Will Corporate Social Responsibility Give Us Green Semi-Trucks?
Semi-trucks have been one of the big targets when it comes to reducing transportation emissions. These trucks have awful gas mileage, they pump out emissions, and they're all over the road as we ship goods from one side of the country to another.
Are Used Electric Car Batteries The Key to a Green Energy Future?
Demand for electric cars is growing every day, and as technology improves, these vehicles are only going to get more affordable. However, it has been pointed out that the batteries used in electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt, or the cars made by Tesla, have an average lifespan of 8-10 years, at which point it no longer holds enough of its original charge to be useful as a transportation battery.
Will The “Free Electric” Bike Change How We Generate Electricity?
New green technologies spring up every day, and every one of them holds a promise that tomorrow will be a little brighter and a little cleaner. From photovoltaic paint that will generate power without panels to solar bike paths and sidewalks that will power our communities without taking up space, we are living in the world of tomorrow.
The Innovative Nanotech Toilet Could Help Provide Access To Water & Electricity
Without a doubt, the flush toilet has been a boon to humankind. The ability to remove bodily waste from where people live to treatment plants has improved sanitation and public health immeasurably.
Recycling Paper, a Pencil, and Tape into An Innovative Battery
It looks and sounds like a MacGyver episode set in any typical office: researchers at the University of Tokyo and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne have created a new type of battery using just a standard pencil, cardstock paper, and Teflon tape (also known as thread seal tape or plumber's tape). Together, the materials create static electricity that can generate as much as 3 volts of power, which is equal to two AA batteries.
This Printer Recycles and Makes Its Own Paper
Reducing a paper waste stream is one of the most popular ways a business or office is tackling its waste, and for many reasons: for one, the printed documents get recycled anyway, or filed then shredded, which lengthens the time it takes for paper to become recycled and reused again. Or, businesses are letting go of paper because it's risky to hold on to sensitive data on the pages.
This recycling innovation automatically cleans ocean waste
There are many recycling innovations out there that want to address plastic waste in the ocean, from Boyan Salt's Ocean Cleanup project to the numerous clothing lines repurposing ocean plastic and fishing nets. But what about a simple innovation that easily implements and is automatic?You'll be happy to see Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski's new recycling invention, the Seabin.
How recycled car batteries have led to cheaper solar cells
One of the vexing problems that modern civilization faces is what to do with old-fashioned lead car batteries. Lead batteries are being gradually replaced with newer, lead-free batteries.
A Renewable Energy Innovation: The Paper Battery
For companies that need to store large amounts of energy, it can be challenging to envision a battery that is not large. But scientists at the Linkoping University in Sweden are challenging what batteries can look like by creating what they're calling "Power Paper" - a simple battery made of paper pulp and a conductive polymer.
A new process creates the first truly recyclable plastic
The quest to create a form of plastic that is not only useful but fully recyclable has been a holy grail of sorts for material scientists. ZME Science reports that some researchers at Colorado State University have achieved this goal, using a material called Gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), a liquid, colorless and fairly common chemical reagent derived from a top-12 biomass compound.
