Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a concept vehicle that runs on power conveyed by magnets from underground lines. And this one charges the electric motor on the fly, of course without relying on a drop of gas.

The Story: Magnets. It runs using magnets. Magnets buried under the ground that have a blue line painted on the pavement above, so that when the tram follows that line, the magnets recharge the electric motor located inside the vehicle. A vehicle which just so happens to be a trolley train of three or four …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s the first personal navigation device that marries cutting-edge Pan-European navigation features with free digital terrestrial TV and radio.

The Story: The Garmin® nüvi 1490TV is not your ordinary GPS. Though only available for now in Europe, it can pick up digital TV and radio content – for free – from over 14 countries across the continent. In the UK there are over 50 digital TV channels and 24 digital radio stations including programs from digital content providers such as the BBC, ITV, SKY, Film4 and Five to name a …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s an accessory for your bike that enables you to turn braking into electric power to motor your bike when you need an extra burst of speed, or you just feel like letting the motor do the work for you.

The Story: MIT researchers have debuted the Copenhagen Wheel at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen — a revolutionary new bicycle wheel that not only boosts power, but can keep track of friends, fitness, smog and traffic. Though it looks like an ordinary bicycle wheel with an oversized …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a Goodyear Tire that enhances fuel economy. In fact, it broke the Guinness World Record for achieving fuel efficiency.

The Story: In an impressive display of fuel economy, two drivers from Australia have broken the “48 Contiguous U.S. States Fuel Economy Guinness World Record,” driving a car equipped with Goodyear (NYSE: GT) Assurance Fuel Max tires. This three-week, 9,000+ mile drive through all 48 contiguous states in the U.S., showcased the potential fuel savings from the breakthrough fuel-efficient tread compound found in the new tires.
Helen and John Taylor …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s the evolved form of the highly popular electric two-wheeled Segway scooter, according to product literature, but at nearly one-fifth the price.

The Story: We are as impressed with breakthrough technology as we are with innovative thinking. Even when that innovative thinking includes ways to move things forward, including on the pricing front. Though the Segway definitely possesses the cool, quirky factor, it’s also a fairly pricey electric scooter, especially when compared to the GoPet (Pet stands for Personalized electric transport).
It can reach a top speed of 16 …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a robot that scours and cleans the hull of large ships that would otherwise be significantly slowed down by the drag created by colonized barnacles and biofilms.

The Story: “One of the avoidable costs in fuel for the Navy is related to marine fouling such as barnacles that accumulate on ships,” says Office of Naval Research Program Officer Steve McElvany. “They create increased drag as these ships move from port to port across the world’s oceans.”
Known as a “hard fouler” for ships worldwide, colonized barnacles and biofilms on the …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a company that takes garbage you’d find in a landfill, and through its patented process, converts it into usable ethanol. And now, their technology may have larger applications.

The Story: BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. (OTC BB:BFRE.OB), a company changing the world’s transportation fuel paradigm through the production of ethanol from non-food cellulosic wastes, announced that Solazyme, Inc., a renewable oil production company and leading algal synthetic biology company, is testing sugars, produced through BlueFire’s patented process, for compatibility with its renewable oil process to produce the oil …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a way to change the paradigm as it is known for space travel. SpaceX is developing a family of launch vehicles which will ultimately reduce the cost and increase the reliability of space access by a factor of ten.

The Story: In an era when most technology based products follow a path of ever-increasing capability and reliability while simultaneously reducing costs, launch vehicles today have changed little from those of 40 years ago. SpaceX believes in something different. Coupled with the newly emerging market for private and …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s a manned, 100% electric-powered plane that set an air-speed record of 155 mph. It’s not only groundbreaking from the standpoint of power, but it’s also significant from the standpoint of efficiency, as the batteries that power its motor represent continued evolution.
The Story: Italian engineers reached new heights when a new electric-powered airplane took flight in Turin on June 8, then again on June 10. It was on this second day when the plane achieved a top speed of 155 mph during its eight minute flight. A …

Why it’s Breakthrough: It’s an ultra-high-performance street and racing tire that’s produced with about 20% less synthetic rubber, yet compromises nothing on the performance end of things. Call it an environmentally-friendlier tire.
The Story: Citrus instead of petroleum: That’s one way Yokohama Tire Corporation is using technology to make better tires for consumers and the environment.
Yokohama has developed a process that combines citrus oil with natural rubber to form a new compound called “Super Nano-Power Rubber (SNPR).” It reduces the proportion of petroleum products in tires and is part of Yokohama’s …