Let’s face it, trying to solve a big problem in one quick step rarely works out, particularly when the problem is global and touches on virtually all kinds of transporation. Too many alternative energy concept vehicles try too hard to rely on a single source of energy. Electric cars need frequent recharges and solar-powered vehicles of course need the sun. These three vehicles are a worthy stop-gap measure as the world slowly learns to rely less and less on conventional fuel sources and turns more and more to renewable energy.
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With all our problems down here on Earth most people don’t think about space junk very often, but there is more of it to think about than most people realize. An estimate 50,000 pieces exist that are large enough to do significant damage on collision with an operational space craft or satellite. Over 90% of the stuff we currently have in space is useless trash - with less than 10% being operational/useful.
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Imagine a boat that coasts along almost silently and works completely on free energy. OK, well, almost free: when it is cloudy out you may have to pedal a bit to get it going. Still, you get to toss out the pricey gas costs associated with most water cruisers and relax in the sun when the weather is nice and pedal your way to shore when it isn’t.
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It is all too easy to get excited about the next big sustainable technology for saving energy or producing non-polluting power - and forget the flaws in many of these ideas. Some of the best projects show smart out-of-the-box thinking but lack feasibility or, in some cases, might do more harm than good. While these ideas may not work at least scientists, politicians and other innovators are beginning to explore alternatives.

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When it comes to vehicles, green can mean many things. Many supposedly environmentally friendly vehicles also aren’t as green as people might assume at first glance. These three articles provide some facts, figures and humorous anecdotes about what it really means to go green.

Everything You Know about Green Cars is Wrong: Much of what you think you know about “clean cars” is wrong, misinformation spread by word of mouth and unreliable blogs (not including this one). Here are some of the prime misconceptions, with corrections applied:

More On Coskata’s $1 per Gallon Ethanol: The Coskata process that GM is promoting can use a wide range of different feedstocks to produce ethanol. Materials ranging from agricultural waste to purpose grown crops that can be raised on marginal lands (switchgrass being the most widely known example of this) to waste materials such as old tires and even municipal waste streams can all be used as the raw materials that can be turned into ethanol with very little to zero landfill waste.

Top 5 Unusually Green Vehicles of 2007: As demand for environmental alternatives grows, some green-thinking automotive designers have gone above and beyond simple hybrid or energy-efficient cars to develop radically creative green vehicles in many senses of the word. Here are five of the most interesting, innovative, strange and downright bizarre green concept vehicles developed this past year.