Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines

Subscribe to our Cleantech News feed

Bionic wing flaps improve wind energy efficiency

Combining engineered flaps with other structures inspired by seagull wings improves lift, reduces stalling in wind energy turbine blades.

Mar 22nd, 2022

Making wooden construction materials fire-resistant with an eco-friendly coating

Researchers developed a new type of coating that could limit the flammability of wood used in construction, potentially providing more time to escape fires and also curbing their spread. The environmentally friendly flame retardant could also be used for other flammable materials, such as textiles, polyurethane foam and 3D-printed parts.

Mar 22nd, 2022

New enzyme discovery is another leap towards beating plastic waste

Scientists who helped to pioneer the use of enzymes to eat plastic have taken an important next step in developing nature-based solutions to the global plastics crisis.

Mar 22nd, 2022

New technology to make charging electric cars as fast as pumping gas

Quantum charging will cut the charging time of electric vehicles from ten hours to three minutes.

Mar 21st, 2022

Biofuel: how new microalgae technologies could end our reliance on oil

A review of high-value biochemical products and applications of freshwater eukaryotic microalgae.

Mar 18th, 2022

Removing hotspots from hybrid solar panels improves electrical and thermal energy output

A new model demonstrates how solar panels could more effectively harness both electrical and thermal energy by addressing the issue of hotspots on solar cells.

Mar 17th, 2022

Unlocking the market potential of community bioenergy

An EU-backed project is developing a tool that connects biomass heating supply chain stakeholders. Called e-Market Environment, it is just one of the project's tools aimed at promoting the spread of bioenergy heating technologies in Europe.

Mar 17th, 2022

New method could lead to cheaper, more efficient ways to capture carbon

Researchers have developed a new tool that could lead to more efficient and cheaper technologies for capturing heat-trapping gases from the atmosphere and converting them into beneficial substances, like fuel or building materials.

Mar 16th, 2022

New flow battery stores power in simple organic compound

The intermittent supply of green electricity requires large-scale storage to keep our power grids stable. Since normal batteries do not scale very well, the idea of using flow batteries, which store electricity in a fluid is attractive. However, these batteries contain rare metals and are expensive. Scientists have designed a flow battery electrolyte that may solve both problems.

Mar 16th, 2022

Research into sugar-based plastics shows the shape of things to come

Scientists have described the exceptional strength and toughness of novel polymers made from sugars, and the chemistry underpinning their characteristics.

Mar 16th, 2022

Nanoplastics should be included in existing regulatory frameworks

The need to include nanoplastics in existing regulatory frameworks arises from the increasing number of studies demonstrating the bioavailability and harmfulness of smaller plastic particles, compared to larger fragments of plastic.

Mar 15th, 2022

Smart coatings in the pipeline

An imaginative approach to polymer surface coating has produced a sustainable way to remove mercury from water - while providing a wide range of protection including for preventing metal corrosion and solvent damage of plastic PVC pipes.

Mar 15th, 2022

'Sky is not the limit' for solar geoengineering

There are practical limits to the height at which aerosols may be deployed in the atmosphere to deflect incoming sunlight and countervail global warming. Very high-altitude injections might be more effective, but such climate intervention comes with substantially increased costs and safety risks, according to new research.