Sat.Dec 14, 2019 - Fri.Dec 20, 2019

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It's time to trash recycling

GreenBiz

Our waste management practices are distractions from our main problem: too much stuff. But alternatives exist.

Recycling 411
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Biofuel Down, Not Out: The Rise Of The Zeolites

CleanTechnica

A new energy efficient catalyst gives new hope to the prospect of a new sparkling green future fueled by low cost, sustainable biofuel.

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Solar Technology Got Cheaper and Better in the 2010s. Now What?

GreenTechMedia

Solar energy grew by leaps and bounds in the 2010s. According to Wood Mackenzie, global annual solar installations grew more than sixfold this past decade, from 16 gigawatts in 2010 to 105 gigawatts in 2019. In the meantime, multi-silicon solar module prices dropped from over $2 per watt to just over $0.20 per watt in Q3 2019. That 90 percent price reduction is one of the most critical factors driving the global expansion of solar.

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How Wastewater Treatment Can Reduce Energy Usage

U.S. Green Technology

In the United States, every year, municipal plants consume in excess of 30 terawatt hours of electricity during the treatment of wastewater. According to the Department of Energy, this translates to an annual expense of around $2 billion for electricity alone. The demand for clean drinking water will only increase. So what can be done. The post How Wastewater Treatment Can Reduce Energy Usage appeared first on U.S.

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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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Renewable Hydrogen Will Drink The Fossil Fuel Milkshake

CleanTechnica

Renewable hydrogen from water is the end game, and fossil fuel stakeholders better hold on to their milkshakes as wind and solar power rise up.

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California's epic electric truck policy is coming

GreenBiz

This is leadership for the climate and for mobility.

Policy 363

More Trending

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Top 10 transportation trends to watch for in 2020

GreenBiz

City greenzones. Methane biodigesters. Connected schoolbuses. There's a lot in store for the next year in mobility.

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Inspiring Eco homes

The Environmental Blog

Eco homes don’t just save energy consumption and the wildlife around them. They can also improve the health and wellbeing of those living in them. Before you embark on building an eco-home, ask yourself why you want to be eco-conscious? There are many factors to consider before investing into eco-friendly materials and manufacturing methods. Make sure to do your research and understand the science behind renewable energy first!

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The fruit of the future is 3D-printed and packed with vitamins and minerals

Inhabitat - Innovation

Neo Fruits is a collection of artificial fruits made out of 3D-printed cellulose skins and filled with a healthy mix of vitamins and minerals.

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How RFID technology is playing a role in reducing waste and increasing recycling

Envirotec Magazine

PragmatIC says its technology could allow a low-cost inlay (tag) to be incorporated in packaging, allowing consumers to access information about product usage, food storage, cooking instructions and local recycling. Gillian Ewers, VP Marketing with technology firm PragmatIC, offers insight into an approach that uses low-cost integrated circuits to bring the benefits of near-field communications (NFC) and RFID to the recycling arena.

Recycling 228
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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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A holiday talk about the climate crisis? Yes, please.

GreenBiz

Why a holiday discussion about climate change has a better chance of success, and less chance of conflict, than you might think.

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US Microgrid Market Slowed in 2019. PG&E Could Singlehandedly Reverse the Trend

GreenTechMedia

The burgeoning U.S. microgrid industry is set to install less controllable capacity this year than it did last year. But that setback may prove a temporary blip, especially if a new effort to back up the beleagured Northern California grid comes to fruition. The U.S. microgrid market set a record with 666 megawatts of capacity additions in 2018, but project delays and cancellations have dropped the expected 2019 total to 553 megawatts, according to a new report by energy research firm Wood Macke

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Remote tiny house in the Netherlands has a design inspired by foliage

Inhabitat - Innovation

When a client tasked the team behind Liberté Tiny Houses to create a mobile, minimalist home where she could reconnect with nature, they responded by building the Makatita — a 182-square-foot tiny home with a shape that was inspired by the organic form of a leaf.

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Documentary conveys “a sense of hope and spirit of optimism for water”

Envirotec Magazine

The team behind the documentary. The world’s first screening of the 50-minute documentary Brave Blue World , narrated by Liam Neeson, was met with “rapturous applause” at a blue carpet event held at the Paramount Theatre, Los Angeles. More than 200 supporters and guests from the corporate world, environmental NGOs, charities, impact investors, utilities and film and media representatives joined the celebrations, raising a glass of beer – made from recycled wastewater – to toast

Recycling 221
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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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Early-career public-sector sustainability professionals reflect on VERGE 19 (Part 1)

GreenBiz

Insightful on mobility. Actionable ideas for addressing food waste. Youth activism. What inspired CivicSpark leaders at this year’s conference.

Waste 334
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GE Sells Stake in 800MW Portfolio of US Wind Farms

GreenTechMedia

General Electric has made supplying clean-energy equipment a central pillar of its future business, but in the meantime the company continues to shed renewables projects under new CEO Larry Culp. On Tuesday, asset manager Harbert Management Corp. announced the acquisition of an 80 percent stake in an 812-megawatt portfolio of U.S. onshore wind farms from a joint venture of GE and Enel Green Power.

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Upcycled materials make up this beautiful cabin retreat in Denmark

Inhabitat - Innovation

Located an hour outside of Copenhagen, this beautiful vacation home is tucked into a lush forest mere steps away from a beach.

Upcycling 321
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Food Waste: $2.4 Trillion Left Rotting in a Heap

CleanTech Group

Figure 1 Food Waste innovation landscape The scale of the problem The scale of the global food waste problem is astonishing. We waste.

Waste 159
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A decade in review: the most underrated clean energy stories

GreenBiz

Energy leaders share their views on the most important developments of the last and upcoming decades.

Energy 370
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As Fracking Companies Face Bankruptcy, US Regulators Enable Firms to Duck Cleanup Costs

DeSmogBlog

Read time: 9 mins In over their heads with debt, U.S. shale oil and gas firms are now moving from a boom in fracking to a boom in bankruptcies. This trend of failing finances has the potential for the U.S. public, both at the state and federal levels, to be left on the hook for paying to properly shut down and clean up even more drilling sites. Expect these companies to try reducing their debt through the process of bankruptcy and, like the coal industry , attempting to get out of environmental

Energy 127
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A rich vegetable garden grows atop a unique home in Vietnam

Inhabitat - Innovation

In Vietnam’s coastal region of Quang Ngai, a one-of-a-kind home with a roof topped with fresh vegetables has infused new life into a rural village.

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Swindon to launch electric powertrain for low-volume sports cars

Charged

Swindon Powertrain will launch an 80 kW powertrain designed for low-volume sports cars. The high-power-density system will weigh 70 kg and measure 600 mm long, 440 mm wide, and 280 mm high. Funded by Niche Vehicle Network in partnership with electric motor manufacturer iNetic and automotive specialist Code, the new powertrain is scheduled to begin production by June 2020.

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The future of building is communities that are all-electric and ultra-efficient

GreenBiz

From Utah to Texas to California, these homes are changing the way we think about the built environment.

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Public Comments Reveal Big Oil and Koch-backed Opposition to Minnesota's Clean Car Standards

DeSmogBlog

Read time: 5 mins As Minnesota begins the rulemaking process to adopt a pair of clean car standards, citizens and organizations weighed in with their comments and concerns, through an official Request for Comments portal. A DeSmog analysis found that a majority of the hundreds of comments received were supportive of the initiative, which aims to reduce the state’s transportation-sector emissions.

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DIY: How to make an enchanting terrarium necklace to keep or give as a gift

Inhabitat - Innovation

Highlight life, nature, plants and the planet all in a tiny, encapsulated terrarium. Even better, turn it into a necklace for a unique piece of jewelry that is sure to be a conversation-starter.

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Could Greta Thunberg Inspire Appalachia And Coal Country To Embrace Change?

Forbes Green Tech

Coal country fears uncertainty -- not green energies. But it needs help from forward-thinking leaders on how to acclimate to a changing economy. Greta Thunberg could inspire that movement.

Energy 98
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COP25 and the tyranny of low expectations

GreenBiz

Big polluters and a surge of nationalism scuttled any meaning results from two intense weeks of U.N. climate negotiations.

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Energy Analysts Deliver More Bad News for US Fracking Industry's Business Model

DeSmogBlog

Read time: 7 mins This month, the energy consulting firm Wood MacKenzie gave an online presentation that basically debunked the whole business model of the shale industry. In this webinar, which explored the declining production rates of oil wells in the Permian region , research director Ben Shattuck noted how it was impossible to accurately forecast how much oil a shale play held based on estimates from existing wells. “ Over the years of us doing this, as analysts, we’ve learned that you rea

Energy 101
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Modular Aquatecture panels can harvest rainwater from the sides of buildings

Inhabitat - Innovation

Inspired by severe water shortages, one designer has created building panels that can harvest rainwater runoff and atmospheric moisture.

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Wildfires are getting worse, and so is the deadly smoke they bring with them

Grist

Last month, as a wildfire roared through the foothills above Santa Barbara, California, disaster-weary residents knew the drill and prepared for the worst. Some evacuated, while others sheltered in place, tracking news reports on wind patterns and the progress of firefighters battling the blaze known as the Cave Fire. By the second day, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and the county’s Air Pollution Control District had issued an air-quality warning, and local libraries and nonp

Soil 98
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A sustainability lesson from IBM: take the lead and your supply chain might follow

GreenBiz

Companies must establish systems, structures and training to make it relatively easy for every employee and supplier to implement sustainability.

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ITC extension removed from House green tax package, facing year-end step-down

Solar Power World

The solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is still set to start stepping down at the end of 2019. A five-year extension to the subsidy was included in the House Ways and Means Committee’s recently drafted tax package, Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act of 2019. But that language was removed in Congress on… The post ITC extension removed from House green tax package, facing year-end step-down appeared first on Solar Power World.

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Green-roofed sports center adds sculptural appeal to the Augustow riverfront

Inhabitat - Innovation

Topped with a green roof, the facility complements the surrounding park.

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Scientists created a new sponge that could clean up oil spills

Grist

The secret to cleaning up contaminated water may lie in the cheap, common polyurethane foam used in mattresses. In a study published in the journal Nature Sustainability this week, scientists tested the ability of the material, enhanced with a special coating, to soak up tiny droplets of oil suspended in water. They found that it consistently captured almost all of the oil in under three hours.