The Tesla E-Max bike by Madella Simone is not just a pretty electric face. This motorcycle is covered in piezoelectric material that converts compression strength to power. And that’s not all. A second layer of Halite fabric also converts the heat of a human body sitting on the bike into extra electricity.

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Post tags: alternative transportation, concept bike, concept vehicle, electric motorcycle, green automotive design, green transportation, Halite fabric, in-wheel motors, Madella Simone, piezoelectric, Tesla E-Max Bike

Read the rest of Solar Ivy Building-Integrated Modular Photovoltaic System Grows Bigger & Better

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Post tags: "solar energy", "sustainable architecture", building integrated solar power, eco design, Green Building, green design, green energy, photovoltaics, piezoelectric, renewable energy, SMIT, solar ivy, Solar Power, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, sustainably minded interactive technology, thin film, thin film photovoltaics, thin film solar

Piezoelectric technology generates energy from pressure and stress on certain surfaces, and we’ve seen it harvest electricity from roads and dance floors to power lights and signs. Recently Israeli company Innowattech unveiled a new use for this versatile energy tech – they’re planning to install piezoelectric pads throughout the country’s railways to generate electricity.

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Post tags: Eco Tech, Energy Harvesting Rail Pads, Environment, innowatech piezoelectric, Innowattech, Innowattech IPEG PAD, piezoelectric, Piezoelectric Devices, piezoelectric power, piezoelectric railroad, piezoelectricity, Railpads, Railway Pads, renewable energy, Technology

Just as we love to hear, green technology is going the extra mile these days zipping well past the realm of solar power, into the boundless world of innovative ideas that no man has ever explored before. From a printer that can build a whole buildings from stone to an entire city that flips the discomfort of the summer heat into an energy-saving advantage for the wintertime, we’ve rounded up several ingenious ideas that are hell bent on transforming the world to a more sustainable place. Jump ahead for some of our favorite examples of groundbreaking green technology today!

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Post tags: 3d printer, building printer, eco technology, green technology, groundbreaking technology, Honggerberg Campus, inspiring technology, new technology, out of the box technology, piezoelectric, powerleap, Science City, shoe generator, SMIT, solar ivy, spray on solar cells, sustainable technology

Green technology isn’t just about wind turbines, solar panels and alternative fuel anymore. A few inspiring individuals out there are breaking new ground with innovative ideas that no one’s ever explored before. From a printer that can spit out whole buildings made of stone to an entire city that flips the discomfort of the summer heat into an energy-saving advantage for the wintertime to a company that decided solar panels don’t have to be ugly, heavy or even rectangular. Read on to check out some of our favorite examples of emerging technology in the field of green!

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Post tags: 3d printer, building printer, eco technology, green technology, groundbreaking technology, Honggerberg Campus, inspiring technology, new technology, out of the box technology, piezoelectric, powerleap, Science City, shoe generator, SMIT, solar ivy, spray on solar cells, sustainable technology

MIT labs just unveiled its latest technological breakthrough — a brand new kind of material that combines optical fiber technology and piezoelectrics, meaning it can actually sense pressure changes against it. The wonder fibers have a myriad of applications – from intelligent garments that can monitor the body to structural sensors that can detect even the smallest stresses on a building, to self-powered medical devices small enough to fit in the smallest crevices.

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Post tags: biosensors, green technology, massachusetts institute of technology, MIT, MIT's New Multifunctional Fibers Combine Piezoelectric Sensitivity with Heat and Light Sensing, multifunctional fibers, piezoelectric, yoel fink

Photo courtesy of lusi

These shoes were made for walking–and for producing power. A researcher at Louisiana Tech University designed a shoe that contains a small generator in its sole. When the shoe-wearer moves, it generates a piezoelectric charge, which is then converted into electricity for charging batteries or powering small electronics in real time. The designer hopes the shoe can eventually create clean, renewable electricity to charge portable devices like sensors, GPS units and cell phones.

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Post tags: electrical engineer, electricity from walking, electricity-generating shoe, energy from walking, energy harvesting, Institute for Micromanufacturing, kinetic energy, Louisiana Tech, piezoelectric, power harvesting, shoe generator, Ville Kaajakari

Solar Ivy (or SMIT Grow) is a spectacular system of thin, fluttering solar panels that generate energy by sparkling in the sunlight. The wind and solar power generating photovoltaic leaves can be easily integrated on the side of a building to produce energy. The concept, designed by Brooklyn based SMIT (Sustainably Minded Interactive Technology), consists of a layer of thin-film material on top of polyethylene with a piezoelectric generator attached to each leaf. When the sun is shining or the wind is blowing, energy is being generated via Solar Ivy.

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Post tags: modular, piezoelectric, piezoelectric generator, renewable energy, SMIT, solar, solar ivy, Wind Power

Here’s a brilliant invention that makes us wonder why all city sidewalks aren’t covered in piezoelectric tiles. POWERleap is a floor tiling system that converts wasted energy from human foot traffic into electricity. The magic behind that awesomeness is piezoelectric technology and advanced circuitry design, which converts pitter-patter into power. First showcased in 2007 as part of Metropolis magazine’s Next Generation design competition, we see HUGE potential from this invention. Individual footsteps might not produce a significant amount of power, but if you consider the total kinetic energy from stampedes of shoppers on 5th avenue, (or commuters in a train station, or revelers in a nightclub), it all adds up fast and could be a viable energy source to power specific applications like lights.

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Post tags: eco tiles, energy generating tiles, energy tiles, foot power, green playground, kinetic energy, people powered energy, piezoelectric, piezoelectricity, power leap, power tile, powerleap

Trying to find alternative sources of energy has proven to be an extraordinary feat, allowing us to use everything from sun to the motion of the ocean. But there is still one plentiful source of renewable energy which has so far remained pretty much untapped: rain. Getting energy from falling water droplets might seem like an obvious, ‘why didn’t I think of that’ idea, but so far no-one has really exploited this plentiful (albeit somewhat unreliable) energy source. Now a team from CEA/Leti-Minatec has created a system that is capable of recovering kinetic energy from the impact of falling raindrops.

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Post tags: alternative energy, Electricity, france, Green Materials, Paris, piezoelectric, power, rain, rain power