Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines

New approach to computing boosts energy efficiency

A European research project has launched a set of tools that will make computer systems more energy efficient - a critical issue for modern computing. Using the framework of the project programmers has been able to provide large data streaming aggregations 54 times more energy efficient than with standard implementations.

August 29, 2016 Read more

Study: Biofuels increase, rather than decrease, heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions

A new study challenges the widely held assumption that biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel are inherently carbon neutral.

August 25, 2016 Read more

New method developed for producing some metals

Using electricity rather than heat can reduce both energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

August 25, 2016 Read more

Green light: Biochemists describe light-driven conversion of greenhouse gas to fuel

By way of a light-driven bacterium, biochemists are a step closer to cleanly converting harmful carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion into usable fuels. Using the phototropic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris as a biocatalyst, the scientists generated methane from carbon dioxide in one enzymatic step.

August 25, 2016 Read more

An effective and low-cost solution for storing solar energy

Researchers have combined components that have already proven effective in industry in order to develop a robust and effective system. Their prototype is made up of three interconnected, new-generation, crystalline silicon solar cells attached to an electrolysis system that does not rely on rare metals.

August 25, 2016 Read more

New technology may give electric car drivers more miles per minute of charging

Scientists hope to improve on the 0.4 miles that most electric cars get per minute of charge.

August 24, 2016 Read more

Sponge creates steam using ambient sunlight

Bubble-wrapped structure requires no mirrors or lenses to focus the sun's heat.

August 22, 2016 Read more

Edible food packaging made from milk proteins (w/video)

Plastic food packaging not only creates a lot of non-recyclable, non-biodegradable waste, but thin plastic films are not great at preventing spoilage. And some plastics are suspected of leaching potentially harmful compounds into food. To address these issues, scientists are now developing a packaging film made of milk proteins - and it is even edible.

August 22, 2016 Read more

Fungi recycle rechargeable lithium-ion batteries

Researchers are turning to naturally occurring fungi to drive an environmentally friendly recycling process to extract cobalt and lithium from tons of waste batteries.

August 22, 2016 Read more

Reducing tire waste by using completely degradable, synthetic rubber

Scientists have developed a new way to make synthetic rubber. And once this material is discarded, it can be easily degraded back to its chemical building blocks and reused in new tires and other products.

August 22, 2016 Read more

Plasma etching of biochar to reduce cost of energy storage devices

Engineering researchers are using biochar, an inexpensive carbon-rich material and a new method of creating the porous surface needed to capture electricity to reduce the cost of supercapacitors.

August 18, 2016 Read more

Can today's electric vehicles make a dent in climate change?

Electric vehicles can meet drivers' needs enough to replace 90 percent of vehicles now on the road.

August 16, 2016 Read more

Plastic manufacturing chemical BPS harms egg cells, study suggests

Researchers have found that BPS is just as harmful to the reproductive system as the chemical it replaced. BPS damages a woman's eggs and at lower doses than BPA.

August 10, 2016 Read more

Climate change already accelerating sea level rise, study finds

Greenhouse gases are already having an accelerating effect on sea level rise, but the impact has so far been masked by the cataclysmic 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, according to a new study.

August 10, 2016 Read more

Cheaper, more powerful electric car batteries are on the horizon

Battery500 Consortium to contribute to effort to make next-generation electric vehicle batteries.

August 9, 2016 Read more

Tapping the Earths energy for zero-carbon seawater desalination

Researchers conduct feasibility studies to assess potential for making geothermal energy-powered desalination and cooling a reality.

August 8, 2016 Read more

Scientists propose novel carbon-capture electrochemical cell

Researchers have developed an oxygen-assisted aluminum/carbon dioxide power cell that uses electrochemical reactions to both sequester the carbon dioxide and produce electricity.

August 4, 2016 Read more

Making nail polish while powering fuel cells

Researchers report a new approach and a new catalyst that can produce not just hydrogen but also valuable chemicals, including the most common ingredient in nail polish.

August 3, 2016 Read more