Liverpool wants to be first ‘Climate Positive’ city
Liverpool’s City Council is aiming to be the first city in the UK to become ‘climate positive’ by the end of 2018. Climate positive means that the city will remove more carbon dioxide from...
Category: Innovation
Swiss students develop plastic replacement
Students at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland are working on an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic made from mycelium and sawdust. Their new material is resistant and yet fully biodegradable....
Audi turns plastic waste into recreation areas
Together with Recycled Island Foundation, the Audi Environmental Foundation has opened a floating park in the Rotterdam port of Rijnhaven. To create the park, the project partner filtered plastic waste out of the New...
Fibre-optic cables help detect earthquakes
Fibre-optic cables could provide the key to detecting earthquakes and other ground movements, new research has revealed. The future of seismology could lie in fibre-optic cables, with the method able to detect earthquakes...
Betrand Piccard launches latest mission for low-carbon innovations
Swiss aviator and adventurer Bertrand Piccard has launched a new label to promote a healthier and cleaner existence on Earth. The “Efficient Solution” label evaluates products and technologies and assesses their economic viability. Piccard...
Melbourne uses AI to manage water supply network
Australian public water utility Melbourne Water is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to cut electricity costs in its water treatment plants. Efficiency is generally seen as a key marker of a smart city,...
Volvo upcycles ocean plastic with the help of Swiss technology
In the future, every Volvo car will feature plastic parts made from discarded fishing nets or PET bottles. The Swedish carmaker turned to an innovative Swiss technology to show how this can be achieved....
New filter removes run-off chemicals
The filter will first be used to recover aircraft de-icing chemicals. In the future it will also be used in urban areas to remove environmental toxins, pollution and probably microplastics, reports Håvard Egge from...
Machine learning helps predict climate change
Machine learning techniques could help create accurate predictions of global warming by better representing clouds, a new study has found. A major challenge in current climate prediction models is how to accurately represent clouds...
New method makes weather forecasting more accurate
A new method using modern radar capabilities could make weather forecasting much more accurate. The method can account for evaporation. Rainfall forecasts are often flawed due to their failure to take into account factors...
IKEA goes ‘truly circular’ with new sustainability commitments
IKEA has announced new plans that will enable the company to become ‘truly circular’ by 2030. This includes extending the life of products and materials and using resources in a smarter way. Swedish furniture...
Global warming can be limited to 1.5C by changing our behaviour
Global warming can be limited to 1.5°C by dramatically transforming the way we move around, heat and cool our homes, and buy and use devices and appliances in our cities, according to new research...
Biodegradable deterrent protects crops and insects
Traditional insecticides are killers: they not only kill pests, they also endanger bees and other beneficial insects, as well as affecting biodiversity in soils, lakes, rivers and seas. A team from the Technical University...
Netherlands to build world’s first habitable 3D printed houses
The world’s first habitable 3D printed concrete houses are to be built in the Netherlands this year. Known as Project Milestone, the development in Eindhoven will comprise five sustainable houses. The construction of the...
Capturing CO2 using heat pumps
Capturing the greenhouse gas CO2 from industrial processes such as cement manufacture is a demanding and therefore expensive exercise. However, by introducing a renewable powered heat pump in the capture system, the energy required...
China plans ‘riskiest ever’ environmental project
A global expert on infrastructure has warned that China’s Belt and Road initiative to crisscross half the Earth with transportation is the riskiest environmental project ever undertaken. China is planning to invest billions of dollars...
Volkswagen tests new transportation concept
Automotive manufacturer Volkswagen has started testing a new transportation concept called Moia. The specially developed electric vehicles operate somewhere between public transport and taxis. In the service provided by Moia, passengers can order a...
Silicon a new storage material for future batteries
Longer life times, larger ranges and faster recharging – developments such as electric mobility or the miniaturisation of electronics require new storage materials for batteries. With its enormous storage capacity, silicon would potentially have...
World’s largest electric vehicle now in operation
Swiss universities teamed up with Swiss industry partners to build the world’s largest electric truck. The eco-friendly eDumper dump truck is now in operation at a quarry in the Bernese Jura. The world’s largest...
Intelligent components for future power grid
The many challenges of the energy transition require a flexible and reliable power grid, which can accommodate fluctuations in the consumption and production of energy. A key element of this could be the smart...
