It begins with a solemn funeral…for a car. By the end of Chris Paine's lively and informative documentary, the idea doesn't seem quite so strange. As narrator Martin Sheen notes, "They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline." Paine proceeds to show how this unique vehicle came into being and why General Motors ended up reclaiming its once-prized creation less than a decade later. He begins 100 years ago with the original electric car. By the 1920s, the internal-combustion engine had rendered it obsolete. By the 1980s, however, car companies started exploring alternative energy sources, like solar power. This, in turn, led to the late, great battery-powered EV1. Throughout, Paine deftly translates hard science and complex politics, such as California's Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, into lay person's terms (director Alex Gibney, Oscar-nominated for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, served as consulting producer). And everyone gets the chance to have their say: engineers, politicians, protesters, and petroleum spokespeople--even celebrity drivers, like Peter Horton, Alexandra Paul, and a wild man beard-sporting Mel Gibson. But the most persuasive participant is former Saturn employee Chelsea Sexton. Promoting the benefits of the EV1 was more than a job to her, and she continues to lobby for more environmentally friendly options. Who Killed the Electric Car? is, otherwise, a tremendously sobering experience. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Asserts the belief that the power of design can influence a more responsible approach to our threatened environment. This book shows how everyone, from those at the forefront of design to the consumers, can contribute to the well-being of the planet through an awareness of design and technology.

Presents ideas and methods for Design as an expanded ethical and professional practice. This title argues that responding to ethical, political, social and ecological concerns requires a new type of practice that recognizes design's importance in overcoming a world made unsustainable. It is suitable for students and practitioners of Architecture.

Describing himself as a 'visual jackdaw', master designer Alan Fletcher has spent a lifetime collecting images, useless information, quotations and scraps that take his fancy. This work distills this collection into a quirky and entertaining feast for the eyes and the mind.

A focuses exploration of the role nanotechnology plays in meeting the challenges inherent in minimizing environmental impacts while maximizing energy resources, this book provides an overview of our energy supply, increasing energy production while reducing cost, and offering novel energy sources.