Who hasn’t been stuck in traffic and wished that they could simply just hit a button and their car would fly over it? Flying cars have been a fantasy for decades and now they’re finally becoming a reality. Case in point: the PAL-V One is a two-seat hybrid car and gyroplane in one. The “Personal Air and Land Vehicle” gives its owner the ultimate freedom to travel by road or take to the skies.

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Post tags: airplane, flying car, green transportation, PAL-V, PAL-V One, personal transportation

Read the rest of Terrafugia Flying Car Debuts at New York Auto Show, On Sale for $279,000

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Post tags: airplane, aviation, Carl Dietrich, cars, flying car, green transportation, new york auto show, street legal airplane, Terrafugia Inc, Terrafugia Transition, transition

For the first time ever, a solar plane will attempt to fly from Switzerland to Morocco. Back in 2011 Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg flew their Solar Impulse plane from Paris to Brussels, however the plane’s latest journey will travel even further – the plane will attempt to travel over 1,550 miles without using a drop of fuel.

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Post tags: "solar energy", airplane, Andre Borschberg, bertrand piccard, solar airplane, solar impulse, solar impulse solar plane, Solar Power

Beginning in 1969, the Concorde – the world’s first supersonic passenger jet – ferried travelers across the Atlantic in just over three hours. But there were several challenges associated with the Concorde: The sonic boom it created was a drag, and because only 20 of them were ever produced, they were financial losers. Now, an engineer at MIT has come up with a design concept for a supersonic biplane that would solve all of the problems that plagued the Concorde while boosting fuel efficiency.

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Post tags: air travel, airplane, aviation, biplane, Concorde, massachusetts institute of technology, MIT, Qiqi Wang, sonic boom, supersonic

Pipistrel just rolled out the world’s most powerful electric aircraft — and it’s the first to seat four people. The Taurus G4 required two years of preparation and development, but took just four months to build. Its uniquely aerodynamic design connects two Taurus G2 lightweight gliders with a 15 ft. wide electric engine.

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Post tags: 2011 CAFE/NASA challenge, aircraft, airplane, brushless electric motor, CAFE challenge, CAFE cruiser, Climate Change, CO2, eco design, eco habitat, eco-conscious, eco-friendly, electric airplane, electric vehicle, emissions, Environment, environmental design, ev, EV aircraft, EV concept, green design, green infrastructure, green living, green technology, green transportation, infrastructure, pipistrel, Slovenia, sustainable design, sustainable living, Taurus G2, Taurus G4

Read the rest of FIRST PHOTOS: Incredible Recycled 747 Airplane House Completed in Malibu!

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", 747 Wing House, adaptive reuse, airplane, airplane house, Aluminum, David Hertz Architects, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green materials, green renovation, malibu, post-consumer materials, Reclaimed Materials, recycled airplane, studio of environmental architects, Sustainable Building, sustainable design

Boeing recently announced that their new 787 jet assembly plant in South Carolina will be completely powered by renewable energy. The new facility will have a roof covered with solar panels that will provide most of the energy they need for operations, and they will supplement this energy source with renewable energy certificates bought from SCE&G. The solar array will be made up of 18,000 solar panels, will produce 2.6 megawatts of power, and will cover a whopping 10 acres of rooftop.

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Post tags: airline industry, airplane, airplane factory, airplane hanger, airplane industry, boeing, boeing environment, boeing factory, boeing green efforts, earth friendly airline, green airline, south carolina, sustainable airline

Australian designer Jaron Dickson has come up with a concept for a hydrogen-powered, flying yacht. If that wasn’t cool enough, the yacht is based on the legendary Soviet super-vehicle the Ekranoplan. As a result, this cool little boat, which has been shortlisted for an Australian Design Award, is called the EkranoYacht – read on for a look!

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Post tags: airplane, Australian Design Awards, concept, Design, ekranoplan, ekranoplane, ekranoyacht, flying yacht, hydrogen yacht, Jaron Dickson, luxury yacht

Can you imagine being able to drive your car to the airport, fly it over water and then land it on a faraway island? Well, designer Phil Pauley proposes a vehicle that can do all three. The Halo Intersceptor is a concept electric vehicle based on one car that can couple with several different attachments to allow for private air, sea and land travel.

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Post tags: airplaine, airplane, alternative transportation, green transportation, halo intersceptor, hybrid vehicle, phil pauley

Soar into the stratosphere without leaving your office with MotoArt‘s new KC-97 Fuel Tank Cradle Desk. Made from cradles that served as supports for jet fuel tankers that kept planes in the air during the cold war, this unique, L shaped desk has a 1/2” tempered glass top and is supported by a 1” square polished aluminum bar.

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Post tags: "green furniture", airplane, eco design, eco desk, fuel tank, green design, green desk green product, green products, motoart cradle desk, plane, Recycled Materials, recycled plane desk, sustainable design

Today a team of researchers at MIT unveiled their latest feat of engineering — an airplane that uses 70% less fuel than conventional aircraft. The MIT team was one of six groups — and the only university led team — across the US chosen by NASA to help redesign current aircraft to increase fuel efficiency, lower emissions and allow planes to take off on shorter runways. The team accomplished all of NASA’s set goals with their innovative D-series plane, lovingly referred to as the “double bubble”.

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Post tags: aircraft, airplane, energy efficient, Fuel Efficient, green design, Green Transportation, less fuel, lower emissions, MIT, nasa, sustainable design

Looking for a luxurious hotel to stay at in the Netherlands? Why not try out this Cold War-era East German airplane, which has been transformed into a super delux hotel suite. Parked next to the Teuge Airport in The Netherlands, this fantastic hotel suite for two comes complete with all the amenities — including a cockpit where you can watch the planes land and take off. All of this comes at a fairly reasonable price of €350 per night; you even have a 24-hour on-call hostess.

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Post tags: airplane, airplane hotel room, hotel suites, reclaimed airplane hotel, recycled airplane, salvaged airplane, the netherlands

NASA is currently working on a personal aircraft that will put jet packs to shame. The Puffin is an all-electric one-man aircraft that could be the start of some new and amazing air travel technology. With two prop electric engines, lithium phosphate batteries and a top speed of almost 300 mph, people will be trading in their iPhone for a chance to see one of these things in action. Originally designed for covert military insertions because it is quieter and has a lower heat signature than combustion engines, the Puffin could beat out traditional aircraft in terms of environmental impact as well.

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Post tags: airplane, all-electric, electric aircraft, electric airplane, electric vehicle, green design, nasa, personal aircraft, personal flight vehicle, Puffin, sustainable design, sustainable transportation, vtol, VTOL aircraft

Biofuels are often touted as the next big thing in airplane fuel technology, but solar power shouldn’t be discounted — as was recently proven by the team behind the Solar Impulse. The solar-powered plane just took its first test down the runway, and eventually the plane is expected to take a 20 to 25 day trip around the world.

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Post tags: "solar energy", airplane, alternative energy, green design, renewable energy, solar impulse, Solar Power, solar powered airplane, sustainable design

We’ve seen designers recycle airplane parts to create desks, tropical eco-hotels and a hostel, and now we can add couches and beds to the lofty collection! MotoArt is a team of designers who transform airplane parts into sleek, highly polished modern pieces of furniture. Based in Los Angeles, the 6 person design crew creates an impressive line-up of upcycled furnishings, sure to please every airplane enthusiast’s flight of fancy.

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Post tags: "green furniture", airplane, airplane parts, eco furniture, recycled, recycled furniture, upcycled

Flight pioneer Bertrand Piccard, an aeronaut who made the first nonstop round the world balloon flight, recently unveiled a prototype of an incredible solar-powered airplane that will one day circle the globe. Dubbed the Solar Impulse, the plane first caught our attention when it was being developed, and we’re thrilled to see a working prototype of the vehicle. Is the age of the solar powered airplane upon us?

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Post tags: airplane, bertrand piccard, Green Transportation, HB-SIA, solar impulse, solar powered plane, sustainable design

Hydrogen fuel cells are not new technology but are an intriguing alternative power source. A fuel cell is a device that can convert hydrogen into electricity and is effectively a zero-emissions fuel source in operation (though not in manufacturing). It is commonly deployed in automobiles, and has also been used as a supplementary source of energy within buildings. Last week, Boeing demonstrated a small manned Dimona motor glider using only hydrogen fuel cells, making it the first time that a manned airplane has ever flown on this technology.


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Post tags: airplane, boeing fuel cell plane boeing flies fuel cell, boeing hydrogen fuel cell, first fuel cell plane, first hydrogen plane, fuel cell, fuel cell plane, fuel cell powered plane, hydrogen, hydrogen powered plane

We’ve recently featured the 787 Dreamliner airplane from Boeing, and the Ecojet prototype from Easyjet as examples of environmentally-friendlier air travel innovations. And now comes news from the beautiful land of New Zealand that its biggest airline, appropriately known as Air New Zealand, in conjunction with Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation and Boeing, is testing the waters for a new fuel made from the algae found in pond scums, which could have the capacity to reduce the entire carbon footprint of the airline industry to zero.

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Post tags: air new zealand, airplane, biofuel, eco airplane, ecojet, jet, pond scum

Last week we brought you news of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a state-of-the art aircraft designed to reduce the greenhouse emissions and provide more sustainable air travel. But there’s another green plane as well: Easyjet, the low cost short haul European airline, is coming out with it’s own fuel efficient airplane: The Ecojet.


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Post tags: air travel, airplane, easyjet, easyjet ecojet, ecojet, efficiency, fuel, jet, reduced emissions, short-haul flights, Sustainable