
RMI Outlet
Plug Into New Ideas

Ultralight Hybrid Vehicle Design: Implication for the Recycling Industry
This paper describes the engineering of the Hypercar, a car made of carbon fiber that is lightweight, efficient, and safe. The authors argue that the…

Negawatts: Twelve Transitions, Eight Improvements, and One Distraction
This article from 1996 describes the transitions required for the more efficient use of electricity. In the article, Amory Lovins argues that twelve fundamental transitions…

Ultralight Hybrid Vehicles: Principles and Design
The technical feasibility of superefficient family cars has been demonstrated. Yet it has typically compromised vehicle performance, safety, cost, manufacturability, or marketability. Industry experimentation has…

Hypercars: The Next Industrial Revolution
Strong synergies between ultralight mass, ultralow drag, and hybrid-electric drive can produce attractive designs for superefficient cars (and many other vehicles). A realistic near-term 4–5-passenger…

How Not to Parachute More Cats
This classic publication describes one of RMI’s founding parables. The story of parachuting cats into Borneo illustrates the RMI principle of whole-system design. The authors…