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After about forty years of developing a perfect human-powered vehicle, engineer Charles Greenwood has finally come up with a hand-powered hybrid car that has a top speed of up to 60mph. It can seat up to four people: when there’re all four people on the travel, the car can run based on the human power; but when there’re fewer passengers, it can also use electric battery power for a better performance. So the car can be more eco-friendly when there’re more people driving it. Good news is that you’ll soon see this car on the road, as the HumanCar Imagine PS is expected to be on sale next year for £10,000 and the company has received 100 pre-orders. Till then, the Imagine PS will also has a touch-screen display with GPS and biometric data logging, computer, communications systems and other advanced equipment. So do you want one, too? [Read the rest of this entry...]

With the technology and design placing towards energy-saving and multiuse, Jia Dai makes the flashlight a new one in the league. The flashlight not only can split open to work as a ceiling lamp, and more importantly, its solar cells can still recharge when in the open lamp status. So whenever you use the MIA Electric Flashlight Lamp, you’re always saving both the energy and your money. Sounds like a good deal. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Here’s a new solar powered lamp created by Jesper Jonsson that features a collapsible design for easy transportation and storage. When you unfold and expand its shade via a twisting motion, the smart light then can use the solar powered collected during the daytime to light up your dark night. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Unless you’ve left home without your glasses, you’ll no doubt find the Poo-powered VW Beetle running through the streets of Bristol and get impressed with the eye-catching slogan on its smart body which says that “(The car is) Powered by your waste”! Powered by methane gas that is generated during the sewage treatment process, the new VW Beetle is announced as a “breakthrough in the drive to encourage sustainable power”, when many other automakers are also developing new sources of energy to take the place of regular motor petrol. But will the “Bio-Bug” perform as well as petrol-powered cars? Of course it can. It is reported that the new Beetle’s maximum speed is 114 m/h, and it would travel 10,000 miles every year if 70 homes in Bristol provide waste to power it. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Orbital Washing Machine, which takes the very name from the fact that it has a spherical drum spinning on two axes, is an eco-friendly home appliance that would save you great amounts of water and energy. When the machine works, its spherical drum will spin on the two axes to move the clothes in all directions so that they can get washed with little energy and water. Besides, the spherical drum can also be used as a laundry hamper for dirty clothes as it is removable. [Read the rest of this entry...]

If you’re using high temperature to dry clothes, you should realize that the heat may damage your delicate dress and shirts. But we can guarantee that problem wouldn’t arise again if you have the DryMate designed by Nico Kläber. It uses a new vacuum technology to dry clothes at much lower temperatures than 100°C, and the lower the air pressure the lower the temperature is needed to evaporate water. Therefore with DryMate, less energy will be consumed and less damage will be made to your clothes. Besides, the new clothes drier also features a rounded exterior and a wide mouth that is tilted up by 9 degree, making it a stylish device for convenient using. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Now I really envy you guys living in the Seattle area, not for the sweet-smelling coffee but the reusable tote bags provided by Amazon. According to Amazon.com, all the residents in Seattle can select to have their items sent in an Amazon Tote bag that asks for no subscriptions or fees from now on. The only bad part about the bags is that they’re only delivered once per week so you may have to wait for several days to see your orders on the doorstep. But what does that matter, as long as these bags can protect both your items and the environment? I love Amazon and I love the idea. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Baita Design has just released Moon Pan, a crescent-shaped pan that fits around any regular pans to utilize the heat wasted by cook tops. With the Moon Pan, you can not only prepare various dishes at the same time, but make a fuller use of the cook-top heat. So that’s really a perfect gadget to help you save both your time and your money. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Let’s start the article with a familiar situation: we go out to tour around, record the beautiful sceneries using a digital camera, click, click, click…then suddenly the camera runs out of power! That always makes us feel rather depressed. But fortunately that wouldn’t happen again, coz Weng Jie has come up with the Solar Camera Strap, a camera strap built with solar films on the surface to harvest the sunshine as energy for your device. The idea is really simple, but also practical. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Who can tell me why the light concept is named as “SolarLight” but actually designed to harvest wind energy for power with its acrylic blades? But whatever, the “SolarLight”  seems like a perfect alternative for the rural parts of the world, where large amounts of wind are available. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Welcome to World One, the world’s tallest residential tower in the future. It is a 450 meters tall building that will be built on a 17-acre site in Mumbai, India, by Mumbai-based Lodha Developers, New York-based Pei Cobb Free & Partners and Leslie E Robertson Associates. The 117-story skyscraper will include two more towers, 300 exclusive flats, lavish villas and a few duplex suites as well. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The “Internal Straw” has come to change the way you sip the drinks. Or more exactly, the innovative design will change the function of the drink packs. The new box features a folded layer that can turns into a pipe and back again, a genius maneuver that minimizes the product’s carbon footprint. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The ‘Clever Little Bag’, a collaborative work between yves behar / fuse project and Puma, was invented as a result of the idea to promote energy efficiency and conservation. The new packaging includes a cardboard sheet and a bag but has no tissue paper, therefore taking up less space and weighing much lighter than usual shoes boxes. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Thanks to GE for coming up with the Energy Smart® LED bulb, we can save much more electrical energy in the future. Compared with ordinary bulbs, the new one can distribute light in all directions, but costing less energy. It consumes 9-W of energy, amounting to a 77% savings compared to 40-W incandescent. It is also said that the LED bulb can last up to 17 years, if you use it 4 hours per day. The GE will launch it sometime early 2011 at a price of $40 to $50. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Presented here is the solar-powered bus waiting booth, designed by Yang Mingjie for Ningbo South Business District, China. It features a modular design, promising a convenient adjustment while reducing the maintenance and service cost. [Read the rest of this entry...]