Inhabitat's Week in Green: cow treadmills, electric cars, and the Milan Furniture Fair

The Week in Green is a new item from our friends at Inhabitat, recapping the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us.

It was a busy week in green design as the design world's most important trade show, the Milan Furniture Fair, wrapped up, and Earth Day hit with full force on Thursday, April 22nd. Inhabitat brought you the most incredible green designs from Milan -- from LED lamps made almost entirely from soap to Inigo Mauerer's stunning new stripped-down OLED chandelier to gigantic architectural LEGO bricks (with life-size lego furniture to match!)

We also caught wind of several curious new energy developments from across the pond -- first, the UK is hatching a plan to recycle human waste into fuel by piping biomethane from the sewage system back into homes in Oxfordshire. Meanwhile a farmer in Norther Ireland has created a treadmill for cows that he thinks could generate 6% of the world's power. More conventional alt energy sources are on the rise as well - this week researchers announced advances in dye solar cells that make strides towards grid parity and a gasification process that is capable of doubling biofuel production.

Several major auto manufacturers also got our engines racing this week as they unveiled the next generation of sleek electric rides. Toyota officially revealed plans for a minivan sequel to it's ever-popular Prius while Chevy charged ahead with the MPV5, a larger version of the Volt sedan that seats five and packs extra space in the trunk. And finally, if classic cars are more your style, don't miss this cloth-covered retrofit to a rusty old MG Midget.

[zevobh Posted Apr 26th 2010 8:20PM]

can i by that car?

[Duckman Posted Apr 26th 2010 9:24PM]

@zevobh
no... but you can buy it

[engadgetcomexcludeengadget Posted Apr 26th 2010 10:21PM]

@zevobh I already bied it.

[PancakeMix Posted Apr 27th 2010 12:22AM]

@engadgetcomexcludeengadget

I bort one too.

[Blahman Posted Apr 27th 2010 12:59AM]

@PancakeMix

I boughteded the last one, too bad

[iLi3kTuttles Posted Apr 27th 2010 4:24PM]

@Blahman kthxbuy

[weststander Posted Apr 26th 2010 8:25PM]

Not interested!

[Seb6554 Posted Apr 26th 2010 8:25PM]

My sister has a bag made of that material...

[macserv Posted Apr 27th 2010 3:33PM]

@Seb6554 It MUST be a safe car; it's made of woven seat belts!

[Ducman69 Posted Apr 26th 2010 8:25PM]

Mayor of Oxfordshire: "Sure our taxes are ridiculously high, but we can pipe sewage back into your home!"

Excited about solar panel technology though. =)

[deliteguy Posted Apr 26th 2010 8:28PM]

pretty sweet

[BigD145 Posted Apr 26th 2010 8:39PM]

Bigger Volt: Did they not learn a lesson? Bigger is not better. Stop designing bricks.

[macserv Posted Apr 27th 2010 3:32PM]

@BigD145 Don't be obtuse... bigger is better when you need to carry more than what the smaller version can carry. It's still an all-electric car.

[RianOC Posted Apr 26th 2010 8:42PM]

"Norther Ireland" has no farmers because there is no such place, Northern Ireland has plenty. MOOO

[sshole Posted Apr 27th 2010 4:23AM]

@RianOC Yes!

The first time they mention NI on engadget (that I know of) and they spell it wrong :(

[Duckman Posted Apr 26th 2010 9:26PM]

@Vaio

who is that in your avatar? I would love to know my future ex-wife's name.

[Waroxy Posted Apr 26th 2010 10:04PM]

For sale but not for clash.

[j3ff Posted Apr 26th 2010 10:36PM]

It's a go-cart, powered by your own sense of self-satisfaction.

[paezbak Posted Apr 27th 2010 7:48AM]

ketupat FTW!