Just though it might be interesting to open up a topic about this matter.
Since energy resources are getting more scarce by the day, I think it's crucial companies and in particular the governments start spending loads of money into R&D projects.
One project that I can by lately, is particularly interesting since it also got something retro about it; it has connections with LEGO. This is a project where a company is making a 'city construction set'. The focus is totally on making this kit with open source hardware.
When development will continue in the future, these kind of kits can be extremely useful for 3rd world countries for example.
http://opensourceecology.org/
I'm looking forward to seeing more cool projects come by!
