A professor at Keio University in Japan came out with a new totally electric car that can go up to about 200 miles per hour with 590 horsepower. That's fast ... and strong! That means it could hit a quarter mile equal to a Ferrari 328 GTS (or overtake a Porsche Boxster like it was standing still).

The car, called KAZ, has no toxic emissions at all and does not require gasoline. It seats eight people comfortably, and all its wheels steer independently, so it can turn on a dime in spite of its big size.

Can you imagine a world where we don't even need oil anymore? Well, the people at Keio University can too!

You can read about the car here: http://www.kaz-style.com/en/index.html Or you can see the university's site about it here: http://web.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~hiros/kaz/

I had to go to Gifu Prefecture last month when I went to Japan, and I saw this really interesting building called the SANYO Solar Ark. I think it's their headquarters or at least one of their really big regional offices.

Anyway, the Solar Ark (besides being a cool office building) has solar panels built into it -- all over. In fact, the whole thing is basically one of the world's biggest solar energy generation systems. It makes enough energy everyday not only for its own needs, but to power the equivalent of 200 homes as well.

There's a really big push for environmentally friendly (or so-called "green") buildings in Japan right now. Tokyo, for example, requires all new commercial buildings to include a roof top garden so the air will stay cleaner.

At first, we just built whatever we could after the war. The basic architectural philosophy was, "let's just slap something up and get to work before everyone starves to death." But now thousands of new buildings are going up that represent a whole new attitude. The new public and company buildings are cool and dramatic ... and green.

You can see the SANYO Solar Ark here: http://www.solar-ark.com/english/about/index.html or go to Japan and visit it for free!