Inhabitat's Week in Green: A modular airplane, and more!
In other news, Paris launched the first bicycle superhighway.
Is the age of the solar-powered car upon us? Hanergy thinks so. The Chinese company just debuted four new vehicles that source all of their energy from the sun. Meanwhile, Clip-Air announced plans to test a crazy modular airplane that carries passengers and cargo in detachable pods. Eleven electric cars set off on a 15,534-mile race across 20 countries and three continents. And cycling infrastructure made huge strides as Paris launched its first bicycle superhighway and the US made progress on a colossal bike path connecting the entire East Coast.
Most wind turbines have three blades, but Vestas just unveiled a gigantic wind power tower with a whopping 12 blades and four rotors. In other energy news, a new breakthrough could enable researchers to extract enough uranium from seawater to power cities for thousands of year. The Smartflower POP is a novel solar power system that can produce 40 percent more energy than flat photovoltaics. California has managed to boost its solar capacity 1378 percent in just five years, and a new parabolic solar cooker is fighting energy poverty in Africa.
What's the world's best new building? This week the World Architecture Festival announced 343 contenders -- and we rounded up the best of the best. Meanwhile, China completed construction on the world's largest radio telescope, and they're planning to use it to search for alien life. In other innovative architecture news, we showcased 11 green building materials that are way better than concrete, and Walden Studio built a luxurious tiny home that lets its owner live off-grid and rent-free.
