Want to spend sometime in the middle of the ocean? For all you nature lovers out there, this is your chance to experience serenity and be one with the life beyond. The solar powered hi-tech rowboat is a perfect bliss for you. This new invention of a hi-tech rowboat epitomizes the voyagers delight. Unlike a meager “regular” boat, this one comes equipped with cooking materials and other working tools for you to use when rowing, and can eventually serve as your little home in the ocean, wherein you can also sleep comfortably. Its major USP evidently is that it is solar powered, along with having the ability to row and stay in the middle of the ocean. With this comes its capacity to hold extra space for your belongings reaching you at a whooping cost of $50,000.

So for all the adventurers out there, rowing was never so much fun!!Buy yourself the solar rowboat and make the sea your second home.
Via igreenspot

Imagine a university being granted 10million$ by the Army for its spectacular job in the field of technology. The University Of Michigan College Of Engineering, known for new inventions for advances in the energy industry, has recently been awarded a $10 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Army to develop a six inch robotic spy plane that bears a striking resemblance to a bat. The grant helped establish the University’s COM-BAT (Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology), thus re-establishing the U.S. Army as a world leader.

The COM-BAT is designed to provide short-term but real-time surveillance and feedback to soldiers in urban combat zones using a collection of sight, sound and smell sensors while running on 1 W of power. The Army is hoping that the spy plane could scavenge power from vibrations, wind and of course the sun, which the University of Michigan has a particular expertise in. The robot they believe is “to be 1,000 times smaller and more energy efficient than systems being used now.” The COM-BAT project will also be used to vastly improve other existing technologies like solar cells and navigation and communication systems, which the team already feels can be dramatically reduced in size.

The University of Michigan will work in a collaborative effort with the University of California at Berkeley and the University of New Mexico for developing a different system on the spy plane.
Though facing certain hurdles in finding a way to give the COM-BAT a usable amount of battery life between charges, the potential applications of this condensed technology are virtually limitless.
Via ecogeek

Saab, the company with a reputation for safe and reliable automobiles, with a notable competition history is all set to unveil its new 9-X Air BioHybrid concept in October at the 2008 Paris auto show. Celebrating 25 years of convertibles, the 9-X Air BioHybrid is a step ahead of the 9-X BioHybrid Concept hatchback unwrapped last March at the Geneva Motor Show, in the development of an all-new Saab 9-1 to expand the lineup.
The car is billed as a design study, with a unique canopy top, wraparound windows, and a driver-centric cockpit. The gauges appear frozen in ice replacing the original concept’s closed roof with a flat-folding canopy top. The 9-X Air is a four-seater, two-door convertible styled and uses powertrain, a turbocharged 1.4-liter that runs on E85 bioethanol fuel, and it is coupled with hybrid technology producing 197bhp. It is a mild hybrid system, saving fuel with its start/stop capability, but cannot propel the vehicle on electricity alone. The mild hybrid system is expected to be on the market in GM vehicles in 2010 as the next generation of the system in such cars as the Saturn Vue and Chevrolet Malibu hybrids.

Not only this!! With more cars to be launched in near future, the brand is essentially seeing a real overhaul over the next 14 to 18 months as indicates Mr. Mark McNabb, GM’s North America & vice president in charge of the premium channel.

Via flylyf

LED technology is the coolest thing that could have happened to energy-saving endeavors of the lighting industry. They are one green solution that looks much better than conventional lighting option and by going green one would also go higher up the style ladder. LED lighting solutions are becoming a major part of eco-conscious products in a brilliant bright way. Here is another really useful gadget that uses the bling of LEDs with some seismic technology to both light up your streets and warn you of an impending disaster.

Sharp is introducing a new range of solar-powered LED streetlights. These self-contained lights charge during the day, and switch on automatically when darkness falls. They make use of new, high-intensity LED spotlights, which are ideal for public parks. The LEDs illuminate with a directed light and don?t send light into the sky. If you were an astronomer who is mad about the cosmos then this is the best thing to have ever happened to your optical telescope.

The LED streetlights also feature a Seismic Motion Sensor that detects the occurrence of a major earthquake. If an earthquake is detected, the light turns on at full brightness during the night, to assist during possible power interruptions. This allows not just one to save 80% of normal energy consumption, but also makes sure that you save plenty of lives when a major disaster strikes. These light could be the difference between life and death for many people and nothing can be more important than that!

Via: Metaefficient

Solar energy is available in plenty and the only problem with using it to the fullest is our inability to tap it completely. A large part of this problem is because of the angle of the rays of the sun and how that keeps changing through the day. One needs the sun?s rays to be perfectly perpendicular to the surface of the photovoltaic plate to generate the optimum power. But, by using a flat solar panel that would not always be possible. Solaroad Technologies Group LLC believes that they have found the solution to the problem in a simple yet effective fashion.

ElectraWall is a photovoltaic system featuring a cylindrical design. It could supposedly harness energy from the sun no matter its angle of incidence due to its form factor. It can be placed on a variety of locations including “rooftops, highway infrastructures, light poles, decks and fences” as long as there’s a surface to mount its track on upon which solar cells are clipped on place. Aside from the ability to harness energy, the device itself incorporates recycled materials.

While the solution sounds great in theory, there is still one major problem with it. When building a cylindrical surface only a fraction of the area would be always perpendicular to the rays of the sun. This pretty much makes for not much of a gain in net energy production. A better solution would be to have a flat surface change its direction along with the sun- much like a field of Sunflower plants! Nature always has the best solutions.

Via: Goodcleantech

This might look like a very simple structure that looks classy and sophisticated but behind these pods lays the story of hard work, creativity and the best technology the world has to offer today. Any escape from the vexing chores of modern life is welcome and the ‘Lifepods’ are almost akin to the secluded cells in the Matrix tuned in to tap in to human power and convert it in to electricity. But unlike those pods, the Lifepod helps you recharge and find yourself once again by taking you in to the heart of nature in a clean, silent and harmonious fashion.

Originally conceived in 1997, Lifepods are constructed using the most advanced 21st century automotive, aeronautic, and nautical and RV technologies. Inspired by roaming mammals, the futuristic prefabs are designed as ‘quadrupedal fuselages’ with footings that can adjust to the contours of their environs, rather than disfiguring the landscape to fit to the house. The Lifepod becomes apart of its surroundings without sticking out and causing havoc like an alien object. It is not about altering the planet to your needs but molding your needs and integrating them with the rhythm of Mother Earth.

All the modular pieces fit into a 40 ft container and can be shipped anywhere around the world. Using state-of-the-art technology, you and your Lifepod can roam the world un-tethered and off-the-grid. You could use it in any fashion and against any background with the simplest of changes to the ultra-ergonomic design. In every sense of the word Lifepod turns out to be Life-Altering-Pod!

Via DesignerGallery /Â Inhabitat

If we go by natural facts then it’s absolutely accurate that we would on no account be competent to neutralize carbon effects of wood burning in our lives but we may possibly accept this and make the most of it in newly designed wood boilers. The concept revealed here articulates that these pioneering boilers breed out only that much of carbon dioxide by burning wood which a customary and natural decay process of woods in forests would do. Putting this in another way we can say that without augmenting in the already established environmental carbon intensity levels, this new range of wood boilers bequeath us with much healthier green boiling option.

Unlike the conventional fossil fuels employing boilers, these home energy wood boilers are fully automated and appealing as well. Within the power range of 12 KW to 62 KW, these eco friendly boilers are apposite to congregate our home’s each and every energy requisite in effect.

Via HomeEnergy

Sugarcane Waste is produced on a large scale in a nation like India whose Southern Belt is rich in Black Soil required for the crop to flourish. Being one of the world’s largest producers of sugar, the nation obviously has plenty of Sugarcane Waste to deal with. Bagasse, as sugarcane waste is known, is the pulp from which all the sweet has been extracted. It is rich in fiber content and it is this fiber that India is turning to provide it with much needed extra energy.

Sameerwadi, Karnataka in India is looking into the various ways money and energy can be made off the waste from sugarcane processing. Godavari Sugar Mills Ltd will use the fiber to make ethanol. The project hopes to be able to scale up from demonstration size to commercial size within a few years, processing about 5,000 tons of bagasse within four years, but they don’t state how much ethanol they plan to make with it.

The company is not just looking making ethanol out of the pulp but also other product which ensure that we utilize the maximum from natural available resources and do not waste much. They intend to produce items like paper, cardboard, textiles, water-soluble adhesives, cements, dyes – even L-lactic acid – and other items from the waste to help make the facility viable. This not conserves loads of energy but would stop felling of more trees for manufacture of paper. Hopefully the whole concept will hit the machines soon!

Via Ecogeek

There is one thing about DIY and it is that they are pretty appealing when you look at the final product but are most often a lot more messy when you actually get down to do them. While we have come across many DIY projects and there are many car kits out there which actually give your chrome most likely a new chrome look, few compare to this one. This DIY car called XR3 Hybrid Vehicle is a two-passenger car that looks rather like a futuristic sports car.

The car is not just been build out of the blue but it has been a project and a commercial venture that was slated to hit the market almost a year back. This DIY car called XR3 Hybrid Vehicle is a two-passenger car that looks rather like a futuristic sports car. The futuristic XR3 Hybrid Vehicle though comes to you at a very heavy price of $ 28,000 and that is if you already have an existing car that is fit for getting redone!

The car though is propelled by an electric engine and is green with zero-emissions. The designer claims that the car is especially efficient, delivering a performance of 25 miles per gallon, because it’s lightweight at just 700kg, when not in the electric mode. The XR3 uses a lithium-ion battery pack that takes merely 1.5 hours for an 80 percent recharge. While there are many concept cars around that look cool this one is actually something that will hit the road on a pretty large commercial scale very soon and that makes it unique. Hopefully the XR3 will have takers.

Via Goodcleantech

There are not many LEED Platinum certified green homes across the US and while the number is growing, it probably needs to spread more rapidly in order to really help the planet cool down. While US is still trying to switch to green, California seems to the leader in renewable energy and green architecture in the country. The 4600 sq ft Margarido House is by no means a small home, but with the addition of a plethora of green building features it will become the first LEED-H Platinum certified home in Northern California.

The Margarido House will feature almost every green strategy you can imagine and will be 55% more efficient than California’s Title 24 energy standards. The loads of green features inside make your head go on a dizzy ride. Its construction incorporates a variety of sustainable and fire resistant materials, and all of its poured concrete contains 25% fly ash. The interiors feature LED lighting, smart house automation, locally sourced products, and recycled concrete and glass countertops.

A planted roof garden and deck top off the project, and the house is site-sensitve, featuring permeable paving, rain and ground water reclamation, and drought tolerant landscaping and plants. While the owners of the house believe that ‘Green can be beautiful and sexy’, the rest of the world might find it hard to argue with after taking a look at this green masterpiece that defines new conventions and defies the old!

Via Jetsongreen