May, 2021

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The 33 sustainability certifications you need to know

GreenBiz

The 33 sustainability certifications you need to know. Trish Kenlon. Tue, 05/18/2021 - 01:00. The No. 1 question I get asked by job seekers, hands down, is "What certification should I get if I want to work in sustainability?" And I know everyone hates it when I have to respond with "It depends," but it really, truly does. The 2020 GreenBiz State of the Profession Report included a fantastic chart titled "Percentage of survey respondents having received training or certification," which showed t

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Check out these robots made specifically for the solar industry

Solar Power World

Robotics and automation have already been in the solar industry for years. Visit any solar module manufacturing facility (like SPW did when checking out Silfab Solar in Ontario) and you’ll find robotic arms assembling cells into strings, soldering wires and sealing backsheets. Even outside of manufacturing, more robotics are now entering solar services.

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‘Stressed’ trees share resources to overcome environmental challenges

Envirotec Magazine

A length of steel pipe and a heart monitor are the unlikely tools underpinning new research which suggests that trees may work together to form resource-sharing networks, helping the group collectively overcome environmental challenges. The findings, laid out in a paper published on 3 May in Communications Biology , seem to offer fresh insight into how forests around the world might adapt to the increasing environmental stresses of climate change.

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Amherst Traffic Lights Go Green to Improve Safety

altenergymag

Town Installs State-of-the-Art Battery Technology from Buffalo-based Viridi Parente as a Backup Power System

Batteries 216
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Electrofuels Are the Future: The Driving Force to Decarbonizing Heavy Transport

Speaker: Ayesha Choudhury - Senior Vice President, Head of Capital Markets at Infinium

With the first wave of the energy transition, renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind) have begun replacing coal power generation. However, some sectors are lagging behind and struggling to decarbonize more than others, including large-scale transportation like commercial aviation, shipping, and rail transit. Electrofuels (aka eFuels) are the next generation of solutions to help the hardest-to-abate sectors pivot from their reliance on fossil fuels.

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Outsiders get the bulk of venture capital in Africa. Peer-selection can change the game.

Impact Alpha

It’s a warm April day in Lagos, Nigeria. Fifteen people are sitting in a circle in a conference room, for a ceremony called. The post Outsiders get the bulk of venture capital in Africa. Peer-selection can change the game. appeared first on Impact Alpha.

Africa 145
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6 Amazing Reasons That Will Convince You To Get An Electric Bike

Green Living Guy

[link] So let’s talk electric bikes. In many countries, bikes are the main means of transportation people use daily. Indeed, this nineteenth-century invention is a very convenient way to get to work, school, or anywhere else basically. Even though traditional bikes are generally a great way to avoid traffic, there is something even better. You guessed it right, we are talking about electric bikes. … Read More 6 Amazing Reasons That Will Convince You To Get An Electric Bike.

More Trending

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Low-Speed Zones Save Lives. How Do You Design an Effective One?

The City Fix

As the COVID-19 pandemic has altered urban landscapes and pushed many people toward active mobility, there’s increased urgency to make roads safer for walking and cycling. Many cities are now tasked with protecting more vulnerable users in addition to creating. Continue reading on TheCityFix.com.

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2021 kicks off with record growth for clean energy in the US

Renewable Energy World

The Clean Power Quarterly Market Report, released last week by the American Clean Power Association (ACP), shows that U.S. project developers installed nearly 40 percent more wind power in the first three months of 2021 than in the first three months of 2020, the strongest year ever for clean power. This amount of development also represents nearly three times the amount of wind added to the U.S. grid in the first quarter of 2019.

Energy 142
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Unique alternatives to rooftop solar for small-scale installations

Solar Power World

Rooftops aren’t the only place to harvest a few kilowatts of solar power for smaller energy applications. Homes with yards or in off-grid locations can use the soil underfoot or south-facing walls to mount some solar panels. Solar mounting manufacturers offer a number of alternatives for homeowners looking for a different kind of installation. Pole… The post Unique alternatives to rooftop solar for small-scale installations appeared first on Solar Power World.

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Stop the clock: Four-day working weeks could shave a fifth off UK's carbon footprint

Business Green

New study calculates that switching to a four day working week could cut UK emissions by 21 per cent. A four-day working week has the potential to shrink the UK's carbon footprint by over a fifth, or a massive 127 million tonnes per year by 2025, according to a new report by Platform London and the 4-Day Week Campaign. That 21 per cent estimated reduction is more than the entire footprint of Switzerland, according to the campaigners, or the same as removing 27 million cars from the road, equival

Carbon 101
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AR/VR Simulations for Sustainable, Regenerative, Circular Cities

Speaker: Nik Gowing, Brenda Laurel, Sheridan Tatsuno, Archie Kasnet, and Bruce Armstrong Taylor

With 191 country signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement now hard at work in the race to zero carbon by 2050, much of the heavy lifting in ecosystem sustainability falls on the shoulders of the world's densely populated urban centers. This conversation considers how today's AI-enabled simulation media, such as AR/VR, can be effectively applied to accelerate learning, understanding, training, and solutions-modeling to sustainability planning and design.

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3 Top Benefits of Solar Power

Green Living Guy

The growth of solar in both a residential and commercial setting all over the world in the past 10 years has been immense. Countries like Australia have been leading the pack with nearly 30% of all dwellings having solar. One… Read More 3 Top Benefits of Solar Power. The post 3 Top Benefits of Solar Power appeared first on Green Living Guy.

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Celebrating 10 female leaders in sustainability

GreenBiz

Celebrating 10 female leaders in sustainability. Heather Clancy. Fri, 05/21/2021 - 01:30. "Lift while you climb.". That was just one powerful message delivered last week by keynote speaker Kaye Husband Fealing, dean of the Ivan Allen College College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Institute of Technology, during a virtual ceremony celebrating diverse, female leadership in the sustainability profession.

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Blimps May Be The Key To Low-Carbon Short-Range Air Travel

CleanTechnica

Everything old is new again, as Hybrid Air Vehicles says it is looking to start production of its Airlander 10 blimp soon.

Carbon 0
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Outdoor gear company Arc'teryx flies toward a circular economy

GreenBiz

Outdoor gear company Arc'teryx flies toward a circular economy. Deonna Anderson. Wed, 05/19/2021 - 10:14. In the front yard of the Coast Mountains in North Vancouver, Canada, Arc’teryx, an outdoor clothing and climbing gear company, is building a circular economy. Now, it’s ready to share more of that story with its customers, who spend time climbing, hiking and skiing in those mountains and peaks in other parts of the world.

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How Digital Transformation will Bend the Curve of the Linear Economy Toward the Circular

Speaker: Bruce Armstrong Taylor, Co-Founder & Managing Director of SmartNations Foundation, Jimmy Jia, Venture Partner at Pi Labs, Fabienne Durand, Senior Advisor to the SmartNations Foundation, & Roger Strukhoff, Executive Director of the Tau Institute

The Climate 4.0 Economy. Climate change is here. We see it in many ways already. Weather catastrophes: Texas freezing over, the wildfires of California, the increasingly unpredictable violence and frequency of hurricanes, the rapid melting and disappearance of polar ice caps. Much more evidence all around us. What can we do in our corporate organizations, in our homes and communities, to change the current course?

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UK nuclear, wind, and solar groups team up to demand 2035 net zero grid target

Business Green

Nuclear Industry Association (NIA), RenewableUK and Solar Energy UK team up to demand clearer, ambitious clean energy goals. The UK's leading nuclear, wind, and solar industry trade bodies have joined together to urge the government to set ambitious clean energy deployment goals for the end of the decade, backed by a binding 2035 target for the delivery of a net zero emissions power grid.

Demand 101
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Sadiq Khan recommits to ULEZ expansion, pledges to drive green recovery

Business Green

Newly re-elected Mayor of London promises to policies to improve air and tackle climate crisis at heart of second term. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has today recommitted to expanding the capital's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) this October, as part of a wide-ranging new programme designed to make a 'green recovery' from the pandemic the centrepiece of his second term.

Pollution 101
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'Carbon-neutral concrete': Industry issues Open Challenge to start-ups worldwide

Business Green

Global Cement and Concrete Association launches major new initiative to help catalyse development of low carbon technologies and techniques. Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) has this week launched a bid to tackle the construction industry's carbon footprint and develop "truly sustainable concrete and cement", with a call for start-ups the world over to pitch innovative new ideas for developing 'carbon-neutral concrete' through a global competition.

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Raring to go: Researchers hail 'S curve' trajectory of electric vehicle market

Business Green

But researchers warn exponential growth of EVs needs a policy boost. Current rates of deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) are consistent with 'S curve' shaped adoption dynamics that suggest the automotive sector could ultimately reach benchmarks consistent with global climate goals if policymakers take action to sustain recent growth trends. That is the encouraging conclusion of research published this morning by University College London's Institute for Sustainable Resources, which notes that

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BNEF: Electric vehicles will be cheaper than fossil fuel models by 2027

Business Green

Influential analyst firm predicts all new car sales in EU could be electric by 2035, provided that tougher emissions regulations are enacted now. Analysts have predicted that electric cars and vans will be cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives by 2027 as battery costs continue to fall, production ramps up, and new vehicle designs are developed. A study from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) commissioned by green transport group Transport & Environment has found that electric sedans and spo

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Amazon launches $1bn sustainability bond to fund green and social projects

Business Green

Firm joins growing band of corporates and governments around the world that have turned to the sustainable debt market. Amazon has issued its first sustainability bond, becoming the latest major corporate to tap the green debt market to raise funds to support its transition to more environmentally responsible business practices. The online retail giant announced this week it is seeking $1bn to finance a range of ongoing and new sustainability projects, including renewable energy, clean transport

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Germany moves to beef up climate law with new 2030 carbon target

Business Green

German government proposes new goal to slash emissions 65 per cent against 1990 levels by the end of the decade, as revamped French climate law moves forward. The German government has today announced plans to strengthen its climate targets, following a court ruling last week that concluded Ministers had failed to adequately set out how long term emissions goals would be met.

Law 101
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Blustery bank holiday weather sets new UK wind power generation record

Business Green

Wind power generated nearly half of electricity in Britain on Monday afternoon. Blustery weather over the Bank Holiday saw Britain's growing fleet of wind farms deliver more power than ever before, according to figures published by National Grid ESO. The grid operator confirmed yesterday that onshore and offshore wind turbines generated more than 17.6GW of electricity at 3:30pm on Monday afternoon, beating the previous record of 17.5GW which was set in February.

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Report: Half of global single-use plastic waste traced to just 20 petrochemicals firms

Business Green

Petrochemical firms such as ExxonMobil and Dow responsible for half of global single-use plastic waste, research finds. Just 20 companies are responsible for producing over half of all the single-use plastic which ends up going to waste worldwide, with only a tiny fraction of the material currently recycled, according to fresh analysis today which claims to reveal the "true scale of the global plastic waste crisis".

Plastics 101
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'Critical to the UK's carbon strategy': Conservationists call for national 'blue carbon' strategy

Business Green

Green groups argue rewilding UK waters must be a central tenet of government’s net zero plans. The UK's seas have a starring role to play in the UK's pathway to net zero emissions, yet marine protection is too often overlooked in discussions about climate goals, conservationists have warned. A new report published this morning by the Marine Conservation Society and Rewilding Britain argues the protection and restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems must become a critical pillar of the UK's n

Carbon 100
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Google to shift computing workloads towards 'greener' data centres

Business Green

Mobile compute workloads to follow the availability of renewable power around the globe based on real-time data, tech giant announces. Google is planning to use its Carbon-Intelligent Computing Platform to shift "movable" computing workloads to different data centres based on the availability of renewable energy, it announced this week. In a blog post published on Tuesday, co-founder of Google's Carbon-Intelligent Computing project Ross Koningstein, said the tech giant is currently working on th

Carbon 100
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'Enormous potential': Study explores key drivers of successful reforestation schemes

Business Green

Study touted as first thorough effort to track natural forest expansion highlights reforestation 'hot spots'. Top conservation groups have published the results of a major study into the regeneration capacity of natural forests in a bid to bolster and enhance reforestation initiatives that are an increasingly common feature in governments and corporate climate plans.

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'Gamechanger': Vestas unveils novel wind blade recycling technology

Business Green

Turbine maker and host of experts aim to present recycling solution for use across wind industry within three years. A group of industry and academic experts led by wind turbine giant Vestas have unveiled new technology they claim will enable wind turbine blades to be fully recycled, with a view to presenting an industry-ready solution for widespread adoption within three years.

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'Eco-awakening': WWF study reveals huge rise in consumer demand for sustainable products

Business Green

Global study analysed search terms and green campaign signatures online and on social media. Public concern over the decline in nature has seen a "dramatic rise" around the world over the past five years, triggering rapidly growing consumer demand for more sustainable products, particularly in high income countries, according to research commissioned by WWF.

Demand 99
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Mining heat: Sourcing geothermal energy from old mine shafts could heat UK homes, report argues

Business Green

A quarter of UK homes and businesses are said to be situated on former coalfields, according to Mine Energy Taskforce. Heat energy sourced from former underground mines could play a key role in decarbonising UK homes, according to fresh research led by a coalition of firms from North East England. Led by the government-funded Mine Energy Taskforce and Local Energy Hub network, the study paper calls for greater support for harnessing energy from mines, arguing that rolling out large-scale schemes

Energy 99
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Reuse, repair, recycle, reduce: UK debuts new Circular Economy Hub

Business Green

New research hub based at the University of Exeter aims to co-ordinate national research efforts to advance the development of circular economy business models. Some of the UK's leading academics and researchers are to spearhead national efforts to create a 'circular economy' through the launch this week of a major new Circular Economy Hub. Led by the University of Exeter, the National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Hub is being funded by £3.5m from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) an

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Sustainable Ventures and Schneider Electric kick off 'open energy' clean tech competition

Business Green

Established and emerging companies encouraged to apply to take part in four month programme. Engineering giant Schneider Electric and clean tech hub Sustainable Ventures have teamed up to launch a funding competition for entrepreneurs looking to scale "open energy" technologies and solutions. Launching the new competition today, the partners urged start-ups and established companies working on innovative technologies that leverage data and digitalisation in the nascent and inter-disciplinary fie

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Net zero: Despite the greenwash, it's vital for tackling climate change

Business Green

It might seem odd to find supporters of climate action debating the merits of a concept that science shows to be essential for halting climate change, and which is accordingly embedded at the heart of the defining global agreement. Yet that is where we find ourselves with the concept of " net zero " - the point at which any remaining emissions of greenhouse gases are balanced with absorption, halting further warming of the climate.

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'Guilt-free sausages': Lab-grown pork could be coming to British menus by 2023

Business Green

UK developer Ivy Farm Technologies sets sights on producing 12,000 tonnes of cultivated pork each year by 2025. The British public may soon be able to enjoy the flavour of sausages with none of the environmental and ethical guilt, thanks to the emergence of sustainable "slaughter-free" meat grown in a lab. Ivy Farm Technologies, an Oxford University spin-out pioneering the development of lab-grown meat, announced this week that it hopes to be the first company to put cultured meat on UK plates.

Ethics 98
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National Grid installs pioneering power flow tech to ease network bottlenecks

Business Green

Deployment of SmartValve technology at three substations in England is first large scale use of power flow technology on a transmission network. An innovative technology is being integrated into Britain's electricity grid that could unlock an extra 1.5GW of capacity by automatically routing power through the best available circuits. National Grid confirmed today it has installed modular power flow controllers at three substations in the North of England that could unlock 500MW of new capacity in