In a world obsessed with aerial drones, this new system could fly in under the radar and revolutionize shipping, delivering goods automatically via unmanned vehicles using magnetic wave propulsion through subterranean tubes. We are used to transporting liquids in bulk below ground – including water, waste and fuel – at its simplest, this system proposes doing something similar with solids, but the effects could revolutionize supply chains locally and globally.

Like pneumatic tubes or underground trains of the digital age, the UK-based MOLE system is automated and secure from one end to the other, able to carry two pallets and tap into paths for existing underground transit and service infrastructure. Costs of this system are estimated to be as little as 10% of traditional above-ground shipping methods, and the pallet-based system makes the approach compatible with other intermodal systems including freight shipping containers.

The company boasts the potential of the system on green as well as efficiency fronts, including low energy usage and environmental impact as well as 24/7 unmanned operations, automatic loading and unloading. There are also subtler benefits, like reducing road congestion on the streets above.

MOLE has also already run a series of tests and is aiming to first deploy in the realm of industrial shipping, helping mines and factories connect raw and finished materials with target buyers and refiners. Eventually, the goal is to create smaller business-to-business connections on a commercial scale.

From from MOLE: “Mole Solutions is currently developing cost-effective, safe and environmentally friendly underground freight pipelines for solid cargoes. The system is designed to integrate with existing supply chains and transfer some of the high volume of products that travels by road into capsules running in pipelines laid beside or under existing and planned transport infrastructure.”

We see conceptual modular designs of this kind all of the time, but rarely such exquisite real-world proof of how fast construction can be in the age of prefabrication.

The recently-completed One9 building in Melbourne, Australia, using the Hickory Group’s Unitized Building system to install 34 units in less than 1 week around a prefab-paneled concrete core.

Created by architect Nonda Katsalidis, this approach allows each one-or-two-bedroom dwelling to be built almost entirely offsite then stacked like a puzzle piece onto the site, completed with decks and fenestration in place.

Utility connections are also built in, making it easy to hook up electrical and plumbing systems. In theory, the process can be used to build up to 70-story structures.

The building boasts a number of sustainable materials and strategies, making its speed of construction all the more impressive. Per JetsonGreen, “The units in the building are all fitted with double glazed windows that offer superior thermal protection and acoustic performance. The building is also equipped with a grey water recycling system. There is also a rainwater harvesting system in place.

As for green energy, “Rooftop mounted solar panels provide enough energy to heat the water used up by the residents, while the building is also equipped with a H.W.S system that provides highly efficient water circulation. Energy efficient lighting is installed throughout the building, to conserve energy expenditure. The One9 building also has a 6 Star energy rating.”