John Carnett modded brand new Polaris RZR 2-seater ATV with a grey market, 40-year-old turbine. The result is a 114db joystick-driven vehicle that spews out 1300°F exhaust to achieve around 60MPH. And it sounds glorious.

Our only regret is that Carnett was too sane to take his jet ATV over any sweet jumps. Give him time, though. A guy who builds stuff like this has to be slipping a bit. [PopSci]

What happens is the bats' internal echolocation, which tracks movement, attracts them to the blades of wind turbines, which presents another fairly obvious problem. But a University of Calgary researcher, puzzled by bats dying off in large numbers around wind farms in southern Alberta has found that those that don't get cut down by the blades (surprisingly only 50%) are actually dying from exploded lungs, or barotrauma; the low pressure areas around the spinning rotors, as explained by our friend Bernoulli, cause the bats' tiny air sacs to burst. Even those that do get knocked out of the sky by the blades have their lungs popped beforehand—of the 188 dead bats in the study, 90% had barotrauma as the cause of death.

I'm thinking this is going to have to remain one of those problems without an immediate solution. Hopefully the bats will evolve to realize that the massive spinning turbine blades do not equal a tasty insectoid meal. [New Scientist, Photo: Zeusandhera]

For starters, Rock Port only has 1300 residents, which is much easier to power using renewable energy than most places. Wind power currently accounts for 1% of total power consumption, and the US government only sees it providing around 20% of the power needed to run the country in the future. And even for that to happen, turbines need to become dramatically more efficient. But I'm not trying to rain on Rock Port's parade (which I'm sure every eco-freak would have gathered for, had it not added to their carbon footprint). [Science Daily via Popular Science]

I do jump off of my bed sometimes though, that counts for something, right? [Groovy Green via Huffington Post]

The man responsible for Samsø's shift is Søren Hermansen, who after deciding farming wasn't for him, became an environmental sciences teacher, and then a renewable energy expert. Growing up on the island and seeing the impact the people were having on the environment, Hermansen felt he could talk the residents into making some changes. The public response was favorable, and the transformation began. The island now has 11 onshore turbines, a biomass plant, and a straw burning plant, which are invested in by the residents of Samsø, as well as outside, private investors. All the while, this green movement has brought in a constant flow of researchers, scientists and sociologists trying to figure out Samsø's mojo.

And for those in the giant turbine market, I think it's worth noting that giant turbines come with panoramic sunroofs. Not sure about power locks and cruise control, however. [New Yorker]

The concept of decentralized wind power is not a new one, but adoption has been held up by the expense and unwieldiness of existing solutions, which basically involves building a tall, ugly, miniaturized Texan wind farm on your roof. "Architectural Wind" promises to simplify the process, allowing you to strap as many of the attractive, unobtrusive fans to the edges of your building as you can, without requiring any kind of additional renovation.
[Inhabitat]

As far as telling time is concerned, the watch utilizes a rather elegant series of rotating hour blocks built around hands that automatically adjust their length to mark the minutes. That is a hell of a lot of technology to do what any cellphone or bubble gum machine watch can do, but I have to admit that I'm pretty damn impressed. No pricing information has been made available, but think expensive thoughts. [Urwerk via Watchismo via Gearfuse]

Seriously, why are they not installing a few hundred of these things in those empty, useless states between the coasts? They have lots of space, they could use it to power cities where things actually get done, thereby contributing to the greater good of the country. Wind power is as renewable as energy gets, so only good would come out of harnessing it to power as many homes as possible. Let's make this happen, Midwest. [Metaefficient via New Launches]

Able to generate an estimated 9,600 kWh per year, these wouldn't replace surrounding power plants anytime soon, but they'd be a great way to supplement existing plants with eco-friendly energy. Wind power FTW!–Adam Frucci

Archinect [via AutoblogGreen]