Notes

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

Japan is the home of high-speed rail, and continues to be a leader in train travel. Officials recently revealed the nation's first magnetic-levitation train that was unveiled to the public. The new train will be able to reach speeds of up to 311 MPH by using "L-Zero" technology and will be able to transport passengers from Tokyo to Nagoya in just 40 minutes. Tesla is preparing to unveil something big this week. Elon Musk tweeted a mysterious image of the project. However, we'll have to wait until Thursday to see the full details. China's Foxconn is most well-known for its production of Apple products. However, the company is now ready to enter the electric car market with a $15,000 car. And Spanish firm Opbrid hopes to revolutionize public transport with the development of a system that will recharge the entire electric bus in just five to eight minutes in a row.



Copenhagen is Europe's top design capital. The Danish city could soon be home to one of the most innovative renewable energy sources in the world. Santiago Muros Cortes, an Argentine designer, took home the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative design contest with his concept for a huge solar energy-generating hourglass. It could generate enough power to power 1,000 Danish homes. In other green energy news, Burlington, Vermont, is currently powered by 100% renewable energy. The city of 42,000 people gets its electricity from biomass, hydro, and wind. Solar farms are great however, they consume 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 panels and has a capacity of 200 kW. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced plans to install solar panels at 24 public schools by 2016. These solar schools are part of the larger plan to provide 100 megawatts of solar power to 300 public buildings over the next decade. Signal is a manufacturer of snowboards, just launched an solar snowboard that can charge electronic devices while you cruise down the mountain.



Sydney is now the world's tallest vertical garden, and it's a spectacle to behold. Jean Nouvel, an architect, and Patrick Blanc, a French botanist, created the 550-foot tall structure. It has 250 species of native Australian flowers and plants. The largest North American green wall, the North American Green Wall is now in place in Vancouver. Incredible time-lapse video captures the installation of the green wall which covers 10,150 square feet. Urban development is responsible for many environmental issues that range from pollution of water to the urban heat island effect. But is it possible for urban design to trigger tornadoes? A new report published in the Turkish newspaper blames Istanbul's rapid urbanization for a series of "freak mini-tornadoes" that recently hit 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 through an artificial beehive constructed of a high-quality steel lattice and LEDs.



It's October 1st and Halloween is fast approaching -- do you know what you're going be? If you're stuck but don't worry, we've got lots of ideas for DIY costumes! You can take part in the debate between Android and iPhone by dressing as your phone of choice or bring your favorite game to life by dressing as an actual Minecraft character, Tetris blocks or a Rubik's Cube. Robot costumes are also a tried and true popular choice, or make it more elaborate with a DIY R2D2 costume. I'm The Great Wizard The best part is that most costumes are made from cardboard boxes and materials that you have lying around your house!


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