With all the emphasis being placed on ethanol as a substitute for fossil fuels, it is easy to loose track that producing it from valuable food sources may just bring a larger set of problems that will be even more difficult to resolve. But to hear that General Motors is working with Coskata Inc on a solution that may just solve two problems: getting rid of garbage, by turning into fuel.
We’ve featured Lisa Albin’s Iglooplay furniture collection before here at Inhabitat; in fact, we first featured it on last year’s BKLYN Designs when she showcased the Mod Rocker. So, we’re delighted to see her again this time featuring a companion to the previously mentioned piece, the Mod Topper, at this year’s show.
If current trends of foreclosures and suburban flight continue, we can expect that the suburbs of the future will be desolate, abandoned places. How will we ever recover those large swaths of land and put them back into good use? Enter the CV08, a suburb crushing, land restoring robot designed by Australian architect, and Inhabitat favorite, Andrew Maynard. Its mission is to bring Mother Nature back into the areas left unoccupied thanks to the rising costs of fuel and energy. A provocative, polemical and impossible solution? Sure. But, absolutely awesome at the same time.
Odd-looking doesn’t even begin to describe this hybrid concept vehicle, but the Toyota Hi-CT is a reflection of what a cool and enjoyable vehicle should look like, according to Toyota’s team of young Japanese and European designers. The Hi-CT evolved from the theme of “unbalanced” - the concept behind the entire design of the front-centered proportions. Wanting something that would make you stop and take a good look, Toyota has succeeded. And the young team of designers behind the Hi-CT have given this cool and enjoyable vehicle some very green aces up its sleeve.
There are some intriguing ideas with how to deal with the greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation - the most commonly heard being carbon sequestration. But what else could you do with those emissions? How else could you sequester them? Well, according to Thomas E. Müller, Ph.D., and Toshiyasu Sakakura, Ph.D. CO2 could be used to make polycarbonate plastics for use in products such as DVDs.
You may remember that about a year ago we brought you news of the Bahrain World Trade Center, which was designed to have three giant turbines provide power to the building. Well, this past Tuesday, the project was finally completed, with the final testing and installation of the enormous wind turbines which power the building. This week, Bahrain WTC has, for the first time, activated all three 29m-diameter turbines at the same time!
Hydrogen fuel cells are not new technology but are an intriguing alternative power source. A fuel cell is a device that can convert hydrogen into electricity and is effectively a zero-emissions fuel source in operation (though not in manufacturing). It is commonly deployed in automobiles, and has also been used as a supplementary source of energy within buildings. Last week, Boeing demonstrated a small manned Dimona motor glider using only hydrogen fuel cells, making it the first time that a manned airplane has ever flown on this technology.
It seems like every other day now that a car company announces a new concept that is redefining what it means to be an environmentally friendly vehicle. However, when Toyota says it, we tend to take a closer look. It was Toyota, after all, that created the Prius, the standard to which all subsequent hybrid vehicles are measured. The Toyota 1/x concept, which recently appeared at the Chicago Auto Show, is Toyota’s latest attempt at redefining what a green vehicle means. And to them, it is all about making it weigh less.
We are always on the lookout for non-petroleum based means of transportation so its no wonder that the stylish Vectrix electric motorbike caught our attention. If you are going to live life in the fast lane, this sleek, all-electric, zero-emission motorbike might just be your best green solution for reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions while riding around town. It runs clean, super far per charge and extremely fast, making it a smart alternative to four-wheeled city travels. See just how fast the Vectrix gets around in the video after the jump.
It is not often that an architecture master reinvents himself, but that is precisely what Pritzker Prize winning architect Frank Gehry has done. Gehry, who first won international recognition with his own residence, a masterpiece of post-modern architecture, has revealed what can only be described as the first post post-modern architectural work, the New Gehry Residence, completely confounding both his critics and promoters alike.
Today’s microchips, while tiny, still use a fair ammount of power. This means that batteries have to be large and don’t usually last very long. But what if microchips were just a little bit more efficient? That’s what a team of engineers at MIT was thinking when they set out to redesign the microchip to make it even more efficient. The result is a microchip with a power consumption that is so low it can be recharged by your very own body heat.
Malaysia is no stranger to iconic buildings. Two of the tallest buildings in the world, the Petronas Twin Towers, are located in Kuala Lumpur, the country’s capital. So it comes as no surprise to us that a stunning new residential development is planned for the Putrajaya waterfront known as Precinct 4, just 30km south of Kuala Lumpur. The design, however, is a refreshing and original with unique, marine-inspired structures - which also draw from traditional Islamic designs - arranged in a permeable, radiating block of bioclimatic architecture.
When the Miami Art Museum required a new headquarters they decided to hire famous Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. They were expecting an incredible design worthy of a cosmopolitan city such as Miami. What they got from Herzog & de Meuron can only be described as the modern interpretation of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon - an imaginative structure that bridges urban spaces, climates and cultures.
Step right in ladies and gentlemen, and gaze at the marvels of modern technology! Allow us to show you the most amazing car of the century: The magnificent Detroit Electric, the car of summer luxury! This 100 year-old antique electric car will be available in early 2009 from ZAP and China Youngman Automotive Group, proving once and for all that there is no such thing as a new idea. The Detroit Electric is considered to be the most popular electric car in history — and was produced by the Anderson Electric Car Company in 1907 (production ran from 1907 to 1939). This cute little EV could go fo 130 miles on one charge, and had a top speed of about 32km/h. Famous Detroit Electric owners included Thomas Edison, Charles Proteus Steinmetz and John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
There is nothing like a little competition to inspire everyone to design better and greener. At least that is the theory behind the Progressive Automotive X-prize, which aims to create incentives to promote innovative thinking in the different industries. Well, now the X-prize has set their sights on the automotive industry, by announcing a 10 million dollar prize for whoever can design and bring to market a 100mpge vehicle. Doesn’t sound like much, but already 60 different teams have signed up for the competition!
We’re not your typical car geeks here at Inhabitat, but if there is one vehicle that we go gaga for above all others it is the Tesla Roadster. The gorgeous all-electric sports vehicle drives as smoothly as any other sports car out there, only it is way better looking, and completely emissions free! This month, Tesla Motors announced that the highly anticipated 2008 electric Tesla Roadster is finally in production for sale this year!
Installing solar panels on the roof of every new building in the world would go a long way towards solving our energy needs, but as we all know, solar panels are costly and often difficult to install. But what if the solar panel was an integral part of every building? What if solar cells could be painted on building products? Well, according to a team from Swansea University this type of technology will soon be coming to a hardware store near you.
What is the most efficient vehicle on the planet? And more importantly, how far can it go on a single liter of gas? The Microjoule is your answer, getting over 3,794 kilometers per liter, or approximately 8,923 miles per gallon! Looking less like a car than an amoeba-on-wheels, the Microjoule is the design of students from the French Technical School, St. Joseph La Joliverie, who are set to compete in the Eco-Marathon 2008 to be held in Europe this coming May.
Some car manufacturers, like Toyota and their uber-trendy Prius, are cranking out new models that represent the hybrid car of the future. Others, like Volkswagen, are working with what they’ve got, making their existing cars cleaner and greener. Volkswagen has just recently unveiled a TDI hybrid version of their cute and sporty Golf model that can achieve 83mpg. Will this be the one to de-throne the Prius?
It’s no secret that we’re fans of greener gadgets here at Inhabitat. When you want all the functionality of your favorite gadget and can enjoy it in a more environmentally-friendly manner, it’s the best of both worlds. And on that note, we are excited to announce that now there’s a new environmentally-friendly, solar-powered option for portable media players! The eMotion Solar PMP, a solar powered mp3 and video player, just hit the market for all your off-the-grid, green energy powered media needs.
We love our kinetic energy here at Inhabitat, and we are excited to announce inventive use of human kinetic power: The brandnew 2 GB Eco Media Player is hand-crank portable media player can play music, video, and even charge your cellphone, all from a few seconds of cranking! What’s more renewable than human power? We love that someone finally had the brilliant idea to mix renewable energy generation with music & video - all the best things in life in one cute little package.
Poop-power is not a new phenomenon, as methane-powered generators have existed for a while, and even larger scale developments have used poo-power as a way to meet energy needs. But powering a state with poo? This is exactly what Californian utility PG&E has just started to do, by creating natural gas from a vat of liquid-cow poo, in what is probably the smelliest (but smartest) way ever to produce any form of renewable energy.
Think printing solar panels is cool? Well, here’s something even cooler. General Electric has just successfully demonstrated a roll-to-roll printing (think newspaper style printing) process for OLEDs. It’s a state-of-the-art process for the production of Organic Light Emitting Diodes that’s high performance, energy efficient, and surprisingly inexpensive. The applications are endless for printing energy efficient light systems of all sizes. Just imagine the design possibilities!
Green cars are all the rage these days, with each vehicle manufacturer showing off their latest and greenest vehicles at every possible opportunity. Proof of this is can be seen in the huge amount of hybrids, ethanol powered vehicles, and zero-emission concept vehicles on display at the Geneva Motor Show — which is going on as we speak. Highlights from this show include the Magna Steyr and Saab’s bioethanol 9-X BioHybrid. Read on for all the details!
When shopping for a new car, you might be looking for fuel efficiency, style, and safety. But after seeing the new Nissan Pivo 2 electric concept car, you might just have to add “talking robot” to your list of must-haves. This car’s personal robot doesn’t just talk — but it reads and detects a driver’s mood as well, in order to help you drive safer and better. On display at the recent Geneva Motor Show, the Nissan Pivo 2 is truly an electric vehicle of the future. And according to these guys, the future looks pretty darn cute!
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