Water
Filtering drinking water with nanofibers
Liquidity, an Alameda, California-based startup, has developed a low-cost water filter made from nanofibers that it hopes will reduce water-borne diseases in poor countries. Naked Filter, a version designed for the developed world, attaches to a plastic water bottle. Its membrane of electrospun Read More...
Companies lead the way towards a sustainable water future
Water is essential to life and is as such the most valuable natural resource on earth. While it has long been considered an infinitive resource, population growth and increasing wealth have put pressure on water reserves. Companies across the globe are starting to realize this, mostly in the food, Read More...
New atom-thick desalination filter slashes energy use by 20 percent
The process of removing salt water and particulate matter from ocean water to make it potable—desalination—can be tricky, time consuming, require a lot of fancy equipment, and use more energy than most water-deprived areas have to spare. Lockheed Martin has announced the creation of a Read More...
Microbots can clean up polluted water
A new study shows that a swarm of hundreds of thousands of tiny microbots, each smaller than the width of a human hair, can be deployed into industrial wastewater to absorb and remove toxic heavy metals. The researchers found that the microbots can remove 95% of the lead in polluted water in one Read More...
Drought-stricken California looks to Australia for tips on recycling water
As hopes that a much-hyped “Godzilla” El Niño event will banish California’s record drought fade, the state is starting to look for clues from overseas on how to conserve each increasingly precious drop that does fall on its parched land. The water capture efforts of Read More...
New environmental cleanup technology rids oil from water
A new technology that is easy to manufacture and uses commercially available materials makes it possible to continuously remove oils and other pollutants from water, representing a potential tool for environmental cleanup. The material is shown to be superhydrophobic and superoleophilic, meaning it Read More...
Design prize for harnessing drinking water from thin air
Harnessing drinking water from thin air sounds like magic. However, the design of the Warka Water structure has proven itself and was recently awarded the World Design Impact Prize. Warka Water is a water-catchment system that produces potable water by harvesting rain, fog, and dew. The system is Read More...
Greenpeace report: Rapid shift to renewable energy also solves fresh water problem
A rapid transition to clean renewable energy will also help solve the growing problem of fresh water shortage. A new Greenpeace report finds that coal-fired power plants use enough water to supply the needs of 1 billion people. And that number will almost double if all the world’s planned Read More...
The Californian craft beer brewed from waste water
In autumn of 2014 – three years into California’s devastating drought– architect, Russ Drinker became fixated on brewing beer from recycled greywater (that is, water that’s been treated after use in sinks, showers and washing clothes). He was increasingly frustrated that the Read More...
Researchers have a radical plan to freeze rising sea water and transport it to Antarctica
Since humans are responsible for changing the global climate, what lengths should we go to to mitigate the damage? A new study investigates one radical solution: 'geoengineering,' or reshaping the planet in a substantial way. In this case, by enlarging Antarctica's continental glacier via pumping Read More...