Sustainability


NASA Awards Historic Green Aviation Prize

NASA has awarded the largest prize in aviation history, created to inspire the development of more fuel-efficient aircraft and spark the start of a new electric airplane industry.

University of Maryland's WaterShed Wins 2011 Solar Decathlon (With Video)

The school from College Park, Maryland competed against 18 other collegiate teams to build an aesthetically pleasing, architecturally innovative and well-engineered energy efficient living space that generates its energy from solar power

Researchers Develop World's First Energy-Storage Membrane

Electrical energy storage and its management is becoming an urgent issue due to climate change and energy shortage.

EPA Commits $1.5 Million to 125 Communities to Support Smart Growth

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced plans to help an estimated 125 local, state, and tribal governments create more housing choices, make transportation more efficient and reliable and support vibrant and healthy neighborhoods that attract businesses.

New Technology Uses Solar UV Light to Disinfect Drinking Water

A team of Purdue University researchers has invented a prototype water-disinfection system that could help the world's 800 million people who lack safe drinking water.

University of Michigan Announces Ambitious Goals for Sustainability

In a broad green stroke across campus, the University of Michigan will invest $14 million in new commitments to achieve ambitious environmental goals.

Lifetime Savings Not Sufficent Motivator for Many to Switch to Green Tech

A University of Arkansas study suggests that “lifetime” savings claims on product labels are not the most effective method to reach consumers regarding the benefits and potential savings from using energy-efficient products.

Research Suggests Global Warming Could Cause Animals to Shrink

The way in which global warming causes many of the world’s organisms to shrink has been revealed by new research from Queen Mary, University of London.



When Combating Urban Air Pollution, Think Regionally

At the 2008 Winter Olympics, Chinese officials didn't want the gold medal for "most polluted air." Reducing air pollution in an urban area like Beijing will require large, regional strategies according to scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Peking University. They studied the effects of emission reduction efforts at the Beijing Olympics.

New Plant Science Will Make Ground Level Ozone Predictions More Accurate

Predictions of the ground-level pollutant ozone will be more accurate in future according to research published by environment scientists at research centers including the University of Birmingham in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Researchers Argue that Water Scarcity is an Issue of Politics Rather Than Supply

While water-related conflicts and shortages abound throughout the rapidly changing societies of Africa, Asia and Latin America, there is clearly sufficient water to sustain food, energy, industrial and environmental needs during the 21st century, argues the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) of the CGIAR in two special issues of the peer-reviewed journal, Water International (Volume 35, Issue 5 and Volume 36, Issue 1), released at the XIV World Water Congress.

The Hidden Power of Moss

Scientists at Cambridge University are exhibiting a prototype table that demonstrates how biological fuel cells can harness energy from plants.

RFID Could Bring More-Realistic Pricing to Garbage Collection

Because costs of trash collection have increased significantly while landfill space diminishes, radio frequency identification (RFID) holds the potential to dramatically reduce the volume of trash and increase the amount of materials being recycled.

Despite Reductions by Industrialized Countries, Global CO2 Emissions Increase Steeply

Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) increased by 45 percent between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tons in 2010. Increased energy-efficiency, nuclear energy and the growing contributions of renewable energy are not compensating for the globally increasing demand for power and transport, which is strongest in developing countries.

Caterer Cooks And Saves Green

Even though many view environmental protection as coming with an extra cost, a California caterer has managed to cut costs tremendously by going green.

Modified Soybeans Can Improve Animal Nutrition, Reduce Pollution

Modifying soybean seed to increase phosphorus content can improve animal nutrition and reduce feed costs and nutrient pollution. However, further research is needed to commercialize this valuable technology.

Deforestation May Be Reducing Rainfall in Africa

Deforestation in the rainforests of West Africa reduces rainfall over the rest of the forest, according to new University of Leeds research published in Geophysical Research Letters. The study shows that changing land use from forest to crop land reduces rainfall over neighboring trees by about 50 percent due to changes in the surface temperature, which affects the formation of rain clouds.

Paper Points Out Weaknesses in Climate-Change Data Observation

Our most reliable models rely on data acquired through a range of complex measurements. Most of the important measurements - such as ice cover, cloud cover, sea levels and temperature, chlorophyll (oceans and land) and the radiation balance (incoming to outgoing energy) – must be taken from space, and for constraining and testing the forecast models, made over long timescales.

DOE Gives Universities $30M in Grants to Train the Next Generation of Industrial Energy-Efficiency Experts

the Energy Department has awarded more than $30 million to 24 universities in 23 states across the country to train undergraduate- and graduate-level engineering students in manufacturing efficiency to help these students become the nation's next generation of industrial energy-efficiency experts.

Researchers Testing Promising New Nanomaterial for Hydrogen Storage

The new material can store and release hydrogen extremely fast and at low temperatures compared with similar materials, and it's rechargeable. These attributes could make it ideal for use in onboard hydrogen storage for next-generation hydrogen or fuel cell vehicles.