Lifeboat Foundation

This innovative startup is revolutionizing architecture — with building panels made out of fastest-growing perennial grass on Earth.

With housing shortages in need of quick fixes, the manufacturing industry is facing a conundrum: how to source materials and build structures while cutting down on emissions. The answer lies with sustainable construction — not only could it help reduce our environmental impact, but it also keeps costs low during implementation.

Recently, a new startup named Plantd achieved a milestone of building ultra-strong building panels out of the fastest-growing perennial grass on Earth — the best sustainable alternative to construction.

Continue reading “This startup uses grass to build energy-efficient building panels” »

Putting that soda bottle or takeout container into the recycling bin is far from a guarantee it will be turned into something new. Scientists at Rice University are trying to address this problem by making the process profitable.

The amount of plastic waste produced globally has doubled over the past two decades—and plastic production is expected to triple by 2050—with most of it ending up in landfills, incinerated or otherwise mismanaged, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Some estimates suggest only 5% is actually being recycled.

“Waste plastic is rarely recycled because it costs a lot of money to do all the washing, sorting and melting down of the plastics to turn it into a material that can be used by a factory,” said Kevin Wyss, a Rice graduate student and lead author on a study published in Advanced Materials that describes how he and colleagues in the lab of chemist James Tour used their flash Joule heating technique to turn plastic into valuable carbon nanotubes and hybrid nanomaterials.

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Continue reading “Did Tesla REALLY fire employees for attempting to unionise Giga NY?” »

The batteries comprise ammonium-ion electrolytes that may provide an environmentally friendly competitor to traditional metal-ion batteries dependent on precious, finite, and consistently dwindling resources. The ammonium-ion batteries may also have uses in several fields, most notably for grid storage.

KAUST researchers have innovated metal-free, ammonium-ion batteries that provide a sustainable alternative to power the green transition.

UN hopes to complete revisions to the Law of the Sea governing the protection of marine biodiversity.

In 2017, the members of the General Assembly of the United Nations convened to review the existing Convention on the Law of Sea with the idea to look at providing protection for marine biodiversity and ocean waters beyond marine national government boundaries and exclusive economic zones. Subsequently, there have been meetings at the United Nations to work through outstanding issues with the last in August 2022. A revised Intergovernmental conference is now underway and expected to last two weeks to complete a new High Seas Treaty.

The world’s oceans and seas cover more than 70% of the planet’s surface. The ocean contains 1.35 billion cubic kilometres (324 million cubic miles) of water representing 97% of all the water on the planet. The ocean is where life on Earth first came from and is what makes the continuation of life on this planet possible.

Continue reading “United Nations Meets Today to Finalize Global Treaty for the Ocean” »

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Chemistry have engineered silicon nanowires that can convert sunlight into electricity by splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen gas, a greener alternative to fossil fuels.

Fifty years ago, scientists first demonstrated that liquid water can be split into oxygen and hydrogen gas using electricity produced by illuminating a semiconductor electrode. Although hydrogen generated using solar power is a promising form of clean energy, low efficiencies and high costs have hindered the introduction of commercial solar-powered hydrogen plants.

An economic feasibility analysis suggests that using a slurry of electrodes made from nanoparticles instead of a rigid solar panel design could substantially lower costs, making solar-produced hydrogen competitive with fossil fuels. However, most existing particle-based light-activated catalysts, also referred to as photocatalysts, can absorb only ultraviolet radiation, limiting their energy-conversion efficiency under solar illumination.

Residents of Cardiff’s Odet Court housing complex U.K. are benefiting from “world-first” technology that allows solar energy from a single rooftop system to be shared by multiple residences in the same building.

The new solar system setup can supply up to 75 percent of each apartment’s power requirements, benefiting the residents, Euronews reported on Saturday.

Climate change policy has entered a new era. The growing row between the United States and the European Union over the impacts of the new American green subsidy regime makes that all too clear. Yet, in many ways, this story is ultimately about China.

For the last 20 years, developed countries have used three main types of policies to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy mandates have required electricity generators to invest in solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal power. Emissions trading schemes for energy and industrial businesses put a price on carbon. And energy efficiency standards have been progressively improved on a whole range of products, from vehicles and white goods to homes.

Blade says it will use the ALIA-250 to take passengers from Manhattan to the Hamptons starting in 2025 or 2026.