You pull up to a stop light and right next to you is a delightfully smug driver in a pretty little Toyota Prius. He/she looks over with the obligatory look of self-satisfaction...and...what's this?...The driver is perplexed. That's because you are driving a hybrid that you built yourself. He/she must realize their eco-footprint, in comparison to yours, is the size of Texas (when factoring in production and shipping).

A British designer has created a hybrid that you actually build yourself, with the help of an instructional DVD. The XR3 Hybrid Vehicle is a diesel and battery-powered two seater. Robert Riley, the designer, says that people with "average building skills" will be able to make their own car. That rules us out...But... Sweet!

The car, according to Riley, will get 225 miles a gallon, and should cost you a maximum of 14,000 British Pounds to build. The car runs on three-wheel drive: The front two run on diesel while the back runs on an electric motor. This combination too is customizable. For shorter trips, you can go completely electric.

Ha!

Bite it, Prius owners. [From: DailyMail]

Stuff reseller giant eBay is getting in on the whole "environmentally conscious" trend by launching a newest sister site, WorldofGood.com. The site launched earlier this week, and its goal is "to sell goods produced with social and environmental goals in mind, which we assume doesn't mean sweatshop-made PVC Nikes packaged in Styrofoam kryptonite.

World of Good Inc. is a company eBay started to create "ethical supply chains" for consumer products, and the Web site's goal is to put that mantra into practice. The goods sold will be fixed-price, and will supposedly have positive effects on the world around them. Shoppers will be able to search by social and environmental categories, and independent organizations like Rainforest Alliance and Co-op America will screen sellers and verify the items listed on the site.

"We really want consumers to drill down into the detail of what's behind that product," WorldofGood.com general manager Robert Chatwani said. As is the case of eBay, sellers on WorldofGood.com will pay a listing fee and give eBay a commission on successful sales. And eBay login information will work immediately, streamlining the process for the end user.

Of course, there are other ways to buy such goods online -- the excellent etsy.com being one of many -- but the trend is gaining steam, and eBay wants to be a part of it. The Natural Marketing Institute's estimate that the U.S. market for "environmentally friendly" goods was $209 billion in 2005, and the group projects that will rise to $420 billion in 2010. Which means sustainable profits! [From: NewsVine]

Members of America's Wireless industry are working with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to authorize the construction of new cell phone towers that won't slaughter millions of migrating birds every year. They are under pressure to do so because the towers currently sprawled across the U.S., well, do kill millions of birds (between four and five million birds, according to estimates from the US Fish and Wildlife Service).

We know huge corporations are evil. But come on!

The FCC has been directed by a court to figure out "how it will provide notice of pending tower applications that will ensure meaningful public involvement in implementing NEPA procedures." Essentially, if a company wants to build a tower they will now have to prove that it wont hurt birds.

We are sure the wireless companies already have a way to win over local authorities obsessed with wildlife preservation: It's called money. [From: ars.tecnica via Textually]

New Scientist is always bringing us fun new inventions and advances in technology. The latest batch of inventions promises to make exercising easier for the morbidly obese, clear atmospheric disturbance from satellite images, and create energy from human motion.

The treadmill bed attaches a treadmill (surprise, surprise!) to the foot of an adjustable hospital bed. The bed slowly tips the patient into a standing position on the treadmill, which removes the need for staff to assist the patient. The exercise bed is the invention of Charles Filipi, a surgeon at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

Meanwhile, Greg Hampikian and Peter Mullner, from Boise State University in Idaho, have learned to harvest motion to generate energy with magnetoelastic materials. This type of material changes shape when a magnetic field is applied to it, but also works in reverse, producing a magnetic field when deformed. Connecting the material to a transducer then converts the magnetic field into an electrical charge. The materials require small amounts of motion to generate energy, making them ideal for keeping medical implants and gadgets powered.

Check out the ABC News article for more information and links to the complete patent filings. [From: ABC News]

Proving once again that cattle and home appliances just don't mix, a cow in the UK got its head stuck in a "fly-tipped" (read: illegally discarded) washing machine drum earlier this month. And it was awkward.

The animal was eventually freed by the Royal Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which was called to rescue it from a field in Cornwall, England.

There are two theories going around at the moment, one being that the cow thought there might be some food to be eaten. "It is one of the more unusual things we have had to rescue an animal from," said Jo Barr of the RSPCA. "Young cows are quite curious, and she probably thought there was some food inside the drum." Looking at the fields of grass surrounding the cow in the above photo, we're hesitant to back that hypothesis.

RSPCA inspector David Hobbs, on the other hand, believes it was something more to do with the washing machine itself. "Most people hate to see fly-tipping as it is an ugly blight on the landscape, but incidents like these highlight that as well as the visual impact the rubbish can also endanger animals. The heifer was probably curious to see a new item dumped in the field, and curiosity would have turned to panic once she got her head stuck in the drum and was unable to get it out. If people disposed of their rubbish properly many animals would be saved from injury and death."

Given the fact that "fly-tipping" washing machines and "cow-tipping" cows are both distinctly destructive, human instincts, we're going with Mr. Hobbs here, folks. [From: The Telegraph]

Anyway, enough with our overly-tired, undernourished gibberish, the full-on hands-on is posted after the break.

In what must be the best car mod we've seen since the DeLorian (in the background), vehicle modder Daniel Deutsch has outdone himself and built his own green-friendly Star Wars Landspeeder. The custom fiberglass ride is pimped out with an aluminum chassis, zips around at (not-quite-Landspeeder) speeds of up to 25 MPH, and can travel several miles on a single charge. Oh, and for those of you with a critical eye, the vehicle is even the same exact size as the Tatooine original.

Click through to see the creator driving around town with his family (don't miss the video), as well as Deutsch's last Star Wars mod, the fully-fledged R2D2 mod. And you thought your dad was cool? [From: boingboing]

There are sports cars and then there are COOLEST CARS EVER MADE. This hellion falls with a resounding thud into the latter group.

The Trident Iceni is capable of topping 200 mph. This alone ensures its entrance into the world of elite roadsters. It is also able, however, to drive 2,000 miles on a single tank of pure bio-diesel. We'll be honest -- we're getting a bit hot-under-the-collar.

Creator Phil Bevan, of Trident Performance Vehicles, utilized "torque multiplication," a technology that uses less fuel and produces less emissions by keeping revs low. The car is made out of composite material that will never corrode or rust, and the chassis itself is made out of stainless steel. It's an eco-friendly Lamborghini, except better looking and faster. Hell Yeah!

At around $150,000, the Iceni is a literal steal, but you should hurry. Only 500 are being made, and production begins next year. [From: DailyMail]

First things first -- when we say "partially" propel, we mean partially. Nippon Yusen and energy distributor Nippon Oil are teaming up to spend around $1.37 million in order to equip a car-hauling cargo ship with 328 solar panels. Rather than just provide energy for the crew's on board entertainment system, it will be the first solar installation to actually produce a smidgen of power for the boat's engine.

If successful, the panels would provide 0.2% of the ship's energy consumption for propulsion, and they're hoping to raise that to a whopping 1% by 2010. Gives a whole new meaning to "baby steps," huh? [From: PhysOrg]

As we learned from 'Wall-E,' people with half a mind for themselves probably won't be kosher with living with 1.1 million or so other inhabitants within a pyramid. That being said, there's always the brainwash approach to getting 'em in there, and if hordes of people were ever filed into the conceptual Ziggurat, Mother Earth would surely appreciate it.

The 2.3-square kilometer building would be able to house over 1 million people and be "almost totally self-sufficient energy-wise." By tapping into the planet's renewable resources, designers assert that it could practically be carbon-neutral, and given that transport within the machine would be connected by an "integrated 360-degree network," fuel-burning cars would be pointless. As with most things in Dubai, this one seems larger than life, but if the Burj Al Arab is any indication, there's at least a minuscule chance this thing comes to fruition. [From: World Architecture News via Inhabitat]

QinetiQ just (unofficially) smashed the record for an unmanned flight by a solar airplane, sending its Zephyr craft into the air for a staggering 83 hours and 37 minutes, more than double the official record by "Global Hawk" in 2001, and a good margin more than its last flight. The plane was guided by autopilot and satellites to a height of 60,000 feet, and powers off the sun during the day, prepping its rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries for the night. Zephyr is being built for reconnaissance, communications and unofficially setting really bad-ass flight records. [From: QinetiQ via USA TODAY]

We are sooooo tired of these pansy little hybrid and electric cars put-putting around. We want to go green, but at what cost? If only there was an electric car that was perfectly silent, had a top speed of 125mph and could go 220 miles on each charge. Oh, and we want it to cost over $100,000.

What's that Tesla Motors? You make a beautiful high-end coupe with precisely those specifications?

It's true. Tesla Motors, the U.S. based company has now begun selling its hotly anticipated coupe, the Tesla Roadster. It goes as fast and runs as long as mentioned above, and it can be yours for a little under $200,000.

The truth is it's a beast of machine. It reaches 60 mph in under 4 seconds and is unnervingly fast. It looks like a Lotus and drives like a Lotus, but you won't be killing polar bears when you drive this Tesla.

Color us impressed. [From: DailyMail]

A design student from the University of Portsmouth has built a wind turbine capable of providing light for a home in the developing world for only £20 ($37).

The generator is built primarily out of scraps and could be easily assembled in a day. The generator design uses easily-found materials like an old bike frame and wheel bearings, the magneto from a Vespa scooter, a car battery, and bits of wood -- it is possible that the innovative power source could be assembled for even cheaper in the developing world.

Max Robson, the designer, was inspired by his father, Ashley, who had talked of building such a device. "My dad wanted to do something like this but I beat him to it," Max said.
The ultra cheap turbine, once fully-charged, can provide light for up to 63 hours and radio for 30. The nearest competitor to the scrap heap wind generator, according to Robinson, costs about £2,000, or a little over $3,700, which means this is a truly game-changing innovation. [From: Daily Mail]

Just over a year ago, we passed off a far-out proposal that would turn highways into wind farms. Now, however, the state of Oregon is proving that such feats are actually within reach as it breaks ground on the first so-called "solar highway" demonstration project. The project will be installed at the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 interchange in Tualatin, where it will cover around 8,000 square feet and produce 112,000 kilowatt hours per year. The total cost for the 104-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system is $1.3 million, and believe it or not, it should be completed and operational in December of this year. [From: SustainableBusiness.com via Digg]