So what does a smart city really look like?
Smart city expert Lean Doody says the technology should be a tool to deliver a sustainable city. Rapid urbanisation is one of the most important…
Innovation
Frankenstein: the real experiments that inspired the fictional science
Giovanni Aldini’s experiments with a human corpse. Wellcome Collection, CC BY-SA Iwan Morus, Aberystwyth University On January 17 1803, a young man named George Forster…
Paul Romer and William Nordhaus – why they won the 2018 ‘economics Nobel’
Sergey V. Popov, Cardiff University William Nordhaus and Paul Romer have been awarded the 2018 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences (colloquially known as the…
Environmentalism 4.0
Global leaders at the latest World Economic Forum 2018 Meeting in Davos were talking about “the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, the drastic changes that technology, Artificial…
The true carbon footprint of photovoltaic energy
The sun is an inexhaustible energy resource to generate electricity apparently without toxic pollutants or effects on global warming. Certainly, solar energy systems (photovoltaics, solar…
These are the world’s most innovative cities, and here’s why
Innovation is seen as a key ingredient for successful cities in the 21st century economy, as new technologies constantly emerge to disrupt the status quo….
Engineers compete to detect methane leaks, a powerful climate pollutant
In their labs at the University of Colorado, research scientists Dirk Richter and Petter Weibring were busy building lasers to detect gasses when Richter heard…
Here are 5 reasons why we need an ‘Internet of Energy’
Two technological revolutions are shaping the dawn of the 21st century: the development of the internet and the shift towards a carbon-free global energy system….
Smart cities need to be more human, so we’re creating Sims-style virtual worlds
Huge quantities of networked sensors have appeared in cities across the world in recent years. These include cameras and sensors that count the number of…
Father and (Grand)son
Let the record play. The sound of an old vinyl is music to my ears. it comes from an ancient record player. “It’s not time to…
The Bitcoin never ending rise: a model of unsustainability?
A currency that keeps growing and democratizes the digital economy but looks far from being ecological. Maybe it is the right time to ask questions…
A month in, Tesla’s SA battery is surpassing expectations
It’s just over one month since the Hornsdale power reserve was officially opened in South Australia. The excitement surrounding the project has generated acres of…
End of the road for traditional vehicles? Here are the facts
Matthew Watkins, Nottingham Trent University New sales of petrol and diesel cars will be banned by 2040 in the UK, which has since been joined…