Electric scooters are something we’ve come to expect, just like hybrid cars and electric buses, but what about a solar airplane? Yes, the jokes about cloudy days in the sky will no doubt abound, but the endeavor is entirely serious. From concept to construction, the Solar Impulse has been hailed as a savior—the first major attempt to fly a plane without fuel, with eco-eyes set on a sun-powered trip around the globe. And for record-setting adventurer Bertrand Piccard Monday’s unveiling of its prototype was a long time coming: He showed off a mock-up of the Solar Impulse at the 2005 Paris Airshow, but now the 201-ft. plane is set for a test flight next fall. What’s next, a wind-powered submarine?

Remember that amazing device from Back to the Future that converted garbage into fuel? Nowadays that isn’t as far-fetched as it once was. Everything from liquor and saltwater to diapers to landfills are being used to generate alternative sources of power that run equipment, vehicles and buildings around the world!

Confiscated Booze Converted into Bus-Powering Biogas: nearly 200,000 gallons of smuggled alcohol is snagged by authorities on its way into Sweden each year. Instead of simply pouring it down the drain, however, authorities have come up with an alternative use for all of the confiscated beverages. The biogas created from the mixed cocktail of smuggled goods is used to power a variety of vehicles, including buses an a train. In this win-win situation, customs is glad to be rid of the excess liquid and the country benefits from the fuel produced as a result of the process.

Dirty Diapers Turned into Viable Diesel: one company has a brilliant (albeit offbeat) idea for turning what would normally be landfill material into cost-effective, synthetic diesel fuel. Approximately 30,000 tons of diapers will be annually transformed into over 10,000 tons of diesel fuel at jut 50 cents per liter. Larger schemes to transform a variety of to-be-landfilled materials have come up short, due to “some of the issues that come up [in relationship to] the consistency of the material you’re putting through. One of the beauties of the diaper is that it is going to be a very consistent input. The other beauty of it is because this whole thing works in a closed system, there are no emissions.”

Saltwater Burned into Hydrogen and Oxygen: Four years ago, inspiration struck in the middle of the night. A researcher decided to try using radio waves to kill cancer cells. Instead, John Kanzius discovered that his radio frequency generator could release the oxygen and hydrogen from saltwater and create an incredibly intense flame. His wife Marianne heard the noise and found her husband inventing a radio frequency generator with her pie pans. Experts say his invention could turn into “a steam engine, a steam turbine. That could become a car engine if you wanted it to be.” The following interview shows the process in action:

Methane Gas Siphoned from Garbage Dumps: decomposing waste gives off methane, which can be cleverly harvested rather than merely wasted. The increased interest in salvaging this valuable fuel source is also due in part to the environmental impact of burning it off, which is the traditional method of preventing dangerous gas buildups. Recently, researches have gone so far as to propose and implement methods of increasing methane production within a closed landfill system to get as much fuel as possible from the decomposition process. More information on gas-from-trash available here and here.

Vehicles Powered by Vegetable Oil and Ammonia: on a smaller scale, industrious individuals have used some unlikely materials to power test vehicles, though their small-time successes could have a larger impact if more widely adopted. One experimental truck has been converted to run on ammonia. The result: cheaper fuel, lower emissions and better guess mileage. Meanwhile, a lawyer in Massachusetts purchased a used ambulance, painted it green (for a groan-worthy visual pun effect), rigged it to run on vegetable oil and now gets to travel over 300 miles for just $3.

Progress is slow but steady in the auto industry when it comes to producing leaner, greener cars. Some ideas are catching on with the help of viral marketing (what better way to promote a new technology than by handing the wheel to a problogger?). Awards reinforce the industry’s need and put the spotlight on successful example, though costs are still high and some uses of green automotive technology have not been explored.

Honda lets blogger drive their $10,000,000* hydrogen fuel cell powered car: Well, when the FCX Clarity is available to Southern California consumers this summer, it will go for $600 a month. The $10,000,000 guesstimate comes from the LA Times’ Pulitzer Prize winning wunderkind Dan Neil. Jalopnik was invited to drive the Clarity around Santa Monica and Malibu.

LA 2007: Chevy Tahoe Two-Mode Hybrid wins 2007 Green Car of the Year: Founder of Green Car Journal Ron Cogan announced that the third annual Green Car of the Year Award would go to the big GM Hybrid SUV for its innovation in demonstrating that a vehicle with lots of people and cargo hauling capability could still offer fuel economy equivalent to that of a much smaller four-cylinder sedan.

High price means a hard sell for hybrid trucks: City buses, refuse trucks and delivery vans are perfect candidates for hybrid powertrains, which use less energy and cause less pollution than conventional combustion engines, especially in stop-and-go traffic. But while image-conscious drivers, especially in the United States, have embraced hybrid cars, truck operators find the new technology too expensive compared with the potential fuel savings — and hybrid diesel-electric trucks are struggling to catch on.

It always seems like oil spills should be a thing of the past, like unpopular warfare or 80’s fashion, but they always crop back up. The cleanup is costly, not to mention the incalculable impact on the natural environment. In some cases the spills are so toxic they can’t even allow volunteers to help clean things up.

Russian oil tanker splits in half: Up to 2,000 metric tons of fuel oil have leaked near the Black Sea after a Russian oil tanker split in half. It came apart after it was smashed by 108km/h (67 mph) winds and 5m (16ft) waves in the Kerch Strait between the Azov and Black Seas.

Thanks but No Thanks: Hundreds of would-be oil spill cleanup volunteers who wanted to do something were told on Saturday in San Francisco to go home and do nothing. Spilled oil is just too dangerous for ordinary citizens to clean up, the experts said.

Want to Know More? Wikipedia has a frequently-updated list of oil spills around the world with basic vital statistics concerning their date, location and global impact.