Inhabitat’s Week in Green: solar train tunnels, refillable battery goop, and the world’s first 3D-printed bikini

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s best green developments and clean tech news for us — it is the Week in Green.

This week green transportation left fossil fuels within the dust as Inhabitat reported that a record-breaking electric VW Bug rocketed from 0-60 in 1.6 seconds and Team Steam unveiled a space age vehicle that’s vying for the title of “fastest steam car on the earth.” We also spotted the world’s first natural gas-powered supercar , while a team of Cambridge students unveiled a sleek solar racer a good way to try to travel 1,800 miles on the earth Solar Challenge. Oil fuels also lost more luster as GM’s CEO called for a $1 gas tax increase inside the US, while MIT unveiled a brand new form of liquid flow battery which may refuel electric vehicles in a snap.

Because the summer sun hits its stride groundbreaking solar energy projects are lighting up left and right – this week Google unveiled a new solar patent that may make solar power cheaper than coal, while QSolar rolled out an array of rainbow-hued Kristal panels which can replace windows and walls. Photovoltaic gadgets also had their moment within the sun as Pixel Qi pulled back the curtain on a cost-effective, efficient solar-powered tablet and a wave and sun-powered 0 seafaring robot 0 received $22 million in funding.

Speaking of solar energy, this week we applauded the outlet of a two-mile-long 1 photovoltaic train tunnel 1 which will provide power to the Paris-Amsterdam high-speed rail line. We were also wowed by Steve Jobs’ vision for Apple’s new spaceship-shaped 2 clean energy campus 2 , and our 3 Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition 3 is truly heating up, so you should definitely vote on your favorite green lamp before the competition ends next week. Finally, we shared 4 6 great green Father’s Day gifts 4 for tech-savvy dads, and as summer gets set to start we brought you exclusive photos of the recently opened 5 section 2 of latest York’s High Line park 5 , a pretty suspended 6 swimmer’s oasis 6 in Denmark, and the 7 world’s first 3D-printed bikini 7 .

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This post is tagged: cambridge students, design competition, father s day gifts, moment in the sun, solar power projects, windows and walls, world solar challenge