Taylor Welden and a team of designers have come up with Stauro, a three-wheeled car that can run on a citrus-based fuel that burns almost completely clean.

The Stauro, that boasts a 700 horsepower engine, has a shell made of 100% recycled aluminium and its body panels use a resin that is mixed using up to 40% recycled materials.

The Stauro’s sleek design makes it appear a lot sportier than regular eco-friendly cars, while the three wheel design enables it to fit in tight spaces and turn sharp corners with ease.

There are no current plans to mass-produce the Stauro but designers say that it could easily be implemented.

A town in England has found a simple solution for the rubbish thrown out by its residents – using it to power their garbage truck.

The council of Kirklees – a town about five miles south of Huddersfield – is believed to be the first to introduce an electric municipal garbage truck that is powered by the waste it collects.

When the truck returns to the Energy from Waste Centre with its haul, the rubbish that cannot be recycled is burned and converted into energy. This energy then goes into recharging the truck’s batteries with another ten megawatts left over to put back into the national grid. After six to eight hours of recharging the truck is ready for another outing.

The modified Ford Transit runs on a 40kwh lithium-ion battery back has a top speed of 50mph and a range of around 100 miles, which allows it to collect from the 25 bins that have been recently been placed around the town.

The story has sparked a lot of interest online, especially among the people who recognise the similarity between this truck and the DeLorean used by Doc Brown in Back to the Future. Sure, it’s not quite at that capacity yet, but give it a few years and who knows what Kirklees Council will have come up with.

After 53,451 kilometres, 18 long months and more than 50 countries, Swiss inventor Louis Palmer has finally finished his long drive home.

Palmer, 36, has now become the first person to drive around the world fuelled solely by solar power. His blue and white three-wheeler taxi, although not yet available for mass production, has confirmed scientist’s long-held beliefs that solar energy can replace our dependence on fossil fuels. In fact, the solar energy and design of the vehicle was so successful that the car reached speeds of just under 60mph (90km/h) and only two days of the journey were given to repairs.

Palmer has managed to create quite a media stir during his trip around the world having picked up a host of notable figures along the way. Jay Leno, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Monaco’s Prince Albert were part of a group of more than 1000 ‘hitchhikers’ that Palmer picked up during his trip across the planet.

Palmer’s next trip will be to travel around the world in 80 days using only solar energy although his next car might need to be able to reach speeds of more than 60mph in order to make this a reality.

Hybrids may typically be associated with celebs and tree-huggers, but it looks like they’re going to become part of six million journeys made every workday in London. This is of course Transport for London’s plans to completely transform its mighty bus fleet into an eco-friendly system by 2012.

The plans to introduce eco-friendly public transport buses have been in the pipeline for years. Originally a driving force of Ken Livingston’s transport campaign, the idea was put under trial in 2006. Unfortunately the engines overheated, and the trials were temporarily put on hold.

Earlier this year the trials were revived with six hybrid buses taking to the streets of London. After a successful trial, the six buses were formally introduced into the fleet and plans are now being made to add an additional 8000 in time for the Olympic Games.

According to the transport for London website the hybrid buses “reduce emissions of local pollutants and carbon dioxide by at least 30 per cent compared to a conventional diesel bus.” Built around a typical London driving experience, the batteries are deigned to charge each time the bus brakes.

London is just one of many world cities introducing green buses. New York, San Francisco and Toronto have already introduced green buses with plans to revamp their entire systems. The move will highlight the UK’s position as an eco-conscious country; the capital’s iconic red buses now a symbol of change.

Picture from All About Buses

Many manufacturers have been pushing the design of electric cars, but the Aptera is surely the most futuristic looking vehicle of them all. In fact, you almost feel a little disappointed that the Aptera has got its three wheels firmly on the ground; its futuristic curves wouldn’t look out of place zipping about an intergalactic space port – it’s the car George Jetson would drive had he been born an Earthling.

Clean and quiet, the Aptera comes as a fully electric model, or hybrid version with a range of around 120 miles, which is double that of most available plug-in hybrids and triple that of the typical American daily commute.

At US$26,900 (£13,031) for the all electric Typ-1e, or US$29,000 (£14,048) for the plug-in hybrid Typ-1h, the bubble car of tomorrow doesn’t come particularly cheap – but the Aptera does do 0-60 in under 10 seconds and has a top speed of 95mph, plus it will save drivers thousands of dollars in fuel costs over the duration of its lifetime (it’s being touted as the most fuel-efficient vehicle the world has ever seen).

And don’t let its slim, shapely, sexy body deceive you, the Aptera carries some weight; there’s room in the boot for a couple of surf boards, albeit small ones.

Those looking to buy this high-tech green machine can join the growing list of Aptera fans who have put down a $500 preorder, and the car has been very well received by gadget lovers and treehuggers alike.

The Aptera is set to begin rolling off the production line in October 2008 – the takeoff countdown continues…

(Picture from Aptera)

Is it a boat… is it a submarine… is it a DOLPHIN? No it’s the Seabreacher, an all new watercraft getting you from A to B. This two-seater will travel on the surface or underneath, with the ability to dive down before bursting out of the water up to heights of 10 feet.

With a body modelled roughly around nature’s own stylings, the craft is buoyant and with the 175bhp engine powering it you can swim, dive, roll and jump just as a dolphin does. Rob Innes, Co-founder of Innespace Productions, says that the craft is “really just for fun. It’s like a 3-D jet ski.” Likened to a monster truck by Innes, he sees its future in an aquatic racing series not unlike Formula 1. With the option of more powerful engines in the near future, the craft will just keep getting faster and even more attractive to the rich adrenaline junkie that it is aimed at.

This was big news last January with Vince Veneziani’s post on CrunchGear, but now the company’s first model has had it’s maiden outing in the hands of the press and the testing on the Seabreacher is almost complete.

(Picture from innespace)