When it comes to next-gen super materials, graphene is incredible stuff – it can be six times lighter than steel, two times harder, and 10 times stronger in terms of tensile strength – and now researchers at Rice University have figured out a way to literally bake it from a box of Girl Scout cookies. A group of graduate students led by chemist James Tour recently teamed up with a Houston Girl Scout troop 25080 to perform the feat using a single box of Trefoil cookies — which could potentially yield $15 billion dollars worth of graphene.

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Post tags: building materials, girl scout cookies, graphene, green design, green materials, Houston girl scouts, james tour, rice university, sustainable design

While Tesla has been on the forefront of electric vehicle battery technology, company chief Elon Musk recently said that capacitors, not batteries, are the future of EV’s. Musk told a Cleantech Forum in San Francisco that “If I were to make a prediction, I’d think there’s a good chance that it is not batteries. But capacitors.”

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Post tags: battery capacitors, capacitors, electric cars, electric vehicle batteries, electric vehicle capacitors, electric vehicles, elon musk, elon musk tesla, tesla, tesla capacitors, tesla model-s, Tesla roadster

Let’s face it, the main burden of electrical products is the time they take to charge – be they mp3 players, power tools, or even electric cars. However, this could soon be a problem of the past, as New York-based company Ioxus has developed a new type of lithium ion ultracapacitor that can potentially deliver large amounts of energy in a small amount of time.

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Post tags: high performance ultracapacitors, hybrid energy storage device, hybrid lithium-ion ultracapacitors, hybrid-capacitors, Ioxus Lithium-ion Ultracapacitor, lithium ion ultracapacitor, lithium-ion batteries, New Lithium-ion Ultracapacitor, new york based ioxus, renewable energy, ultracapacitor, ultracapacitors

What if instead of leaking value left and right your car actually paid for itself over time? The AFS Trinity Power Corporation recently debuted just such a vehicle, dubbed the XH150. The “Extreme Hybrid SUV” has been lauded as the world’s first “zero-cost” hybrid because of a patent-pending technology that allows it to go all-electric for the first 40 miles, at which point it switches to gas with an incredible road-tested mileage of 150 MPG. Calculations based on projected energy savings show that it’s possible to recoup the hybrid’s $40,000 cost after 3-5 years!

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Post tags: afs trinity power corporation, AFS XH-150 hybrid, alternative transportation, extreme hybrid SUV, fuel economy, fuel efficient automobiles, fuel efficient cars, high mpg, hybrid automobiles, hybrid vehicles, xh150 5

The Geneva Motor Show is right around the corner, and just as you may expect, the announcements are about to start pouring on about the latest news in green vehicles. Here’s the first one we spotted: the Morgan Life Car, a stunning hydrogen powered vehicle that, according to the designers, it’s fun to ride and is as environmentally friendly. And boy, does it look sharp.

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Post tags: eco-friendly automobile, electric car, fuel cell, Geneva Motor Show, green car, green transportation, Hydrogen Fuel Car, hydrogen power, Hydrogen-Fueled Morgan Life Car, Life car, lifecar, morgan life car, morgan motors, transportation tuesday