City streets could do with a makeover where lighting and trash are concerned. Designer Haneum Lee thinks he has the solution to both. This concept could keep streets lit while keeping them relatively trash free. The base of the street lights are trash baskets that turn what they can into compost, using methane to generate the power needed to keep the lights going.

It could definitely work, especially in large cities, since there is no shortage of trash. We love to see concepts that kill two birds with one stone or two problems with a single idea.

Here come the flesh-eating machines. The EATR project has hit a new milestone in the development of the reconnaissance bot, successfully coupling a steam generator with a compact biomass furnace. This means that it is possible for an autonomous machine to forage for and refuel itself with biomatter, otherwise known as our corpses.

They call it fuel versatility, as gasoline, diesel, and solar power may also be used. But our guess is that flesh tastes much yummier to robots. So run until you fall, at which time an EATR bot will finish you off for lunch. Humans USED to be the top of the food chain…

Beer fueling cars? Cars now competing for beer that you should be guzzling? Yep. And your car won’t get a beer gut or wake up next to Quasimodo the next morning. Don’t sweat it though, we’re talking leftovers. Sierra Nevada has purchased a MicroFueler, which produces ethanol from water, sugar and yeast. As you probably know from Beer 101, yeast is a major byproduct of beer fermentation. So they can now make fuel out of beer leftovers.

It’s a great Earth friendly way to recycle waste. And it’s nice to see a company being responsible and doing something good. Plus their cars get to drink beer. How cool is that? Your job doesn’t put beer in your car.

This device sounds too good to be true. It’s called the Blade and it screws onto the end of your tailpipe. Through extensive testing, it supposedly shows from 16-34% savings on gas! That’s an average of about 3.8 MPG’s. As an example, a US driver goes an average of about 30 miles per day or 10,800 miles per year. At the national average of 22 MPG that means about 490 gallons of gas. At $4, that’s roughly $2,000.

Apparently, when you add the BLADE to your tailpipe, you would only use about 418 gallons or about $1,675. Your savings would be roughly $325! Since I suck at math, I’m forced to take their word for it. The device costs $200, so you could make your money back in several months and still be saving after that. It saves gas, money and the environment. What more do you want?

The Nissan Eco Pedal helps you to save gas by pressing the gas pedal upward when the vehicle is moving too quickly for it’s own good. Nissan claims that the system can improve fuel efficiency by as much as 10%.

The Eco Pedal is programmed to calculate the most efficient rate of acceleration in a given vehicle, so it’s not for those with a lead foot. That’s why Nissan included the option to disable it when necessary. I imagine it would give your leg a good workout as well. You push, it pushes back. Hopefully your wallet will get thicker so you can buy more gadgets.

Finding new ways to cut down on your gas bill isn’t easy. Sure, you can keep the tires inflated and not have extra weight in your trunk, but there’s got to be more that you can do, right? Just get the PLX Kiwi. It keeps an eye on your driving habits and lets you know what you need to alter to increase your gas mileage. That’s right, it becomes a nagging backseat driver telling you everything that you are doing wrong. In that way, it’s kinda like picking up your mother-in-law from the airport.

The Kiwi will examine smoothness, drag, acceleration and deceleration. Then it gives you a full report. According to the company it will give you an average fuel savings of 20% which could save you anywhere from $500-$1000 per year. You can get it later this month for $299. But what if it tells you there’s not a damn thing you can do to get better mileage? Some of these vehicles are doing about all they can do.

For those who hate to get out of the car to fill up their gas tank, a new robot friend is only too glad to be of service and he may be in your future. Those who live in the Netherlands can take advantage of it right now. The Tankpitstop robotic arm cost it’s Dutch inventors $111,100, and it uses sensors and a car database to accurately open a car’s gas flap, unscrew the cap and fill the tank with gas.

Nico van Staveren, the inventor got the idea when he spotted a robot arm milking a cow on a farm. He figured if a robot arm could extract fluid from a cow, why could it not then put precious gas in a car. He hopes to see his robot arm in service at more gas stations around the Netherlands soon.