Climate Change Solutions Archives - Page 4 of 48

Help Crowdsource the Most Sustainable Investment Fund on the Planet

January 27, 2015

by Derek Markham

If you’d like to help shape the direction of sustainable investments, without putting a dime of your own into the pot, here’s your chance. Oroeco, the company that believes that it should be “easy, fun, and rewarding to align our everyday lives with our core values,” is partnering with a few other like-minded organizations to create the world’s most sustainable investment fund, a diversified exchange-traded fund (ETF), called the Climate Impact Fund. And they want your help to decide who…

Smarter Solar Irrigation Model Uses Centralized Solar, Distributed Pumps

January 20, 2015

by Derek Markham

In rural areas of Senegal, getting water for irrigating crops often comes with a hefty price tag, not only in terms of the cost to buy the fuel for it (about $1 per day for an average gas-powered irrigation pump), and the time necessary to procure it from the nearest gas station (which could be an hour away by car), but also in regards to the polluting emissions of the pumps themselves, which are not clean-burning or very efficient. Because…

Top Tips to Increase the Energy Efficiency of Your Office Building

January 16, 2015

by Guest Contributor

We live in an era where sources of non-renewable energy are fast depleting. However, thanks to the evolving technology, renewable energy sources are being tapped as potent alternatives that will, hopefully, continue to support the demand for energy in the future. Meanwhile, it is up to us to conserve power for our own benefit in the short as well as the long term. Various measures to increase energy efficiency in homes and offices are already being put into place. A…

Green Buildings Help Small Businesses Save Money

January 7, 2015

by Derek Markham

Investing a little more money upfront in your buildings and facilities in order to incorporate green building technologies and techniques can end up putting more money back in the small business owner’s pockets. Buildings that are energy and water efficient help to cut down the impacts on resources held in common (our air and water quality, for example) and reduce waste and pollution, both of which may also come with price to business owners, so green buildings can be a…

50 Ideas Shaping the Emerging EV Market

December 10, 2014

by Derek Markham

The emerging electric vehicle (EV) industry offers some great opportunities for entrepreneurs, not necessarily through building a new kind of EV (although that is one option), but rather by solving any of a number of problems, pain points, or inefficiencies of electric car ownership. Other opportunities can be found in improving or supplying EV components, materials, software or hardware add-ons, either to the builder or as an aftermarket item for EV owners. With more people driving EVs, a market is…

From Food Scraps to Fuel: Fueling a Fleet with CNG Made from Waste

December 8, 2014

by Derek Markham

There’s no denying that some renewable energy technologies are more visually appealing than others, especially the highly visible ones that look decidedly more ‘space-age’, such as solar power and wind power, but it’s going to take a variety of approaches, including not-so-sexy technologies such as converting waste to energy, to create a true clean energy future. One of the more common waste products in the developed world these days is food waste (which is a sad truth in a world…

Green Building Material: High-Tech Fiberboard Made from Waste Fibers

December 5, 2014

by Derek Markham

There’s a new green building material on the market that is light, strong, and flexible, and can be made into just about any shape, including complex molded shapes, without the need for any glues, harmful chemicals, or toxic ingredients. This material, ECOR, is made using only water, heat, fiber, and pressure, and takes a low-value product (waste fiber) and turns it into a high-value green building material. At its most basic, ECOR, from Noble Environmental, is a corrugated panel that…

Waste to Energy Biofuel Project Aims for Community-Powered Energy

December 4, 2014

by Derek Markham

While some cleantech entrepreneurs are looking to further develop solar power, wind power, and marine power to meet some of our future energy needs, others are looking much closer to home with their own renewable energy projects, including in an unlikely spot – the organic wastes produced by communities every single day. The move to a cleaner, more renewable energy future isn’t going to come through a single technology, but rather through a number of different approaches, including increased energy…

Crowdfunding a Road Legal Solar Car: Sunswift eVe 2.0

December 3, 2014

by Derek Markham

With everyone and their brother planning their own crowdfunding campaigns, in the hopes of raising enough cash to fund the further development or production run of their big idea, the crowdfunding environment is getting more and more crowded every day. Between wishful thinking, downright silly projects that get funded (or not), it’s easy to feel skeptical about this funding option, but as the crowdfunding industry begins to mature, we’re starting to some great reasons for using crowdfunding to bring a…