Last-Mile Drone Deliveries Offers Sustainability Benefits
Researchers from US Carnegie Mellon University have concluded that quadcopter drones produce much less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional alternatives for last-mile delivery. The Problem The point of the research was to shine a light on the energy productivity of freight transportation, which has traditionally been a real challenge in an overwhelmingly petroleum-powered transport sector […]
Climate Change Affecting Data Centres
A Google data centre going offline in July due to a cooling related failure is just one of a slew of challenges posed by climate change that the big tech companies are facing. Heatwave Knocks London Data Centre Offline The heatwave in July caused outages due to cooling problems at a London data centre used […]
All iPhones To Be Powered By Renewable Energy By 2030
Apple’s Vice President of the environment, Lisa Jackson, has announced that all iPhones will be powered by renewable energy by 2030. Acquiring Renewable Energy From Wind Farms The announcement was made in Australia while celebrating the company’s 40th anniversary there. It is understood that in line with this announcement, Apple will be acquiring renewable energy […]
Graphene For Greener Business?
In this article, we look at how super-strong Graphene can be used to make projects and products more environmentally friendly. What is Graphene? Graphene is a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb-style hexagonal lattice. Not only is it the building-block of Graphite, but it is also the thinnest material known to man […]
Algae-Grown ‘Limestone’ For Cement Could Be Sustainable Solution
Researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder have developed a net carbon neutral (or even carbon negative) method of producing Portland cement by substituting quarried limestone with limestone produced by microalgae. The Problem With Traditional Portland Cement The problem with traditional Portland cement is that it is made by quarrying limestone in large quarries and […]
Sand Battery For Year-Round Heat
Finnish engineers, Markku Ylönen and Tommi Eronen have made a giant battery which stores heat from green energy within sand that can be used as an all-year-round energy supply. Sand Battery The Finnish engineers’ company, Polar Night Energy, has made a sand battery in Kankaanpää, in the west of Finland. The battery consists of a […]
EScooter Rentals – Not Everything They’re Touted To Be?
Nipping along the road on an EScooter sounds like a perfect way to get around which is touted as being easily-accessible, cheap and pollution-free. So, it should be a no-brainer, right? However, with some research now showing that rental Escooters haven’t reduced carbon emissions in cities, we look at whether they are as green an […]
UK’s Largest Carbon Capture Facility Opens In Cheshire
Tata Chemicals Europe has opened the UK’s largest industrial-scale carbon capture facility at its chemical plant in Cheshire to convert carbon dioxide into food and pharmaceutical-grade sodium bicarbonate. Capturing 10% Of The Carbon Dioxide Produced The £20 million Tata Chemicals Europe carbon capture unit at its chemical plant unit in Northwich will capture more than […]
New Ultrafast Saltwater Purification Device
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a device that can desalinate water at least one thousand times faster than existing methods. A Membrane Made From Tiny Fluorine-Based Nanoscopic Rings Scientists at the Tokyo School of Engineering’s Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology constructed tiny fluorine-based nanoscopic rings that were coated with a hydrophobic surface […]
Renewable Cement Made Entirely From Waste Materials
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have created renewable, sustainable ‘biocement’ made entirely from waste materials, making it a greener and more sustainable alternative to regular cement. How? The NTU scientists have used two common waste materials, industrial carbide sludge (the waste material from the production of acetylene gas) and urea (from the urine of […]
First Off-Grid, Self-Powering Phone Mast Switched-On
Vodafone has announced the switch-on of the UK’s first wind and solar-powered mobile phone mast in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Wind And Solar Power The mast, designed to provide 4G coverage to the community of Eglwyswrw (pronounced Egg-lis-oo-roo), incorporates a wind turbine, solar panels, and on-site battery storage. This makes the mast off-grid and self-powering and enables […]
Great to Meet Planet Cheltenham
Lovely to meet some of the people helping Planet Cheltenham. Now … time to see how we can help get things done … !