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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: the Soundscraper, bedroom algae biofuel lab and the revival of the gastric-brooding frog

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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The first week of spring kicked off with a bang for the architecture community as Japanese architect Toyo Ito was awarded the 2013 Pritzker Prize. Meanwhile Christo unveiled the world's largest inflated indoor sculpture in Germany and MIT researchers announced plans to 3D print a pavilion inspired by the technique that silkworms use to build their cocoons. Inhabitat also showcased several futuristic skyscraper concepts -- including the Soundscraper, which transforms auditory vibrations into clean energy, and the Zero Skyscraper, which is a post-apocalyptic survival structure. And we profiled some fascinating adaptive-reuse projects, including a grain elevator that was transformed into a student housing complex in Oslo and a Cold War-era missile silo that was converted into an underground home in Upstate New York.

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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: Skyscraper competition, a solar death ray and HIV-killing bee venom

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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March marks the start of spring, and this week we saw lots of fresh new unveils in the world of green architecture -- including the futuristic winners of the 2013 eVolo Skyscraper Competition. This year's winner was the Polar Umbrella, a buoyant skyscraper designed to rebuild the shrinking polar ice sheets affected by global warming. Some of our other favorites are these jellyfish-shaped PH Conditioner Skyscrapers, which combat air pollution while producing fresh water, and Project Nomad, an out-of-this-world mobile skyscraper that could terraform Mars to make it habitable by humans. Meanwhile architect Michael Charters designed "Big Wood," a prototype for a large-scale wooden skyscraper in downtown Chicago.

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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: algae-powered building, 3D-printing vending machine and the Toyota i-Road concept

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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Now that green design is entering the mainstream, we're beginning to see the design community tackle larger, more ambitious projects using eco-friendly techniques. Case in point: This week, San Francisco transformed the Bay Bridge into the world's largest light sculpture by outfitting it with 25,000 LED lights. Because the lights are so energy-efficient, it will cost just $15 per night to run the installation. In Hamburg, workers are putting the finishing touches on the world's first algae-powered building, which is set to open this month at the International Building Exhibition. A company in Tokyo recently demonstrated a new skyscraper deconstruction technique that harvests energy from the demolition process and salvages almost every piece of the building for reuse. And in Copenhagen, work has begun on a combined ski resort and waste-to-energy plant, which will convert the city's trash into energy that powers the resort.

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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: portable fission reactor, Urbee 2 and the ix35 Fuel Cell car

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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Silicon Valley dominated this week's news cycle, beginning with Yahoo's announcement that it will no longer allow employees to work from home. Some are crying foul, however, pointing out that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer recently installed a nursery in her office, and that unlike most mothers, she's allowed to bring her child to work. But while Yahoo's announcement may have ruffled some feathers, Google gave greenies reason to smile, as it announced plans to build a jumbo, green-roofed expansion at the tech giant's Mountain View headquarters. Not to be outdone, Samsung unveiled plans to build a garden-filled, eco-friendly Silicon Valley headquarters of its own.

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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: asteroid mining, a Legoland hotel and the Amsterdam Light Festival

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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Of all the technological breakthroughs we've witnessed in recent years, the emergence of 3D printing technology is one of the most exciting. This week saw a number of breakthroughs in the realm of 3D printing, beginning with Deep Space Industries' plans to develop space-based 3D printers that could produce satellites using materials mined from asteroids. Dutch design firm Universe Architecture announced plans to build the world's first 3D-printed house (which is shaped like a Mobius strip), and French sculptor Gael Langevin is currently developing a design for an open-source humanoid robot that you can make at home with a 3D printer. We learned about an inventive DIYer who figured out a way to hack an old inkjet printer and transform it into a bioprinter. And at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week on Monday, Iris van Herpen debuted the world's first 3D-printed flexible dresses.

In renewable energy news, this week Inhabitat sent a reporter to Masdar City, which was once billed as the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste city, to report on some of the new energy-efficient developments there -- including Siemens' new LEED Platinum headquarters and the world's largest concentrated solar power plant. V3solar announced that its spinning cone-shaped photovoltaic cells could produce power at two-thirds the current cost of retail electricity, and a report issued by the World Wildlife Fund found that solar power could serve all the world's energy needs. Belgium announced plans to construct an artificial island to be used solely as storage for wind energy, and Duke Energy recently flipped the switch on what the company claims is the world's largest battery power storage system in West Texas.

In the world of green transportation, Toyota and BMW announced plans to create next-generation car batteries that will generate energy from thin air. At the World Future Energy Summit, students at Osaka Sangyo University rolled out a sporty new emissions-free fuel cell vehicle that's already licensed to drive on the roads in Japan. We also had a chance to check out the Zerotracer, a closed-cabin electric motorbike that recently traveled around the world in 80 days.

In green lighting news, artist Anne Militello recently unveiled her Light Cycles LED art installation, which transforms the 10-story atrium of the World Financial Center in New York City into an impressive glowing light show each night. And speaking of light installations, the entire city of Amsterdam has been aglow with light sculptures, LED decorations, fiery boat parades and huge projections for the Amsterdam Light Festival, which just concluded this week. In Oslo, Squidsoup recently unveiled a new installation featuring 8,064 floating LED lights strung from the ceiling of Galleri ROM. And in San Francisco, the Bay Bridge will soon be adorned with 25,000 individually programmed white LEDs to celebrate the suspension bridge's 75th year.

Lego fans will be excited to hear that North America's first Legoland hotel is set to open its doors in Carlsbad, Calif., in April. In other green architecture news, San Francisco-based firm William Duff Architects recently completed a home in Menlo Park that features a layout based on the Fibonacci sequence. Architecture students in Nantes drafted a proposal to create a floating "hydropolis" that would rest on the tide of Egypt's Nile River. And for a bit of eco eye candy, this week Inhabitat featured Virginia-based artist Eric Standley's mind-blowing paper sculptures, which look like ornate stained-glass windows.

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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: Tesla Model X, Wendy the pavilion and a robot named Baxter

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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It's cold outside, but the cars at this week's North American International Auto Show were positively sizzling -- and Inhabitat sent several writers to report on the latest green cars to be unveiled at the show. Among the standouts at this year's auto show were Acura, which unveiled its sleek new NSX hybrid sports car, and Tesla, which showcased its all-electric Model X. Also on display in Detroit was Cadillac's 2014 ELR extended range EV with its gorgeous new interior. Want to see all the hottest rides from NAIAS 2013? Check out our roundup of the top seven hybrids and EVs from this year's show.

While we were mostly preoccupied with the shiny new cars in Detroit, there were also plenty of exciting green architecture developments this week. Ronald Lu & Partners just announced that ZCB, the first net-zero energy building in Hong Kong is now open to the public. Meanwhile in China, the 2013 Harbin Ice Festival just kicked off in Zhaolin Park near the Songhua River -- and it features some absolutely stunning castles made entirely from ice. And Wendy, the spiky blue pavilion from NYC-based architecture firm HWKN, made its debut in Abu Dhabi, and an Inhabitat reporter was on the scene to tour it.

Last week was a good one for renewable energy news. Japan announced that it will soon build the world's largest offshore wind farm near Fukushima to compensate for scaling back its use of nuclear power since the 2011 meltdown. Electronics giant Panasonic unveiled the next-generation Ene-Farm, which is the world's most efficient home fuel cell. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed a device that detects weak or defective silicon wafers, which could save the solar industry billions of dollars. And the California Public Utilities Commission announced that California installed an impressive 1 GW of solar power by the end of 2012 -- the most of any state in the country.

Inhabitat also reported on a wide variety of green products last week, starting with the iRock, an ingenious rocking chair that recharges your iPad using kinetic energy. Industrial designer Max Gunawan unveiled the Lumio, a hardbound book that opens up to become a gorgeous low-energy lamp. A group of University of Toronto grads launched the NanoLight, which they claim is the world's most efficient LED light bulb. Rethink Robotics, a Boston-based robotics firm created a $22,000 humanoid robot named Baxter, which the company thinks can help revive American manufacturing. And finally, in case you missed it, Inhabitat recently launched a photo contest with LightCollector -- enter now for your chance to win $1,000!

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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: cardboard cockroach, a milk carton pavilion and the iPotty

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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January is an exciting time for both green technology and eco-friendly cars, as the Consumer Electronics Show segues into the Detroit Auto Show -- which just kicked off today! Inhabitat is on the scene at NAIAS 2013 to bring you the latest green car unveilings. So far, Mercedes-Benz launched its 2014 E Class Hybrid and Volkswagen showcased the Crossblue plug-in hybrid SUV. We also saw several breakthrough automotive technologies at CES 2013. Audi unveiled its new futuristic LED headlights, which the company claims will increase visibility and reduce the chances of a collision and Lexus unveiled a new high-tech autonomous vehicle that could pave the way towards self-driving cars. Also at CES, New York-based company CTA Digital unveiled the iPotty, a toddler potty that comes with a built-in iPad stand. Earlier last week, the state of Nevada followed California's lead and granted automakers permission to operate self-driving cars on public roads. In other green car news, Nissan announced that the 2013 Nissan Leaf will be more efficient, come with more features and charge in half the time as earlier models.

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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: biological concrete, flexible solar cells and the top wearable tech of 2012

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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New Year's Eve is fast approaching, and workers in New York City are hard at work installing 32,256 LED lights on the Times Square New Year's Eve ball. As we close the book on 2012, Inhabitat has been reflecting on all the top clean energy and green technology stories from the past year. From news that Germany met half the country's energy needs with solar power to an Egyptian teenager who built a new quantum space propulsion system, 2012 was a big year for clean tech. To ring in the New Year we also rounded up the top green transportation and wearable technology posts, and we're inviting all our reader to vote on the stories they liked best!

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Inhabitat’s Week in Green: invisibility cloak, a Hobbit House and a portable washing machine

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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Christmas is right around the corner, and for all of you procrastinators out there, we recently shared our handy guide to last-minute gifts that can be whipped up in the 11th hour. We also have some great suggestions for non-consumerist gifts of time and if you're crafty, don't forget to check out our DIY guide for cool make-it-yourself gift ideas like these useful texting gloves and this curiously strong solar charger upcycled from an old Altoids tin. For a fun activity to do with the whole family, check out our homemade holiday greeting card and DIY Christmas cracker tutorials, and before putting your gifts under the tree, don't miss our guide to eco-friendly gift wrap alternatives.

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Inhabitat’s Week In Green: the Sunportal, six gingerbread wonders of the world and a DeLorean taxi cab

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

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At Inhabitat, we've always got an ear to the ground listening for the latest innovations in the world of green technology, but the world's best designs are often found in Mother Nature. From bullet trains to Velcro, this week we looked at the various ways designers have found design inspiration in nature to solve human problems. We also looked at some of the ways scientists and entrepreneurs are finding new ways to harness the power of nature. One such example is the Sunportal, a new technology that uses pipes to deliver daylight anywhere in a building. German entrepreneur Gregor Schapers set up a solar oven system in El Sauz, Mexico that is being used to produce tortillas. And after a year sailing the seas, a wave-powered robot completed its journey across the Pacific Ocean this week, setting a new world record in the process.

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