Inhabitat’s Week in Green: pencil-tip generators, the Nissan Leaf, and the world’s largest wind turbine

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green. This week we saw renewable energy take the world by storm as Spain announced plans to construct the world’s largest wind turbine and a team of engineers made waves with plans for an underwater turbine modeled after whale flippers . We also saw Boeing shine light on plans to produce a new breed of ultra-efficient solar panels that are suited for space, while researchers in Japan developed a potent new kinetic generator that’s as tiny as a pencil tip . Innovative eco transportation also picked up the pace as China rolled out plans to produce the first fuel cell powered light rail train and the world’s largest solar-powered boat made its successful maiden voyage across the Atlantic . We also applauded the Nissan Leaf as it took first place as the European Car of the Year and we were wowed by Mercedes’ next-generation concept car , which may one day be grown in a lab. We also showcased several new ways that technology stands to wire our lives — starting with an electronic smart wallet that curbs spending by clamping shut like a clam . We also looked at Harvard’s plans for a laptop computer powered by biogas and we were impressed by Nike’s next-gen design tools for producing environmentally efficient clothes . Finally, we wrapped up the week with two exciting advances in tablet tech – India is testing a solar-powered I-Slate tablet geared at children in need and Substrata rolled out a gorgeous wooden iPad case that goes light on the earth . Inhabitat’s Week in Green: pencil-tip generators, the Nissan Leaf, and the world’s largest wind turbine originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 02:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Posted by on December 6, 2010. Filed under News, Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry