Today’s Solutions: November 23, 2024

Energy

Transitioning to a world powered by renewable energy is key to tackling climate change. Here you can find the latest good news related to our clean energy transition, covering wind, solar, green hydrogen, hydropower, and more.

Beautiful turquoise lake in the Swiss Alps

Switzerland built a huge water battery to store surplus energy

Switzerland is famous for hosting a number of scientific and engineering marvels, such as the Large Hadron Collider. Now, engineers in Switzerland have achieved an incredible feat — building the world’s largest water battery. Located in the Swiss Alps, in a subterranean cavern in the Canton of Read More...

A snowy winter day in the old historic harbor of Berlin, Germany

Germany gets ahead of winter with its huge heating tower

Germany has set to work on an enormous thermos to help heat its citizen’s homes this winter while stepping away from its reliance on Russia’s fossil fuel industry.  Germany’s huge heat tower The thermos tower, which stands at almost 150 feet and can store an astounding 15 million gallons Read More...

Young plant in soil on dark background

Artificial photosynthesis helps plants grow with no sunlight required

Plants use a special natural process called photosynthesis to grow, mature, flower, and produce fruit. Photosynthesis is the way in which plants absorb energy from sunlight and use it to make their own food out of carbon dioxide and water.  For years, scientists have been investigating this Read More...

Fan

Passive cooling techniques reduce AC strain by up to 80 percent

In the summer months, many of us are of two minds: we’re dying to keep it cool, but we’re also dying not to spend too much on electricity. Not only that, many of us don’t want to overload our town’s power grid during the summer, so we’re turned to AC alternatives.  As it turns out, Read More...

Wind farms

White House and 11 East Coast states partner to bolster offshore wind power

On Thursday, the White House announced that it will partner with 11 East Coast states to bolster offshore wind energy.  This arrangement, called the Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership, will help to reach national climate goals of 30 megawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. Read More...

Lego logo on a store building.

Lego to set up a factory in Virginia... and it comes with its own solar park

Danish company the Lego Group has established itself as one of The Optimist Daily’s favorite toymakers for its many efforts and initiatives that make this world a more inclusive, accessible, greener, and all-around better place. Now, we’re happy to report that Lego is up to more Read More...

LA traffic

LA may ban the construction of new gas stations

In the face of the climate emergency, officials in Los Angeles are working on policies to stop the construction of new gas stations. Being the second-largest city in America, LA could become the largest city in the world to prohibit new fossil fuel infrastructure.  “We are ending oil drilling Read More...

Toy house in a palm of a man's hand against a blurred forest background.

5 lesser-known innovations for a more sustainable home

One of the big questions for environmentally-minded homeowners is how to make their homes more sustainable and energy-efficient. There are some more obvious switches one can invest in, like installing small wind energy systems or household hydropower systems, however, there are also many Read More...

Seattle

Seattle installs EV chargers on utility poles for residents

Electric vehicles are the transportation of the future. In the meantime, cities are struggling to install the infrastructure that we will all need to charge our cars. This is an important issue for EV owners away from a home or office charging port, or if they live in an apartment complex. If Read More...

Car bodies stacked at the junkyard.

Upcycling plastic from old vehicles into graphene for new ones

Did you know that the amount of plastic used in vehicles has increased by 75 percent in the past six years? This has led to the average SUV containing up to 350 kilograms (771 pounds) of plastic that could sit in a landfill for centuries. Thankfully, researchers from Rice University were inspired Read More...