Eco Factor: Sustainable architecture designed to have minimal impact on the environment.

Designed by Coolie Calihan and Charles Johnson, the Cidade Suspensa (Suspended City in Brazilian Portuguese), aims to refine urban architecture and bring it in harmony with nature and the environment. The site of this proposal is located on the dense urban waterfront of Rio de Janeiro and is to be completed in time for the 2016 Olympics.

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Suspended City aims to bring Rio de Janeiro in harmony with nature

Eco Factor: Energy-saving playhouse harvests solar energy.

Designed by C. F. Møller for Saint-Gobain Isover the Saint-Gobain Playhouse is conceived as a sustainable playhouse for children and adults. According to the designers the house is so well insulated that the even a few candles suffice for heating even during the cold winter months.

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Saint-Gobain Playhouse by C. F. Møller can be heated with candles

Eco Factor: Process to produce energy using artificial photosynthesis.

After receiving $400 million in funding, ARPA-E’s first conference witnessed MIT chemist Dan Nocera proving that artificial photosynthesis could power an entire household using just sunlight and a bottle of water. Nocera has developed a special catalyst that splits water into its constituents that is hydrogen and oxygen, which can provide enough energy to run a house.

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Artificial photosynthetic process could run your house on a bottle of water

As the demand for clean energy is on a rise, inventors all over the globe are working on systems that generate energy using natural resources. While solar and wind energy seem to dominate the field, there is no dearth of green minds that are figuring out systems which make use of living entities to do the needful. From human energy to tree power, research has begun to convert nature into a living battery to power the future. Check out the slideshow after the jump that will take you to a journey of how energy is being generated from different forms of life.

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The future ahead: Energy from life forms [Slideshow]

Eco Factor: Desalination plants to provide freshwater to animals in Abu Dhabi.

Water resources experts from the Environment Agency in Abu Dhabi have planned to deploy 30 small-scale solar-powered desalination plants over the next 15 months to provide potable water to animals living in Abu Dhabi’s desert environment. Two of the plants are already operational and convert brackish water from underground aquifers to fresh water.

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Solar-powered desal plants to provide potable water to animals in Abu Dhabi

Eco Factor: Bacteria colony reacts with mud and seawater to generate electricity.

Scientists have for long known that bacteria can generate electricity when mixed with mud and seawater, which led to the development of microbial fuel cells. However, till date these researchers weren’t able to provide the reasons of just how bacteria create electric networks that serve as long distance communication.

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Bacteria colonies could grow nanowires to create a living battery

Eco Factor: Concept car to be powered by a low-emission hybrid engine.

Mercedes-Benz has announced a range of fuel-efficient vehicles recently and the company will be coming to the Geneva Motor Show with a hybrid as well. Mercedes-Benz has announced that their new F800 style concept sedan will be unveiled at Geneva with a flexible powertrain that can be customized either as a plug-in hybrid or as a fuel cell-powered electric drive system.

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Mercedes-Benz to introduce fuel-efficient F800 hybrid concept at Geneva

Eco Factor: Car replica created from recycled materials.

UK-based Ben Wilson Design has designed a Formula 1 race car replica using nothing more than recycled Puma shoe boxes. The design was a part of an installation at Puma’s new store at North State Street, Chicago and portrays the company’s ongoing relationship with motor sports. The replica was put together by creating a 3D scanned replica car and then hand fixing the different shapes from cut out shoe boxes to finally create something unique.

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Wilson Brothers create Formula 1 race car replica using recycled Puma shoe boxes

Eco Factor: Zero-emission vehicle powered by renewable energy.

The brainchild of designers Ho-young Joo, Soo-han Cho and JinSeok Song, the E-Commuter is what the streets of today will need for a green tomorrow. The concept has been designed to reduce air pollution that is caused by running vehicles on conventional fossil fuel engines.

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E-Commuter all-electric concept vehicle features self-aligning solar panels

Eco Factor: Nanogenerators to be used for power generating clothing.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have created energy-harvesting nanofibers that could be woven into textiles and the clothes we wear to generate renewable electricity for our portable mobile gadgets. These nano-sized generators have piezoelectric properties that allow them to convert normal body movements into electricity.

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Fiber nanogenerators could lead to energy harvesting ‘Smart Clothes’