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Forget rooftop panels. This is the next generation of solar power.
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Category: sustainability – Page 566
Man Makes and Sells Compostable Wild Grass Straws
Imagine being able to use grass instead of plastic for #Straws…Zero Waste Saigon, which also sells the straws, says that finding a human use for the grass, helps preserve wetlands, which provide habitat for Sarus Crane birds, because it prevents them from being turned into crop land.
This man has come up with a super sustainable — and truly biodegradable —substitute for plastic straws.
As plastic straw bans come into effect around the world, a Vietnamese man has come up with a creative, natural alternative.
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Adidas unveils running shoes that never have to be thrown away
The Futurecraft Loop performance running shoes can be returned to Adidas, where they will be ground up to make more shoes, again and again.
So, recycling is a mess. Manufacturers have sold us on the idea that it’s the consumer’s responsibility to recycle the manufacturer’s product, ostensibly relieving the manufacturer of responsibility for all the trash their products generate. Meanwhile, despite many of us trying our best to uphold our end of the deal, recycling is complicated – and in the end, 91 percent of plastic, for example, is not recycled.
Given plastic’s nearly eternal durability, it’s little wonder that we’re finding it literally everywhere on the planet. And we keep making new plastic at a prodigious rate – National Geographic notes that “If present trends continue, by 2050, there will be 12 billion metric tons of plastic in landfills.”
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Canada’s $5,000 EV incentive starts next month, Tesla officially disqualified
Canada’s newly announced $5,000 incentive for electric vehicles is officially going into effect on May 1st next month and the federal government has released the list of eligible vehicles.
Tesla vehicles are officially ineligible for the incentive.
As we reported last month, the Canadian federal announced a new $5,000 incentive for electric cars with a $45,000 price limit, which virtually excluded Tesla vehicles.
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Scientists restore some functions in a pig’s BRAIN hours after it died
Scientists bring some functions in a pig’s BRAIN ‘back to life’ — four hours after the farm animal died„.
Scientists have been able to partially revive the brains of decapitated pigs that died four hours earlier in a groundbreaking study.
Experts used tubes that pumped a chemical mixture designed to mimic blood into the decapitated heads of 32 pigs to restore circulation and cellular activity.
Echoing Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein, billions of neurons began acting normally and the deaths of other cells was reduced over the course of six hours.
Solar evaporator offers a fresh route to fresh water
About a billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water. Desalinating salty water into drinkable water can help to fill this dangerous gap. But traditional desalination systems are far too expensive to install and operate in many locations, especially in low-income countries and remote areas.
Now researchers at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering have demonstrated a successful prototype of one critical component for affordable small-scale desalination: an inexpensive solar evaporator, made of wood. The evaporator generates steam with high efficiency and minimal need for maintenance, says Liangbing Hu, associate professor of materials science and engineering and affiliate of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute.
The design employs a technique known as interfacial evaporation, “which shows great potential in response to global water scarcity because of its high solar-to-vapor efficiency, low environmental impact, and portable device design with low cost,” Hu says. “These features make it suitable for off-grid water generation and purification, especially for low-income countries.”
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These machines pull clean drinking water out of thin air, and they might be a solution to the global water crisis
World Water Day aims to raise awareness of the global water crisis, which could leave one in four people with a recurring water shortage by 2050. As the global population continues to climb, that means more than 2 billion people could soon be starved for world’s most precious resource.
To tackle this mounting issue, one company has turned to a solution in nature.
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AquaBoy® Pro II Air to Water Generator
Make water from the air with the AquaBoy® Pro II, air to water generator. The AquaBoy® Pro II produces up to 2 to 5 gallons per day of “purified great tasting water” by making it directly from the air around us. This award-winning, luxury appliance provides access to both hot and cold purified drinking water with just the touch of a button that is perfect for hot tea, gourmet coffee, purified ice, cooking, pet care and much more. There is also a hot water lock button to help prevent accidental dispensing.
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The first of the TTC’s zero-emission electric buses rolled into town today (PHOTOS)
The first of the TTC’s zero-emission electric buses arrived today.
According to TTC spokesperson Stuart Green, the new vehicle must undergo testing and commissioning first before it can enter regular service later this spring.
The first of the #TTC ‘s zero emission electric buses arrived today! This @newflyer vehicle (#3700) will undergo testing and commissioning before it enters regular service later this Spring. We’ll have 60 e-buses by year end, making the TTC a national clean-tech fleet leader. pic.twitter.com/voobFV8JEM