Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines

Climate researchers receive 2013 Erwin Schrödinger Prize

Until now, scientists have assumed that keeping livestock on large steppe grassland contributes to the constantly growing nitrous oxide concentration in the atmosphere and thus to global warming. But now the opposite has been proved: Klaus Butterbach-Bahl's team of five from the Karlsruher Institute of Technology (KIT) have shown that animals grazing on steppe and prairie areas can actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

July 2, 2013 Read more

Designing a cleaner future

Bicyclean, a 2012 thesis project that helps recycle e-waste in developing nations, wins silver at Acer Incredible Green Contest.

July 1, 2013 Read more

Global Sustainability Summer School 2013: The cities of the future

What do the cities of the future look like? What role do they play for global climate change? What influence does the German energy transformation have worldwide? These questions are in the centre of the 2nd Global Sustainability Summer School on 'COMPLEX(C)ITY - Urbanization and energy transition in a changing climate' taking place from 1 to 12 July.

July 1, 2013 Read more

Diamond catalyst shows promise in breaching age-old barrier

In the world, there are a lot of small molecules people would like to get rid of, or at least convert to something useful, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison chemist Robert J. Hamers.

June 30, 2013 Read more

Ultrasound to improve algae harvest

Scientists from the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) are using ultrasound to reduce the amount of energy needed to harvest microalgae.

June 28, 2013 Read more

Exotic alloys for potential energy applications

The search for thermoelectrics, exotic materials that convert heat directly into electricity, has received a boost from researchers at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Tokyo, who have found the best way to identify them.

June 27, 2013 Read more

First World Conference on Climate Impacts: Painting the big picture

For the first time ever, scientists and stakeholders from all over the world come together this week to have a look at the big impacts picture. They assemble at the 'Impacts World 2013' conference in Potsdam, Germany, aiming at developing a new scientific agenda to systematically address knowledge gaps and to start bridging them.

June 27, 2013 Read more

Power for seaports may be the next job for hydrogen fuel cells (w/video)

Providing auxiliary hydrogen power to docked or anchored ships may soon be added to the list of ways in which hydrogen fuel cells can provide efficient, emissions-free energy.

June 27, 2013 Read more

Membraneless seawater desalination in microfluidic systems

A new method for the desalination of sea water has been reported. In contrast to conventional methods, this technique consumes little energy and is very simple. This electrochemically mediated seawater desalination is based on a system of microchannels and a bipolar electrode.

June 27, 2013 Read more

Electric hybrid drives for aircraft

The two-seat DA36 E-Star 2 plane recently made its one-hour maiden flight and was then presented to aeronautics experts at the Paris Air Show.

June 27, 2013 Read more

Big environmental footprints: 21 percent of homes account for 50 percent of greenhouse gas emissions

Energy conservation in a small number of households could go a long way to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, scientists are reporting.

June 27, 2013 Read more

Renewables to surpass gas by 2016 in the global power mix

IEA report sees renewable power increasingly cost-competitive with new fossil-fuel generation, but agency warns against complacency.

June 26, 2013 Read more

Major rethink needed if chemical industry is to meet greenhouse gas targets

The UK chemical industry requires 'an urgent and radical rethink' into how it produces chemicals if it is to play its part in meeting Government's stringent greenhouse gas emission reduction targets of 80% plus by 2050.

June 26, 2013 Read more

Getting the carbon out of emissions

Proposed method could be more efficient than previous systems and easier to retrofit in existing power plants.

June 25, 2013 Read more

Engineered E. coli mass-produce key precursor to potent biofuel

New lines of engineered bacteria can tailor-make key precursors of high-octane biofuels that could one day replace gasoline.

June 25, 2013 Read more

Policy issues plague hydropower as wind power backup

Theoretically, hydropower can step in when wind turbines go still, but barriers to this non-polluting resource serving as a backup are largely policy- and regulation-based, according to Penn State researchers.

June 25, 2013 Read more

NREL reports 31.1 percent efficiency for III-V solar cell

Conversion-efficiency mark is a world record for a 2-junction solar cell measured under 1-sun illumination.

June 25, 2013 Read more

Using crowdsourced supercomputer, Harvard rates solar energy potential of 2.3 million new compounds

The search for more versatile and less expensive materials for solar energy received a boost today as Harvard launched a free database that catalogues the suitability of 2.3 million organic, carbon compounds for converting sunlight into electricity.

June 24, 2013 Read more