It's hard to summarize the list here, but here are some names that you might or might not recognize from the 17 electric cars that you must see: Tesla Roadster, Tesla Model S, BYD E6, Miles XS500, Mitsubishi i MiEV, Subaru R1e, Subaru G4e, Electric Mini by BMW, EV1 by General Motors, upcoming electric cars by Mercedes and Nissan, REVA, ZENN, Tango, Eliica, and more.

Yeah, the circular bike is kind of pointless, but sometimes you just gotta have fun. As one commenter on reddit said:

• [ ] useful
• [X] want one

Scientists may be getting closer to unraveling the secrets of photosynthesis, reports New Scientist Tech's Colin Barras. In a new study published in the journal ChemPhysChem, a team of Chinese scientists from the Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology has found that carbon nanotubes, which have been used in many nanotechnology applications including solar energy and adhesive material, can mimic a key step of the process.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

The VW 1-Liter car has been around in prototype form since 2002 and greens everywhere have been drooling at its 282 miles per gallon fuel economy (or 1 liter of gasoline per 100 kilometers, hence the name). VW has finally decided to make more and sell them, and a limited edition (estimated in the thousands) should start selling in 2010.

The most obvious way that electronic equipment can make us greener is by reducing transportation emissions: Videoconferencing, email, audio calls, etc. That should all add up to between 140m and 220m tonnes of CO2 a year in 2020. But the real big improvements are elsewhere: Improving logistics (f.ex. planning better routes for delivery vehicles, managing supply chains better, etc) could save 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2, using data networking to create a "smart" grid could save 2 billion tonnes of CO2, and computer-controlled buildings that can manage lighting and ventilation depending on how many people are inside could save a further 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2.

Francis Farley, an experimental physicist, and Rod Rainey of Atkins Oil and Gas, have invented a new device that could help bring the cost of wave power down. They call it the 'Anaconda' after the species of aquatic boas (and a cheesy movie). It's basically "a large distensible rubber tube.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Some are skeptical about labor costs in the Bay Area, but that's where the Tesla Motors plant will be. The state gave tax breaks and incentives to keep it there, so that certainly helps. The 'Model S' electric car should cost around $60,000 and have a range of 225 miles.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist Adam Warwick just couldn't let the bear drown, so he took off his shirt and dive after it. The 375 lbs black bear had been spotted in a residential area, obviously looking for food, and was shot with a tranquilizer dart. Unfortunately, before it went under, it jumped in the water of the Gulf of Mexico. Photos and a video here.

With 30% of Americans saying they would consider riding a scooter—even some people we wouldn't expect to—and sales of scooters up by 200%, now seems like a perfect time to revisit some of our past scooter coverage and bring it all together. Here are some of our favorite electric scooters, including production models and concepts.

About 2 years ago, Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn wasn't too impressed with hybrid cars, saying that they are "a nice story, but they’re not a a good business". Then a few months later, he announced that Nissan would license technology from Toyota for its Altima hybrid, and then develop its own hybrid technology. Now this year, Ghosn was heard saying that we needed "zero emission vehicles" to "prevent the world from exploding" (!), and that his preference was for electric cars, with the first model coming out in 2010.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

One thing that helps fuel the conspiracy rumors surrounding water cars is that the media run these segments where they show "water cars" actually driving around, and it all seems to work, and then we never hear about them again. People figure that Big Oil (or the Illuminati, whatever) is suppressing the technology. The reality is more mundane: It is actually possible to make a car look like it runs on water without breaking the first law of thermodynamics. The way it's usually done is with metal hydrides. These react with water to produce hydrogen, which is then used to power the car. But since these hydrides will deplete with time, they need to be replaced and so they are actually the fuel, not the water. And you can be sure that more energy will go into producing them than will be taken out, making them an energy carrier, just like a battery.

Did you know most computers in the average data centers run at 15% capacity or less, idling the rest of the time but still consuming electricity. Did you know that by 2011, data center energy use could almost double and require the equivalent of 25 power plants. In the US, they are already (since 2006) using more energy than color televisions.

D.light has begun manufacturing solar-powered portable lanterns which are designed to replace kerosene lanterns in the developing world. The largest of their lanterns, the Nova, is the most robust, providing 12 hours of “high” level illumination suitable for reading or up to 40 hours of light suitable for walking around or “socializing”. Though the lantern comes with an AC adapter (which D.light says will fully charge the unit in 5 hours), the lantern also can be charged with a small included solar panel. This option will allow for 6-8 hours of medium intensity light from a day-long charge, according to product literature.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Honda is not selling the hydrogen FCX Clarity yet, only leasing it to a select few in California (and Japan next Autumn). The three year contract will be $600/month, including maintenance and insurance, and only those living close enough to the few hydrogen refueling stations in Torrance, Santa Monica, and Irvine can qualify. As expected, Hollywood stars are among the first customers: Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband Christopher Guest, actress Laura Harris, film producer Ron Yerxa, as well as businessmen Jon Spallino and Jim Salomon.

The 53-foot long blimp has been flown over 35 miles at an altitude of about 90 feet. This isn't something you do on impusle; the pilot has been preparing the trip for 4 years.

The Crown Estate of England knows which way the wind blows and has decided to acquire the prototype of the world's biggest wind turbine, Clipper’s 7.5 megawatt MBE turbine, also known as the Britannia (pictured above is Clipper's Liberty model, which produces 2.5 megawatt).

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

According to Professor Max Lu of the University of Queensland, Australia, his team has grown "the world's first titanium oxide single crystals with large amounts of reactive surfaces, something that was predicted as almost impossible."

Hitachi Maxell has announced the development of a new lithium-ion battery chemistry. Their claims are bold, and might be too good to be true, but they pretend that they can do 20 times more power storage.

Texas utility Oncor is working with Swiss smart-meter company Landis+Gyr to roll out 3 million advanced meters by 2012. These meters allow real-time pricing and overall make the power grid much more flexible and robust by ironing out peak in demand.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Scientists from the Argonne National Laboratory in the US, in collaboration with scientists from the University of North Carolina and Bristol University in the UK, have created a new air pollution computer model based on new algorithms that can generate more reliable forecasts based on observational data.

The new supercar should be available in two versions: One all electric, and one hybrid. 220+ miles per gallon is expected, and 150- to 180-mile range per charge from the all-electric model.

Even relatively small cities has thousands of them, and traditional street lights definitely are old tech. They're fairly efficient, but new LED technology is promising to replace them. Their light can even be tuned to be either more white and natural, or red/yellow like old-style street lights.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

We're now firmly in an interconnected and digital world, and that means lots and lots of servers. The EPA wrote a report for the US Congress about it in 2006, and they estimated that servers and data centers represented about 1.5% of total electricity usage in the country for that year. That's 61 billion (with a 'b') kilowatt-hours, and that's for 2006, back when most people were just starting to discover Youtube. It's probably way more now. But Microsoft Research wants to help reverse that trend.

Green Star just announced the creation of a new micronutrient that can help boost algae daily growth rate by 34% and "increase the total biomass quantity in a harvest algae growth cycle by well over 100%."

The price of offshore turbines rose 48 percent to 2.23 million euros ($3.45 million) per megawatt in the past three years, according to BTM Consult APS, a Danish wind power consultant. By comparison, land-based rotors cost 1.38 million euros per megawatt after rising 74 percent in the same period.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Iron Man : Yeah, He Can Fly

Iron Man may already be out, but that doesn't mean we should just forget about it. With the great flight scenes, cutting edge tech and the fact that it is just an excellent film, I plan to use any and all excuses to keep talking about the best superhero movie ever made (as well as the sequel).

Wall-E : Don't (or Do) Watch While Dropping Acid

Wall-E is probably the movie I'm most excited for this summer. From the gadget/robot factor, to the CG eye candy, I get hyped just thinking about it (especially with the righteous toys and promo gear). And did I mention Jonathan Ive helped design one of the robots? In any case, with films such as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and Ratatouille under their belt, I find it hard to believe Pixar would miss the mark with Wall-E (Cars never happened).

The Dark Knight : Ambien's New Corporate Slogan
For all its positive transformation in Batman Begins, the Batman franchise just hasn't really held up too well on the gadget front. While you shouldn't expect to see any sonic batarangs or batnet guns in The Dark Knight, fans and other, less intentionally strange people have been picking up the slack. If I want to (and I do) I could go out right now and get myself, for example, a Batman MP3 player. I could use it to listen to the old Batman theme while I'm driving the original Tim Burton Batmobile. I might pull up at a stoplight next to nice young lady driving a much flatter, much more street legal Batmobile. I could even ask her out to see the premiere of The Dark Knight. Most importantly, If all goes well (or if she tries to escape) I could finally try out a pair of Batcuffs. Theoretically speaking.

The Incredible Hulk : Suck On That Eric Bana. And Everything Else, Too
The Hulk doesn't give a shit about gadgets. He's not all like "HULK FINGER TOO BIG FOR UMPC, HULK DEMAND EXTERNAL KEYBOARD," mainly because that'd be stupid. If that stupid green Luddite could calm down for five minutes he might realize that just because he's apparently given up electronics, they haven't given up on him. Any of those items would provide Mr. Hulk with a sizable increase in daily productivity.

For a little fun he could always play Hulk Operation, but there's always the risk that if he buzzed he'd flip out, get huge and ruin everyone's family night with another of his obnoxious tantrums. He could do with a pair of carthartic Hulk Gloves, so he could punch some of that energy out every now and then. But I wouldn't watch that movie half as hard as I was going to watch The Incredible Hulk.

Well, that's the summer lineup, and I personally plan on seeing all these films. Also, if you're interested in my two cents, Iron Man kicks way more ass than Batman.

(The Dark Knight and The Incredible Hulk roundups by John Herrman)

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• Resident musicologist Jesus Diaz revealed the top-secret lyrical underpinnings of the Indy theme, which are as safe for awesome as they are not safe for work. Too bad he hated it.

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• Any self-respecting superfan doesn't just see the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull six times. He buys all the official merchandise he can find. Of course there's an official fedora and Hasbro FX whip, which increased Gizmodo workplace efficiency by 4%.

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• The folks over at Toy Fair in New York finally, observing Harrison Ford's increasing potatoishiousness, have put together a "Tater of the Lost Ark" Mr. Potato Head.

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• And then there's the Crystal Skull projector/homeschooling device, which speaks to your children about real archeology while projecting sort of related shots of melting Nazis and Shia LeBeouf.

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• Remember how the kid down the street always had 10x more Legos than you? Well he's still around and though he's all growed up with a fancy job and girlfriend (not really), he hasn't changed. Not content with the official Kingdom Lego set, some guys with undoubtedly bright futures reenacted the boulder scene from Raiders with the little plastic blocks. 5 million of them.
• Well, give or take. This photo revealed that the giant boulder actually had a foam core, which really upset at least 17 people. I mean, they smashed some stranger's car with an eight-foot Lego ball — how mad can you be?

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• But it isn't all good for Indy, as he was publicly emasculated on The View. He was informed by a surprised Whoopi Goldberg that Lucas made him "look like a man" and was forced to sit idly through a bunch of chick chatter (hey, I'm down with the whole feminist movement and all, but that just looked painful).
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Recycling of solar panels should stay pretty low for a while as solar cells have a useful life of many decades if nothing out of the ordinary happens to them, so up to now most recycled panels have been flawed or damaged modules. But these numbers are bound to trend up. About 16,000 tonnes are expected to be sent back in Europe by 2015, compared to 2,000 tonnes last year.

Concentrating the equivalent of 2000 suns on such a small solar panel generates enough heat to melt stainless steel, something the researchers experienced first hand in their experiments. But by borrowing innovations from its own R&D in cooling computer chips, the team was able to cool the solar cell from greater than 1600 degrees Celsius to just 85 degrees Celsius.

Marbled icebergs have layers that are formed by algae (green) and sediments (yellow, brown), or by a rapid melting and freezing (dark blue). This one was photographed in the Antarctic sea. More photos here.

Sometimes when you see everybody doing things the same way, you forget that there are other paths to explore. The multi-rotor wind turbine is such an experiment. Why not put more than one turbine up there? It'll be interesting to see if it becomes cost-effective. Future wind power might look like that...

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Sunrgi's Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics (XCPV) are claimed to be able to produce electricity at 5 cents per kWh by concentrating the Sun's light close to 2,000 times (!) into extremely efficient solar photovoltaic cells. Part of Sunrgi's patent-pending technology has to do with the cooling of the solar cells, dual-axis sun tracking, and the way the whole system is optimized for mass-production.

It's a crass commercial DIY project - the guy wanted to attract lots of attention to put ads on the sides of his carriage - but it turned out kind of interesting. Instead of having the horse pull the carriage, the horse is in the back, walking on a conveyor belt.

Visitors to the Olympics in Beijing this summer can look forward to more than just history's largest sporting event and biggest national coming-out party. They'll also be able to glimpse the world's largest color LED display combined with China's first photovoltaic system to be integrated into a glass curtain wall.

And of course, Help Protect Great Tits, Fight Global Warming, Scientists Say.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

We also celebrate our love for graphic design with the New York City Subway Diagram 2008, give our box-sized apartment a nice culinary area with the Instant Kitchen, and keep ourselves safe riding the city streets on the Puma Stealth Visibility Bike. Finally, we snowboard on the pavement with the Freebord, kick back with a stiff drink in the Buster Leather Chair, and get some aquatic exercise on the Water Cycle.

Their test vehicle is a modified Skoda Fabia which they call the H4V (Hybrid 4 wheel drive Vehicle) because the gasoline engine powers the front wheels while two 35kW electric motors power the rear wheels. The regular gasoline version of the car gets 32 mpg (7.24 L/100km) while their 'plugless' plug-in hybrid prototype returned 53 mpg (4.4 L/100km).

The EvoLux 13W LED bulb has a lifetime of 50,000 hours (!), is as energy efficient (at least) as CFLs but not as fragile and without mercury inside. There's actually an active cooling system inside because LEDs are sensitive to heat.

Swedish startup Manodo wants you to have real time feedback on your house's energy status. People get obsessed with stats in all kinds of things (sports, distributed computing, the stock market). How about being up to date on your house?

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Designer Ben Wilson explains why he made the Monowheel: “Since the 1860’s many patents have been filed in the monowheel’’s name and today there are even rumors of a production monowheel in China, but as it stands there is nothing currently available. As we couldn’t buy a monowheel we made one.”

Some specs for the BYD E6 Electric Vehicle: It will be a 5 seater, with an acceleration of 0 to 60 mph of around 10 seconds. Top speed: 100 mph. Range per charge: 186 miles. But most impressive of all: "BYD projected the battery had a life of 2,000 cycles, for a lifetime range of about 600,000 km (373,000 miles)"!

Russ Gries is a DIYer, and his electric motorcycle is centered around parts from an old battery-powered forklift that he got for free. After acquiring the carcass of a 1976 Honda CB550 for $50, he got to work. After about 120 hours and a net cost of $15.61 (that's right, he got money for recycling the rest of the forklift), the result is Voltzilla.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Many companies are working hard on batteries and ultracapacitors for plug-in hybrids and electric cars, but some are doing better than others. The concept of a hybrid garbage truck is somewhat ironic - it's still garbage - but we might soon start seeing them on trash day.

According to Acre's news agency, these will be the first condoms to be produced with natural materials from seringai trees. This initiative will help preserve the Amazon by ensuring the sustainable exploitation of the materials, and will reduce the amount of imported condoms to the country, which are distributed freely to fight AIDS as part of a national campaign. Brazil is the largest importer of condoms in the world, the Health Ministry informed according to BBC Mundo.

The 12 battery and ultracapacitor companies that got report cards are: A123 Systems, Altair Nanotechnologies, Compact Power, EEStor, Ener1, Hitachi, Johnson Controls, Lithium Technology, Maxwell Technologies, Automotive Energy Supply, Panasonic EV, Valence Technology.

The Volvo hybrid garbage trucks will be powered by a 7-liter (320 hp / 238 kW) diesel engine coupled with a 120 kW electric motor and a lithium-ion battery pack. They can drive in all-electric mode up to 12 mph, and over that the diesel engine kicks in. When the truck stops, the diesel engine shuts down instead of idling. This can help improve air quality and reduce fuel use.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Researchers in the UK have developed a new kind of engine. It could be called a hybrid, but what it combines is not two power sources but rather two modes of operation: 2-stroke and 4-stroke. The goal is to be able to significantly downsize the engine and get the fuel economy benefits of smaller displacement, but to be able to switch seamlessly to 2-stroke mode when more power is required at high loads and low speeds.

"I bought an 8hp Briggs & Stratton ETEK motor used through Craigslist," said Benjamin Nelson. "Then I mounted the motor to the frame using the existing engine mounting holes and a piece of scrap aluminum plate. I found a sprocket and chain in the tractor repair isle of the farm store. If gas is three bucks a gallon, I can go 300 miles on that same amount of electricity. 300mpg isn't too bad for a motorcycle, is it?"

Plain surreal: "Lastly, the rear legs of the CV08 will serve as a means of power-collection: they pull chubby Australian suburbanite stragglers up into a liposuction chamber, which draws out all of their excess fat [which then powers the CV08]. The now trim Aussies are then shot out of the backside [read: ass] of the robot, parachuting down to safety—along with a brand new bicycle constructed from recycled suburbs.

At 140 lumens/watt, these pill-sized plasma light bulbs by Luxim are a pretty awesome contender for "light of the future." They are almost 10 times more efficient than traditional incandescent light bulbs, twice as efficient as current high-end LEDs, and they also beat CFLs, most of which are around 50-80 lumens/watt. Only the prototype 300 lumens/watt nanocrystal-coated LEDs can hold a candle to them.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

This week at TreeHugger: Osram shouts 'victory' with a warm white OLED breakthrough (efficiency of 46 lm/Watt!). Spain broke wind power records last week with 40.8% of total electricity demand. Thin-film solar is coming of age with a new efficiency record of 19.9%, and California wants to turn big-box stores into solar power plants.

Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are very promising. They are more efficient than incandescents without the downsides of CFLs (fragility, mercury), and they have the potential to become less expensive than regular LEDs. Osram announced a breakthrough with the production of a warm white OLEDs with an efficiency of 46 lm/W and a life of more than 5000 hours at a brightness of 1000 cd/m2. That's close to the efficiency of fluorescent lamps, and more than twice that of incandescent lamps.

Last year Spain's wind power production record was 27%. That seemed like a lot, but a week ago, Spain's wind turbines produced 40.8% of total demand, or 9,862 megawatts of power. Spain's wind power industry currently enjoys a 30% annual growth rate. No recession there...

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has created thin film solar panels that are very close to competing with their more traditional silicon-based cousins. "The copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cell recently reached 19.9 percent efficiency in testing at the lab, setting a new world record."

Southern California Edison (SCE) wants to build a 250-megawatt solar farm with a twist: It will be distributed among many commercial rooftops, starting with southern California's Inland Empire, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. They are planning to install 1 megawatt per week starting in August. Once the project is finished, it will take up 65,000,000 square feet of roofs that would otherwise be unused and produce enough clean energy to supply about 162,000 homes.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Finally, we clean our clothes with steam using the LG SteamWasher & SteamDryer, check out the nice-looking girls at Zivity, and iron out our plot for global domination while aboard our WallyIsland.

The Beluga Skysails is a cargo ship that was used to test a new system that uses kites to harness the power of the wind as auxiliary propulsion. It set sail (literally) to Venezuela from Germany on January 22nd and reached the Norway on March 13th after traveling a total of 11,952 nautical miles. "In even moderate winds, the first flights of an initial 160-square-meter towing kite was able to substitute for 20% of the engineís power." After the pilot phase, the towing kite will be replaced by one that is twice the size, providing twice as much energy and saving twice the fuel (which could mean $2000/day).

"Researchers have long dreamed of making OLEDs using a newspaper-printing like roll-to-roll process," said Anil Duggal, manager of GEís Advanced Technology Program in Organic Electronics. "Now weíve shown that it is possible. Commercial applications in lighting require low manufacturing costs, and this demonstration is a major milestone on our way to developing low cost OLED lighting devices."

Greenpeace activists marched in front of the offices of Vatenfall in Hamburg, installing a dinosaur on top of a pile of coal to emphasize the point declared on their banners: "Stop dinosaur technology". The dinosaur of rusted steel towered 5 meters (16 feet) over a 3 ton pile of coal which was dumped, under cover of darkness, in front of the entry to Vatenfall employee parking.

The type of silicon used in photovoltaic panels is expensive, and as long as supply is constrained, the price of electricity produced by solar panels won't be as cheap as it could be. Solaria's solar panels produce about 90% of a conventional solar panel's power, while using half as much silicon by slicing the silicon into thin strips and using clear molded plastic to collects light from the entire panel and funnels it to the strips of silicon. Clever.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

The Giant Twist Freedom DX pretty much works and looks like a regular bike — it even has those classy fenders that the chicks love — with one small exception that's difficult to see (and we think that's a good thing): a torque sensor that monitors your pedaling and controls a 250-watt DC motor located in the front wheel. Power comes from two 26-volt lithium-ion batteries, and provides range of up to 75 miles. Ready to crank? The sensor tells the motor to back off. Feeling lazy? The motor kicks in to overdrive and all of the sudden it's a bicycle you don't have to pedal. And it's got a ticket for the real world; they're set to come out in May with a price tag of about $2,000.

If you're ready to get down with your bad self but don't want your tunes and mp3 player tied to the grid, here are two media players that'll shake you all night long without need for a traditional power supply (that's right — you: 1; your electric utility: 0). Get jiggy with the Media Street eMotion, (above, on the left) runs for nine hours after 12 to 15 hours of charging; in direct sunlight it can play all day; the Eco-Player (on the right) cranks out 40 minutes of playing after one minute of cranking.

Lastly, after first appearing about a year ago, the Poweriser stilts are taking Europe by storm and popping up everywhere around the world. Fans of the crazy bouncing stilts — which might be the coolest, craziest form of human-powered transportation we've seen to date — are all meeting up in Germany in a few weeks, and users of the Powerisers, who are called "powerbockers" (after their inventor, Alexander Böck) even have their own social networking site. But the real fun is to be had on YouTube, where some of the more adventurous 'bockers have uploaded videos of themselves performing feats of strength and other wacky craziness in acrobatics and extreme sports. All we can say is this: Bock on!

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

We also get nostalgic with Carve Your Own Post Cards, add to our out-of-hand bar tool collection with the Lime Bomber, and enjoy a sip (or five) of Wild Turkey American Spirit Bourbon. Finally, we stay on time with the Icon Watch, tear ass around the backyard in the Neiman Marcus Special Edition Hennessey Venom 700NM, and wrap our feet in some Clae Shoes.

The only thing better than the solar-powered lawn mower we featured a few weeks back? A solar-powered robot lawn mower. Lastly, from the "Everything's bigger in Texas" files: the "Fully Loaded Chair," made from 400 loaded shotgun shells. Now that's recycling.

According to the UK's Daily Express, six million Britons were injured last year because they ran into things while text-messaging. The charity Living Streets and directory service 118118 are testing the padding of lampposts and signs to stop the carnage. Also in the works: bicycle-style lanes for walking while texting on the streets.

Wondering why that Sony commercial is trying to sell you a bulky cassette-tape deck from the '70s? The electronics giant is taking the three Rs—reduce, reuse, and recycle—to heart. Sony is ramping up its recycling effort with dozens of events at which consumers can drop off old Sony electronics for free. And, as part of its marketing campaign, the company is rerunning vintage commercials featuring clunky, archaic equipment that was, once upon a time, oh-so cutting edge.

The best green tech minds in Sweden have come together, to brainstorm and prototype the next great green gadget revolution in the land of lutefisk and lefse. After putting their ample brains together, they've come up with this: a solar robot lawn mower. The only thing missing? You guessed it: a bumper sticker that says, "My other vehicle is a solar robot mower."

Lastly, this is Texas-style recycling: the "Fully Loaded Chair," made from 400 loaded shotgun shells. With shiny brass tips on the seat and back to act as a massage, and bright red plastic in the back, it is meant to create "a powerful allure and odd dichotomy of comfort and demise between furniture and weaponry." Careful, it might really knock your socks off.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

For telecommuters and self-employed home-office dwellers (not to mention bloggers) who don't have the luxury of a dedicated home office, having a suitable space to work that isn't a desk next to your bed (or your bed) can be tricky, but we've found it: it's called Trunk Station. Lastly, how many plastic bags did it take to make this suit?

You have a cell phone, and, if you're anything like the average cell user, it'll get broken, donated, traded in, thrown away, recycled or otherwise replaced within the next 18 months or so. No matter how you slice it, that's a lot of plastic and other miscellanea that will eventually end up downcycled or in the landfill. An organization called The Greener Grass thinks they have a solution for this; they've dreamed up LINC, a smart phone with all the advanced capabilities — cell phone, a media player, a web browser, GPS, downloadable content, Bluetooth, wifi, etc. — of today's smartphones, with one twist. Instead of buying the phone, you lease it until you break it or it becomes obsolete, and then you get a new one. Nice, but will it ever be anything but vaporware?

Another day, another sleek new hydrogen-fueled concept car unveiled: this one, the Lifecar, promises to be the ultimate "green" sports car. The £1.9m joint project between the British government and Morgan Motor Company will be officially rolled out at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, scheduled for March 6 - 16. Inspired by the design of the Morgan Aero-8 roadster, the Lifecar boasts a top speed of nearly 100 mph and a maximum range of 250 miles (400 km); according to Morgan boss Matthew Parkin, the futuristic car should be able to do 0-60 mph in 7 seconds.

For telecommuters and self-employed home-office dwellers (not to mention bloggers) who don't have the luxury of a dedicated home office, having a suitable space to work that isn't a desk next to your bed can be tricky. It's important to have space dedicated to work, or at least somewhere to easily stash your stuff if your dining table or sofa doubles as your home office. Straight from Japan, the Trunk Station fills both needs, creating a little half-cube and enough space to work on a computer, store some files and other useful stuff you'll need to get from 9 to 5; when your workday is through, fold it up and roll it away, out of sight and out of mind.

Here's a question you probably don't ask yourself every day: How many plastic bottles did it take to make this suit? Give up? Thirty. Really. Fit for the pages of GQ, international clothier Bagir is bringing sexy back for anyone who thought wearing a suit of plastic bags would look stupid. The company — which clothes one in six British men — has just taken post-consumer waste to a new level through its EcoGir Recycled Suit. Gives new meaning to taking out the trash, boys.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.

Finally, we pack for our next trip with the Paul Frank Malibu Weekender, decorate the office with some Mighty Muggs, and take our Lost obsession to the console with Lost: Via Domus.

Technology from around the globe comes together in a cosmic synergy to create — hold on to your hats — a solar-powered lawnmower. Lastly, the clunker of a car pictured above is in the Guinness World Record book — and not for ugliest design, even — as the souped-down ride achieved an astonishing 376.59 miles per gallon of gasoline.

Clap your hands and say "Yeah!" for Apple, who recently announced an upgrade in its recycling program. You can now send your old iPods and cell phones (of any brand or model, not just iPhones) for free recycling. Even better, according to their site: "All the e-waste we collect in North America is processed there and nothing is shipped overseas for disposal...Apple does not allow the disposal of hazardous electronic waste in solid waste landfills or incinerators, including waste-to-energy incinerators." (All together now: "Awww..."). You can also recycle your old computer and monitor, but it is only free when you purchase an Apple computer. A little sneaky, but who doesn't need a new MacBook?

Trading more traditional alternatives to grid power, like solar or wind, "Gravia" is an LED-lit floor lamp that combines human power and gravity to create a lighting source that will work for 200 years or so, and never need to be plugged in. The lamp has a weight that's raised every four hours or so; as it slowly descends, the downward motion is converted to torque via a high-efficiency ball screw. The torque is overdriven (at 1:160 for those of you scoring at home) by a harmonic drive gear hand, and the output from that spins a set of 12 high-strength neodymium magnets (which act as the rotor), spinning to power 10 high-output LEDs. Simple, no?

Our Down-Under TreeHugger recently had the pleasure to get hands on with an amazing piece of Australian technology that combines solar power, electric motors, spinning blades of death and striking red plastic to create a killer green gadget. What could it be? You guessed it: a solar-powered lawnmower. The verdict? Your lawn's ass is grass.

The clunky car pictured above may not look like much, but its claim to fame is getting an amazing 376.59 miles per gallon of gasoline, and that in a 1973 contest sponsored by Shell Oil (har, har). The car was chopped, shaved, cropped and otherwise souped down to get it as light and aerodynamic — remember, this was the '70's — as possible. Add some super-hard low-friction tires, an insulated fuel line and a few other odds 'n ends, and there you have it: almost 400 miles per gallon. Almost makes you wish the '70's had never ended.

TreeHugger's EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.