Flight pioneer Bertrand Piccard, an aeronaut who made the first nonstop round the world balloon flight, recently unveiled a prototype of an incredible solar-powered airplane that will one day circle the globe. Dubbed the Solar Impulse, the plane first caught our attention when it was being developed, and we’re thrilled to see a working prototype of the vehicle. Is the age of the solar powered airplane upon us?
Delft University recently unveiled a sleek solar-powered vehicle that they hope will score them their fifth trophy in the World Solar Challenge race. Dubbed the Nuna5, the vehicle is entirely propelled by the sun’s rays, and is designed to cross one of the most difficult terrains on the planet, the Australian outback. Think that your fossil fuel vehicle is up to the task? These students know that theirs is!
Last week, millions of TV sets became obsolete, all due to the switch from analog to digital television. So, what does an eco-minded individual do with an old, ugly, lead and toxin filled box? Well, throwing it away is not an option! You could always recycle your old television — but that doesn’t quite do the trick, does it? What is a true green geek to do? Thanks to Make Magazine, we now have a few, very clever ideas for repurposing your defunct boob tube.
After a successful series of trials in London, Daimler has just announced that the Smart Fortwo Electric is officially ready for small series production! The all-electric version of everyone’s favorite ultra-efficient minicar will feature a 41 hp Zytek electric motor capable of propelling it up to zippy top speed of 60mph with a range of 72 miles, making it perfect for inner-city driving and daily commutes. Now that seems like a smart <sorry> idea to us!
Recently supercar company Koenigsegg revealed that it has obtained a controlling interest in Saab, and according to a Swedish website, their plan is to not just keep Saab running, but to use its facilities to manufacture the solar powered Quant supercar in the near future. The Koenigsegg Quant is a fully-electric four person solar powered vehicle with a top speed of 170 mph, and a 0 to 60 speed of around 5.2 seconds. The entire body is covered in a photovoltaic thin-film solar coating designed by NLV that powers the vehicle.
Ohio State University recently took top honors in the 2009 EcoCAR Competition, which challenged students across the US and Canada to redesign a standard Saturn VUE into an ultra-efficient vehicle. Their winning EcoCAR utilizes a lithium battery and an ethanol-fueled engine to achieve an incredible 300% increase in fuel efficiency over its standard model counterpart! The vehicle took plenty of man hours, good design and well-honed math skills, but the end result proves that future-forward vehicles can be built with the technology of today.
Next time you feel like generating a little energy, just roll into your local Sainsbury’s! The third largest British supermarket chain has just unveiled a new energy system that generates power from the vehicles entering the parking lot of its new store in Gloucester. Think that’s neat? It’s just the tip of the iceberg lettuce for this new lean, green market.
Ballistic Architecture Machine (BAM) believes it’s time to go above and beyond when designing green rooftops. Exceeding the typical environmental and economical benefits of green roof systems, BAM’s green rooftop design supports a functioning biotope for migrating birds. This rooftop aviary will give our feathered friends a bird’s eye view of Manhattan.
Last week the Time Trials Xtreme Grand Prix (TTXGP), the world’s first ever zero carbon, clean emission, motorcycle Grand Prix was held on the Isle of Man; and the race proved to be every bit as exciting as its fossil fuel equivalent. Team Agni Pro-Class driver Rob Barber made history by winning this inaugural electric motorbike competition with an all-electric Suzuki GSX-R 600.
Personal flying vehicles may be a bit on the esoteric end of the transportation field, but they are still fun nonetheless. Earlier this year, two single-seat lightweight aircraft made their maiden flights from the British Sywell Aerodrome near Northampton. Not very exciting, you may think to yourself, but what if we told you that the planes were completely propelled by electric motors?
By far one of the most wasted spaces of every residence is the roof - of course it is there to protect us from the elements, but surely it can be put to better use. Aiming to innovate upon conventional roof cladding, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recently unveiled a new breed of flexible and moisture resistant solar panels that are designed to be rolled out en masse as energy-generating roof tiles!
Have you ever thought to yourself while riding a bike “Gee, I sure wish that I could cross that river.” Well now here’s your chance! Li Wieguo has come up with a relatively cheap and practical DIY project that lets you modify your bike to make it float and work on water. Sure beats taking a boat.
Starting this coming spring, a slick new solar-powered electric vehicle will be hitting the streets of Europe. Italian car designer Pininfarina and French battery manufacturer Bolloré have officially announced that the five door Blue Car hatchback is now ready for production. A fully-electric vehicle with solar panels by 2010? Count us in!
Designing and building a LEED Platinum house is reason enough for us to take notice. When the house is also the work of graduate students at the University of Kansas and it is designed to function off-grid, you can bet that we will anxiously follow its development. Studio 804’s 3716 Springfield House is a two-story residence that is exactly these things, and with the school year just wrapped up, so has the construction of this eco-friendly house in Kansas City.
Texas is famous for having the biggest of everything, from the biggest capitol in the nation, to the largest population of livestock cattle. And while one may not immediately think of Texas as a green state, that will soon change, as Gemini Solar Development has been selected by Austin Energy to install the United States’ largest solar power facility. A green Texas? Why not!
If you happen to be idling your car’s engine on the streets of New York, you may find yourself face to face with George Pakenham, the Verdant Vigilante. The 59 year-old Wall Street mortgage broker is a man on a mission: To stop idling vehicles from polluting the air, causing health issues, and wasting money and precious resources.
Tesla has been bringing innovation and green style to auto industry, ever since the groundbreaking launch of the Tesla Roadster - and more recently with the announcement of the Model S sedan. But is Tesla content to rest on its laurels for now? Not likely. Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, sat down recently for an interview in which he revealed that the next version of the Tesla Roadster will ditch its Lotus roots and will be bigger, better, stronger, and, most importantly, roomier!Â
Seeking to expand the horizons of future-forward transportation, Ecotricity founder Dale Vince has set out to create the world’s first zero-emission, wind powered supercar. The vehicle is based upon a heavily modified Lotus Exige that has been retrofitted with an electric engine that will be charged completely by the wind!
PVT Solar is pioneering an ultra-efficient breed of solar panels that focus not just on incorporating better photovoltaic components, but also take the heat generated by the solar panels and use it to power a solar thermal system. According to the company, these solar cogeneration panels are three times more efficient than anything else out there!
The latest art installation found in Sydney, Australia is taking a decidedly more different approach in making a statement against global warming. Instead of asking people to turn off their lights, or rallying a large number of people to protest on the steps of the parliament house, Brian Eno, a music producer, is curating the inaugural Luminous Festival whose main attraction will doing the opposite of what you’d expect: Lighting up the Opera House.
People wandering the streets of Philadelphia may be surprised to see brand new solar-studded trash cans being installed on the sidewalks. These new landfill-crunching compacting bins are entirely powered by the sun and are able to accept close to eight times as much waste as a regular trash can. Pretty cool, we thought - especially once we found out that they are calling the new bins Big Bellys and that they stand to save the city close to 12 million dollars over 10 years!
For the past 171 years the Benedictine nuns of Conventus of Our Lady of Consolation in the UK have lived in an aging monastery afflicted with high maintenance costs and an inefficient heating system, however they recently made the move to a new environmentally friendly eco-convent. Designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the nuns’ new home in North York Moors National Park is constructed from locally sourced materials and boasts a variety of eco-friendly features including solar hot water heating and a rainwater recycling system.
We tend not to acknowledge it, but our dependence on oil is not limited to the consumption of fossil fuels for energy and transportation. Finding an alternative to plastic (which is also made from oil), is proving to be one of the most difficult problems we face today. Recently scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have announced a groundbreaking development that provides a simple solution to the problem, transforming plant cellulose into plastic in one single step.
This past Sunday, in New York City, the unthinkable happened: Broadway was officially closed… to cars that is. As part of Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to reduce traffic in the city, two sections of Broadway, from 47th to 42nd and from 35th to 33rd Streets, were closed to all vehicular traffic. For the first time ever, happy New Yorkers were able to traverse Times Square without feeling the need to compete with cars. If you think that’s impressive, wait till you read what they have planned next!
There’s little good news coming out of the American auto industry these days, but here and there we’re seeing glimmers of hope from major car manufacturers. GM has announced that it is developing a more efficient combustion engine that is designed to improve the performance of its vehicles by almost 15%. Dubbed the HCCI, the next generation engines work by compressing fuel rather than igniting it with a spark plug, resulting in both reduced gas consumption and increased mileage.
It’s been several months since we brought you news of the Plastiki, a boat made of 12,500 plastic bottles, so we figured it was time for an update. When we left the Plastiki expedition last, David de Rothschild, the founder of Adventure Ecology, was making preparations to steer his plastic sailboat towards the floating landfill in the Pacific Ocean. Some time has passed, but we’re excited to report that Plastiki is nearly ready to set sail upon the open sea!
Up-and-coming Swiss auto company GreenGT recently unveiled plans for a fully-electric vehicle that is heralded to be the most powerful and cutting-edge electric race car ever built. Designed with the famous Le Mans race in mind, their Twenty-4 vehicle is currently undergoing development and will boast two 100-kw electric engines that provide 350-400 horsepower and a top speed of 171 mph.
Nissan’s prototype EV-02 may lack the streamlined curves and svelte sex appeal of today’s electric super sportscars, however Nissan is hoping the technology behind this vehicle will power the first mass marketed EV! The milestone electric vehicle is set to make a splash when it hits the states in 2010 with a 100 mile range and a price point of $20,000-$30,000.
Travelers going from Tucson to Phoenix may soon be blazing across the desert in speeding solar bullet trains propelled by the sun’s rays. Hot on the heels of President Obama’s plan for High Speed Rail in the US comes the news that Arizona-based Solar Bullet LLC is proposing a new 220mph bullet train that will be entirely powered by the sun and will make the trip in 30 minutes flat.
The New York Auto Show recently took place, and just like last year’s show, small and green is what caught everyone’s eye. Take the Scion IQ concept, a micro-subcompact tricked-out version of the Toyota IQ. A bit bigger than a smart car and a tad smaller than a mini, the vehicle strikes the perfect balance between between fuel efficiency, size and capacity, making it perfect for city driving.
What to do if you are a creative young artist with a defunct Skoda Fabia? Why, you make it disappear of course! When University of Central Lancashire art student Sara Watson found herself in possession of an old junker from a local recycling company, she decided to turn it into an incredible piece of environmental art. By painting the vehicle to match the parking lot in front of her art studio’s entrance she created a wonderful and mind-bending optical illusion that acts as a call to recycle.
Poop and perfumes are not two words that normally go together, so we were surprised to find that L’Oreal truly embraces this association. At one of their factories in Libramont, Belgium, the company has decided to install a biomass electricity-generating system that will be used to create personal care products. Poop-powered cosmetics? We’d buy that!
Earlier this year we introduced you to Chargepoint, a network of electric vehicle charging stations that have been installed cities across the US and Canada. Well, making a great idea even better, Carbon Day Automotive recently announced the installation of a Solar Powered Chargepoint station in the city of Chicago. Solar charged electric vehicles? Fantastic!
At the Society of Automotive Engineers‘ recent world congress in Detroit, hybrid engine developer Raser Technologies unveiled a whopper — a plug-in, extended-range Hummer powered by Raser’s E-REV power train engine. Yes, you read that right - an electric Hummer H3 that has 268 hp, a 40 mile all-electric range, and a fuel efficiency of over 100 mpg.
We’ve shown you vehicles powered by veggie oil, the sun’s rays, and the blowing wind, however we never expected to see a vehicle powered by breaking wind. Yamaha is changing all of that with a bovine-speckled Golf Cart that harnesses the power of poo as a means of propulsion. The vehicle, which was recently tested at a golf course in Japan, is not powered by cow dung directly - it is in fact powered by methane.
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