Update: FIsker gets Big Loan

In an update to a story posted here last Thursday, the Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it will loan Fisker Automotive over a half billion dollars (!!!) for the development of their two lines of hybrid cars.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu states that the move will help lower greenhouse gas emissions and save/create 5,000 jobs (read the DOE's statement here). This piggybacks on a similar announcement around Telsa Motors electric sedan launch slated for 2011, and seems to be proving that Obama's team is walking the walk.

It's an Electric...Boogie Woogie Woogie

What's under the cover, you ask? A prototype of Fisker Automotive's new electric luxury roadster. The Karma S, as it's called, was introduced to the public at the AlwaysOn Going Green conference, and is designed to go 50 miles on it's batteries (with a liquid-fuel based generator on board). It will cost around $80,000.

The Karma might not have been the most noteworthy news at the Fisker booth, though; an investor let slip that the company plans to develop and release a $39,000 version of thier plug-in hybrid by 2012.

Baby You Can Drive My Wooden Car

Though it's admittedly not "out to save the world," the research behind Project Splinter could be considered an important exercise in alternative materials.

Pictured above is the Splinter, the graduate project of a group North Carolina State students. It is a 2500-pound sports car, with a target horsepower of 600. Wood composites, or engineered wood, have been utilized everywhere possible in the car's design and construction, including chassis, body, and large percentages of the suspension components and wheels.

Please note: This car is flammable. Burn rubber at your own risk.

An Aerobic Revolution: Powering Gyms with Gyrations

A new gym in Portland, Oregon, called The Green Microgym, has figured out how to harness the energy it's members expend while working out.

The "human-powered" gym, which opened last week, is stocked with stationary bicycles designed to connect to wind-generator motors. As gym patrons pedal, batteries supplying power to televisions and stereos are simultaneously charged.

The gym, which also relies heavily on solar power, is currently working on ways of capturing excess energy from it's elliptical machines, and hopes to generate 40 percent of their own energy needs.

Inagural Green Friday

Happy Friday all!

Welcome to the first installment of Innovationland's Green Friday. While sustainability and the people who make it happen are always on our radar screen, we'll try especially hard on Friday's to feature some inspirational and innovative "green" ideas.


"The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them." ~ Paul Hawken