Tired of that conventional digital camera that you’ve been using all along? Well, you can now satisfy your shutterbug-needs in a greener and more energy efficient way! Termed as the world’s first camera with a retro-shooting ability, the Sun and Cloud Self-Generating Digital Camera sports a solar panel and a hand crank, both of which can be used to power up this cheerful little device.
We’ve been following the journey of the awe-inspiring Solar Impulse HB-SIA plane since quite a while now. Termed as the world’s cleanest and greenest aircraft, this one is powered up by solar energy and does no harm to the environment as it flies through the skies above. The Solar Impulse uses batteries to store the electricity collected by the solar panels on its wings. The energy stored is then used to power up the plane’s engines.
Planning to get around in a green way and lug around a load of stuff with you? Well, give the gas-gulping cars a skip and hope aboard the TruckIt! Now this vehicle is bound to draw a lot of stares, particularly if you wind up on a busy urban street in it. Resembling a rickshaw, the TruckIt is in essence a recumbent-bicycle with an electric motor and is amazingly inexpensive!
Smart has just pulled the veil off its new eco-friendly and environmentally sound ForTwo electric. Sticking to the compact-car design Smart usually incorporates in its ForTwo range; this electric version of the much-acclaimed car comes with a 55kW electric motor and is capable of touching 60km/h in 4.8 seconds, seemingly slow though appreciable for city driving. With a maximum speed of 125 km/h, the car comes with a 17.6 kWh battery and sports a range of 145 kilometers in city traffic. With emissions kept at bay, the Smart ForTwo Electric will hit more than 30 countries around the globe and is expected to catch on with like-minded environment-loving folk who look for greener ways to drive.
The bestselling Volkswagen Golf will soon show up in an all-electric avatar, with VW confirming the same. The compact electric hatchback will show up in the United States towards the end of next year and will be tagged as a 2014 model. This will be the first plug-in vehicle sold in the US by Volkswagen and will be based on the 2013 VW Golf that will show up at this year’s Paris Motor Show. Also, the car might show up rechristened with the name Volkswagen Golf Blue E-motion.
Living on a boat now gets better with the Bauhaus, a one-of-a-kind exceptionally green vessel with its insides scooped out to make way for a full-fledged home! Dutch by birth, this barge now rests at London and is completely solar-powered, using a 1.7kw PV system and an electric motor. The energy generated off the sun alone is capable of powering up this entire floating home, if you know your living-green basics that is. Also, when unused for sailing purposes, the energy generated can be used to power up electric gadgets or to cook. Also, the Bauhaus steers clear away from gas onboard, simply meaning that you need to rely on the bountiful sun to cook up a decent meal. Living in one of these in a particularly rainy country however wouldn’t do you, or the Bauhaus for that matter, too much good!
Windows have always been those sheets of glass that act as transparent walls, letting in light, keeping out the heat, and recently, producing energy! New Energy Technologies, Inc. has its SolarWindow technology ready, after researches have worked their necks off with its development. This will be the world’s first-ever glass window capable of generating electricity, making that good old sheet of glass more usable. Solar panels as we know them today are opaque, and usually bulky. A see-thru solar panel allows its installation as a window, satisfying the natural lighting needs as well as generating power.
You’ve probably come across a tuk-tuk or a rickshaw on a visit to East Asian countries. A while ago, we stumbled upon solar powered rickshaws in India and a wind-powered one in Nepal. Well, Bangkok’s three wheeled contraptions get their share of renewable energy use. Tuk-tuks get their name from the noise made by the earlier models, and that’s exactly what the people of Bangkok love calling their 8,000 rickshaws. Colored brightly, these eye-catching modes of transport drink a lot though, gulping down those precious gallons of gasoline and natural gas. Now these rickshaws do look somewhat rustic, but give them a bit of solar powered glory, and they’ll go all 21st century like. Air Marshal Morakot Charnsomruad came up with his own solar powered version of the tuk-tuk which has grabbed a lot of attention.
The Big Apple is getting a facelift, environmentally speaking, and is going from dangerous red, to clean green. To start with, the cities two tallest sky scrapers will go green, with retro-fitting. The second tallest building, the Bank of America, last week won the platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, the first commercial building of its kind to ever do so. Completed in 2008 at a cost of $2 million, the building, 54-story high, uses a 4.6-megawatt power generation plant and is self sustained. It was also made out of 87% recycled materials with concrete from 45% recycled content. This tower at One Bryant Park co-owned by Durst Organization, saves 8 million to 9 million gallons of water every year with rainwater capturing, water recycling, and waterless urinals. Also New York’s tallest building, the Empire State Building is aiming for the green stamp, with retro-fitting since last year, to reduce energy usage by 38%. The Big Apple is destined for a green horizon.
Source