This week at TreeHugger: The MIRA ‘plugless’ plug-in hybrid car. The batteries are swappable, eliminating the charging time when you are in a hurry. LED bulbs are maturing; the new EvoLux 13W model can replace a 100W incandescent. And finally, from Sweden, the Manodo smart-home gadget helps you monitor your house’s power consumption in detail.
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.
