Biofuels are often touted as the next big thing in airplane fuel technology, but solar power shouldn’t be discounted — as was recently proven by the team behind the Solar Impulse. The solar-powered plane just took its first test down the runway, and eventually the plane is expected to take a 20 to 25 day trip around the world.

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Post tags: "solar energy", airplane, alternative energy, green design, renewable energy, solar impulse, Solar Power, solar powered airplane, sustainable design

Today is Blog Action Day, and this year’s theme is Climate Change – a topic near and dear to our hearts here at Inhabitat. To kick things off, we took a look back over last the past year’s posts and pulled together a list of our top 5 favorite climate change stories to hit the pages of Inhabitat. The following [completely biased] list is in no particular order. It does, however, attempt to focus on solutions to the problem – because we believe that there is hope for our planet if we act now. Check it out and please, comment copiously. We love a good debate!

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Post tags: alternative energy, Climate Change, Environment, global warming, green design, sustainable design, sustainable transportation

Forget decorative crystalline stadium skins; Gino Zavanella’s recently unveiled stadium is completely plastered in energy-generating photovoltaic panels. Stadium Franco Sensi, set to be built in Rome, Italy, will feature a museum of Rome’s football team, restaurants, lounges, and bars in addition to regular stadium seating.

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Post tags: alternative energy, franco sensi, green architecture, Green Building, green design, rome, solar, stadium, sustainable design

Imagine 3,000 communities and 10,000 volunteers across the country in a one-day celebration of solar power. That’s why we are reminding you that the American Solar Energy Society kicks off their 14th Annual National Solar Tour TODAY in collaboration with more than 240 local groups as part of National Energy Awareness Month. Participants can take a peek at their neighbors’ homes and buildings using solar energy and other sustainable technologies, and see for themselves how to save money and the environment. See our previous post for more information.

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Post tags: "clean energy", "solar energy", alternative energy, american solar energy society, photovoltaic cells, reneweable energy, solar panels, Solar Power

It’s easy enough to monitor home power consumption, but few people think about the energy impact of talking on cell phones for hours on end. After all, cell towers have to be powered by something, and in many cases that something is coal or other expensive on-the-grid sources. Enter Helix Wind Corporation, a wind turbine company that is aiming to both cut down on cell phone tower operating costs and lower the CO2 impact of cell phone use with wind-powered cell towers.

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Post tags: "wind power", alternative energy, eltek nsg, helix wind, wind energy

Few land vehicles are capable of hitting 300 miles per hour – it is, after all, a pretty impressive speed for a car to achieve. That figure becomes even more incredible when you enter the realm of alternative transportation. However just last week the Buckeye Bullet 2 became the first hydrogen powered vehicle to exceed that speed, smashing the world speed record for fuel cell vehicles with a scorching 304mph run!

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Post tags: 300mph vehicle, alternative energy, Buckeye Bullet 2, fuel cell vehicle, green design, Green Transportation, hydrogen vehicle, sustainable design, world record

I have to admit that when I saw the title of Christopher Steiner’s new book, I scoffed a bit. Twenty Dollars per Gallon of gas seems like an outrageous, unfathomable price, even when you’re a believer in peak oil. But part of the beauty of Steiners’ book is its ability to track the effects of ever-more-scarce oil in believable detail. Whether the author’s predictions of local food, high-speed trains and alternative plastics are correct, they are excellent illustrations of the pervasiveness of petroleum.

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Post tags: $20 per gallon, alternative energy, book review, christopher steiner, green design, oil, sustainable design

When it comes to the future of automotive technology, electric cars get the lion’s share of the attention. But hydrogen-powered vehicles are slowly gaining traction, first with an announcement last week that auto companies are spending billions on fuel cell vehicles, and now with news that Germany is planning to launch a countrywide hydrogen fueling network by 2015!

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Post tags: alternative energy, fuel cell, germany, green design, Green Transportation, hydrogen, sustainable design, vehicles

Wouldn’t it be amazing if the old magnifying glass on a sunny day trick could be used for good instead of evil? Well, meet the SunCatcher. Created by Stirling Energy Systems in collaboration with Tessera Solar, the SunCatcher is a parabolic dish composed entirely of precision mirrors. Following the sun from east to west, the SunCatcher squeezes every last drop of energy out of the sun’s rays by focusing the light onto its very own innovative and truly sustainable power conversion unit. Read on to find out how it works!

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Post tags: alternative energy, green design, renewable energy, Solar Power, stirling energy systems, suncatcher, sustainable design, tessera solar

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Post tags: alternative energy, Green Transportation, highways, Solar Power, solar roadways

Thanks to 15 year old Texan Javier Fernández-Han, we feel a little more hopeful about the next generation’s ability to adapt to a world of limited resources. The high school student developed a fully featured algae-powered energy system that combines a dozen new and existing technologies to treat waste, produce methane and bio-oil for fuel, produce food for humans and livestock, sequester greenhouse gases, and produce oxygen. Dubbed the VERSATILE system, the project is this year’s winner of the annual Invent Your World Challenge $20,000 scholarship.

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Post tags: algae, alternative energy, change, Javier Fernández-Han, methane, playpump, versatile system

How much wind power is available way up high in the sky? Turns out a lot, according to new research from the Carnegie Institution for Science and California State University. Researchers there recently crunched 28 years worth of data and discovered not only that high altitude winds contain enough energy to meet the world’s global energy demand 100 times over, but they also determined that the best places to capture that wind are over population centers in East Asia and the eastern US. Which means New York City is a prime candidate for high altitude wind energy captured by tethered kite wind turbines.

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Post tags: alternative energy, concept, high-altitude, kite, kite turbines, manhattan, new york city, renewable energy, research, sustainable design, wind energy, wind tubine

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!

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Post tags: alternative energy, dale vince, ecotricity wind powered car, green design, renewable energy, sustainable design, sustainable transportation

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently unveiled the first of 1,100 solar powered bus shelters that will be installed throughout the city between now and 2013. Crowned with a rolling red crest of photovoltaic panels, the shelters will use the sun’s rays to power their intercom, LED lighting, and even wireless routers that will help blanket the city with WiFi goodness. Designed by Lundberg Design and contracted through Clear Channel, the new shelters signal a bright future for solar technology in the Bay Area.

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Post tags: alternative energy, green design, lundberg design, photovoltaic bus shelter, renewable energy, San Francisco, solar powered bus shelter, sustainable design

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!

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Post tags: alternative energy, big belly, green design, green technology, philadelphia, solar compacting trash cans, sustainable design, Waste reduction