Inhabitat's Week in Green: bike-powered generator, world's largest wave farm and a DIY lightsaber
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.
What would you give for a working lightsaber? This week Inhabitat reported that a laser hobbyist created an awesome (but totally dangerous) DIY lightsaber that can burn through wood. In renewable energy news, Scotland announced plans to build the world's largest wave farm, and an ingenious inventor created a bike-powered generator hidden inside his patio furniture. On the consumer tech front, Apple announced plans to produce a new line of Macs in Texas, and Intel is set to release its new Haswell chips, which could boost laptop battery life by 50 percent. Scientists discovered Arctic plants that have come back to life after being frozen for 400 years, while ninth graders conducted a science experiment to show that plants don't grow as well near wireless routers. And Ukrainian carpenter Valerii Danevych carves functioning watches -- including the gears -- entirely from wood.
With Memorial Day behind us, summer has officially started... and that means it's time to grease up the chain, pump up the tires and take your bike for a spin. If you live in New York City (or even if you're just visiting), you can now take advantage of the city's new bike-sharing program, which launched this week with 6,000 royal blue cruisers. But that was just one of many green transportation stories that broke this week. Inhabitat profiled a hybrid car-helicopter that can seamlessly transition from the earth to the sky. A group of teens created the world's first social-media-fueled vehicle, which gets a jolt of power for every tweet, "like" and social media share. And Inhabitat sat down for a chat with J Mays, VP of global design and chief creative officer for Ford, to talk to him about the future of green vehicles, and his incredible career in auto design.
Watch out Dubai -- Qatar is set to one-up the Emirate's world of islands with an enormous artificial isle off the coast of Doha with five floating hotels that will house up to 25,000 soccer fans for the World Cup in 2022. Speaking of the World Cup, Brazil just cut the ribbon on its new $16.1 million solar roof at Mineirão Stadium. Meanwhile, installation artist James Turrell is transforming an extinct volcano into a naked-eye observatory in northern Arizona. And in New York, architectural and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill unveiled its proposal for redeveloping Penn Station and Madison Square Garden with two new rooftop parks.
