Notes

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

Japan is the birthplace of high-speed rail, and it remains an innovator in train travel- officials just unveiled the nation's first magnetic-levitation train to the public for the first time! The new train can hit speeds of up to 311 mph with "L-Zero" technology, and it can transport passengers from Tokyo to Nagoya in less than 40 minutes. Tesla is set to unveil something major this week. Elon Musk tweeted a mysterious picture of the project. However, we'll need to wait until Thursday to see the complete details. China's Foxconn is best known for making Apple products. However the company is ready to enter the electric car market with a car that costs $15,000. And Spanish company Opbrid intends to revolutionize public transport with an innovative system that can recharge an entire electric bus in five to eight minutes flat.



Copenhagen is Europe's top design capital. The Danish city could soon be home to one of the most innovative renewable energy facilities in the world. Santiago Muros Cortes, an Argentine designer, was awarded the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative design contest with his idea for a huge solar-powered hourglass. It could generate enough energy to power 1,000 Danish homes. In other green energy news, Burlington, Vermont, is now powered by 100 percent renewable energy. The city of 42,000 residents gets its electricity from a combination of wind, hydro, and biomass facilities. Solar farms are great however they take up a lot of space. Ciel et Terre has just constructed the UK's first floating solar farm in Berkshire. The array is comprised of 800 photovoltaic solar panels and has a capacity 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 initiative to install 100 megawatts of solar power on 300 public buildings over the next ten years. Signal is a manufacturer of snowboards, just launched a solar snowboard that charges electronic devices while you cruise down the mountain.
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Sydney is now the world's tallest vertical garden and it's a spectacle to behold. The 550-foot building was designed by architect Jean Nouvel and French botanist Patrick Blanc, and it features 250 species of native Australian flowers and plants. In other green architecture news, North America's largest green wall is now complete in Vancouver. Incredible time-lapse video captures the installation of the green wall, with a total area of 10,150 square feet. Urbanization can cause a myriad of environmental changes, including water pollution as well as the urban heat island effect. But is it possible for urban design to trigger tornadoes? A Turkish newspaper has published a report that blames the rapid urbanization of Istanbul in the recent series of "freak mini tornadoes". Beehives have long served as inspiration to designers, and the UK Pavilion at the 2015 Milan Expo will bring awareness to the dire situation of disappearing bees by constructing the creation of a virtual beehive comprised of a high-quality steel lattice and LEDs.



It's early October and Halloween is fast approaching Do you know what you're going to be? We have lots of great DIY costumes for you to pick from if you're not sure what to do. You can take part in the iPhone/Android debate by dressing as your smartphone of choice or bring your favorite game to life by dressing as an actual Minecraft character, Tetris blocks or a Rubik's Cube. You can also create your own R2D2 costumes. The best part is that most costumes can be made using cardboard boxes and other materials that are lying around the house!


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