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 … !
IT Industry’s Sustainability Action-Gap
A report by datacentre energy management company Schneider Electric has highlighted a sustainability action gap between the statements of intent and actions of IT companies. The Research The research for the report, carried out with Forrester and 451 Research, collected data from 3,000 global cloud and IT businesses, and comments about the IT industry’s lack […]
First U.S. Moratorium On Crypto-Mining Passed
New York state lawmakers have passed a two-year ban on energy-hungry ‘proof-of-work’ crypto mining that uses carbon-based fossil fuel power plants. Energy-Hungry Crypto-Mining One of the big environmental challenges of cryptocurrency mining is that it requires a large amount of power. For example, Bitcoin “mining” uses specialised Bitcoin computers that are constantly powered on and […]
Swappable Batteries
Rather than EV drivers waiting for 40 minutes to re-charge the car battery at a charging station, could the solution be stations where drivers can quickly swap their battery for a fully charged one? Swap Battery Rather Than Wait To Re-Charge Chinese electric carmaker, Nio, recently made the news with exactly this idea (which is […]
All At Sea For Carbon Capture
With container ships being bigger greenhouse gas producers that aeroplanes, London-based company ‘Seabound’ has developed technology that reduces up to 95 per cent of CO2 emissions per ship. The Problem The shipping industry is responsible for producing around 940 million tonnes of CO2 annually, which equates to at least 2.5 per cent of the world’s total […]