Green tech finds (12/16/10)
Plastic bottles you can eat, a tiny solar home, and hybrid street sweepers… this week’s green tech finds.
- Audi’s green history: You likely associate the phrase “green cars” with Toyota and Honda; Denis Duquet at The Car Guide thinks Audi should be on that list, also…
- More bang from your bike: Fandi Meng’s I-Green battery concept harvests kinetic energy from your bike for charging portable devices. (via ubergizmo and Yanko Design)
- The edible plastic bottle: Designer Francois Azambourg and Harvard bioengineering professor Donald Ingber are experimenting with bioplastics made from algae-based materials that are not only biodegradable, but also edible. (via Crisp Green)
- The recycled recycling center: Inhabitat takes notes of a new recycling center that practices what it preaches — the Conservation Corps of Long Beach (CCLB) Environmental Education Center “combines a 100% recycled/reusable steel alloy structure and skin with the efficiency of computer-designed and factory-manufactured components, which reduced material use and waste significantly compared to conventional buildings.”
- Solar for renters: The Vote Solar Initiative explains “community solar” concepts that allow people who don’t own their building or living space to harvest power from the sun. (via @zshahan3)
- The $1,000 solar home: OK, it’s not very big, but architech Dai Haifei mobile egg-shaped home allows him to live rent-free in Beijing. (via Calfinder’s Residential Solar Blog)
- Hawaii commits to hydrogen: The state of Hawaii and General Motors have signed an agreement to build out hydrogen refueling infrastructure on Oahu.
- Hybrid street sweeper hits the Big Apple: New York City is the first locale to purchase Allianz 4000 hybrid street sweepers for its roads. (via Ecogeek and Autopia)
Find something else of interest this week? Leave us a comment…
MORE FROM SUSTAINABLOG:
- Kristianstad, Sweden making the shift from fossil fuels to waste-based biogas.
- Get ready for power outages with a solar-powered rechargeable flashlight.
Image credit: Allianz
