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Inhabitat's Week in Green: 'Saltygloo,' 3D-printed lingerie and a Christmas tree made from 365 wooden sleighs
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 3D-printing craze was in full effect this week. No longer content making plastic figurines or smartphone covers, 3D makers are now taking a more delicious route. If you're pressed for time in the kitchen, the Foodini 3D printer can do some of the prep work for you. Meanwhile, Emerging Objects has found a way to turn abundant sea salt into a building material. It recently revealed "Saltygloo," a pavilion made from 336 3D-printed sea salt panels. And if cooking and building with 3D printers isn't exciting enough for you, there's always the 3D-printed lingerie that took center stage at Victoria Secret's annual televised fashion show (it was encrusted in millions of Swarovski crystals, of course). And don't worry if you're still 3D printing with traditional plastic filaments: The newest printer from 3D Systems is not only the world's first and only continuous-tone, full-color 3D printer, it also features integrated material recycling to cut down on wasted materials and filament expenses.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: eco-friendly Christmas trees, Kingdom of Erebor Lego replica and a ring that translates sign language
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. At this time of year, you tend to see lots of cars with Christmas trees strapped to their roofs. But that could become a less common sight due to climate change -- extreme weather events are making life harder for tree farmers, causing tree shortages in the northeastern US. As an alternative, Inhabitat rounded up a list of this year's top eco-friendly faux Christmas trees. In New York, this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is lit up with 45,000 solar-powered LED lights. In the spirit of the season, Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov took some stunning macro photos of snowflakes by hacking a cheap Canon PowerShot. Inhabitat also unveiled its annual green gadget gift guide, and we shared the real story behind the "design" of Christmas (hint: It involves Santa and 'shrooms).
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: 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: all-electric Batpod, sea serpent and an electric paper generator
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. Electric cars are the gold standard for green automakers, but a car is only as eco-friendly as its source of fuel. That's why the World Solar Challenge -- an annual competition to design the most practical solar-powered car -- is such a big deal. This year's winner was the Stella, a four-seat family vehicle created by the Dutch Solar Team Eindhoven, which produces so much energy it can actually feed power back into the grid. Ever wish you could cruise around town in a Batman-style motorcycle? If you happen to have an extra $27,500 kicking around, this awesome all-electric Batpod motorcycle could be yours. The Silicon Valley town of Palo Alto set a new high bar for building codes this fall, requiring all new-construction homes to come wired for electric car chargers. The code is relatively inexpensive, costing builders just $200 extra. And electric car chargers don't have to look ugly and take up lots of space: The company HEVO Power has designed a new type of induction charging unit that blends into its surroundings by disguising itself as a manhole cover. And Inhabitat had the pleasure of test driving BMW's new 328d clean diesel, which can go 675 miles on a single tank of gas.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: pontoon bike, nuclear fusion and a power-generating merry-go-round
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. Our smartphones have become more than just an accessory -- in some ways they're an extension of ourselves -- but we might want to rethink our relationship to the technology. Marcus Bleasdale's sobering images, published in the October issue of National Geographic magazine, pull back the curtain on the many men, women and children who are locked into a cycle of horrific exploitation driven by the demand for consumer electronics. If that depressed you, here's a little photographic dose of awe and inspiration to make you feel better. Check out this set of jaw-dropping images of Earth taken from outer space that were curated by the European Space Agency as part of its "Observing the Earth" archive. San Francisco resident Judah Schiller found a way to bike across the San Francisco Bay by creating a "water bicycle" that floats on a pair of pontoons. French biochemist Pierre Calleja unveiled an innovative new lamp that is powered entirely by a tube filled with glowing green algae. And Inhabitat even managed to find a green lining to the government shutdown that has furloughed almost 1 million federal employees: Cutting back on the workforce might reduce the nation's emissions.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar pavement panels, 'practical' jetpack and a 3D-printed room
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. Swedish retailer IKEA is known mostly for its ubiquitous dorm room furnishings, but the company is now setting its sights on renewable energy. The Swedish furnishing giant just announced that it will begin selling residential solar panels in the United Kingdom. (No word on whether they'll require a hex wrench to assemble.) In other renewable energy news, mobile phone company Nokia revealed that it is working with a team of scientists at the University of Southampton to harvest the power of lightning to charge mobile phones. Japan is looking beyond the Earth's surface by developing an innovative new system for collecting solar energy from outer space -- and they plan to launch it by 2030. In Virginia, Studio39 Landscape Architecture just teamed up with students at George Washington University to install the world's first solar pavement panels, which power an LED installation beneath the walkway. And in the latest piece of evidence that man has yet to conquer nature, a smack of jellyfish (yes, that's what they call a large group of jellyfish) caused a large nuclear reactor in Sweden to shut down.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: inflatable concert hall, Xkuty One electric bike and an E. coli filter
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. Most of the world still runs on fossil fuels, but renewable energy is making big gains. Not only are renewables better for the environment, but they're also becoming just as cost-effective as their dirtier counterparts. A new study finds that wind farms are less expensive than new coal-fired plants, and they cost about the same as new natural gas plants. Speaking of energy costs, Inhabitat shared a new infographic this week that shows how much it would cost for the entire world to switch over to renewable energy. In other energy news, the world's largest solar thermal energy plant opened in California's Mojave Desert. Once it's operational, the plant will produce enough energy to power 140,000 homes. The largest photovoltaic plant in the world is set to be built in India, and it will produce 10 times as much energy as the next-largest solar plant in the country. And in another exciting development, a team of German and French scientists produced the world's most efficient solar cell, which boats an efficiency of 44.7 percent.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: rocket bicycle, microbe sewage treatment and a processor that can run off a single glass of red wine
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. Remember that shapeshifting robot from Terminator 2 who could get shot in the face and heal within seconds? In Spain, scientists have developed a self-healing polymer that is basically a plastic version of that guy. The plastic, which has been nicknamed "Terminator," can be cut in half and then left to repair itself without any outside intervention. In other green tech and design news, the world's first 3D scanner for iPads raised more than $300,000 on Kickstarter in a single day, more than tripling its $100,000 goal. Tesla continued its assault on automotive conventions this week when the company announced plans to develop a self-driving car by 2016. In Nevada, a rocket-shaped bicycle set a new land speed record after ripping through the desert at 83 MPH. And just when we thought we'd seen everything that mobile phones have to offer, enter PhoneBloks, a nifty new concept phone made from a series of modular components that can be snapped together like Lego bricks.
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.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: floating power plant, water chip and a solar-powered family car
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. Fresh water is the most precious resource on Earth, and it's becoming increasingly scarce -- but a new invention could make desalination an affordable, cost-effective technology. A team of scientists from Germany and the US has developed a "water chip" that uses an electrical field to separate salt from seawater. That isn't the only new innovation that has the potential to change the world. This week Inhabitat took a look at the Horizon mass transit system, a futuristic hybrid train-plane propelled by a maglev-style mechanism. The UK celebrated the launch of the world's largest offshore wind farm, and Apple announced plans to build a 18-20 MW solar plant to power its data center in Reno, Nev. A 15-year-old from Canada created a flashlight that is powered entirely by body heat from a human hand. And in one of the week's most uplifting stories, an amputee built herself a prosthetic leg out of Legos (it might not be very practical, but it sure is cool).
Inhabitat's Week in Green: underwater Discus Hotel, mold-detecting bowl and a terrarium for edible insects
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. By now "reinventing the wheel" has become a tired euphemism -- but that's exactly what skateboarder David Patrick did when he created the SharkWheel, a cube-shaped wheel that's surprisingly smoother and faster than conventional skateboard wheels. Patrick isn't the only inventor to challenge conventions this week, though. In an effort to develop a more sustainable source of protein, designer Mansour Ourasanah developed a terrarium for growing edible insects in your home. That invention might be a tough sell for some people, but this one is sure to be a crowd-pleaser: English telecommunications company Vodafone unveiled a sleeping bag that uses body heat to charge your gadgets as you sleep and a pair of shorts that harness kinetic energy to charge your cellphone. Meanwhile architect Richard Moreta Castillo unveiled plans for a solar-powered, man-made island that will clean up the ocean while generating renewable energy, and Tokyo installed an impressive bicycle elevator that can store as many as 144 bikes underground.
Discarded Android phones protect rainforests from loggers
The usual refrain is that smartphones can do anything, but we doubt too many people can boast that their RAZR MAXX is helping to rescue the rainforests of Indonesia. Enter a new project called Rainforest Connection, which is building a security network of devices in the Air Tarusan reserve in western Sumatra to prevent illegal logging. Donated Android smartphones are being modified to use solar power before being dangled from trees with their microphones switched on. When the handsets pick up the sound of a chainsaw, they relay an emergency message to local rangers who can then intervene. Future plans involve using large numbers of recycled handsets and making the system easy enough for locals to hook up further networks by themselves. Just one more reason not to throw out that moribund smartphone.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Sky City One, sub-zero cafe and the world's longest Lego train track
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. Eyes in the design world turned to New York City this week as New York Design Week officially launched. We hit the floors of International Contemporary Furniture Fair today to bring you the best new green designs from one of the largest contemporary design shows in the US -- including Blackbody's gorgeous OLED light trees and Tat Chao's ethereal LED lamps made from recycled wine glasses. We also checked out the locally focused BKLYN Designs show, where design duo Bower unveiled an awesome magnetic LED lamp, made from discarded pieces of scrap wood. Lighting designer Adam Frank unveiled three inspiring new designs at BKLYN Designs: the LED Lumen lamp, which casts tree-shaped shadows from a little candle holder; the incredible Reveal Projector, which projects an image of outdoor foliage and sky through a window on a blank wall (good for those in tiny NYC apartments); and the 3D hologram-ish LUCID Mirror, which displays a 3D image of illuminated clouds over your head!
Inhabitat's Week in Green: dog with prosthetic limbs, glowing sheep and gourd building blocks
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 start of May saw an abundance of groundbreaking stories about flora and fauna -- first, there was the heartwarming story of Naki'o, the first dog to be fitted with four prosthetic limbs after losing his legs to frostbite. Then we were surprised and slightly disturbed to learn that scientists in Uruguay used genetic engineering to create glowing sheep with genes from the Aequorea victoria jellyfish. In other illuminating news, a team of bioengineers in San Francisco is using genes from fireflies to create plants that glow. And the Institute of Space Systems in Germany announced plans to use Heliospectra's new LED lighting systems to conduct research into growing vegetables in outer space.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: flying electric car, 3D-printed livers and a two-story-tall 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 Northern Hemisphere is finally beginning to wake up from a long, cold winter, and green vehicles are taking to the skies. This week Korean automaker Hyundai unveiled a multi-rotor flying electric car for congested cities and SolarWorld and PC-Aero announced plans to launch two new solar-powered electric airplanes at an air show in Germany. Speaking of sun-powered planes, the Solar Impulse just made its final test flight around the San Francisco Bay Area before embarking on a cross-country voyage next week. Even cycling is reaching new heights -- bike hacker Richie Trimble recently built a two-story-tall bike that soars above car traffic.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: Ekinoid, HDlive ultrasound and the world's lightest electric vehicle
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 an exciting week for green building as Inhabitat reported that some of the world's top architects unveiled plans for high-tech developments with light environmental footprints. Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) won an international design competition for Europa, a new green-roofed city outside of Paris. Construction began last week on a new solar-powered stadium for the Euro 2016 football championship designed by Herzog & de Meuron. San Francisco celebrated the reopening of the Exploratorium this week in a new net-zero building along the city's waterfront. In Mexico City, a helipad on the roof of an office building was converted into a co-working space with a gorgeous rooftop garden. And we also profiled the Ekinoid, a spherical, self-sufficient home that sits on stilts and is built to withstand disaster.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: stair-climbing vacuum cleaner, carbon dioxide diapers and a real 3D-printed face
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. Just a few short years ago, 3D printing seemed like science fiction; we could grasp its value, but we didn't yet have the ability to harness its power and put it to good use. Now, we're seeing the technology advance every day -- and it's opening up new possibilities in medical science and other fields. This week, we shared the story of one British man who received a new 3D-printed face that gave him a second chance at life. In an equally amazing story, scientists at the University of Notre Dame successfully 3D printed the entire skeleton of a living rat. California-based Signal Snowboards unveiled the world's first 3D-printed snowboard this week. And desktop 3D printing and scanning is getting cheaper every day -- Canadian company Matterform is developing a lightweight 3D scanner called the Photon that's cheaper than a tablet.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: TORQ Roadster, quantum-dot solar cells and an invisibility cloak
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, Team Inhabitat traveled to Mountain View, Calif., to get a look at the 100 percent sun-powered Solar Impulse airplane before it embarks on its first flight across the United States. Inhabitat editors also braved the crowds at the 2013 New York International Auto Show to report on the hottest new hybrids and electric cars. Some of the green cars unveiled at this year's show were the compact Mercedes-Benz 2014 B-Class Electric Drive and BMW's sexy new Active Tourer plug-in hybrid. The Tesla Model S was named the 2013 World Green Car of the Year, beating out the Renault Zoe and the Volvo V60. And speaking of new auto unveils, Epic EV unveiled its new all-electric TORQ Roadster, which looks like a roofless Batmobile and can go from 0-60 MPH in just four seconds.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: the Soundscraper, bedroom algae biofuel lab and the revival of the gastric-brooding frog
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 first week of spring kicked off with a bang for the architecture community as Japanese architect Toyo Ito was awarded the 2013 Pritzker Prize. Meanwhile Christo unveiled the world's largest inflated indoor sculpture in Germany and MIT researchers announced plans to 3D print a pavilion inspired by the technique that silkworms use to build their cocoons. Inhabitat also showcased several futuristic skyscraper concepts -- including the Soundscraper, which transforms auditory vibrations into clean energy, and the Zero Skyscraper, which is a post-apocalyptic survival structure. And we profiled some fascinating adaptive-reuse projects, including a grain elevator that was transformed into a student housing complex in Oslo and a Cold War-era missile silo that was converted into an underground home in Upstate New York.
