browsing experience that is cleaner, faster, and easier to navigate - complete with a carousel that highlights our favorite stories of the day! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the new design - so ping us at info@inhabitat.com if you have thoughts. We're also excited to have kicked off our coverage of the Milan Salone del Mobile on Tuesday as we bring you the latest news from the world's premiere furniture fair.  So far we've showcased some fresh new eco-friendly lamps, furnishings, and products from the world's best and brightest designers. Finally, we're getting ready to launch an illuminating green lighting design competition with one of the world's biggest lighting brands, so designers, dust off your thinking caps and get ready to show us your stuff! THE BEST OF MILAN DESIGN WEEK Energy-Absorbing Trap Light Never Needs to be Plugged In The World's First Commercial Color Changing OLED Panels Honeycomb-Inspired Nectar Lamp is 100% Recyclable Panasonic Unveils Emotion-Reading Interactive LED Wall Diederik Schneemann Turns Flip Flops Into Works of Art Foster + Partners Unveil Elegant LED FLO Lamp Designtree's Base Lamp Showcases Discarded Signage THE WEEK IN DESIGN NEWS TREXA Unveils New Enertube Prototype Neues Museum Wins 2011 Mies van der Rohe Award Piranha Boat is 40% Stronger, 400% More Fuel Efficient Google Invests $168 Million in Solar Thermal Plant GREEN DESIGN COMPETITIONS Arts of Fashion Design Comp - DEADLINE: April 14th NASA's Future of Flight Art Contest - DEADLINE: April 15th Design an Eco-Restaurant for WA - DEADLINE: April 15th Fur Free fffashion Competition - DEADLINE April 15th WIN FREE GREEN STUFF! Enter the Method Get Clean Sweepstakes! Spring has sprung at last, so dust off the shelves and clear out your closets - its time to go on a green cleaning spree! To help kick things off, Method recently launched their Get Clean Sweepstakes, which offers you a shot at winning a complete kitchen refresh, an assortment of kitchen accessories, a year's supply of Method products, and a copy of the Homekeeping Handbook autographed by Martha Stewart! ENTER THE GET CLEAN SWEEPSTAKES > Win a Recycled Inner-Tube Necklace From My Sister's Art KIDS STORIES FROM INHABITOTS 5 Kid-Friendly Recycled Milk Jug Projects 7 Ways to Create an Eco-Friendly Easter Basket WEARABLE STORIES FROM ECOUTERRE World's Smallest Wedding Rings Made of Interlocking DNA 11 Must-Have Pieces for the Eco-Conscious Executive Thanks for reading everyone - see you next week! Jill and Mike Your Faithful Inhabitat Editors --  Inhabitat http://www.inhabitat.com Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/inhabitat