Imagine wearing a jacket that would tell you if the area you were entering was too polluted. This fantasy is made true by Industrial design students, Genevieve Mateyko and Pamela Troyer at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Canada, who have designed the “Detectair” jacket. Although this concept has been realised previously by inventions such as the ‘Breathless Corset’, which could detect if the amount of CO2 present around you was too high, the DetectAir is a step ahead of its competition. Detectair gauges the presence of other toxins such as alcohol, benzene, ammonia, nitrogen oxide along with carbon dioxide in the surroundings. It indicates the levels of these toxins by using an arrangement of LEDs that looks similar to human lungs and branches of blood vessels along with using small vibrators placed inside the jacket.

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The amount of data generated from various electronic devices is growing exponentially and storing this data is not the only problem faced by the digital world. Checking its validity is also equally important. Although accumulating data is a very difficult job, checking its validity requires more time and resources. However, in a recent record breaking experiment conducted by IBM researchers on the fourth most powerful supercomputer, 9 terabytes of data was analyzed in less than 20 minutes. This activity, which normally would have taken a day to be completed in the same system, was carried out by implementing a new method for checking the integrity of data designed by IBM researchers. That’s not all. This method used only 1% of the total amount of energy that would normally be required. Analysis of data is required in all fields ranging from traffic and water management to financial planning, and this method will be able to provide models with greater efficiency and accuracy.

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All of us aware of the benefits of using wind energy to generate electricity. However, due the specific location and large space required, windmills aren’t widely used to generate electricity. The recently designed Secret Energy Turbine (SET) might soon change this situation. The SET windmills have all the advantages of regular windmills minus the hassles. It looks like a vertical chimney stack which consists of vertically mounted blades under the influence of two opposing magnets. When the wind hits the blades of the turbine it starts to rotate giving rise to an aerofoil, thus generating electricity. The SET stands true on its name by generating energy in a very efficient and silent manner. This device can be easily installed in houses and can generate 50 to 250 watts of power.

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We all love music, and those hi-fi systems we use to blast out all the music our ears can take suck up a whole load of electricity. Here’s a great way to tap your feet and save the environment of its depleting resources at the same time. These speakers by Landport use solar power to play your favorite tunes. Its lithium-ion batteries are charged up using solar power harvested from solar panels on their bodies. It also features a USB port incase the sun doesn’t shine. Jack up you iPod and other devices thru its stereo mini input. These speakers measure 19.5 × 11.2 × 5cm and weigh 290g. They also offer a 2W x 2ch audio output. On a full battery charge, you can get up to 5-8 hours of music playback.

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Big boats have their uses all over the oceans and seas, and do considerable harm to the environment too. Well, here’s a friendly giant who loves the environment just as much as you do. And what makes this huge vessel so clean? It’s solar powered! The PlanetSolar measures 31 meter by 15 meter and when its flaps at the stern and side are included, it measures 35 meters by 23 meters. Now that certainly makes it the world’s biggest solar powered boat. It uses 500 square meters of solar panels to power up the monster in its belly that enables the boat to travel at a top speed of 15 knots. The boat can also easily play host to 50 people. Chiseled at the Knierim Yacht Club in Kiel in northern Germany, the PlanetSolar will be launched in late March before starring at Hamburg port's 821st anniversary celebrations in May. Its world tour will begin in April 2011. Weighing around 60-tonnes, this giant will take around 140 days to travel 40,000 km around the globe.

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Do you love rock and roll? Itching to break that electric guitar of yours to impress your fans on-stage? Well, here’s a cheaper and more environment friendly way of breaking your guitar. No, you don’t need to smash your $400 Gibson anymore. Simply use the SMASH, the guitar created strictly for smashing purposes by a Japanese firm called K’s Japan. This electric guitar is like any other, except the fact that it is entirely recyclable once smashed and finished with. There’s more, the guitar also creates a smashingly devastating and destructing sound once smashed. After your done being all cool and angry with your smashed up guitar, simply send the parts back to the company and they’ll assemble it into a new guitar that will be given away to charity.

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Honda is here with yet another hybrid vehicle. Eager to set the road ablaze, the CR-Z Hybrid by Honda Motor Co. Ltd will enter the markets in Japan on Friday, February 26, 2010. The car uses a 1.5-liter i-VTEC engine and Honda’s very own Integrated Motor Assist™ (IMA®) system. The car looks as sweet as the fuel economy it delivers, which is a whopping 25 km/l. this car will do the environment a huge favor with its eco-friendly lifestyle. It is designed to offer a smooth and enjoyably clean ride. The name CR-Z literally means Compact Renaissance Zero. This speaks of Honda’s policies of starting a car from scratch and building it up without sticking to traditional company norms, hence creating a unique car each time. The CR-Z will also use the world’s first 6-speed manual transmission on a hybrid vehicle.

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Energy is wasted everyday in owing to various reasons. We usually tend to waste a whole load of electrical energy by leaving the on switches for our unused gadgets. Connecting gadgets into a multiple socket device and then leaving some of them powered on is one of the everyday errors we habitually perform. Well, here’s a cool ambient device that will remind you to switch of those unused gadgets and save energy. So how does this work? The Saving Energy Multitap uses the wasted juice to power up a set on ambient lights that will remind you to switch off your gadget. These ambient lights are touch sensitive and can be fitted onto your wall. Designed by Dong Hoon Han, Hwa Yong Shin & Dong Jin Shin, the Multitap can be used for switching with its touch sensitive features.

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A 22-year study, which consisted of more than 6100 sweeps of the North Atlantic by using fine mesh nets, has revealed the existence of a giant patch of plastic rubbish just north of the Caribbean. This dump consists of materials such as bottle tops, toothbrushes and other such items of daily use. According to scientists, the size of this dump is comparable to the ‘great Pacific garbage patch’ that lies between Hawaii and California. These plastic patches are formed due to gyres. Gyres are areas with few ocean currents surrounded by areas with strong ocean currents. This creates a spinning vortex from which the plastic cannot get out once it floats in.

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The Honda 3R-C concept, designed by Honda to be displayed in the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, is an example of Honda’s efforts to provide a vehicle for zero emission travel. The 3R-C, which has competitors like the Toyota i-foot, i-unit, and i real as well as the Suzuki Pixy, is powered by an electric drivetrain which is mounted low to lower the centre of gravity to improve ride quality. Though the 3R-C is designed mainly to enable zero-emission travel, the normal creature comforts required are not neglected in any way. It consists of a glass covering which serves as a top while the vehicle is parked and as a windshield while it is moving. It also has a lockable cargo space which can be used to store anything from groceries to luggage.

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The OEX designed by Hamid Reza Bekhradi has revolutionized the future of “overland trucks” currently which are used for touristic expeditions. This concept vehicle, designed by Fiat Professional design center and IVECO styling office, mainly focuses on offering improved visibility to the passengers by including features such as a big porthole, panoramic seats facing the sides and an extendible lateral balcony with built-in binoculars. Its main feature, however, is the availability of a “series-hybrid system” assisted by a diesel generator which puts this vehicle in the category of Range Extended Electric vehicles. It consists of a canopy made up of flexible solar cells which opens up when the vehicle has stopped for camping. This canopy of solar cells creates a shadow around the vehicle while the electric drivetrain of the OEX is charged by the sun’s energy.

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Paul Frigout has designed an “eco-shower” which will surely make conventional showers obsolete. This shower heats water and provides flow using your feet movements. The floor of the shower is made up of blocks which depress when your feet land on them and a metallic cylinder appears which makes your feet go up and down in a very rapid motion. This creates pressure required for water to flow. This water then flows through the turbine in the shower-head generating electricity which is then used to heat the water.

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Using wave energy to generate power seems to be the “in” thing nowadays. This newest technology in the generation of power from wave energy will indeed grab the heart the ocean soon. Designed by Zhang Yakun, He Siqian, Zhu Ningning, Chen Chen & Mu Zhiwei, the Wavelight concept design basically converts the mechanical energy produced by waves into electric power that will be used to juice up LED lights that will be used for mid-ocean rescue operations. Each of these lights are connected to each other and anchored on to the base of the ocean. They will together form a lighted chain that will guide passing ships to stay clear of rescue work. The only setbacks maybe the length of the anchor and the fact that the LED’s need to be powerful enough to lighten up even in the darkest waters.

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Maybe the alchemists failed in their efforts to make gold, but researches today have learnt the ways to produce energy using gold. Shining light on gold nanoparticles, researches at the Nano/Bio Interface Center at the University of Pennsylvania discovered that solar energy could be created. This will change the value of gold in future, making each little nanoparticle of this precious metal, a powerhouse in itself. The guys who brainstormed this research first packed a bunch of light-sensitive gold nanoparticles together on a glass substrate and had them exposed to optical radiation. Electrons freed from the gold particles move along the surface to create surface plasmons which induces electric currents.

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Now here’s a street lamp we’d love to sit under or walk across. Eco-friendly technology is gaining impetus day by day giving rise to awesome innovations like these that will help change the way we live in future. The Sustainable City Lights concept will use solar power and wind energy to power them up instead of sucking in energy from the grid to lighten up our side walks and streets. The lights will glow only in the presence of people and will save up on energy by emitting a soft light when no ones around. They will use LED lighting technology instead of bulbs. That’s not all. These lights also mimic the action of flower buds and open and close their petal like fittings while harvesting solar and wind energy depending on the environment. Surplus energy will be sent back to the grid.

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