Hasta La Gadget!

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.

Filed under: Science

Comments

We are all a far more environmentally conscious people these days, where the threat of global warming is very, very real. Of course, electric cars have yet to make it to the mainstream consciousness across the world, for obvious infrastructure reasons, and there is also the issue of costs involved, but it sure as heck is encouraging to see how the world is slowly but surely lowering their dependency on fossil fuels where vehicles are concerned, and instead, looking towards greener solutions, including hybrid ones. The Zeit Eco is definitely not the first kind of electric scooter that has been released, but according to the creators of the Zeit Eco, this particular compact last mile transport vehicle is able to stand out from the rest of the crowd, which we will deal with right after the jump.

For starters, the Zeit Eco comes with a hub motor that offers an electronically limited top speed of 15 mph (24 km/h), which will not make your adrenaline pump as though you were about to step on the accelerator while being involved in a drag race, and its standard battery pack ought to be decent enough to offer a range of anywhere from 16 to 25 miles (25 – 40 km) per full charge, depending on your weight, riding style and road conditions. Another feature of the Zeit Eco would be a built-in “glove compartment” that is large enough to ensure that a tablet remains safe from harm whenever you travel, while the included handlebar charging port will make sure that your mobile devices get some juice en route to your destination.

Not only that, there is also an onboard audio system that ought to offer the relevant entertainment on the go, although I would strongly recommend against wearing a pair of headphones as you zip around in this puppy, since hearing what is going on around you would make a whole lot more sense. This Kickcstarter project has started to receive pledges, which will begin from $1,700 a pop, and delivery is estimated to happen in November if all goes well. The funding window will remain open until May 17.

Kickstarter Page

[ Zeit Eco electric scooter copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

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.

Filed under: Misc, Transportation, Science

Comments

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.

March marks the start of spring, and this week we saw lots of fresh new unveils in the world of green architecture — including the futuristic winners of the 2013 eVolo Skyscraper Competition. This year’s winner was the Polar Umbrella, a buoyant skyscraper designed to rebuild the shrinking polar ice sheets affected by global warming. Some of our other favorites are these jellyfish-shaped PH Conditioner Skyscrapers, which combat air pollution while producing fresh water, and Project Nomad, an out-of-this-world mobile skyscraper that could terraform Mars to make it habitable by humans. Meanwhile architect Michael Charters designed “Big Wood,” a prototype for a large-scale wooden skyscraper in downtown Chicago.

Filed under: Misc, Science

Comments

Panasonic announces an eco switching hub.
If you are concerned about energy conservation, why don’t you try this gigabit-compatible switching hub announced by Panasonic ES Networks? You can reduce 48% of your power consumption with this device because it will automatically change to power-saving mode to cut power while it’s not being used.
This unit will go on sale on March 27 and retail price will be 23,940 yen.