23413808
submission
markboyer writes:
The village of Wildpoldsried (pop. 2,600), a small agricultural community in Germany, is producing 321% more energy than it needs. With a combination of solar panels, windmills and biogas digesters, the town generates about $5.7 million in annual revenue from renewable energy.
23151508
submission
fangmcgee writes:
The 21st century soldier bears a heavy burden, literally. With 100 to 150 pounds of weaponry, tactical gear, communication devices, and military rations—and that’s just for starters—army personnel also have to lug along hefty battery packs to keep their gadgets juiced. To help lighten the load, researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra devised wearable solar panels capable of powering electronic equipment in the field. The flexible, paper-thin cells, aptly dubbed “sliver,” can generate up to 140 watts of power. The best part? You can roll them up for easy storage.
23129786
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MikeChino writes:
Offenburg's University of Applied Sciences' “Schluckspecht” electric vehicle ("heavy drinker" in German) just broke a world record by traveling 1013.77 miles on a single charge. The team used aerodynamics, weight reduction, and balancing to blow past the previous record of 623.3 miles, held by the Japan Electric Vehicle Club. The achievement follows close on the heels of Schluckspecht’s distance record-setting run in the 2010 South African Solar Challenge, in which the car traveled more miles on public roads than any previous EV.
23051308
submission
fangmcgee writes:
Temporary tattoos may soon be more than simple novelties. Equipped with ultrathin, self-adhesive electronics, an interim tramp stamp could also monitor heart rates, brain waves, and muscle activity without bulky equipment, conductive fluids, or messy glues, according to research published in the August 12, 2011 issue of Science.
A collaboration among scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, Tufts University, the Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore, and Dalian University of Technology in China, the “epidermal electronic system” (EES) incorporates miniature sensors, LEDs, teeny transmitters and receivers, and networks of wire filaments to create a new class of microelectronics that is not only virtually weightless but also requires little to no power.
22981350
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MikeChino writes:
King Abdullah of Jordan (who was once an extra in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager) has given the green light to a $1.5 billion Star Trek theme park that will boldly take Jordan where no Gulf state has gone before. While the theme park will not be powered by dilithium crystals, it will utilize green technology in order to lower its carbon footprint — all of its electricity will be generated by renewable sources.
22855386
submission
Elliot Chang writes:
Utah State University researchers have made a breakthrough in the quest to make in-road electric vehicle chargers practical for the real world, managing to wirelessly transmit 5 kilowatts of electricity across a 10-inch gap with 90% efficiency. That’s huge for a technology that has struggled to gain traction because of inefficiencies and difficulties bridging enough of a gap to make inductive chargers useful in highways, where chargers are a significant distance away from car batteries and need to deliver large amounts of electricity in a short period of time.
22854558
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MikeChino writes:
This morning American architecture firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill announced that they will be spearheading the design of the world's tallest building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Dubbed the Kingdom Tower, the building will stand over 1,000 meters high, dwarfing the Burj Khalifa. The project is expected to cost $1.23 billion dollars, and it will be funded in part by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
22660468
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MikeChino writes:
The future of cycling is here — Toyota and Parlee Cycles are working with DeepLocal to develop a mind-reading Prius bicycle that shifts gears by reading your brain waves with a "neuron helmet". DeepLocal also designed a smartphone app to monitor heart rate, speed, and cadence. This could allow the bike to be programmed to behave intelligently in the future, remembering the driver’s behavior on a certain route and switching to autopilot mode for auto shifting.
22469542
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MikeChino writes:
The UN Population Division just announced that the world’s human population will hit 7 billion by Halloween 2011. The increase of one billion people in the past 12 years is worrying, especially since the global population only reached one billion total in the early 19th century. In the next 20 years, our population growth is predicted to rise to 8 billion people as our demand for food increases by 50 percent, water by 30 percent and energy by 50 percent.
22345048
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MikeChino writes:
We've learned about Scotland's wave energy initiatives in the past, and just this morning the nation unveiled Aquamarine Power's next-generation Oyster 800 wave power plant. The new generator can produce 250% more power at one third the cost of the first full-scale 315kw Oyster that was installed in Orkney in 2009. The device’s shape has been modified and made wider to enable it to capture more wave energy, and a double seabed pile system allows for easier installation. Inhabitat has fresh photos and details from the unveiling.
22272730
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MikeChino writes:
MIT just published a paper in Advanced Materials detailing a new breed of flexible solar cells that can be printed on paper or fabric and can be folded over 1,000 times without any loss of performance. The solar cells are formed by placing five layers of material onto a single sheet of paper in successive passes. A mask is utilized to form the cell patterns, and the entire printing process is done in a vacuum chamber.
22036016
submission
MikeChino writes:
The mighty Cri-Cri micro plane just broke the electric plane speed record at the Paris Air Show. The plane first took to the skies last September when it drew a lot of attention for its petite size and impressive flying capabilities. Now the developers and pilot can add “world’s fastest” to the list as they hit 283 kilometers per hour, running on only electricity and two 35-horsepower engines.
22012852
submission
MikeChino writes:
Aerospace giant EADS recently unveiled plans for an innovative all-electric commercial airliner that could be ready to take to the skies in 20 years. Dubbed VoltAir, the plane re-thinks the engine, propulsion system, and airframe design of conventional aircraft. Two swappable high-density batteries power a set of superconducting electric motors, which drive counter-rotating, shrouded propellers located at the rear of the plane.
21964150
submission
MikeChino writes:
Last week we looked at Cambridge Design Partnership's 1,325 MPG concept car, which was entered in the Mallory Park Mileage Marathon — the results of the competition were just announced, and the winning vehicle squeezed a remarkable 1,980 miles from a single gallon of fuel. Designed by students from Kingdown School in Wiltshire, the vehicle was as light as its 14-year-old driver, weighing in at around 90 lbs.
21939742
submission
MikeChino writes:
This past weekend Sonoma's Infineon Raceway launched a 353 KW solar array that will provide for 41% of its energy needs. The NASCAR track is also using a herd of 3,000 sheep to mow its lawn, is incorporating recycled tires into its asphalt, and has plans for an electric vehicle drag race, although EVs have a long way to go before they are ready for full-circuit racing — current vehicles lack the juice to go the distance.
