Carbon-neutral biofuel from lakes
Lakes store huge amounts of methane. In a new study, environmental scientists at the University of Basel offer suggestions for how it can be extracted and used as an energy source in the form...
Tagged: energy
Can Switzerland cut its CO2 emissions to zero by 2050?
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have investigated what measures would be necessary for Switzerland to achieve its zero CO2 emissions goal and how much it might cost per person. In August 2019,...
Right choice of ore may create lower emissions
Metal production generates considerable emissions of greenhouse gases. But the type of ore used in production can make a big difference, reports Steinar Brandslet from Norway. In Norway, metal production accounts for around 10...
Silicon for solar cells becoming more environmentally friendly
New discoveries are making silicon production cleaner, and solar cells of the future will become even more environmentally friendly. Steinar Brandslet reports from Norway. Solar cells are largely made of silicon. But the silicon...
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...
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...
Helsinki seeks innovative heating solutions to fight global warming
Two thirds of the world’s energy is consumed in cities. Because bioenergy has several limitations, innovation is needed to help cities decarbonise their heating systems, says the Mayor of Helsinki – a city that...
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...
Buildings can learn to save energy by themselves
Researchers in Switzerland are devising ideas to help buildings save power. In their experiments, they fed a self-learning heating control system with temperature data from the previous year and the current weather forecast. The...
British health services launches climate campaign
The “For a greener NHS” campaign aims to tackle the causes of air pollution and climate change in an effort to prevent illnesses, reduce pressure on emergency wards and save lives. Air pollution is...
Green battery brings electricity to rural Africa
Swiss start-up hiLyte has developed a clean and affordable battery that can help people in rural Sub-Saharan Africa light their homes and charge their cell phones. hiLyte, a start-up founded by two graduates of...
Shutdown of coal-fired plants in US saves lives and improves crop yields
Between 2005 and 2016, the shift away from coal saved an estimated 26,610 lives and 570 million bushels of crops. The decommissioning of coal-fired power plants in the continental United States has reduced nearby...
Toyota plans prototype of ‘city of the future’
Toyota has unveiled plans to a build a prototype ‘city of the future’ at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan. It is envisioned as a ‘living laboratory’ where residents and researchers can test...
Carbon emissions from trucks can be reduced by 90%
A new concept developed in Switzerland has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from trucks by almost 90%. The concept has now been patented. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne...
New York City now home to largest Passive House building in North America
Park Avenue Green, a multifamily, affordable housing building in New York City, has now been certified by the Passive House Institute, making it the largest Passive House building in North America. Park Avenue Green...
Grain from breweries could be converted into fuel for homes
A researcher at Queen’s University Belfast has developed a low cost technique to convert left over barley from alcohol breweries into carbon, which could be used as a renewable fuel for homes in winter,...
Heat captured in subway tunnels could one day heat buildings
Researchers in Switzerland have developed geothermal panels that can capture the heat generated in subway tunnels and use it to heat water or buildings. The project is now a finalist in an international competition....
