The Urbee Hybrid: the First 3-D Printed Car

Think hybrid cars are futuristic? How about a hybrid car that has literally been printed out? Stratasys and Kor Ecologic recently teamed to develop Urbee, the first car ever to have its entire body 3-D printed with additive manufacturing processes (by printing layers of material on top of each other until a finished product appears).

3-D printing has been used for manufacturing before. Boeing, for example, prints some airplane parts using the process. And a company called Bespoke Innovations is using 3-D printing to manufacture prosthetic limb casings. But Urbee is entirely 3-D printed--all exterior components were produced with Dimension 3D Printers and Fortus 3D Production Systems by Stratsys.

The Urbee Hybrid: the First 3-D Printed Car | Fast Company

Gargantuan Living Wall with 10,000 Plants Completed in Canada

While it’s not the largest living wall in North America, this vertical garden is certainly one of the most beautiful and diverse vertical gardens out there. With 10,000 individual plants representing more than 120 unique species, this almost 3,000 sq foot living wall installation on the Semiahmoo Public Library and Royal Canadian Mounted Police Facility in Surrey, Canada has us oohing and ahhing. Designed and built by Vancouver-based Green Over Grey living wall designers, the living wall’s design was inspired by the artwork of the Coast Salish (including Semiahmoo) First Nations People.

Gargantuan Living Wall with 10,000 Plants Completed in Canada | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Mediacite / Ron Arad Architects

Ron Arad Architects were invited to design the new mall, roof and public spaces of the 40,000 sqm mixed use development known as Médiacité. Situated in Liege, once the world’s foremost centre for steel production and since in economic decline, the building stands out as a symbol of the city’s revitalisation and strives to spearhead the city’s regeneration.

The 350 metre long mall weaves through the fabric of the refurbished old market centre at one end, through the new two storey building, connecting to the new Belgian national television centre at the other. The design of the roof unites these elements with a complex network of steel roof ribs that undulate through the mall. The lattice of steel sculpts the volume of the mall beneath, varying both in height and structural depth to form a variety of differing experiences. As the structure exits the volume of the main building (at the two piazzas and at the link between the old market and new building) the steel ribs wrap downwards, merging into the façade and forming the building’s envelope. The structure is entirely free-spanning along its length and width, with 200mm wide steel ribs that vary in depth from 300mm to 1200mm, weaving through each other in a deformed grid-like network. To minimise loadings, the complex three dimensional structure is clad in transparent lightweight ETFE – pneumatic Texlon cushions which allow light to penetrate the roof while moulding themselves to the irregular structure. As the roof gradually transforms into façade, the ETFE cladding merges into curved aluminium rain-screen panels and glass.

Mediacite / Ron Arad Architects | ArchDaily

Great Glass House Swells from the Ground Like a Giant Blue Egg

They say people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, but would it make any difference if the house in question was half-buried in the ground and shaped like giant blue egg? Well, probably not, but how cool is this pebble-shaped Great Glass House? It may seem like something out of a dream but it actually exists and is the largest single-span glasshouse in the world. Located in Carmarthenshire, Great Britain and designed by Foster + Partners, the enormous structure contains more than a thousand plant species (many endangered) and utilizes many sustainable strategies like an energy-optimizing computer-controlled heating system, an aluminum glazing system, rainwater catchment and a biomass boiler.

Great Glass House Swells from the Ground Like a Giant Blue Egg | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Creating Roads From Sand and Bacteria Instead of Oil

Improving America’s infrastructure has been a major priority for the Obama Administration, with a lot of money going into repairing the country’s roads and bridges. The problem is that currently most roads are constructed from asphalt, a material made from oil that increases national fossil fuel usage, is expensive, and is damaging to the environment. However designers Thomas Kosbau and Andrew Wetzler have come with a plan for a greener alternative — a “biologically treated and processed paving material” that uses a common microbe to transform loose grains of stand into stable, road-worthy sandstone.

Creating Roads From Sand and Bacteria Instead of Oil | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Rethinking Waste in a Reclaimed Space

Austin-based Reclaimed Space built this modular prefab with roughly 80% reclaimed materials and presented it at Dwell on Design 2010. With interior design by Zem Joaquin, founder of Ecofabulous, the 400-square-foot home has Electrolux appliances, a vertical living wall from Fyto Wall, CaesarStone countertops, Mythic zero-VOC paints, Solatube daylighting, LED lighting, and Caroma water-efficient bathroom fixtures.

Rethinking Waste in a Reclaimed Space

Fraunhofer and Philips to develop a new process for making OLEDs bigger and cheaper

The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in AAchen, Germany, are working together with Philips to develop a process for making OLED lighting panels distinctly bigger and cheaper.

Normally the conductor paths are applied by energy-intensive evaporation and structuring processes, while only a maximum of ten percent of the luminous area may be covered by conductor paths. “The large remainder including the chemical etchant has to be recycled in a complicated process,“ explains Christian Vedder. This is different in the new process from the researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology. Instead of depositing a lot of material by evaporation and removing most of it again, the scientists only apply precisely the amount of metal required. First of all they lay a mask foie on the surface of the ITO electrode. The mask has micrometer slits where later the conductive paths are supposed to be. On this mask the researchers deposit a thin film of metal made of aluminum, copper or silver – the metal the conductor path is supposed to be made of. Subsequently a laser passes over the conductor path pattern at a speed of several meters per second.

Fraunhofer and Philips to develop a new process for making OLEDs bigger and cheaper

"Small Company Sees Future in Range Extender Trailers for Electric Vehicles " Green Car Advisor

The idea's not new, but commercial execution would be: a follow-along generator that produces juice for battery-electric vehicles to keep 'em running long after their initial grid-derived charge is depleted - an EV range-extender.

Electric Motors and Vehicles Co., an Indiana startup with a background building specialty camping and hunting trailers sold through Jeep dealers, says it is developing a power regeneration unit - PRU - that will turn any EV into a long distance runner.

EV pioneer Alan Cocconi and Tom Gage developed a similar concept more than a decade ago for a prototype electric sports car their company, Southern California-based AC Propulsion, built to showcase the power of electric drive systems.

Their T-Zero, which posted a 0-60 time of 3.6 seconds, could become a cross-country traveler when Gage and Cocconi hitched up a small trailer called the Long Ranger that was fitted with a 20 kilowatt gasoline generator and the necessary connector cords. It was attached to the rear of the T-Zero via a so-called smart hitch, which lets the trailer act like it is part of the car, making it easier to back up and to maneuver in reverse and in tight quarters.

"Small Company Sees Future in Range Extender Trailers for Electric Vehicles " Green Car Advisor