Eco Factor: Electric bicycle for a zero-emission ride.
The brainchild of industrial designer Christian Vollmer is a chainless bike that has been designed using a pedelec system that works in tandem with a new belt system. The bike is intended for all those who don’t want to walk into work exhausted.
Eco Factor: Zero-emission vehicles powered by electricity.
Envision Motor Company has announced plans to start selling three new electric vehicles as soon as this June. The trio includes an all-electric seven-passenger wagon, a utility van and a small pickup truck. All these three vehicles will be available for under $30,000 after a $7500 tax credit.
Eco Factor: Sustainable house powered by solar energy.
Bridge Development Corp. has unveiled the designs of the world’s smallest sustainable house that can comfortably accommodate a family of four. Dubbed Nano Living Systems, the prefabricated house is equipped with SIPs and ready for solar panels, a green roof and rainwater harvesting systems.
Eco Factor: Zero-emission vehicle powered by electric engine.
Renault has unveiled the final designs of its upcoming all-electric vehicle, the Fluence Z.E., which makes use of technology from the company’s Japanese partner Nissan. The company is claiming that the all-electric vehicle will have the same cost of ownership as a conventional diesel-powered vehicle.
As a part of the aviation industry’s desperate attempts to cut costs and reduce missions, there have been designers envisioning a clean future where transportation will rely heavily on alternative sources of fuel. When cost-efficient transport is the need, airships mostly win over aircrafts and other conventional means. Designers over the world are today envisioning bright prospects that might just change urban transportation and even surveillance forever. Here is a list of 20 such striking airship designs that could well make our planet a much better place to live in:
Eco Factor: Device harvests clean water from thin air.
Dutch entrepreneur Pieter Hoff has created a one-of-its-kind device that harvests water from thin air, which is then used to grow plants. The device, dubbed Groasis Waterboxx, can produce freshwater even in the driest places on earth. Inspired from bird poop, the device is modeled after the way excrement protects seeds that birds have digested, providing humidity and shelter from the elements so that they can grow.
Eco Factor: Concept car powered by electric engines.
The Eco Taxi by Studio Slava Saakyan is a project to create a zero-emission all-electric taxi that can reduce pollution in the atmosphere, making cities more healthy and pleasant. With an aim to improve urban environment, the ECO TAXI-minivan can be used as a shuttle bus, school van, delivery van, distribution van and a taxi as well.
Eco Factor: Concept car powered by solar energy.
The Indoor Solar Car by designer Ehab Omaro is a zero-emission vehicle designed to offer a convenient way to travel short distances in particular areas and lanes of a city. The car features an energy-efficient engine that runs though electric energy accumulated from direct charging point and by solar cells.
Eco Factor: New solar cell designed to capture visible, infrared and ultraviolet light.
Researchers at the Kyoto Institute of Technology have introduced a new photovoltaic cell that is capable of generating electricity from visible, infrared and ultraviolet light. The team now hopes that this new cell will lead to the development of highly-efficient photovoltaic cells that can be single-junction rather than the more conventional multi-junction.
Eco Factor: Sustainable tower harvests solar and wind energy.
The Spiral Tower is a proposal for a sustainable residential tower for Berlin. The eco tower features apartments stacked in opposite directions in a criss-cross pattern that leaves ample open spaces for garden terraces. The design allows each apartment to have its own private garden terrace as well.
Automakers over the world have escalated their efforts to develop next-gen clean cars that run on electricity. While there must be many who must have already bought or are planning to purchase an EV to reduce pollution, there are several inventors who trust their skills and modify conventional vehicles to run on electric engines, giving them a personal touch as well. Check out some of these mods below, which might not be the fastest off the block, but they are sure enough to turn some heads:
Eco Factor: Robot created from recycled materials.
Sam Todo, a young student from Togo, Africa has created a fully-working robot made entirely from old TV parts and other used electronics. Dubbed SAM10, the fully-automatic robot will be able to greet people and also avoid objects in front of it.
Eco Factor: Concept charger harvests human energy for a sustainable recharge.
Solving a Rubik’s cube isn’t that easy and we all might have tried out our skills getting in the combinations right. There have been inventors who have created specialized robots to do the job in seconds, but here is one cube that you will want to solve yourself patiently as it that generates clean electricity to recharge cellphone batteries.
Eco Factor: Zero-emission scooter powered by electric batteries.
Honda has revealed the latest prototype of the EV-Neo all-electric scooter and has announced plans to being lease sales in Japan in December 2010. Designed for businesses and individual business owners providing delivery services, the EV-Neo is claimed to have excellent environmental performance with zero CO2 emissions in use.
Eco Factor: Concept tractor designed to be powered by in-wheel electric motors.
The Mercedes-Benz Unimog 6EV Tractor by industrial designer Victor Uribe has been designed to reduce some noise at airports. The Unimog 6EV can be used to do a variety of tasks from towing an aircraft to a simple transporter. Designed like the cockpit of jet fighters, the cabin provides enough space for two occupants.
Eco Factor: Concept airship powered by solar energy.
The High Speed Solar Airship is a conceptual airship that has been designed to haul cargo without polluting the atmosphere with toxic emissions. The airship is to be created using off-the-shelf components and will offer high-speed, cost-competitive cargo hauling.
According to recent reports about 1 billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water and there are millions of people who succumb to water-related diseases annually. These figures aren’t only surprising, but also make the privileged think about that the hundreds of liters of water that is wasted each day in their bathrooms. By simply checking water fixtures in our bathrooms for any leaks and using products that save water, we can do our bit in preserving the environment. Here is a list of 15 innovative concepts that might be useful in saving liters of freshwater from going down the drain:
Eco Factor: Cellphones that detect toxic chemicals in ambient air.
Today smartphones follow a Swiss-Army-Knife trend that integrates several smart features, like cameras, MP3 players, GPS, Wi-Fi and even a bar code scanner into a compact device that you can easily carry around. In future smartphones might just house something much more important than a 5MP camera. They’ll be able to sniff out toxic chemicals in the air and alert the user and other authorities.
Eco Factor: Concept car designed to be powered by a hydrogen hybrid engine.
BMW’s much anticipated hydrogen hybrid vehicle has been spied, which is believed to be undergoing testing. The system combines a conventional front-drive powertrain along with a hydrogen fuel cell, supercapacitors and an electrically driven rear axle. The technology will allow the vehicle to travel emissions-free in city centers.
Eco Factor: Low-emission RV powered by bio-diesel.
Designed by Jay Shaprio, the EcoRoamer is one big machine that will be used to go around the world without polluting the ecosystem much. The gigantic RV will be a mobile home for Shaprio, his wife, their two kids and two cats as the family treks from Alaska to the southernmost tip of South America before hopping a boat to Africa. Once there, they’ll cross the Strait of Gibraltar into Europe before crossing Russia and Asia.