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Japan's developing an eco-friendly patrol submarine
These days, data centers, portable USB battery chargers and all sorts of transportation are going green thanks to fuel cell technology. Now you can add submersibles to that list: Japan is developing a 33-foot-long submarine that runs off emissions-free energy. Japanese Defense Ministry officials told AFP that the finalized tech is about five years out, but they estimate the $25 million unmanned sub (or UUV) will be capable of cruising deep waters for an entire month on a single charge. Sure, 30 days seems pale in comparison to the 50-year core life of the nuclear-powered USS Nautilus, but electro-chemical energy is far cleaner, and can be much cheaper in the long run. This driverless U-boat also won't have any artillery on board. According to a ministry official, "The UUV is purely for patrolling -- it's not a military weapon," so there's no need to worry about underwater combat drones -- at least, for now.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: concrete honey, hybridized fruit tree and a $3,500 house
Trees are the most efficient oxygen-producing mechanisms known to man, so researchers have been trying to replicate them in order to produce breathable air in outer space. Julian Melchiorri, a student at the Royal College of Art, has created an artificial leaf that can produce endless oxygen using nothing more than light and water. The manmade leaves could be a game changer for space exploration, and they could also be used as biological air filters or oxygen producers back here on Earth. Trees do more than create oxygen; many of them also bear fruit. Artist Sam Van Aken has produced an amazing hybridized fruit tree that grows more than 40 different kinds of fruit, including peaches, apricots and almonds.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: bonsai in space, rising sea levels and the blood of horseshoe crabs
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. Google has a long list of environmental initiatives -- and its latest project is to outfit its Street View cars with environmental sensors to track down methane emissions that contribute to climate change. But when it comes to futuristic transportation, there's no greater innovator than Elon Musk. The serial entrepreneur recently appeared on The Colbert Report, where he discussed Tesla, the Hyperloop and SpaceX.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: translucent house shell, Prêt-à-Loger and a skyscraper made of waste
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. Self-driving cars are set to become a common sight on roads and highways around the world in the coming years, and Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, is taking the lead. The company recently announced plans to launch a self-driving semi truck on the market by 2025. In architecture news, this week a large lotus flower-shaped building sprouted in Wujin, China. The striking building is located in the middle of an artificial lake, and it is cooled with geothermal piles.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar homes, 'Soofa' benches and a levitating transportation system
Solar Decathlon Europe is officially underway in Versailles, where 20 teams of students from 17 different countries are competing to build the world's most efficient solar-powered homes. Like the American version, the European Solar Decathlon has attracted some truly innovative entries. For example, a team of students from Berlin presented a plan for refurbishing a turn-of-the-century apartment building with solar panels.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Terrapin Camper, glow-in-the-dark roads and the world's fastest bike
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. The world's first glow-in-the-dark roads were recently installed in the Netherlands as part of a month-long trial -- and now, the team behind the project will take what it's learned and incorporate it into an updated smart highway that will roll out later this summer. Driverless cars are the future of transportation, and Michigan is gearing up for them by developing a 30-acre urban environment for testing autonomous vehicles. Toyota just unveiled its new hydrogen fuel cell sedan, which will go on sale in the US next summer. Germany has long been a leader in renewable energy, and now the European country is breaking its own records.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Gigafactory, eVolo Skyscraper Competition and super-powered bionic plants
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. First, the bad news: A new NASA-funded study predicts that industrialized society could completely collapse in the coming decades due to growing inequality and overconsumption of resources. Officials in Paris are taking emergency measures to curb emissions after air quality monitors found that air pollution had risen to hazardous levels in recent weeks. And large-scale famine could be closer than we think: A new report finds that climate change could affect food production much sooner than previously thought.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: human diamonds, floating farm and a 13-year-old nuclear fusioneer
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. Ever wish you could take a bite out of Kanye West? A new (possibly satirical) startup is taking meat alternatives to an absurd new level, with plans to make salami from animal meat and human tissue from celebrities. No word yet on what Kanye thinks of the venture. In other weird science news, a Swiss company says it is creating diamonds from cremated human remains. The company claims that its so-called memorial diamonds are almost indistinguishable from a typical diamond.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: self-driving tractors, U-CAT robot and the Interceptor police sedan
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. With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, it's time to start thinking about holiday decorations. London's Southbank Centre recently gave new meaning to the phrase "green energy" by unveiling a Christmas tree powered entirely by Brussels sprouts. And in Austria, a family claimed their second Guinness World Record by stringing over half a million LED Christmas lights across their property. In other tech news, Recchi Engineering and Carlo Ratti Associati won a competition to design Holland's 17,000-square-foot pavilion for the 2015 World Expo in Milan. The pavilion's green roof will be tended by a pair of self-driving tractors. Manuel Dominguez dreamed up a design for a futuristic mobile metropolis that can actually move to different locations in search of resources. And in Bogotá, a crowdfunding campaign has been launched for what could be Colombia's tallest skyscraper.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Möbius strip bridge, intelligent beehives and the SeaOrbiter
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. Apple's new headquarters is perhaps the most hotly anticipated building in the country, and the company just released a new set of images of the spaceship-shaped building. The new renderings provide a detailed look inside the ring-shaped building. Another ambitious proposal could be coming to life: The folks behind a futuristic marine-research vessel known as the SeaOrbiter just launched a crowdfunding campaign. Construction on the knife-shaped vessel is expected to begin next spring. On the gadget front, a pair of engineering students at Duke University has discovered a new way to charge smartphones with WiFi -- and they say the power-harvesting device is even more efficient than a USB charger.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: futuristic automation, underwater kites and a floating nuclear power plant
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. Twitter's stock market debut was the big story this week, but it wasn't the only news out of Silicon Valley. Facebook just announced that starchitect Frank Gehry will design the company's London and Dublin offices. Gehry is already working on designing Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters. In other tech news, Apple is opening a new manufacturing plant in Mesa, Ariz., that will be entirely powered by the sun, and the company filed a patent for a futuristic automation system that could remote control your house. Meanwhile, electric carmaker Tesla is contemplating building the largest battery factory in the world to keep pace with booming EV sales. And on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Kyocera Corporation just launched Japan's largest offshore solar power plant. The new plant will provide enough energy to power 22,000 households.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: shape-shifting tires, modular smartphone and the burgeoning cockroach industry
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. Elon Musk made headlines around the world this summer when he lifted the curtain on the "hyperloop" -- a concept for an ultra-fast train that could transport passengers at speeds of 600 MPH. Now a team of engineers has announced plans to build a working hyperloop prototype by next year. Musk isn't behind the plan, but his company Tesla made a couple of major announcements this week. First, Tesla bought nearly 2 billion Panasonic lithium-ion battery cells. Then, the electric carmaker completed a network of electric vehicle charging stations stretching all the way from San Diego to Vancouver. While hyperloop talk is speeding up, bikes are continuing to grow in popularity -- more bikes were sold than cars in 23 European countries last year, proving that you don't have to reinvent the wheel to go green. On the other hand, reinventing the wheel is exactly what design student Ackeem Ngwenya did when he created a shape-shifting tire that can adapt to different vehicle types and road conditions. In other global transportation news, Turkey unveiled the world's first intercontinental underwater rail tunnel, linking the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. And at the 6th Annual US-China Transportation Forum, Chinese officials announced that they are expanding their nationwide network of highways, railways and airports, while the US federal government struggles to maintain the country's crumbling infrastructure.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: lane-straddling bus, invisible skyscraper and space vegetables
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. When it comes to public transportation, taking the bus is the least sexy option. Buses are slow; they make frequent stops; and because they share the road with cars, they get stuck in traffic. But a new proposal for a giant lane-straddling bus would eliminate traffic congestion by letting cars pass right through the middle of it. The futuristic bus is just one of several stories about innovations in green transportation on Inhabitat this week. Mercedes-Benz just completed the first cross-country trip for a self-driving car with its S500 Intelligent Drive research vehicle, and BMW unveiled the official production model of its 2015 i8 plug-in hybrid sports car at the Frankfurt Motor Show. In other green car news, Nissan announced that it is in the final stages of developing its second electric vehicle -- the e-NV200 compact van. In an effort to make flat tires a thing of the past, Korean manufacturer Hankook has produced a puncture-proof, airless tire that is made from 95 percent recyclable materials. And in more good news for green cars, August was the best month ever for US sales of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and conventional hybrids.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: geodesic houseboat, orbital photovoltaic plant and color-changing syringes
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. Tesla has been on a tear this year, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the Silicon Valley-based electric car maker is using up the world's supply of lithium-ion batteries, spurring manufacturers to ramp up global production. In other green transportation news, Smart has unveiled the Fourjoy electric concept car in advance of the Frankfurt Motor Show. Barcelona launched the world's first public electric scooter-sharing scheme, which promises to help users save money and decrease fuel consumption. In Buffalo, a man built himself a 16-foot geodesic houseboat in just a few weeks for less than $2,000. And if you want to have your mind blown, check out the photos from this year's Bloemencorso Zundert flower parade in the Netherlands, which features floats made from thousands of flowers.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: birth simulator, wave-powered desalination and carbon dioxide bricks
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. As if the Hyperloop and Tesla weren't enough to keep him busy, real-life Tony Stark Elon Musk revealed this week that he felt the futuristic hologram UI from Iron Man could be built and that he might just be the one to do it. Over in Denmark, Inhabitat was on the scene covering the 2013 INDEX: Awards honoring groundbreaking inventions that make life better. Get the scoop on all of the winners -- from a life-saving smart highway that wirelessly charges cars to a birth simulator that could save millions of babies a year to Copenhagen's comprehensive Climate Adaption Plan to reduce flooding. But Copenhagen wasn't the only city that had rising tides on the mind as the world reflected on the eight-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. While catastrophic flooding may have seemed like an isolated incident at that time, the threat of future storms is now matter-of-fact and ideas on how to protect against them, like this dam that uses the power of floodwater itself to inflate, have been popping up left and right.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: 'practical' jetpack, self-healing solar cell and lab-grown heart tissue
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. Tesla CEO Elon Musk wowed the tech and business worlds this week when he unveiled plans for a 700MPH solar-powered Hyperloop train that could catapult people from San Francisco to LA in just over half an hour. Although the plan is highly conceptual, nothing associated with Musk can be written off as fantasy these days. The news somehow managed to overshadow all other futuristic transportation stories, like Martin Aircraft's unveiling of a "practical" jetpack that can travel at speeds of up to 60MPH and reach an altitude of 8,000 feet. Meanwhile, German designer Andreas Blazunaj unveiled a sleek hybrid concept vehicle that looks more like a spaceship than a car. An Australian high school student designed a solar-powered car that could be used to transport pregnant Zimbabwean women to hospitals. And the team behind the Bloodhound Supersonic Car announced that it will use a 3D-printed nose cone in its attempt break the 1,000MPH speed record in summer 2015.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: zero-distortion mirror, stem cell hamburger and a tent that fits in a sneaker
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. It's been a big week for planes, trains and automobiles as California (finally) announced plans to break ground on the US' first high-speed rail and we speculated on just how Elon Musk's 600MPH Hyperloop train will work. Inhabitat also brought you the scoop on BMW's 2014 i3, which is the world's first electric vehicle made mostly from carbon fiber. Green vehicles proved they could go the distance as a 65-year-old man embarked on a 1,200-mile journey in a solar-powered tricycle, and a crop of green-roofed buses brought lush air-purifying plants to congested city centers. And if you're planning an outdoor adventure this summer, you won't want to miss this caravan that doubles as a boat, Mini's new ultra compact luxury campers and the full-sized tent that fits in a pair of sneakers.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: GO pop-up camper, coconut carbon water filter and all-electric superbikes
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. It's difficult to think about winter in the middle of a very hot summer, but if you live in Norway, winter never seems too far off. There, engineers have come up with a creative solution for the lack of winter sunlight by setting up a cluster of large mirrors to direct natural light toward the town of Rjukan, which sits in a valley. In the US, scientists are developing new techniques to harvest the power of the sun, as a team of researchers from the University of Maryland has developed a long-lasting battery that's made from wood. 3D printers are capable of amazing feats, but a new study finds they release a high amount of ultrafine particles into the air, which can be harmful if inhaled. Star Wars fans will be saddened to learn that migrating dunes in Tunisia are threatening to destroy one of the most famous filming locations captured in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. And in the week's most inexplicable example of environmental destruction, the US military dropped four bombs on the Great Barrier Reef as part of a training exercise.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: anti-mosquito sticker, a cancer-identifying scalpel and the world's largest offshore wind farm
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. Urine and cellphones don't mix -- just ask anyone who has ever dropped their phone in the toilet. At least that's what we thought before learning that a team of UK scientists has created the world's first pee-powered cellphone, which is based on microbial fuel cells. In other renewable energy news, the Peruvian government is providing free electricity to over 2 million of its poorest citizens by harvesting energy from the sun, and China just became the world's first country to install 3 GW of utility-scale solar. Wind power is also on the rise as CalTech researcher John Dabiri figured out a way to make cheaper, more efficient wind farms inspired by schools of fish, and construction began this week on the world's largest offshore wind farm on the Fukushima coast. And in an unusual paring of renewable energy and architecture, Morphocode has designed a futuristic-looking loft that is nestled on top of an offshore wind turbine.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: human-powered helicopter, a 3D-printed SLR and smog-eating pavement
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 aviation fans witnessed a world's first as AeroVelo's human-powered helicopter won the elusive $250,000 Sikorsky Prize by hovering 10 feet off the ground for more than 60 seconds. The Solar Impulse sun-powered airplane also broke boundaries by completing the first sun-powered trip from coast to coast -- and Inhabitat was on the scene at New York's JFK Airport to meet it. In other green transportation news, ABB recently announced plans to build the world's largest nationwide network of EV fast-charging stations in the Netherlands. NASA's autonomous solar-powered polar rover, the GROVER, completed initial sub-zero field tests in Greenland, proving that it can withstand 30 MPH winds and temperatures of -22 F. Roads are an integral part of our carbon-heavy automotive transportation system -- but a new type of smog-eating pavement could actually combat emissions and clean the air. And Inhabitat took a look at the world's most beautiful urban street, a gorgeous tree-lined oasis in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
