Google to help cities drastically reduce carbon emissions
Google announced that it will help more than 500 cities and local governments reduce 1 gigaton of carbon emissions per year by 2030. Tech giant Google has made a bold urban promise as part...
Category: Energy & Renewable
Southeast Asia’s green potential
A Green New Deal could reinvigorate Southeast Asia’s economy after the coronavirus pandemic recedes while preparing the region for the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change, argued trade expert James Guild recently in the...
Draft logic
Migrating geese do it. Why not commercial aircraft? That’s the logic behind European aerospace giant Airbus’s research into how its airliners could save energy by flying behind other planes. Known as wake-energy retrieval, or...
New city in China aims to be fully self-sufficient
Barcelona-based Guallart Architects has won a contest to design a resilient and self-sufficient community in Xiong’an, a new city that Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling “a new standard in the post-COVID era”. According...
Increasing access to clean energy in India
India’s largest renewable energy company, ReNew Power, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have signed a partnership agreement to promote increased access to renewable energy and improved energy efficiency. The strengthened partnership between the...
Barcelona to create more ‘superblocks’ with EU financing
The European Investment Bank is providing €95 million to Barcelona to promote urban regeneration through investments in urban design, social infrastructure and energy efficiency. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced that it will...
The secret to more efficient solar cells
The search for the perfect solar cell is not yet over. Norwegian researchers are now adopting a new approach to the cells’ raw material, crystalline silicon, with the aim of making the electricity-generating cells...
New study offers roadmap for coal phase-out
Canberra – Coal will need to be phased out of the world’s economy to meet the climate change challenge, but this can work properly only if social objectives and local stakeholders are involved in...
UK offshore wind power so cheap it could pay money back
The latest round of offshore wind farms to be built in the UK could reduce household energy bills by producing electricity very cheaply. Wind power could become the cheapest form of energy for the...
Homes of wealthy Americans have 25% higher carbon emissions than lower-income residences
The homes of wealthy Americans generate about 25% more greenhouse gases than residences in lower-income neighborhoods, says the University of Michigan. In the nation’s most affluent suburbs, those emissions can be as much as...
World’s tallest Passive House building gets the green light
The City of Vancouver has approved a rezoning application, paving the way for construction of the tallest Passive House building in the world. The 60-storey mixed-use residential building will be 178 meters high. Vancouver...
New dialogue and reporting tool launched to promote net-zero buildings
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has teamed up with industry partners to launch the Building System Carbon Framework. Its aim is to help align company actions towards a net-zero built environment. The...
How thin-film technology is making solar panels sustainable
New thin-film technology is using sustainable components for solar panels. The novel method creates efficient alloy-based solar panels free of toxic metals. Commercialized thin-film solar panels on the market consist of rare-earth elements like...
California devises program to cut building emissions
California energy regulators are crafting a pilot program with incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in new residential buildings. It will initially focus on low-income residential housing to address the economic disparities highlighted by...
Swiss company creates new raw material from plastic waste
A Swiss company is on its way to becoming the first company in the world to use a procedure to change mixed plastic waste into paraffin oil in a CO2-neutral way. This can also...
Germany unveils green rescue package
Germany’s rescue package will help the country overcome the worst economic crisis in decades by making its economy greener and stronger, finds new analysis. Germany’s economic rescue package announced last week is pointing the...
Swiss researchers explore environmentally friendly cement
Cement manufacturing accounts for around 7 percent of global CO2 emissions. Alternative types of cement use new ingredients, but the effects of these on performance are largely unexplored. A Swiss research institute hopes to...
Researchers turn seaweed into biofuels and fertilisers
UK researchers have developed a cheap and simple way of creating biofuel and fertiliser from seaweed, whilst removing plastic from the oceans and cleaning up tourist beaches in the Caribbean and Central America. Millions...
Fossil fuel operators pollute the North Sea with 9,000 tonnes of oil per year
Oil companies continue to pollute the North Sea with thousands of tonnes of oil every year, according to Greenpeace International. A quarter of a century after the Brent Spar campaign, oil companies continue to...
Carbon-reducing housing scheme approved in UK garden city
A scheme described as one of the most carbon-reducing projects in Ebbsfleet Garden City in the UK has been approved. Measures will include solar panels, sustainable drainage and electric vehicle charging points. A UK...
