Toyota’s solar-powered car; Tidal & wave power among the most expensive; All-electric smart fortwo; Monolab solar skyscraper; Green energy investments overtake fossil fuel investment

Toyota developing a car that would charge only by solar energy. The concept for their solar car would get some of its power from solar cells on the vehicle and the rest from solar panels on the rooftop of the home where the car is parked. They eventually want to make a car completely powered by solar cells on the car – and I bet they will be the first to get it done.

Tidal and wind power is incredibly expensive. There is a good reason why tidal and wave power has not taken off like solar and wind – it’s too expensive. A report by infrastructure consulting firm Black and Veatch says that wave and marine current power generation can cost as much between $410 – $445 per megawatt-hour, while other renewables like wind, solid biomass, hydroelectric and geothermal have costs nearing $150 per megawatt-hour.

smart fortwo going all-electric…at least in the UK for now. It will be coming to France and the U.S. shortly, though. The new electric version will be able to reach top speeds of 60mph and go up to 72 miles per charge of its 41 hp Zytek electric motor. Very cool – I always thought that this should be an electric car and not necessarily a gas one, as the MPG is not that great for it’s size.

Monolab wants to take solar power to extreme heights by making their 450 meter-high Rotterdam Tower with a skin of photovoltaic panels. No word on what they plan on doing with the power generated by the tower, but I hope someday that all buildings are coated with solar cells.

Green energy investments overtakes fossil fuel investment. It’s about time! According to figures provided by the UN, wind, solar and other clean technologies attracted $140bn (£85bn) compared with $110bn for gas and coal for electrical power generation, with more than a third of the green cash destined for Britain and the rest of Europe. The biggest growth for renewable investment came from China, India and other developing countries. Hopefully soon, the US will see this kind of growth as well.