Plantagon
Lots of cities have farmers markets, but most — if not all — of the produce comes from rural farmers that use oil-intensive methods of transportation to cart around their food. With 80% of all people on the planet projected to live in cities by 2050, food production will have to move into cities if [...]

A prototype of a Stirling engine that’s powered by a solar water heater.
Cool Energy, a startup based in Boulder, CO, is developing a system that produces heat and electricity from the sun. It could help make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of energy in relatively dark and cold climates, such as the northern half [...]

Dean Kamen – the multimillionaire inventor behind the Segway personal transporter – is well down the road in the development of a new bike that combines electric power and a radical generator which will allow it to burn almost any fuel.
Built around a fairly conventional battery and electric motor combination to provide the drive to [...]

The Transporter TW
With concept designers crafting their fantasies into a consumable form, we believe that the era of tomorrow would be completely different than present days. Harsha Vardhan, a car designer, thinks that apart from the cities, cars too would be completely different and powered by technologies no car manufacturer has tried till date. He [...]

Orange Solar Tent
Orange is really going for it with its Glastonbury sponsorship this year. As well as the power pump mobile charger, the GlastoNav mobile app and that spot the bull comp that’s ongoing, it’s unveiled the “tent of the future” concept design.

Car power: The future of shopping 
Shoppers’ cars will be used to power supermarket tills in a revolutionary new scheme.
The weight of vehicles driving over road plates into a new eco store will power a generator that creates enough electricity to keep checkouts ringing.

Breath – a tree shaped air conditioner 
Breath, an air conditioner by Ryuichi Tabu, is one unique kind of air conditioner that uses ground heat and the Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) system for its functioning. Designed in the shape of a tree, this peerless air conditioner circulates air within a wider range with a double [...]

Drinking water from air humidity 
Not a plant to be seen, the desert ground is too dry. But the air contains water, and research scientists have found a way of obtaining drinking water from air humidity. The system is based completely on renewable energy and is therefore autonomous.

Rainwater harvesting chain
With the news that the US State of Colorado has decided to make it legal for small farmers to collect rainwater – holding out the possibility that city dwellers, too, may one day be offered legal means to harvest rain – a tipping point approaches.

Agricultural waste 
In new research work, scientists have used technology derived from wastewater treatment systems to develop a process using open microbial cultures to convert organic wastes to eco-friendly plastics.

Solar panels from Armageddon Energy
Rooftop solar panel installation is often a time-consuming and complicated process, but Armageddon Energy’s new prefab panels are practically roof-ready when they come out of the box.

Robot Taxi 
Eco Factor: Robotic car powered by electric motors.  With technology advancing at the pace it is today, we’ve to believe that by the end of the century we won’t be driving our cars around the city. Rather, we will just be sitting on the then historic driver’s seat and doing some work. While the [...]

Vertical farm for Vancouver’s 2030 Challenge 
Vertical farms are one of our favorite future-forward concepts for creating sustainable cities. Providing locally-grown produce and food will not only help us reduce our carbon emissions significantly, but also help us become healthier. Romses Architects recently came up with an amazing concept for a vertical farm in Vancouver as part [...]

Seedbomb 
Legend has it that after the World War II got over, American pilot Gale Halvorson airdropped candies in the name of hope, for the Berlin children. War equals devastation, so dropping candies instead of bombs was probably personal retribution. Inspired by this incident, designer Hwang Jin wook and pals have come up with a plan [...]

WindCube 
Generating power by free methods is the Holy Grail for the green power movement. For consumers it could one day mean that we get power for our homes and gadgets for free from the sun or the wind. Wind power is controversial because the massive wind turbines are ugly and make the area where they [...]

In Japan, Sanyo is not only known as a maker of home electronics and rechargeable batteries, but also as a maker of home appliances. Their Aqua AWD-AQ4000, which will go on sale in Japan ONLY on June 1 [JP], is the fourth in a series of washing machines that feature a built-in ozone generator to deodorize and [...]

A new racing car made of vegetables and powered by chocolate will hit speeds of 145 miles per hour  
A Formula 3 racing car with a top speed of 145mph has been unveiled, which is made of vegetables and powered by chocolate.

Better air dynamics

A company called Leviathan Energy has come up with a clever way to improve the efficiency of wind turbines, without making any modifications to the turbines or propellers themselves. Using aerodynamic modeling, Leviathan designed a special plastic and metal skirt structure that wraps around the base of the wind turbine and directs the [...]

Plastic Bags are Bad, Mkay?

Today’s the day. The day when the state of South Australia officially bans single use plastic shopping bags. Perhaps you heard, at the start of the year, retailers will be fined if they provide customers with plastic, or even so called ‘degradable’ bags. All they can offer instead are truly compostable [...]

 
If you can’t afford to buy your own tropical island paradise, why not build your own? That is exactly what Richie Sowa did back in 1998, from over a quarter-million plastic bottles. His Spiral Island, destroyed years later by a hurricane, sported a two-story house, solar oven, self-composting toilet and multiple beaches. Better yet, he [...]

 
A spinoff from the Rocky Mountain Institute, Bright Automotive, has developed a 100-miles-per-gallon plug-in hybrid.
Last week, Bright Automotive, a startup based in Anderson, IN, unveiled a plug-in hybrid utility van designed to travel 50 miles on half a gallon of gasoline. The company plans to start producing the Idea vehicle in large volume by the end [...]

Sky-Terra 
As urban areas become more congested and dense, it becomes more challenging for city dwellers to spend time outdoors, exercise and relax. Buildings tower over public parks, blocking out the sun, while city streets are polluted with particulate matter and exhaust from vehicles. To cope with the growing need for green urban space, San Francisco-based [...]

LSAs (Liquid Solar Arrays)
There’s a lot of surface area on this planet for solar panels. The ocean’s are a vast area to utilize this solar technology.  But,  the weather can make the installation and use of floating solar arrays difficult.  That’s not the case with LSAs (Liquid Solar Arrays) by Sunengy Pty LTD .

Food doesn’t always have to come from different types of carcasses.

When you get hungry, and I mean hungry, it’s your body calling out for protein. While you don’t have to go full-time veg to green your lifestyle, many people are surprised to learn that simply cutting back on meat consumption is one of the most [...]

Babcock Ranch, Florida 
What better place than the Sunshine State for the world’s first solar-powered city? Called Babcock Ranch, the 17,000-acres-large community will have its energy needs supplied by a $300 million, 75 megawatt solar-powered generator. The city will also integrate a Smart Grid for powering electric vehicles. (Pics)