Design innovation at the Green Festival (photos)

Featuring hundreds of natural products and green living ideas, the Green Festival in San Francisco brought people together this past weekend to exchange ideas and sustainable innovations in a world hungry for change.

From simple tips on healthy living to ways to improve energy efficiency and sustainability, the Green Festival is a place to exchange ideas and welcome the cutting edge.

This energy management unit from Growing Energy Labs is a way to manage the incoming and outgoing power from a house. Lithium ion batteries can collect energy from solar panels, or directly from utility companies during low rate times, and sell it back to power companies during peak usage hours. The batteries seen here have 14 kilowatt hours of storage and 4 kilowatt hours of conversion.

In southern Vietnam, magazines are recycled to create these beautiful and sturdy bowls.

Solar Goose seeks to harness solar energy to power an array of products. The handle of the tool, lined with solar collectors, can be fitted with many different types of attachments, including lights and adapters to fit devices like cell phones.

3 Prong Power conversion kits can modify a Toyota Prius with batteries, giving the car 100 miles per gallon.

Foregoing toxic ingredients for a more natural solution, Natural Blends uses natural plant based pigments to add color to its paints.

As consumers move away from toxic oil-based plastics and toward more sustainable solutions, biodegradable dinnerware like these wooden utensils are becoming more popular.

Enhancing health and wellness with the Spoonik Rider acupuncture mat.

Fallen are collected, washed, scrubbed, sun dried and compressed to create the Earth-friendly dinnerware Leafware.

The lightweight and disposable natural products are intended as a replacement to one-time use plastic ware.