Hot eco-cars that go zoom-zoom; Solar tent; Tesla Motors to get DOE loan; Solarwind turbine; Supercomputer doubles as space heater

You don’t need to drive a bad-looking car to save the planet. The first car on the list, the Aero EV, has a twin motor AESP producing a jaw-dropping 1,000 hp, goes 60 mph in 2.5 seconds, and its top speed is 208 mph. It can be charged and ready to go in 10 minutes on a standard 110 outlet has a range of 200 miles. Wow.

The new way to go camping – a solar tent. Thanks to its photovoltaic fabric, this tent is solar-powered, and it also rocks a heated groundsheet, magnetic induction charging pouch and wireless hub. This is one sweet tent…although I go camping to get away from all the electronic hub-bub in my life. So who knows…

Tesla Motors to get DOE funding. The Department Of Energy will be loaning Tesla Motors about $450 million for them to continue development of their Model S and new powertrains. In my opinion, this is a much better use of federal money than continuing to shell it out to other manufacturers, as I think Tesla will do wonders with this money. Look what they did on a shoestring!

Solarwind turbine – using the sun AND the wind. A Santa Fe, New Mexico start-up company called Bluenergy has developed a hybrid vertical axis wind turbine that is covered with solar cells. Now that is some thinking – combining a wind turbine and solar cells in one unit. Wonder why it was never done before?

Supercomputer Doubles as Dorm Space Heater. IBM has plans to build a supercomputer that will use water to keep the computer system cool and then even recycle some of the waste heat – to help heat the university where it’s housed. Technology could lead to a reduction in energy consumption by at least 40%, when compared to similar air-cooled machines. This could be a good use of heat that normally just gets wasted, and I hope to see it implemented in more installations.