This week on TreeHugger, Star Wars EVs are a reality, robotic wildlife cameras camouflaged with mirrors, DIY battery reconditioner, weird L-shaped pop-up hotel rooms, airlines save millions by switching to iPads and more!
1. Star Wars-Inspired EV Becomes Reality
Meet EDWARD. The name stands for Electric Diwheel With Active Rotation Damping, and was developed by students at Adelaide University in southern Australia.
2. Learn Basic Bike Repair with These 9 DIY Videos
Keeping your bike in tip-top shape means regular maintenance, preventative measures, and the occasional on-the-road quick fix.
3. Keep Rechargeable Batteries Longer with DIY Battery Reconditioner
A cool DIY project could help you save money and keep those AAs longer.
4. Above Minneapolis' Bike Highway, a Self-Service Repair Kiosk for Cyclists
Bike Fixtation, a company offering self-service kiosks that cater to cyclists in need, just opened its first location in Minneapolis.
5. CityHub Plug-In Pop-Up Modular Hotel Is A Better Capsule
Sem Schuurkes and Pieter van Tilburg have developed an L shaped pop-up hotel room that can be put in any building.
6. The Spark Solar-Powered Charger for iPad Offers Speedy Charging
Voltaic is announcing its latest solar-powered charger, the Spark, and it is designed specifically for tablet devices. Not only is it a charger, but it is also a carrying case for the device itself.
7. Zurich Buses Get Air Quality Sensors - Will Send Data via Mobile Phones
Researchers have started OpenSense, a project that will test out if using the existing infrastructures of public transportation and mobile phone networks could be a smart solution for monitoring pollution.
8. Gotwind Solar-Powered "Street Charger" A Smart Solution for Dead Batteries
Gotwind announces a new cool prototype for solar charging in off-grid locations, from festivals to developing nations.
9. "Magi-Cam" Uses Mirror-Covered Robot to Record Camera-Shy Animals (Video)
A smart device called the Magi-Cam could solve this problem, using remote control to navigate a camera camouflaged with mirrors.
10. American Airlines Switching From Paper to iPads, Will Save $1.2 million In Fuel
American Airlines is eyeballing iPads as a light-weight way to carry flight charts. And the company guesses the change will save it over a million dollars a year in fuel costs.