India builds homes to resist climate-linked floods
Bamboo, lime and mud are traditional materials being used innovatively in southern India to rebuild homes that can withstand the impact of recurring floods. The…
Innovation
Inching towards abundant water: new progress in desalination tech
In early 2018, Cape Town, South Africa came dangerously close to being the world’s first major city to run out of water. People lined up…
Eco-friendly sex life: are condoms good for the environment?
Environmentalists are quick to condemn the condom. It is a product often made from non-biodegradable latex, or even worse, synthetic materials such as polyisoprene, and…
Tech accelerators help Nonprofits fast-track technology aimed at solving environmental challenges
Imagine a solar panel that could pull moisture from the air and create clean drinking water, using only the power of the sun, for hundreds…
With no upfront costs, this innovative financing tool makes energy efficiency affordable to all
By rolling upgrade costs into monthly bills, utilities are helping customers save energy and money at the same time For customers of the Roanoke Electric…
From fiery ice to sustainable aviation: the biofuel race becomes creative
The search for alternative fuels struck lucky off the coast of Japan recently. Under the water and below the seabed are pockets of methane, trapped…
Cyber-crime is smarter than energy
With the proliferation of smart grids, smart meters, “digital coal mine” and “digital oil fields,” the global energy sector is becoming increasingly interconnected, automated and…
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…
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….