I really enjoy finding great green cars and this one is really one of the most impressive so far. Not because it looks cool or because it’s a car with zero-emission carbon dioxide, it’s because this is a wind-powered car that will try to break the land speed record which currently stands at 116.7 mph.

The car is called the Greenbird and it will attempt to break the record on Lake Lefroy, a dry lake bed in Australia. For the moment the Ecotricity Greenbird team are waiting for the perfect wind conditions to make the car to beat the current speed record. Well, I wish them all the best and hopefully they will break the land speed record for a wind-powered car.

Greenbird

Here is a motorcycle concept called Mantis and that could draw everybody’s attention while you are riding it. The bike has a simple, but attractive design and it’s based on the chopper style. There is only one thing that I don’t understand - the hubless wheels. How on Earth will the bike will move?

The motorcycle appears to be very aerodynamic therefore it could be very fast, however, I don’t know how safe will be as I am still anxious to see those hubless wheels in action. The Mantis motorcycle concept was designed by Mike Hansen and I hope that someday I will ride this good-looking bike.

The miniature electronic devices that will be powered by these batteries will also be used at tiny lab-on-a-chip applications. These microbatteries that MIT researchers developed could be very useful in the future as the devices are getting smaller and smaller as time passes by.

Another important aspect of the tiny batteries is that they are environmentally-friendly and easy to use as Paula Hammond, MIT Professor and a member of the team, said “we’re talking about a simple, inexpensive and environmentally better way of generating a microbattery.”

In order to complete the battery, there is only one thing needed, the cathode, however, it seems like this will not take too long to be completed and we should hear from MIT scientists really soon.

Well, with this problem of pollution and our dependence on fossil fuels soon we will have to give up on our cars. The alternative is to buy an electrical car, however, these eco-friendly cars are pretty expensive therefore we should turn our attention on other means of transport like bicycles as there is nothing that pollutes less than a bike.

A bicycle is also great because you do a lot of exercise and you will stay and shape. I have to say that this bicycle concept looks really great and it should be “after hundreds of hours of thought and months of hard work.” We should really appreciate so much of work of the designer, Blair Hasty, who even “went on to conduct some local surveying of non-bikers.”

His main concerns were “lack of storage capacity, poor positioning, and size and bulk of the conveyance,” but in the end he managed to solve these problems. By the way, Hasty’s project is called the “Collapsible Bike” and I have to say this new riding position seems to be great and I can’t wait to ride this.

This concept bicycle is even cooler as you think (although you probably noticed from the title) as the bike is collapsible which means that you can pack it when you reached your destination. As the bike is foldable it means that it should be made of lightweight materials and another reason to be like this is that not all the people can carry it around. Well, let’s hope that this bike will enter on the market and many people will use it.

In the future, fossil fuels will be history. We don’t know yet when this will happen, but we hope it’s pretty soon as the planet is affected by global warming and pollution. So, if there will be no oil and coal, we need renewable energies like solar or wind power. Today, we will talk about Cool Earth, a company which has developed a technology which can be deployed at affordable prices.

Their technology is based on balloon-shaped concentrators which will be used to build power plants very fast and at low costs. These inflated solar concentrators measure 8-feet in diameter and they consist of a plastic film material. The balloons feature a transparent upper hemisphere and a reflective lower hemisphere, and the light will concentrate on photovoltaic cells that will generate 300 to 400 more electricity than cells that don’t feature an inflated concentrator.

Although it’s made of regular plastic, the concentrator is very resistant and aerodynamically stable thanks to the so-called “architectural principles of tensegrity”. According to Cool Earth, the solar balloons will not be damaged by dirt, birds, insects or any other factors, and they also stated that the photovoltaic cells will remain as efficient as ever.

In conclusion, we really hope that Cool Earth is right when they say that the costs will be reduced to $1 per watt and that one inflated solar balloon will produce 500 watts. We are waiting for them do deploy one and then as many concentrators that we need to forget about fossil fuels.

I don’t know if you already knew that rubber materials cannot conduct electricity well and that metals do not stretch. However, a team of Japanese scientists from the University of Tokyo found a way to combine them and they developed a rubber material that conducts electricity.

They called it “e-skin” and they will apply it on robots which will be able to feel the and pressure just like humans. This material has integrated carbon nanotubes and after that an ionic liquid is added therefore the e-skin will be just as flexible as regular rubber, but will conduct electricity 570 times better.

“As robots enter our everyday life, they need to have sensors everywhere on their bodies like humans. Imagine they bump into babies. Robots need to feel temperatures, heat and pressure like we do to co-exist. Otherwise it would be dangerous,” said Tsuyoshi Sekitani, research associate.

According to its developers, the e-skin can be stretched by 2.3 times its size, but its conductivity will drop with 50 percent. It seems like the rubber can be stretched by 38 percent and its conductivity will not decrease therefore it could help at creating integrated circuits in order to mount them on curved surfaces.

The research team was led by Takao Someya from School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo and even if he is aware that a lot of work needs to be done, he is very confident that the e-skin will improve the interactions between humans and robots.

If you want to draw everybody’s attention and if you want to them to envy you, then you will surely love to own the NASA concept car. Attention, do not mix up this car with those guys who send people into space. This car has the ability to spin 360 degrees in the same spot and you can drive it sideways (how cool is that? just imagine the look on people’s faces when they will see you.)

NASA was envisioned by design students Marek Kedzierski and Michal Vleek, and if the car was coll enough to be a finalist at the Skoda Auto competition then it’s cool enough to get on the streets (I wouldn’t mind to be the first owner of this car.)

And there is more - NASA has no doors! Perhaps you are wondering how will you get in the car.. well, it’s easy as the upper section of the car will lift up and once you are steady in the cockpit, the upper body will close very slowly over you and will fit around your neck and head restraints.

As I can’t spot any gauges, it means that the technical details such as speed or fuel consumption will be displayed on the glass in front of you or maybe you have to wear some special glasses. However, it will definitely be cool and I can’t wait to see this become a reality.

Well, it seems like a modern interior is not enough for the our homes. Now, we want them to be futuristic and to have something special that nobody else has. This incredible lighting device is called Kurage3 and it’s mae of optical fiber cables which measure about 1.5mm in size.

Kurage is at its third generation and it’s better than the previous versions as the cables are thicker therefore the illumination is better and they look nicer. The Kurage3 was designed by Schemata Studio and they also said that “the brightness can be adjusted by the size of the curve” which means that you can make it a little less bright so that you can have some fun with your girlfriend of wife.

Schemata Studio via Yatzer

Nowadays, car accidents happen really often and many people die. The main cause of the accidents is speeding therefore all car manufacturers are trying to make the vehicles safer. The police just can’t do nothing as people want to drive faster and faster. Here is a concept car by Iman Maghsoudi which will drive for itself at high-speeds in order to prevent accidents.

The concept is called Monza and it was built under Ferrari’s supervision. When you accelerate to reach high speed, the computer takes over and you will be able to surf the internet or whatever you would like to do, and when you drive at a safe speed, you will be in full-control of the Monza.

In order to reach high speeds, Maghsoudi designed the car to be very aerodynamic as it will be like an airfoil and even if the Ferrari Monza will change its shape while you are driving, you will be very safe as a lift is created that reduces friction but in the same time keeps you on the ground. Unfortunately, the Ferrari Monza is only a concept, but I’m very confident that I will drive one in about 20 years.

I don’t know about you but I a nice atmosphere in my house and I do not want to be too cold or too hot. The winter is coming and I would like something to fit the modern style of my home. So I found this flueless gas fire which is very easy to install as you don’t need a chimney because you have to mount it on the wall. It’s called Superior Scandium, it measures 1055 ×530 x 183 mm and it will be “the perfect centerpiece to any room.”

This masterpiece gas fire is made of brushed metal with black glass and Aluminum touches will make your afternoon a pleasure once it’s switched on. The heat is controlled manually and the Superior Scandium outputs 3.5Kw of heat. This flueless gas fire is available now at a price of around $1,986 and I would be very happy to get one and to enjoy the coziness when the Christmas comes.

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