Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines

Reducing the environmental impacts of fertiliser use

Scientists have demonstrated how improvements in nitrogen fertiliser manufacture and their application could help reduce China's agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by around 60%, by 2030, compared to the current business as usual approach. This emissions reduction represents a 2 to 6% reduction in China's overall greenhouse gas emissions and therefore could be significant in the global battle on climate change.

May 15, 2013 Read more

Pollution from shipping making ocean more acidic

Shipping pollution along major trade lanes can rival carbon emissions in contributing to the increased acidity of the ocean, according to a new study by an international team, including researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology, the University of Delaware, and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies. The research is the first global analysis that shows that acidification from shipping can during the summer months equal that from carbon dioxide.

May 15, 2013 Read more

Innovation in spectroscopy could improve greenhouse gas detection

Detecting greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could soon become far easier with the help of an innovative technique developed by a team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where scientists have overcome an issue preventing the effective use of lasers to rapidly scan samples.

May 15, 2013 Read more

Could CO2 be injected in sandstone? Would it stay there?

As CO2 levels in Earth's atmosphere top 400 parts per million, options such as storing the greenhouse gas in porous sandstone rock formations found in abundance on the sea floor are of increasing interest. But how do we know if CO2 can be safely injected into spongy sandstone, and that once it is there, that it will stay there?

May 14, 2013 Read more

Scientists use crowd-sourcing to help map global CO2 emissions (w/video)

Climate science researchers from Arizona State University are launching a first-of-its-kind online 'game' to better understand the sources of global warming gases. By engaging 'citizen scientists', the researchers hope to locate all the power plants around the world and quantify their carbon dioxide emissions.

May 14, 2013 Read more

South Korea on course to have the world's highest carbon prices

Ambitious plans for a national emission trading system spell tough challenges ahead for Korean companies.

May 14, 2013 Read more

Solar panels as inexpensive as paint?

A new generation of solar cells, including plasmonic-enhanced organic solar cells, could make solar power more affordable.

May 13, 2013 Read more

Breakthrough industrial carbon capture, utilization and storage project begins full-scale operations

This first-of-a-kind, breakthrough project advances carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies and demonstrates the potential to safely secure carbon dioxide pollution underground while providing an economic benefit and increasing our energy security.

May 13, 2013 Read more

As carbon dioxide hits a new high, there's still no Planet B

On May 9, 2013, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US recorded CO2 levels in the atmosphere at of 400 parts per million. This signifies a return to the atmospheric conditions similar to those of the Pliocene, which ended about 2.6 million years ago.

May 13, 2013 Read more

Conversion efficiency of 10.5% for thin-film microcrystalline silicon solar cells

developed a novel light-trapping structure to enhance optical absorption inside thin-film silicon solar cells.

May 13, 2013 Read more

NRL shatters endurance record for small electric UAV

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory flew their fuel cell powered Ion Tiger UAV for 48 hours and 1 minute on April 16-18 by using liquid hydrogen fuel in a new, NRL-developed, cryogenic fuel storage tank and delivery system.

May 10, 2013 Read more

New advance in biofuel production

Joint BioEnergy Institute researchers develop enzyme-free ionic liquid pre-treatment.

May 9, 2013 Read more

True power plants: Researchers explore how to harvest electricity directly from plants

The sun provides the most abundant source of energy on the planet. However, only a tiny fraction of the solar radiation on Earth is converted into useful energy. To help solve this problem, researchers at the University of Georgia looked to nature for inspiration, and they are now developing a new technology that makes it possible to use plants to generate electricity.

May 9, 2013 Read more

Setting the standard for sustainable bioenergy crops

Jody Endres, University of Illinois professor of energy and environmental law and chair of the Council on Sustainable Biomass Production (CSBP) says standards are needed so farmers, ethanol producers, and others in the biofuels industry will all be on the same page here in the United States as well as in Europe and Brazil.

May 8, 2013 Read more

Making steel without greenhouse gas emissions

Steelmaking, a major emitter of climate-altering gases, could be transformed by a new process developed at MIT.

May 8, 2013 Read more

Funding clean-energy solutions

MIT's Clean Energy Prize awards more than $300,000 to support green startups and technologies.

May 8, 2013 Read more

N.Y.'s climate change clearinghouse to offer info to all

No longer an abstract concept, climate change is affecting the air, sea and land. To comprehend the effects on New York and the Northeast region, scientists begin collaborating this summer on the New York Climate-Change Science Clearinghouse, a Web-based, map-enabled reference library and climate database to be headquartered at Cornell.

May 7, 2013 Read more

New mechanism converts natural gas to energy faster, captures CO2

Chemical engineering researchers have identified a new mechanism to convert natural gas into energy up to 70 times faster, while effectively capturing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

May 7, 2013 Read more