By scaling up just 15 proven Nordic solutions, countries all over the world can save 4 Gt of emissions every year by 2030 which is as much as the EU produces today. The costs for this scale-up equal the amount spent in just 9 days on fossil fuel subsidies.
These results come from the Nordic Green to Scale study which was launched during the UN Climate Conference in Marrakech.
The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra has partnered with the Nordic Council of Ministers and distinguished institutions from all Nordic countries to answer a simple question: how far could we go simply by scaling up existing Nordic low-carbon solutions to a level of adoption in 2030 that has already been achieved by one or more Nordic countries today…
Read the whole article by Christian Bjørnæs in CICERO.
With Quantino electric vehicles, a Liechtenstein-based company want to prove that its nanoFlowcell® technology can free mobility from its dependence on fossil fuels and current battery systems. It doesn’t plug in to recharge the way electric vehicles do (which are not as green as you think). It runs on flow cell technology – a battery that uses salt water solutions to store electrolytes that can undergo reactions to produce electricity.
Able to travel 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) for 14 hours on a single tank and reach speeds of 200 km/h, Quantino cars are electrical, silent and give off zero harmful emissions – unleashing a new energy storage within the new field of electric mobility. Two ionic fluids generate electricity by means of a chemical process. One holds a positive charge and other, negative…
Cone shaped spinning solar cells generates 20 times more electricity than flat solar panels. Every now and then a design comes along that just turns he whole world upside down with a claim so fantastic it’s hard to believe. But yes, from everything we’ve been able to find on this device, this the real deal.
It’s a conical shaped collection of photovoltaic cells arranged in an angular array. The array is designed to be the most efficient way to capture the sun’s energy. In traditional solar arrays with flat panels, one must adjust the angle of the solar panels individually. This design takes advantage of a conical shape which is conducive to collecting maximum sunlight from any angle at any time of year.
On Friday evening as the sun descended over the old Hollywood set of “Desperate Housewives,” Elon Musk took to a stage and fired up his presentation about climate change. It was a strange scene, with hundreds of people crowded into the middle of a subtly artificial suburban neighborhood.
It wasn’t until about a minute into the speech that Musk casually let the crowd in on Tesla’s big secret. “The interesting thing is that the houses you see around you are all solar houses,” Musk said. “Did you notice?”
The answer, in short, was no. Like everyone else, I knew we were there to see Musk’s new “solar roof,” whatever that was supposed to mean. But try as I could as we walked in, I didn’t see anything that looked like it could carry an electric current. If anything, the slate and Spanish clay roofs looked a bit too nice for a television set. This is the future of solar, Musk proclaimed. “You’ll want to call your neighbors over and say ‘check out the sweet roof.’ It’s not a phrase you hear often.”
The roof tiles are actually made of textured glass. From most viewing angles, they look just like ordinary shingles, but they allow light to pass through from above onto a standard flat solar cell…
Read the rest of the article by Tom Randall in Bloomberg.
The Green Optimistic publishes news on alternative energy and environmentally-friendly technologies since February 2008.
Our mission is to wake up the common sense in our readers and make them think of our planet and how they can too contribute to its well-being.
Due to the large number of green technologies recently invented, one might be confused while choosing a lifestyle that’s both comfortable and environmentally-friendly.
We’re here to make that decision clearer by showing our readers the most important green discoveries and technologies that affect people on a wide scale, or examples worth following.
This information comes from the website of The Green Optimistic.
A physicist in Fermilab, Arden Warner, has somehow managed to come up with a brilliant solution, one that does not involve chemical agents. The method is so simple and non-destructive way of collecting oil spills and uses abundant and naturally occurring earth minerals – Magnetite.
Though oil is non-magnetic, adding powdered magnets, they were able to get them attracted in clumps as magnets adhered to the sticky mess. In turn, the magnetites carried the oil, cleaning the spill in a way that was so simple and yet so effective.
Soil is the second biggest reservoir of carbon on the planet, next to the oceans. It holds four times more carbon than all the plants and trees in the world. But human activity like deforestation and industrial farming – with its intensive ploughing, monoculture and heavy use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides – is ruining our soils at breakneck speed, killing the organic materials that they contain. Now 40% of agricultural soil is classed as “degraded” or “seriously degraded”. In fact, industrial farming has so damaged our soils that a third of the world’s farmland has been destroyed in the past four decades.
As our soils degrade, they are losing their ability to hold carbon, releasing enormous plumes of CO2 into the atmosphere.
There is, however, a solution. Scientists and farmers around the world are pointing out that we can regenerate degraded soils by switching from intensive industrial farming to more ecological methods – not just organic fertiliser, but also no-tillage, composting, and crop rotation. Here’s the brilliant part: as the soils recover, they not only regain their capacity to hold CO2, they begin to actively pull additional CO2 out of the atmosphere.
Read the rest of the article by Jason Hickel in The Guardian.
We are making a building material out of hemp to build a better world.
This precast and pre-dried form of hempcrete will improve the speed of implementation, using a universal method: the brick wall. We want to be a sustainable development accelerator.
ART DU CHANVRE is a company working in construction and design. Specialists in hemp insulation and lime finishes. All of our services and products are the fruits of dedicated craftsmanship. We have an engagement for quality.
Our vision is to grow our own organic hemp, to transform it in our future plant powered by renewable energy and to produce and distribute our products, our equipment and our expertise. This is our long-term vision for this project and we hope it becomes a model for other communities around the world. Our hope is the Building with hemp project becomes a success throughout communities.
Hempcrete is the wall system that owns all the qualities. The hemp & lime insulation is completely natural. Its resistance to fire, mold and vermin makes it the most durable of all.
This information comes from the website of ART DU CHANVRE.
