Green Inventions of 2008

One Tribe Creative, Fort Collins CO - 

Time Magazine has released its Top 50 Inventions of 2008, and while there are your usual robots, invisibility cloaks, and pop-culture movements, over 20 percent of the inventions involve sustainability and the environment.  Here is a quick breakdown:

#7 - The Chevy Volt - Our normal car batteries are still too cavemanish to get us off gasoline completely, but the Chevy Volt's battery can provide up to 40 miles of driving a day.  Seeing as though 80% of Americans drive under 40 miles a day, it is a good start to a greener drive.

#11 -  Green Crude - Researchers at Arizona State University have been working on ridding carbon from petroleum by incorporating algae into the crude. These researchers might get Time Magazine credit, but I gotta give a shout out to Solix Biofuels and Blue Sun Biodiesel for working on this movement as well.

#25 - Thin Film Solar Panels - Currently most solar panels are baked up in batches.  Nanosolar, a San Diego based start-up has found a way to produce paper-thin solar panels that can be manufactured on a assembly-line-like printing press.  

#35 - Airborne Wind Power - Sky Windpower, yet another San Diego company on the list, is attempting to go top shelf into the Earth's atmosphere to harness the Superman-strength jet stream winds.  Sky Windpower has invented giant wind-turbine kites that can be placed into the troposphere to generate power.  Just watch out for those giant, commercial airplanes.

#37 - Smog-Eating Cement - While there is the phrase, "Smog is the reason for Los Angeles' beautiful sunsets," most people are against smog.  That is why Italian engineers have incorporated a photo-catalyzer (titanium dioxide for you Einstein types) into cement.  Using this cement in certain areas has yielded a 60 percent decrease in smog.

#41  - The Peraves Monotracer - This two-person vehicle might seem like it came straight-out of Minority Report or Doc Brown's lab, but this sustainable whip features wind-shield wipers, air conditioning and is energy-efficient: its BMW engine, goes from zero to 62 m.p.h. in 4.8 sec. (100 km/h), and gets about 65 m.p.g. (28 km/L).  

#46 - The Aptera Electric Car - George Jetson would be proud to roll up to Spacely's Sprockets in this ride.  All-electric (120 miles on a full charge) and quick (an acceleration of zero to 60 in under 10 seconds), the Apter Electric Car is a trailblazer on sustainable transportation.  

So what can we expect in 2009?  What do you want in 2009?  One Tribe Creative will continue to be on the lookout.