No doubt, Arbor South Architecture PC's Sage House is the greenest single family building west of the Rockies. With it 106.5 points in cool LEED Platinum certified points, it's almost off the charts. How?
At only 1447 sqft. (plenty for me) the home was built with:
My boy Philips is about to make those shitty Earth hatin' incandescent bulbs run with their tails between their legs. Tho LED bulbs aren't anything new, their crappy lifespan, poor luminance, and costs prohibited mass acceptance. The MASTER LED BULB uses the same form factor as said replacees with 40 watts of illuminance using a scant 7 watts of energy. Perhaps the best bit is the 45,000 hour lifespan. Compare that to an incandescent's 1,500 hours.
You can find the Master Bulb in stores across the U.S. this July, my birth month! Mother Earth thanks you.
At the Geneva Motor Show in a few weeks, Mitsubishi will be showing a second electric car concept in addition to the iMiEV Sport Air they recently teased. This one is called the Prototype iMiEV concept and at first glance it looks much like the iMiEV that we've been seeing for the past year and a half. Those cars that we've been seeing and test driving are "Japanese Domestic Market" (JDM) models and are not legal in most places outside of Japan. The iMiEV is based on the "Kei-class" i mini-car and only comes in right hand drive for use on Japanese roads.
According to the Mitusbishi press release, this new prototype concept shows a version adapted to other markets. That means left hand drive, a slightly wider track and longer overhangs to meet European safety requirements. No decision has been made yet on offering the iMiEV outside of Japan, but Mitsubishi will be using this concept to gauge potential interest.
Even tho this year's Detroit Autoshow is devoid of many major players on account of the economy, there were still some gem announcements. One of which was Toyota's EV concept. The final production version hits showrooms in 2012. This is a full 2 years after GM's Volt but Toyota maintains lithium batteries for automotive use will need that much time to mature.
The EV challenges SMART as the smallest a-class mini commuter putting it in the likes of other EV-mobiles like Mitsu's iMiEV, and the Mini Cooper E. Pics after the jump.
Dean Kamen may not be a household name but his Segway invention certainly is. The inventor turned his 3 acre property home into a net zero energy island. He lives totally off the grid. The entire island uses nothing but solar power. Every single light is LED based with mood enhancing schemes thanks to Philips Color Kinetics. All the appliances are energy efficient and water passes thru his own purification system.
As awesome as I think this is, there are a couple other things about this man I love. His backyard has a replica of Stonehenge. He calls his island North Dumping and at one time attempted to establish it as an independent country with its own "green" constitution and national anthem. Hey, I'm sure the economy there couldn't be any worse and for that view, I'd totally move if invited.
More pics after the jump.
via Slashgear
The U.S. goes thru 2 million of these things every 5 minutes. Hit the jump to see what it is.
Nissan may have totally missed the hybrid revolution but they're making sure they've got the fully electric thing down pact. Carlos Tavares, Nissan's VP for product planning and development recently shed light on how he thinks we will purchase cars in the future. When you walk into a dealership, you buy the vehicle but lease the battery.
At first I thought, "great, it's another way to milk more money from consumers" but in hindsight it makes sense. Battery technology is one of the most costly parts of an electric vehicle. Battery technology is still technically unproven and bound to improve faster than the lifespan of most vehicles. Wouldn't it be easier to just swap it out as tech improves instead of buying a whole new car?
Hit the jump to see more of Nissan's Nuvo
If it weren't for the massive oil reserves in the middle east, many of those countries would have never modernized the way they have today. As the world slowly turns its attention to alternative fuels, with them are the resources to drive that new economy. One part of the equation are lithium batteries. Electric vehicles of all sorts could be powered from a multitude of fuels but they all charge lithium ions and as it stands now, Bolivia - one of the poorest countries in South America - holds over half the world's lithium reserves.
The country's massive alkaline flats could see a flurry of foreign investors rapidly changing Bolivia's economy and world power just as the middle east oil boon did for Arabian peninsula. Will our children see future conflicts set in South America or will they be smart enough to learn from the mistakes we've made?
via Treehugger
Iceland made a promise in 1998 to become totally fossil fuel free by 2050. Of course being an island that's literally a geothermal hot bed helps, but they're running into a problem. All their vehicles still use gas. That's where Mitsubishi comes in.
The press seems fixated on Chevy's Volt which technically is just a super efficient hybrid. The Mitsubishi iMiEV is all electric and on track for production by 2010, the same time the Volt and the new Prius hits. Its only limitation is range since even the most advance lithium ion batteries only provide enough power for 100 miles. But that's more than enough for Iceland since 75% of the population lives within 37 miles of the capital, Reykjavik.
Do want!
Honda finally wised up and figured out people who buy hybrids buy them partly because of unique styling - a signature if you will. Their latest Prius fighter is the new 2009 Insight. The shape is a bit familiar (cough - Prius) but chalk that up to a universally efficient design. The roomy 5 seater supposedly has more power and more room than a Prius all while breaking the 70 mpg fuel economy barrier. What about cost? How does $18k sound?
I'm definitely interested. As a Prius owner my only loyalty is to great transitional technology away from petrol fuels. The Prius is king right now but Honda may change that with the new Insight and do a greater extend, their fuel cell Clarity. But Toyota is no slouch. The 2010 Prius set to debut in 2009 is just around the corner along with their all electric contender to battle Chevy's Volt.
Man it's gonna be awesome!