Photo: Tesla Motors
So What's Going on With Tesla These Days?
Tesla Motors has been fascinating many greens every since the electric Roadster was unveiled on July 19th, 2006 (but the company was founded in 2003 and spent about three years working in stealth mode). Since then there has been lots of successes, but also lots of failures. The company entered a new phase of its life a few months ago with the launch of its second EV, the Model S electric Sedan, and a lot has been happening at Tesla Motors since then. Here's an overview of recent Tesla news, with everything from technical prowess to tales of betrayal....
Image via SOLAQUA
A cool new design by Jason Lam, a student designer at University of New South Wales, shows a water purifier that uses the power of the sun to make water drinkable. It's intended for places with limited resources where water-borne diseases are prevalent, helping to save lives with the power of the sun....
Photo via: mysi anne
Our world has become very much reliant on technology, and why shouldn't it. Technology has progressed in leaps and bounds over the years creating new and improved methods of health care, faster and more powerful networking, cleaner and more organized industry. However, despite its many great advances, technology is not necessarily what is going to save us from the ill-effects of global warming......
Photo: GM
The More Things Change...
Speaking of
GM and electric cars, here's an ad from 1969 that shows a series hybrid powered by a stirling engine. The underlying concept isn't actually so different from the upcoming
Chevy Volt, and while at the time the technology probably wasn't there to make this a commercial success, we can wonder what happened to this concept in the years between then and now... Full ad (with text) below....
Photo courtesy of: The Design Blog
Pee-cycling is getting more and more popular. Especially with water scarcity causing
alarm planet-wide. Heck, even
NASA astronauts are in on it. Like, whatever happened to just drinking
Tang?
The latest entry is by designer
Leonardo Manavella. The "Aqua H20" works both with human or animal urine. The liquid waste is handled via the Activated Carbon which removes both the color and the flavor.
No word on how this thing holds up against asparagus. ...
Photo via: Bosch Rexroth
Renewable energy is currently at an all-time high as far as political focus and public goal orientation are concerned. At the same time, it is also facing one of its greatest challenges, a very unfavorable economic market. I spoke with Raj Boya from
Bosch Rexroth about the prospects of
wind energy as we move towards a greener future....
Images via
Ecofriend
Sticking a solar cell on any old gadget has been the trend for too long. Now we want to see ways in which incorporating solar power makes gear look good too. Shepeleff Stephen is on the task, coming up with these headphones that will make you not
feel like complete dork while wearing them, unlike other
wearable solar power ideas we've seen....
Image via Inhabitat
Tibet's prayer wheels are used to generate positive energy, good vibes, and other happy things that help make the soul feel better. But maybe they can generate and harness another form of energy that makes the earth feel a bit better. Kinetic energy. Oh yeah. ...
Photo courtesy of: CarDesign.ru
The
Chiron Transportation concept transforms between both a big rig and a locomotive. Powered by an
algae-based fuel cell engine, the Autobot-wannabe also comes with a satellite tracking system for navigating railways efficiently.
The design addresses the gianormous ecological and economic costs of
commercial transport. Something even the
un-green have had to contend with due to the increased costs of petro-based fuels....
Electronics wiz Jaymi
gets all excited about e-readers like the Kindle. Others ask "how is an energy sucking plastic device that goes obsolete or breaks after a couple years green?" Rob at
Cockeyed and Wendell at
Evil Mad Scientist have come up with the perfect compromise- the Kindling. It uses no electricity, and being made of wood it sequesters carbon dioxide....
Image: Tesla Motors
Reservations are $5,000 (Refundable)
The Model S launch was on March 26th, so that's about 22 reservations a day (at $5,000 a pop). Not too bad for a $50k car that won't be made until 2011 (I wonder if the
David Letterman cameo of the Model S helped?). This compares well to the more expensive and less practical Roadster (though that one has the advantage of actually existing right now): "Tesla has delivered more than 400 Roadsters to customers so far. The base price of the Roadster is $101,500 after a $7,500 federal tax credit." Read on for more details....
Photo courtesy of:
Coroflot
The
Seedbomb, an unintentional eco-terrorist, is a non-military "bomb" designed for protecting the earth.
When the
Seedbomb is dropped, it disassembles mid-air. Within it are seed "
warheads" that are then dispersed over a large area. It's kinda like the
Michael Bay version of
guerrilla gardening....
"the fastest, most effective windshield defroster known to mankind"
Tom Hanks wrote a letter to the New Yorker setting the record straight about his electric car. He's replying to an
article by Peter J. Boyer (which he says is "otherwise spot on") that assumed that Hanks had a GM EV1 and "watched the emission-free car be wrested from my garage, towed away, and busted up into pieces of metal, glass, and rubber smaller than razor blades." Well, that's not the case. Hanks had, and still has, a Toyota RAV4 EV. More details below....
Photo via psyberartist
Researchers in Australia are hot on the trail of a new energy efficient technology for recycling tires into high quality rubber powder and they hope it will lead to a boost in tire recycling by as much as 50%. ...
Photo courtesy of: Coroflot
The
Solar Inside, a collectively designed concept bench, is so much more than just a park bench.
Imagined by designers Seon-Keun Park, Byung-Min Woo, and Owen Song, the Solar Inside's made with thin-film solar which works in a variety of weather conditions. The rechargeable battery not only turns the bench
into a night-light but also provides wifi access. ...
Photo: Ford
From the 6,000 lbs Navigator to the 2,500 lbs Focus
Ford has decided to transform its Michigan SUV plant into a "modern, flexible small car plant". It will begin production of the global Focus small car in 2010, and an electric version of the Focus in 2011 (to help Ford meet its commitment of 4 electric vehicles by 2012). From a green perspective, this is good on a few levels. Good that Ford is focusing (no pun intended) more on small cars, better that it's starting to get serious about electric cars, and a bonus that instead of building a new plant, it's using an existing one and reducing its big SUV production. More details about what this investment means below....
Photo via: azrainman
As the Photo depicts, it is not Exxon/Mobil who will be bulldozing Santa's workshop this year, but rather the Russian state nuclear corporation, Rosatom. It will be a 70-megawatt prototype floating nuclear power station, consisting of two reactors nestled on one giant steel platform. There has also been an agreement to build another four plants once the first is complete.
What the heck are they going to do with 360-megawatts out in the middle of no-man or woman's land?
Why, to power the immense Russian built drilling rigs commissioned to exploit the vast stores of oil and gas buried deep within the Arctic, of course!...
Photo credit: Coroflot
Inspired by Chinese
baoding balls, Shanghai designer Jiang Qian has created a kinetic charger concept that juices up your batteries all while fixing that pesky carpal tunnel.
The aptly named
Roll Charger harnesses energy from the ball's motion. It converts that kinetic energy into electricity. That electricity is then used to charge a single battery within the ball.
...
Last week,
Construmat, the leading construction fair held in Barcelona, Spain, every two years, attracted some 153,000 visitors. Amongst the most interesting works exhibited was the
Casa Barcelona,an innovative, social and sustainable housing proposal....
Photo credit: designboom
Pekka Salokannel's Gramo Speaker concept is an eco -- and aural -- treat.
They've been specifically designed for a digital music lifestyle. They can cozy up to your laptop, transform into a tabletop speaker, or be taken on a picnic along with your iPod. Oh yeah, and they're powered completely by three layers of photovoltaic panels!
And for any nocturnal booty-shaking you might have planned, the solar panels charge an internal battery pack . But it's their portability that's the real win. The speakers can completely unfold so they are flat enough to carry around in your pocket.
...
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the
if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 07. 7.09
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"I've got a plant-fueled horse... it's called a horse...." [read]
