Sustainable Urban Development
With cities expected to host about 70 percent of the world's population, sustainable urban development is key to making communities worldwide more resilient against the growing threat of climate change. Find out about the latest urban practices from across the world aiming to make our cities more sustainable and inclusive in these good-news stories from The Optimist Daily.
California shades irrigation canals with solar panels to boost energy and save water
Solar energy is one of the fastest-growing renewable energy industries in the world, however, that doesn’t mean that we aren’t faced with challenges in the widespread implementation and harvesting of solar power. One of the biggest issues with solar energy is that the land that is usually ideal Read More...
The Bronzeville microgrid: One part of a bigger, safer future
Unpredictable and impactful weather events like wildfires, snowstorms, and tornadoes present a particular problem for large areas with large unifying power grids. In one wild day, a whole city’s power and essential services can be shut off. It’s for this reason that researchers and utilities Read More...
This is how strip malls could provide a solution to the housing crisis
From San Jose, California, until San Francisco along El Camino Real you can find stretches a six-lane road outfitted with an endless stretch of strip malls and enormous parking lots. In its current state, the street doesn’t necessarily welcome pedestrians to walk alongside it, as it has been Read More...
Reusable pallets make the UK construction industry greener
Wasted wooden pallets are a huge problem in construction. In the UK alone, the construction industry goes through 18 million wooden pallets every year (the production of which requires a total of 6,000 acres of forestry), and most of them are used only once! At a time when it’s becoming Read More...
Another reason to protect wildlife? Pandemic prevention
It’s safe to say that we are done with the Covid-19 pandemic, and wish that it would disappear. As vaccines are developed and we learn more about the nature of the virus, we have been slowly figuring out how to continue on in a semi-post pandemic world. However, the worst scenario would be that Read More...
The EV charging stations of the future are about the experience, not the wait
Thankfully it looks like the era of the electric vehicle is on the rise, which means that gas stations as we know them will hopefully go extinct (along with the harmful CO2 emissions that go hand in hand with them). Instead, new kinds of service stations will take their place, but what will they Read More...
Here’s how we can make buildings that capture and store CO2
If we are to successfully reverse the effects of climate change, then we must thoughtfully construct buildings that soak up carbon dioxide rather than produce it. But in order for that to happen, the building trade needs to redirect its focus. So much of the focus of "green buildings" is on Read More...
Cargo e-bikes are here to make parcel delivery more efficient
The final step in parcel delivery is called the “last mile”. It is essentially the stage of a product’s journey from a warehouse, into a truck, and finally to the buyer’s doorstep. While key to customer satisfaction, this final step is also overwhelmingly inefficient. This is because Read More...
Industry is finally taking PFAS destruction technologies seriously
What are PFAS? Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely used chemicals that break down very slowly over time thanks to the extreme strength of the carbon-fluoride bond. Due to their long lasting nature, they are used in clothing, furniture, heat-resistant non-stick cooking surfaces, Read More...
3D graphene hugely increases hydrogen storage capabilities
Graphene is a material that many of us come across in our day to day lives. From water filtration systems to mobile touch screens, clever material has revolutionized many aspects of the modern world. It is made up of a single layer of carbon atoms, therefore it is referred to it as a Read More...