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Concept cars don’t have to be practical. They only have to challenge our imagination about the future of cars—and look really cool. And these days, cool means green. This year produced more wild and wacky green concepts than ever. Technology themes include:

• Small lightweight and aerodynamic designs
• Greater use of natural and recyclable materials
• Gas-free electric drivetrains often powered by rooftop solar panels

Enjoy our list of the top 10 coolest and wackiest green concept cars from 2008.

1The Helios Lizard Car

Kim Gu-Han of Universitat Dulsburg-Essen, Germany, wants to build a solar-powered car that can charge itself entirely from the sun. The problem is the limited space for photovoltaic panels on a car’s roof. The Helios overcomes that limitation by acting like a frill-neck lizard. When stationary, the off-road vehicle can unfurl a large set of photovoltaic cells to produce enough energy to run the car, with excess energy for home power. The Helios won Best Use of Technology category at the Interior Motives Design Awards 2008.

2BamGoo Electric Bamboo Car

The body of the BamGoo is made out of bamboo. Designers from Kyoto University, and the City of Kyoto (home to the famous environmental protocols), demonstrated how organic material like bamboo—which is light, very strong and grows very fast—might be incorporated into car design. The single-seat all-electric car weighs on 130 pounds and can travel 30 miles on a charge.

3Lotus Motors Hemp Eco-Elise

In July, Lotus unveiled its “Eco Elise� at British International Motor Show. The primary innovation is the use of hemp and other ethically farmed renewable crops for body panels, seats, and carpets. Paints are all water-based. For body components, the hemp material is used with a polyester resin to form a hybrid composite. The hemp hard top on the Eco Elise has two flexible solar panels neatly embedded in the roof, contributing power to the electrical systems and saving energy that would otherwise be drained from the engine.

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Fisker has announced a new concept vehicle called the Sunset or Karma S. The carmaker revealed no technical or design details about the car, and has only offered a partial detail photograph.

From the photograph, it appears that the vehicle lacks a b-pillar. That, along with its name, indicates that the Sunset is probably a convertible. The pronounced wheel arch and sharp character lines hint at the vehicle’s sporty character.

The Karma S appears to be an open-air variant to the Fisker Karma, powered by the same plug-in hybrid system. If this is true, Fisker could become the first automaker to produce a convertible hybrid for the consumer market.

The Sunset will debut, along with the production version of the Fisker Karma, on January 12th at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show.

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Visual details of the 2010 Toyota Prius are revealed in a new video posted on YouTube. The video depicts Blue Man Group, the idiosyncratic trio of performers, exploring features of the redesigned quintessential hybrid.

Toyota will formally unveil the 2010 Toyota Prius at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show in mid-January. The new Prius goes on sale in April 2009.

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New research from Kajima, a Japanese company, and Tokyo University, suggests that microbes from human waste could be a good source of energy for hydrogen fuel cell cars. According to a report yesterday on Japan’s Nikkei, the company has produced a fuel cell that generates 130W from each cubic meter of waste. Kajima believes it will take another decade to commercialize the product.

One of the pipes at the Orange County Sanitation facility that transports digested sewer gas for use as an energy source. (Photo: OC Register.)

Researchers from the University of California, and administrators at California’s Orange County Sanitation District, appear to be further along. Last fall, they installed an $8 million fuel-cell device to convert human waste into hydrogen fuel. In an interview with the Orange County Register, Scott Samuelsen, director of UC Irvine's National Fuel Cell Research Center who helped develop the device, said, "The waste stream from society is being turned around, and providing energy and transportation fuel for the society. "

Idaho cows.

The Sanitation District has used methane gas from sewage to power its systems for years, but the new device—built by Air Products of Pennsylvania and FuelCell Energy of Connecticut—is able to separate the methane into three streams of energy: one to help heat the sewage, one to generate electricity, and one for storage tanks ready for use in hydrogen cars. (Of course, the cost of a practical hydrogen car will be prohibitive for many years.)

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The world’s cheapest car could become the world’s cheapest hybrid.

Indian carmaker Tata Motors will offer a micro-hybrid version of the Nano—its ultra-affordable small car—according to a leading Indian business television channel. Micro-hybrid technology allows a vehicle to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by about 5 to 10 percent.

The report on CNBC-TV18 said that Bosch, a leading German engineering firm, will supply the micro-hybrid, also known as a stop-start system, which automatically turns off the car’s engine while the vehicle is not moving. Bosch already supplies fuel and braking systems to the Nano.

Tata Nano.

CNBC-TV18’s Sumantra Barooah said that the micro-hybrid technology would add 4,000 to 6,000 rupees to the Nano's cost—meaning an additional couple of hundred dollars. Barooah said, “It becomes a challenge to how much the engineers can control the cost of this technology.� With the micro-hybrid Nano, Tata will attempt to use the auto industry’s least expensive hybrid technology in the world’s least expensive car.

Micro-hybrids can be deployed at a much lower cost than full hybrid systems, and are therefore forecast to become widespread as countries adopt tighter standards for fuel economy and fuel emissions.

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Last Wednesday, President-elect Barack Obama announced former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as his choice to be the next Secretary of Agriculture. The appointment has fueled growing concern from ethanol critics, who worry that the Obama administration may expand subsidies to an industry that they feel has already received more than its fair share of generosity from Washington.

For years, ethanol has been touted by politicians and trade groups as the green fuel of the future, but many scientists and environmentalists see ethanol as a dead end. A recent study by Dutch Nobel prize winner Paul Crutzen found that the production of corn ethanol had a "net climate warming" effect compared to unblended gasoline. Using corn for fuel also drives up food prices, and according to the Food Policy Research Institute, recent ethanol mandates have caused corn prices to increase 29 percent, creating a significant strain on food supplies in developing countries.

Ethanol opponents have always held out hope that a President Obama would distance himself from allegiances to the ethanol lobby once the political pressures associated with winning an election subsided. But with the appointment of Vilsack, who was once named "Governor of the Year" by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, those hopes are beginning to fade.

Obama appoints Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture.

$5 Billion Won't Necessarily Buy You Lower Emissions

Federal ethanol subsidies currently total $5 billion a year, and many states supplement that federal money with their funds. One such state is Iowa, where as Governor, Vilsack approved $50,000 tax credits to companies aiding in the expansion of E85 Ethanol fueling infrastructure under his $500 million "Grow Iowa Values" initiative. The fund also provided tax incentives for ethanol producers such Poet, which runs the second largest plant in the country. Poet recently received $80 million in federal money to expand the Emmetsburg, Iowa-based operation, increasing its production capacity four-fold.

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Hertz has launched Connect by Hertz, the first global car-sharing club offered by an international car rental company. The move puts pressure on Zipcar, currently the leader in self-service pay-as-you-go car rental services. After eight years in operation, Zipcar has yet to become profitable—despite building revenue to approximately $100 million. Zipcar recently bought Flexcar, previously its biggest rival.

Hertz will launch its car sharing service in New York, where it has an existing fleet of 40,000 rental vehicles—about seven or eight times as many as Zipcar offers. Hertz will also launch in Paris and London, where car sharing is more popular than in US cities.

The rental company will borrow a page out of Zipcar’s playbook by offering green and urban-oriented cars like the Toyota Prius and Mini Cooper. About two thirds of Zipcar's 250,000 members are under 35.

Hertz will provide stiff competition to Zipcar. Not only are all Hertz cars equipped with iPod-ready sound systems and navigation systems, the company beats Zipcar on price. After a customer has paid the $50 monthly fee, he or she can book a Prius for just $8.50 an hour or $59.50 a day, a Camry for $10.20 an hour or a Mini Cooper for $11.90 an hour. Those fees cover all expenses, including gas, insurance, and clean-up. Upon making a reservation, members receive an email confirmation as well as a text message indicating the reserved car's license plate and location. To unlock and engage the vehicle, members simply need to swipe their membership card over the car's radio-frequency identification reader.

Enterprise and U-Haul are also exploring short-term urban car sharing services.

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The new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid—the first mid-size sedan to break the 40-mpg mark in city driving—could become the hit that Ford so desperately needs. Unfortunately, Ford is already claiming that it can’t get enough hybrid batteries to meet potential demand.

In an online chat with employees last week, Ford Americas President Mark Fields said, “We are constrained by the amount of components, including batteries, that the supply base can provide us."

Ford Americas President Mark Fields.

During the peak in gas prices in mid-2008, interested shoppers were unable to purchase Ford Escape Hybrids due to lack of inventory.

The Ford Fusion hybrid leapfrogged the Toyota Camry Hybrid to claim the fuel efficiency crown for full-size four-door sedans. The official EPA numbers for the Fusion Hybrid released last week—41 in the city and 36 on the highway—could give the Detroit automaker a much needed morale boost in the midst of the deepening economic crisis. Industry observers continue to question if Ford, and other carmakers producing hybrids in relatively low quantities, are making a profit on gas-electric vehicles. Nonetheless, these companies earn public relations points for producing vehicles with high mileage.

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