Eco Factor: Electric train powered by batteries.
While auto manufacturers are looking forward to the best battery technology that can make their upcoming cars fast, silent and zero-emission, Norfolk Southern is taking a technology to locomotives with a prototype battery-powered train, the NS 999.
Eco Factor: Sound installation powered entirely by solar energy.
We’ve seen the use of solar energy in various concept speaker systems and hi-tech headphones. Designer Craig Colorusso is trying to prove the worth of solar energy in the real world by developing a sound installation powered entirely by the energy of the sun.
Eco Factor: Artificial plants capable of generating solar and wind energy.
Taking inspiration from natural forms, industrial designer Jaewon Sim has proposed a self-sufficient forest of artificial and natural plants that can generate renewable energy for electric cars and facilitate the grid with clean energy when the plants aren’t being used. Dubbed Energy Forest, the system requires the installation of natural and artificial Power Plants that generate electricity and harvest rainwater.
Eco Factor: Sea Snake to generate renewable electricity from sea waves.
Of all the potential sources of renewable energy sea waves seem the most promising. However, the high cost of the systems required to harness sea waves and convert them into electricity gives other renewable sources of energy an advantage. After succumbing to crisis in the first attempt, the next-gen Sea Snake developed to harness wave energy in a cost-efficient fashion in ready for northern Scotland.
Eco Factor: Piezoelectric devices embedded on highways to generate electricity from moving cars.
Ten months after a concept was developed at Innowattech, which could solve the global energy crisis, the first practical test of energy generating roadways is being conducted in Israel. The tests were conducted by installing piezoelectric generators underneath a ten-meter strip of asphalt, which could generate about 2000Wh of electricity.
Eco Factor: Sustainable development in Boston will harvest rainwater.
Scheduled to be completed by 2011, the Russia Wharf Tower is taking sustainable construction to a new high. The developers are estimating that the green building will harvest approximately every drop of water that lands on its massive roof, which won’t be released into storm drains, but will be used for air conditioning and landscaping.
Eco Factor: Playhouse made from sustainable materials.
In an era where prefabricated dwellings are gaining importance, Modern Cabana is using the technique to help green your kids. The company has added the KIDDO Cabana to their collection of prefabricated living spaces, which is a sustainably constructed prefab playhouse that can help teach the first green lesson to your kid.
Eco Factor: Prototype car designed to run on electricity.
Manufacturers of industrial lifting equipment, Toronto Electric, have unveiled Option 1, a sporty two-seater prototype car at the PHEV’09. The compact electric city-car’s drivetrain can be adapted to employ in-wheel motors and probably a range-extender as well.
Eco Factor: High-capacity cost-effective lithium-ion battery for electric cars and renewable energy storage.
Panasonic has announced the development of a high-capacity lithium-ion battery module that is being claimed to be much safer and more cost-effective than other modules being used in electric cars and for storing solar energy. The 1.5KWh battery module is constructed from 140 individual lithium-ion battery cells that are connected together.
Eco Factor: Concept battery equipped with a hand-cranked dynamo.
While most electronic devices available on the market today come with built-in batteries, there are still some devices that need external AA or AAA batteries. Since these batteries don’t come with a system to let the user know about the amount of charge present in them, they can simply stop functioning at anytime.
