Environment
Need some good news about the environment? The Optimist Daily is your go-to herald of positive environmental news, highlighting eco-friendly solutions and scientific progress around climate action, circularity, conservation, and more. Learn about everything eco in our Environment section.
Solar farms to create natural habitats for threatened species
Most large-scale solar installations are placed on natural lands where the sunlight can best be captured, and that may actually be a benefit to the wildlife living in that habitat. Wildlife charity RSPB and clean tech company Anesco have created a project to boost threatened wildlife at the Read More...
How carbon dioxide from the air can boost batteries
Researchers employ a novel electrochemical process to make carbon nanotubes from ambient carbon dioxide and use them to boost battery performance. by Mike Orcutt March 7, 2016 Sponsored by There is little economic incentive to capture carbon dioxide from power-plant exhaust or suck it directly from Read More...
New tech could give coal a scrubbing until renewables are ready
No matter how you feel about coal, you can’t deny that it is very dirty stuff. Nor can you argue that our electrified society is anywhere near ready to run without it. Until renewables scale up and become storable—available after sunset and between breezes, in other words—coal Read More...
Energizer introduces rechargeable batteries made from recycled cells
Energizer was the first company to create disposable batteries from recycled cells, and now they have created rechargeable versions of those batteries. The company has introduced new Recharge AA and AAA batteries that take material from used power packs, including those from hybrid cars. At the Read More...
How ‘natural geoengineering’ can help slow global warming
As natural wonders go, perhaps the most awe-inspiring is the annual migration of 1.2 million wildebeest flowing across East Africa’s vast Serengeti grassland. It would be a tragedy to lose these animals. But we almost did in the mid-20th century when, decimated by disease and poaching, their Read More...
The Fuel Station of the Future will wirelessly charge your self-driving car with solar energy
Self-driving cars are on the rise, and half of all vehicles in the US will be electrified by the year 2050. To accommodate these new technologies Nissan and Foster + Partners just unveiled the Fuel Station of the Future – complete with solar panels, wireless EV chargers, and self-parking Read More...
Norway's billion-dollar bet to save Indonesia's rainforest
It is just after 8.30am on a snowy February morning when Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s climate and environment minister, steps out of his home in Oslo, dodging frozen puddles to reach his waiting ministerial car. It seems improbable on this glacial day but in less than 24 hours time, Mr Helgesen Read More...
India slaps levy on new car sales in fight against pollution and congestion
The Indian government has introduced an additional ‘green’ tax on car sales to help the country combat its notoriously high levels of air pollution and congestion. New passenger vehicles will have a sales levy of up to 4 percent. The government wants to use the money to get older highly Read More...
2015 was record-breaking year for investment in renewable energy
A record $367 billion was invested in renewable energy around the world last year, according to a new report published today by Clean Energy Canada. That’s more than a third of a trillion dollars (USD) and a 7 percent increase on 2014. Whereas the oil price crash had everyone expecting renewable Read More...
Meet the world's largest floating solar-energy farm
The 23,000 solar panels to be installed in the outskirts of London will become Europe’s – and momentarily, the world’s – largest floating solar-energy farm. But despite its spectacle, only few people will be able to actually see it. That’s because the solar panels will literally be Read More...