With today's environment-conscious attitudes, it pays to have an eco-friendly vehicle to drive.

A time may come when people may have a number of options to choose from aside from solar-powered cars, as scientists are now looking into thermoelectric generation as a possible alternative. More on this highfalutin term after the jump.

With the world always on the look out for alternative fuel sources, Sony Japan may have come across a sweet new power source that certainly won't run out any time soon. It was announced recently that they have been able to generate the world's highest output of bio-electricity from a sugar-based battery.

While 50mW per cell may not seem like a lot, being able to find an easily renewable and ample resource as a source for electricity will definitely help a lot with the global power needs. Don't expect your TV or refrigerator to be powered by a bar of Hershey chocolate just yet. The batteries themselves are rather bulky, measuring at 39mm on each side.

Although the press release site itself is in Japanese, you can try to understand the theory behind the "sugar battery" with a little help from any online language translator. So until Sony develops something a little more portable, we'll all have to stick to our Eveready batteries in the meantime.

For a look at the new battery in action, check out the video right after the jump!

Most geothermal sources are suitable for power generation - those with temperatures above 300°F - are waaaaay down underground, beyond the reach of current technology. Bad news for those looking for relatively clean sources of electricity.

Lower-temperature resources on the other hand are quite common across the United States However, if the Engineers at United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), have their way, those not-so-hot resources can be tapped for energy as well.

The modular, 200-kilowatt power plant from UTRC can generate juice from temperatures as low as 165°F. The technology is similar to steam engines, except that steam or hot water vaporizes a hydroflourocarbon refrigerant that drives the turbine. It's basically like a reverse cooling system, and the new turbine is a refrigerator compressor running backwards.

They're now testing a unit at a remote hot springs resort 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. They estimate that a commercial plant could be ready as early as next year... of course after they've worked out the chinks.

The reverse cooling concept isn't new, it's just that so far, nobody has come up with a cost-efficient model. In fact, most of Western united states have low-temperature geothermal sources. But if the model succeeds then we could be looking at a huge secondary source of energy.

I wonder how things will go if they manage to combine this technology with this. We know that those really small turbines don't exactly run on steam, but what if?