Pretty Sweet, Its Sugar Battery
How's this for eco-friendly: a battery that runs on sugar. Sony's bio cell, unveiled in mid-2007, uses glucose-digesting enzymes to extract electrons from any sugary solution (as with other batteries, the electrons flow around the circuit to generate electricity). Connect four of the 50-milliwatt cells, and you've got enough juice to keep your MP3 player humming.
Available Prototype
sony.net
Autonomous Automobile
The trouble with most green-concept cars is that they require regular "refueling" with hard-to-get hydrogen or ethanol. The Venturi Eclectic runs solely on wind and solar power. Solar cells blanket the rooftop, and a wind turbine provides extra juice. When that's not enough, a backup electric outlet can recharge the three-seat Eclectic in five hours.
Available: 2008
http://www.venturi.fr/
Bending Reality, Crushing the LCD
Imagine a cell phone you could roll up like a sheet of paper, or a computer screen flexible enough to wrap around a pillar. This spring LG.Philips and Sony demonstrated flexible displays that can do just that. Both ultra-thin screens use organic leds that display 16.7 million colors. Flexible screens have been shown before, but these mark a step up in durability and quality, and bring us closer to a future when the unyieldingly rigid gadgets we now covet will be obsolete.
Available Prototypes
lgphilips-lcd.com
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