Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar aircraft, freshwater wind farms, and the Automotive X Prize
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.
This week Inhabitat saw the world's first solar-powered aircraft soar through the night sky as it successfully completed its first 24-hour flight. We also took a look at the 15 ultra-efficient cars currently vying for the Progressive Automotive X Prize. Electric vehicles also made the headlines left and right this week as Korean carmarker CT&T announced plans to produce EVs in South Carolina and California rolls out plans for a whopping 1,600 charging stations.
Heatwaves swept the states this week, but we found some solace in the abundance of sunshine as Obama unveiled plans to kick-start the US solar industry with a $2 billion investment. We also looked at a sleek and stylish solar powered bag and an advanced solar cell manufacturing technique that promises to boost the efficiency of thin film photovoltaic cells by a fourth. Wind power also made waves as plans were officially unveiled for the United States' first freshwater wind farm in Lake Erie.
Finally, this week we saw several remarkable advancements from the field of biotechnology, starting with an amazing new wound dressing that harnesses nanotechnology to detect and treat infections before they strike. And from the desk of strange-yet-true comes one architect's plan to create a conceptual home entirely from meat cells grown in a lab!
Heatwaves swept the states this week, but we found some solace in the abundance of sunshine as Obama unveiled plans to kick-start the US solar industry with a $2 billion investment. We also looked at a sleek and stylish solar powered bag and an advanced solar cell manufacturing technique that promises to boost the efficiency of thin film photovoltaic cells by a fourth. Wind power also made waves as plans were officially unveiled for the United States' first freshwater wind farm in Lake Erie.
Finally, this week we saw several remarkable advancements from the field of biotechnology, starting with an amazing new wound dressing that harnesses nanotechnology to detect and treat infections before they strike. And from the desk of strange-yet-true comes one architect's plan to create a conceptual home entirely from meat cells grown in a lab!
@TechGuru
Congratulations, you win the "About to be downranked" award.
@TechGuru
Congratulations! You are the first to reach oblivion!
@Nitesh
@VetteDude
wow, it amazes me that every first post has these responses. You do realize that he is trolling you and expects you to say that. By your acknowledgement he is manipulating you.
Yay more jobs and a rebounding economy go ... WORLD
Engadget editors: please stop pushing this Inhabitat site. It's written by sheltered New Yorkers who think that environmentalism is a fashion statement, and I find it offensive.
@greenierer I just find their tag line offensive. "Design will save the world". Design is one of the elements that helped us get into this mess in the first place. It enabled our consumption lifestyle to become what it is today. And if anything, Engadget (the site peddling Inhabitat), pushes that further by providing news on what made last month's news obsolete and disposable.
Don't get me wrong, design has opportunities to do good, and Engadget is one of my most frequented websites. It just seems a bit hypocritical.
@greenierer Agreed. My bigger problem is all these "green" things never list the negatives. Every thing is happy and will save the world. I don't see them breaking anything down into the real cost. Like a car can get 10mpg better but the energy used to produce it could take 20 years to recover that investment. Like that solar plane has so little uses it is amazing. There is always an implied assumption that lowering CO2 emissions or making something out of Bamboo will save the world.
This lack or critical review and in-depth analysis just makes me turn this crap off and assume they are blowing smoke.
@JonObea
But...
....Nobody can hear the troll.
I don't need a bunch of solar charging stations. I can do that at home.
I need a 60 mile minimum range to feel secure, 80mph minimum top speed, and a nice government consumer-direct incentive on top of reasonably affordable pricing on a true two person and luggage vehicle and I'm game.
@Ducman69
Chevy Volt. The only thing is we don't know the price yet.
@VetteDude
Chevy Volt is a hybrid though. Not a traditional one, but still has a three cylinder turbocharged combustion engine working as a generator.
I know they said that at short range it doesn't kick on the generator, but I don't really have the need the cost and weight of a combustion engine and fuel all the time for my commuter vehicle.
I like the Aptera pure electric concept, but no dealer network even remotely planned for Texas.
@Ducman69
The Volt goes 40 miles without using gas.
The concept used a 3-cylinder. GM decided to use a 1.4L I4 instead since it is cheaper to produce, allowing a lower price on the car.
@Ducman69 "I know they said that at short range it doesn't kick on the generator, but I don't really have the need the cost and weight of a combustion engine and fuel all the time for my commuter vehicle. "
Apparently, you do...if you want to meet your earlier stated specs.
@korbas12
The cheaper all electric (no gas engine) Aptera has a 120 mile range (twice what I need) and tops out over 85mph. Obviously it is achievable, but no dealer network here, so I need other options. =/
The now obviously vaporware leaning trike prototype supposedly exceeded my wants as well, but now is Persu is hybrid only and still probably never going to see the light of day if the economy stays in the pooper with reasonably cheap gas.
The Lumeneo Smera super narrow leaning car is electric only and does a 90 mile range with a 80mph top speed, but AFAIK also doesn't have a dealer network outside of France.
We need Toyota, Honda, VW, or some REAL car company to come forward with a subcompact electric, but thats not likely to happen considering most of them aren't even willing to bring over their European diesel models to the US. =(
@VetteDude
they still working on that car djeezz its been like what 4 years now ?? :p
@VetteDude
I'm not a troll, I've just never commented that before and thought it would fill me with a sense of extremely minor accomplishment. And who would I be to let the opportunity pass me by.
A lot of those "ultra efficient" cars seem like they would be bested by a Polo BlueMotion Diesel. Nay, housed. 70ish mpg, 800ish mile range. Plus it's ready to buy, cheap, doesn't need to be plugged in, has a warranty, airbags, a trunk with a full-size spare tire, A/C and four wheels!
I completely understand the need for competitions like the Automotive X Prize, but I would like to think that the super-lightweight, truly unpractical prototype entries should offer vastly better performance than what's available at my VW dealer with no sacrifices to what cars are expected to have.
@Tommy Five
And its a fine car. I got a 55mpg Suzuki VStrom w/ luggage for $7K OTD years back, and just picked up a 42mpg Audi A3 TDI, so there are options available, but these contestants either use absolutely no fossil fuel whatsoever or are capable of fuel economy in the triple digits.
That kind of efficiency is hard to achieve.
Would be a lot easier to do though if they only had to stand up to crashes with regular size vehicles though, and not the 5000lb SUVs that every other mom is dropping off Billy and Timmy to school in every morning.
@Ducman69 And there's no doubt that I appreciate that. It just doesn't seem like you're gaining a whole lot of efficiency compared to what you're losing. Some the entries do accomplish fantastic efficiency, but the majority of them are... irrelevant.
The very first car described in the article achieves 67.3mpge, with a 150mi range using a combustion engine on E85. That's par with many of the other entries, and the performance is laughable. On the other side of things, something like the Wave II is doing something incredible with 180mpge, and a 68 mile range (though that range needs to be worked out somehow...). Unfortunately, the Wave II and a couple other entries are the few vehicles who seem to be improving things in the competition.
I haven't checked my facts, but is it maybe the first manned solar aircraft? I seem to remember there being unmanned solar aircraft years ago.