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Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar robots that fly, CO2 fabric dye, and the dark silicon that boosts battery life
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. Solar power blazed a trail this week as we took a look at several hot new technologies, starting with SkyFuel's SkyTrough, which is being billed as the world's most efficient solar collector. We also saw solar energy take to the skies as designers unveiled plans for a fleet of high-flying solar robots, and we were surprised to learn that common household dyes could significantly increase the efficiency of photovoltaic panels by optimizing their color absorption spectrum. Speaking of dye, from the realm of wearable tech we also brought you a breakthrough new technique for dying fabric that saves water by utilizing fluid CO2. We also saw a prototype for a wired "safe cuddling" suit for kids that wards off improper touching by sounding an alarm, and if you're a fan of high-tech footwear, check out these tricked-out kicks that do double duty as Wii controllers. This week also saw a tremendous green boost for bits and bytes as the University of Leicester switched on its hyper-efficient ALICE supercomputer, which is ten times more powerful than its predecessor and stands to reduce yearly CO2 emissions by 800 tons. Meanwhile, researchers at UC San Diego revealed work on a new mobile phone chip that harnesses "dark silicon" to boost smartphone battery life by a factor of eleven. We also showcased several efficient autos as Southern California rolled out a fleet of all electric buses that can recharge in 10 minutes flat, and the hyper-miling Avion car embarked on a trip from Canada to Mexico with just 14 gallons of gas. And if you'll be doing some traveling of your own back to school this fall, you wont want to miss this chance to pick up an awesome solar-powered Sakku satchel. Finally, with Labor Day on its way why not upgrade your BBQ with an adorable altoids tin mini grill - it's curiously awesome!
Progressive Automotive X-Prize competitors roundup
With about three weeks left to go, the Progressive Automotive X-Prize has already got 25 submissions (20 names have been publicly released) with creators ranging from college students to large auto makers already in the game. Here's the deal with the contest: the cars must be production-capable and fall in with federal safety guidelines, and it's got to be possible to produce and sell 10,000 of them annually, with a working business plan in place for this to happen by 2014. The car must deliver at least 100 MPGs, and CO2 emissions can't exceed 200 grams per kilometer. The prize for the competition is ten million dollars. We've seen some of these in the past -- Aptera's 2e, MDI's AirCar, and the Tata Nano are all on offer -- but there are a few new guys, too. Some of the more interesting entries are the totally rad looking diesel Avion which has gotten up to 103.7 miles per gallon, Kinetix Motors' diesel-electric hybrid E4 Sports Hatch, which should cost less than $25,000 with a top speed of 95 miles per hour. The company also claims the sporty ride goes from zero to sixty miles in 6.1 seconds. Finally, there's Physics Lab of Lake Havasu Green Giant, an electric truck that gets 50 miles per gallon on its battery, with plans to bump that figure to 100 miles per gallon using other sources of energy. Check out the gallery of other prospects, and hit the read link for the full, delicious list.%Gallery-43837%
Megatech's Avion indoor R/C plane defies laws of logic
You can thank the ominous sounding Megatech International for making your indoor-flying fantasies come to life with their latest remote control offering, the Avion. With its miniature 7.5-inch wingspan, petite 8.4 gram weight, and adorable Spectrum-Link Optic-Control (which uses "Stereoscopic range finding" for tracking, similar to human eyes), the Avion can supposedly glide and twist through small indoor spaces -- a feature apparently in high demand among R/C plane enthusiasts and precocious Red Baron-imitating mice. Check the video after the break for smooth sounds, and an even smoother hallway flight show.[Thanks, Vincent]
