Notes

Inhabitat's Week in Green: Solar Hourglass, Urban Tornadoes and the World's Tallest Garden

Japan is the birthplace of high-speed rail and continues to be a pioneer in train travel. Officials just revealed the country's first magnetic-levitation train, which was presented to the public. The new train, which is based on "L-Zero" technology to achieve speeds of up to 311 MPH, is able to transport passengers from Tokyo to Nagoya in 40 minutes. Tesla is planning to unveil something big this week. Elon Musk tweeted a mysterious picture of the project. But, we'll have to wait until Thursday to learn the complete details. China's Foxconn is most likely to be known as the maker of Apple products, but Foxconn is now preparing to enter the electric vehicle arena with a $15,000 electric vehicle. And Spanish firm Opbrid hopes to revolutionize public transport with the development of a system that will recharge an entire electric bus in five to eight minutes in a row.



Copenhagen is the world's most renowned design capital. MINECRAFT SERVERS The Danish city could soon have one of the most innovative renewable energy facilities in the world. Santiago Muros Cortes, an Argentine designer, won the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative design contest with his proposal for a massive solar energy-generating hourglass. It could produce enough electricity to provide power to 1,000 Danish homes. Burlington, Vermont is now entirely powered by renewable energy. The city of 42,000 residents gets its electricity from a combination of wind, hydro and biomass. Solar farms are wonderful however they take up a lot of space. Ciel et Terre has just installed the UK's first floating solar farm located in Berkshire. The array has 800 photovoltaic solar cells and a power output of 200kW. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to install solar panels in 24 public schools by 2016. The solar schools are part of a larger program to install 100 megawatts of solar power on 300 public buildings over the next 10 years. And with ski season just two months away, snowboard manufacturer Signal recently launched the first solar-powered snowboard that charges your electronic devices while you ski down the mountain.



Sydney is now home to the world's tallest vertical garden, and it's a sight to behold. Jean Nouvel, an architect and Patrick Blanc, a French botanist, designed the 550 feet tall structure. It features 250 species native Australian flowers and plants. The largest green wall, known as the North American Green Wall is now completed in Vancouver. A breathtaking time-lapse video shows the construction of the 10,150-square-foot, double-sided green wall. Urban development is responsible for many environmental changes that range from pollution of water to the urban heat island effect. Is it possible for urban design and tornadoes to co-exist? A new report that was published in a Turkish newspaper blames the city's rapid urbanization for a series of "freak mini-tornadoes" which recently struck the city. Beehives have been a constant source of an inspiration for designers, and the UK Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo will bring awareness to the demise of bees by constructing an artificial beehive constructed of a fine steel mesh and LEDs.



It's early October and Halloween is fast approaching Do you know what you'll be? We have a variety of fantastic costumes that you can pick from if you're not sure what to do. You can play out the iPhone/Android debate by masquerading as your smartphone of choice, or you can bring your favorite game to life by dressing up as the Minecraft character, Tetris blocks or a Rubik's Cube. Robot costumes are also a well-known favorite, or you can get more elaborate with a DIY R2D2 costume. The best part is that most of these costumes can be assembled with cardboard boxes and materials that you have lying around your house!


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