Advertisement

Inhabitat's Week in Green: The Karma Revero, and more!

Meanwhile, Ford is working on a 200-mile electric car.

The Fisker Karma is one of the hottest plug-in hybrid cars ever built. However, production stopped in 2012 when the company went bankrupt. Now the car is set to be reborn as the Karma Revero this year. Meanwhile, Ford is planning to launch a 200-mile electric car to take on the Tesla Model 3 and the Chevy Bolt. In other news, SpaceX announced plans to send its Red Dragon spacecraft to mars in 2018, while NASA invested $67 million to develop super efficient solar-electric engines. The US Air Force smashed the world record for maglev speed by propelling a floating sled to 633 miles per hour. And the Twicycle is a crazy bike that's powered by your arms and legs.

The lifespan of the average lithium-ion battery is about 5,000 to 7,000 charges, but researchers just accidentally discovered a way to make li-ion cells last basically forever. In other energy news, Egypt is planning to build a massive $3.5 billion suite of solar power plants, and IKEA began selling photovoltaic panels in the UK. Tesla and SolarCity are on track to add more energy storage capacity this year than the entire USA installed in 2015. And a new type of floating solar panel can generate energy without taking up valuable real estate.

After investing $43 million in development, Dyson just unveiled the hair dryer of the future. It's ultra-efficient, virtually silent and expensive with a $400 MSRP. In other design and technology news, we spotted a floating UFO home that is completely powered by the wind, water and sun. Scientists discovered a fourth state of water in which molecules "tunnel" when trapped in confined spaces. Splyt launched a line of modular lamps that can be connected to create LED trees. And Belgian designer Kristel Peters developed a process for making zero-waste shoes grown from fungus.