This tensile pavilion is covered in solar panels that can be used to charge an electric car and then folded up to fit in its boot (+ slideshow). More about Volvo Pure Tension Pavilion that charges an electric car by Synthesis Design + Architecture
Dutch Design Week 2013: Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Dave Hakkens has made his own machines for recycling plastic to make new products locally and plans to share the designs so others around the world can do the same. More about Precious Plastic by Dave Hakkens
News: the inventor of an anti-diarrhoea pack for the developing world has replaced its innovative, award-winning packaging design with a simple screw-top jar. More about Award-winning packaging ditched in favour of jars
News: a vehicle described as "the world's first solar-powered family car" has come first in a photovoltaic-powered race across Australia (+ slideshow). More about Solar-powered family car wins race across Australia
News: furniture retail giant IKEA has announced plans to sell flat-packed solar panels. More about IKEA to sell flat-pack solar panels
Patrick Blanc, the inventor of living walls, has completed his latest vertical garden, covering the side of a five-storey Parisian block with waves of 7600 plants (+ slideshow). More about The Oasis of Aboukir green wall by Patrick Blanc
News: glow-in-the-dark roads, a childbirth training kit in a back pack and spicy paper that keeps food fresh have been announced among the winners of the world's biggest design prize, the INDEX: Award (+ slideshow). More about INDEX: Award 2013 winners announced
Dutch product design agency Waarmakers have designed a prototype electric scooter with a body made from compressed plants (+ movie). More about Be.e electric scooter by Waarmakers
News: students at the Eindhoven University of Technology have unveiled what they claim to be the world's first solar-powered family car. More about World's first solar-powered family car to race across Australia
Royal College of Art graduate Jeongwon Ji has made her own bioplastic from crab shells. More about BioElectric by Jeongwon Ji
News: a 1960s football stadium in Brazil has become the first of several in the country to be equipped with a solar-powered roof in preparation for next year's FIFA World Cup. More about Brazil opens first solar-powered stadium ahead of 2014 World Cup
Product news: Australian company DesignByThem has added a range of bright recycled-plastic chairs to its collection. More about Butter Chair by DesignByThem
This outdoor urinal by French design studio Faltazi slots into a straw bale to recycle pee from festivalgoers into compost. More about L'Uritonnoir by Faltazi
Serbian designer Miloš Milivojevic has installed a tree-like mobile phone charger powered by the sun in a park in Belgrade. More about Black Tree by Miloš Milivojevic
Milan-based designer James Irvine has designed an I-beam shaped stool for Italian design brand Discipline to be exhibited during Helsinki Design Week this month. More about Centanni Stool by James Irvine for Discipline
Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has made these small solar-powered lamps for people who have limited access to reliable energy – almost a quarter of the world's population (+ movie). More about Little Sun by Olafur Eliasson
Eight poles and a board made of forest waste bolt together to make a flat-pack table by Japanese designers Hiroyuki Miyabe and Jun Yoshimura of SPEAC. More about For Rest Table by SPEAC
Royal College of Art graduate Hal Watts has come up with a bicycle-powered electronic waste recycler that could save lives in developing countries (+ movie). More about Esource by Hal Watts at Show RCA 2012
Movie: British designer Ross Lovegrove talks to Dezeen about the tree-like solar-powered street lights he brought to St John's Square for Clerkenwell Design Week. More about Movie: Ross Lovegrove on his Solar Tree at Clerkenwell Design Week
Dutch designer Pepe Heykoop has worked with people from one of Mumbai's poorest areas to transform traditional water carriers into leathery vases. More about Matka Vases by Pepe Heykoop