Environment

As developing nations such as India and China continue down the road to prosperity, it’s not surprising that their citizens have been eager to spend their newfound wealth on material possessions. Makers of consumer goods are increasingly turning their attention to the developing world as a potentially huge market. All that consumption will ultimately lead to something else, however - a glut of worn-out, obsolete electronic products, chock-full of toxic substances. In fact, according to a new report from the American Chemical Society, by 2030 the e-waste generated by developing nations will be double that of the developed world.  Read More

We know it’s bad news for the environment (and our health) to use cleaning products that contain nasty chemicals, but until now, there have not been a lot of viable alternatives. Enter the Activeion ionator – it’s a cleaning product that transforms humble tap water into a super-powered, germ-destroying, dirt-removing dynamo – with absolutely no chemicals. That’s good news for your family, your pets and the environment.  Read More

Sporting a Rolex watch is certainly an effective way of showing off your wealth, but what if you want to show off your environmental consciousness? What timepiece would let you do that? It would have to be something that incorporates low-impact, sustainable and biodegradable materials, that doesn’t contain hazardous substances, and that supports recycling. A good “green” name would help too… a name like Sprout.  Read More

The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol, which depicts a serpent or dragon curled in a circle, swallowing its own tail. Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in California have now created a nano-tool, that they named after the curious beasty. Their ouroborand molecular switch looks kind of like the Ouroboros, in that its tail coils up and around into its cup-like head. Unlike the reptile, however, the molecule could be used to detect metals, toxins, and other pollutants in our environment.  Read More

Late last year we brought you news that the City of Austin, Texas, had launched a rather radical car2go pilot program. Well, after the successful trial, this May the city will go public with the car-sharing system. The pilot began with a joint partnership between the City of Austin and Daimler where 200 smart fortwo vehicles were made available 24/7 within the city to a select group of city employees and their relatives. Now, the number of cars has been increased and all Austin residents and students can apply to utilize them.  Read More

Scientists in the US have been cloud-spotting over shipping lanes and have noticed something more interesting than teddy-bear shapes and faces. They have detected that rising steam from passing ships has caused brightening in the clouds which they theorize alters the reflectivity of the cloud and prevents the energy from reaching the Earth. They propose that if this could be achieved artificially via geoengineering it could be an effective defense against global warming.  Read More

Traditional environmental enemies food packaging and other disposable plastic items could soon be composted at home along with organic waste and not collected for landfill thanks to a new sugar-based polymer being developed at Imperial College London. The degradable polymer is made from sugars known as lignocellulosic biomass, which come from non-food crops like fast-growing trees and grasses, or renewable biomass from agricultural or food waste.  Read More

Yep, you read it right, spray-on glass. It could revolutionize the fields of agriculture, medicine, fashion, transportation - really, it would be easier to list where it might not be applicable. The remarkable product, called Liquid Glass, was developed by the German nano-tech firm Nanopool GmbH. Their patented process, known as “SiO2 ultra thin layering” involves extracting silica molecules from quartz sand, adding them to water or ethanol, and then... well, they won’t tell us what they do next, but the end result is a 100 nanometer-thick, clear, flexible, breathable coating that can be applied to almost any surface. We’re told that there are no added nano-particles, resins or additives - the coating is formed using quantum forces. The possible uses are endless.  Read More

The UK government-backed Technology Strategy Board recently announced the recipients of carbon reduction technology research project funding which sees a consortium made up of Jaguar Land Rover, SR Drives and led by Bladon Jets taking a GBP 1,103,392 (about US$1,790,000) slice of the multi-million GB-pound cake to develop "the world’s first commercially viable - and environmentally friendly - gas turbine generator designed specifically for automotive applications."  Read More