Notes

Inhabitat's Week of Green: Solar Hourglass and Urban Tornadoes, and The World's Tallest Garden

Japan is the home of high-speed rail, and remains a leading country in train travel. Officials recently revealed the country's first magnetic-levitation train that was presented to the public. The new train, which utilizes "L-Zero" technology to reach speeds of up to 311 MPH, is able to transport passengers from Tokyo to Nagoya within 40 minutes. In other news related to transportation, Tesla is gearing up to reveal something major this week -- Elon Musk recently shared a mysterious image of the project in development however we'll have to wait until Thursday for the complete details. China's Foxconn is most well-known for producing Apple products. However the company is ready to enter the electric vehicle market with a $15,000 car. Spanish firm Opbrid hopes to revolutionize public transportation with the development of a technology that can charge an entire bus in as little as five to eight minutes.



Copenhagen is Europe's top design capital. The Danish city is expected to soon have one of the most innovative renewable energy sources in the world. Argentine designer Santiago Muros Cortes just won the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition with his concept for a massive solar energy-generating hourglass that could produce enough electricity for 1,000 Danish homes. In other green energy news, Burlington, Vermont, is now powered entirely by renewable energy. The city of 42,000 residents gets its electricity from a mix of wind, hydro, and a biomass facility. Although solar farms are great however, they take up a lot space. This is why the folks at Ciel et Terre just installed the UK's first floating solar farm in Berkshire. The array features 800 photovoltaic solar panels and has a a capacity of 200 kW. 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 plan to install 100 megawatts of solar power on 300 public buildings over the next 10 years. With ski season only two months away, snowboard maker Signal has just released the first solar-powered snowboard that charges your electronic devices while you glide down the mountain.



Sydney is now the home of the world's highest vertical garden and it's a sight to behold. The 550-foot building was designed by architect Jean Nouvel and French botanist Patrick Blanc, and it includes 250 species of native Australian flowers and plants. monster In other green architecture news, North America's largest green wall is now completed in Vancouver. Incredible time-lapse video captures the installation of the green wall with a total area of 10,150 square feet. Urban development can cause many environmental impacts, including water pollution and the urban heat island effect. Is it possible for urban design and tornadoes to coexist? A new report in a Turkish newspaper blames the city's rapid urbanization for a string of "freak mini-tornadoes" that have recently struck the city. The UK Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo will highlight the plight and disappearance of bees by creating a virtual beehive out of steel lattices made of fine steel and LEDs.



It's October, but it's early October and Halloween is fast approaching. Are you sure of the costume you'll be wearing? There are plenty of great costumes that you can choose from if you aren't certain what to dress up as. You can take part in the debate between Android and iPhone by dressing as your smartphone of choice, or you can bring your favorite game to life by dressing as a Minecraft character, Tetris blocks or a Rubik's Cube. Robot costumes are also a well-known popular choice, or go for a more elaborate DIY R2D2 outfit. Best of all, most costumes can be assembled with cardboard boxes and materials that are lying around the home!


Here's my website: https://minecraft-servers.monster/