Environment Archives - Page 3 of 36

Green Roofs Can Help Reduce Stormwater Runoff by 30%

June 10, 2014

Green roofs, which incorporate living plants and soil into a building’s environment by using the roof of a structure as a growing space, is a great example of a sustainable building element that can efficiently serve more than one function in the environment, and can have benefits far beyond its own small footprint. By cooling the roof of a structure, green roofs can lower a building’s climate control load, both for cooling and heating, and when solar panels are installed…

World’s First 3D Printed Item Made from Recycled Plastic from the Ocean

June 3, 2014

When you can combine two disparate things, such as a technology like 3D printing, with a waste product, such as plastic found in the ocean, and create something entirely new with them, it has the potential to make a real difference in the world. And that’s what The Plastic Bank is doing with their “Social Plastic” initiative. In what’s considered to be a world’s first for both 3D printing and for recycled plastic from the ocean, The Plastic Bank has…

Electrolux uses Vacuum Cleaner Bags to Investigate Indoor Pollution

April 4, 2014

We’re probably already aware that air pollution can have serious repercussions on human health, but for the most part, research and awareness about air pollution is mostly focused on the quality and condition of air outside our homes and businesses, not inside them. However, because most of us spend the majority of our time inside, investigating the levels and types of pollution in indoor spaces might have a much bigger effect on us than we might think. To that end,…

Toxic Paris Smog is Choking Us All

March 25, 2014

The Eiffel Tower disappeared last week, hidden beneath an opaque layer of filthy Paris smog. Temporary measures have been instituted to limit more air pollution, but why don’t we prevent these problems from ever occurring?

9 Simple and Effective Green New Year’s Resolutions

December 30, 2013

Many of us make New Year’s resolutions every year, to help us achieve our financial goals or to improve our health, but not too many of us make those New Year’s resolutions for environmental reasons. However, if you’re concerned about having a smaller environmental footprint, and saving money while you’re at it, here are 9 simple and effective green New Year’s resolutions that you can put into practice in 2014: Some of these are really basic, such as not…

Startup helps restaurants and groceries turn food waste into fertilizer

December 3, 2013

Food waste is a huge issue these days, not just in the home, but also in the food service and grocery industries, with an estimated 40% or more of the food in the U.S. ending up as waste each year – totaling millions of tons of organic matter. And with food production consuming as much as 80% of our freshwater, 50% of our land, and 10% of our energy, that food waste ends up also being water and energy waste…

Ecosia, the Search Engine that Plants Trees

October 24, 2013

If you could help plant more trees, just by switching your search engine from the one made by the tech giant that rhymes with bugle, wouldn’t you do so in a heartbeat? After all, trees are the lungs of the planet, and right now, we need some healthy lungs. Well, you’re in luck, as that option already exists, and has managed to donate over one million euros to the World Wide Fund for Nature, as well as plant over 70,000…

Siemens’ New Wind Turbine Commercial is Pretty Badass (video)

October 21, 2013

Siemens’ latest commercial for their extreme wind turbine program combines dramatic, computer-generated camera angles, swooping visuals, and an epic soundtrack that might be more appropriate for a summer blockbuster if, you know, Siemens weren’t out there actually trying to save the world with their cheap, clean, non-polluting power. The kind of “save the world” thing that clean power providers do every day, in other words. Projects like the massive wind turbines shown in this commercial, Siemens hopes, will help reduce…

Cleaning Water With Music CDs

September 30, 2013

Researchers in Taiwan have come up with an interesting way to make use of the incredible quantities of compact discs which are thrown away every year — use them to break down sewage and clean wastewater. The research team behind the new idea will be presenting their wastewater treatment device (which utilizes CDs) at the Optical Society’s (OSA) Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics 2013, October 6-10 in Orlando, Florida. “Optical disks are cheap, readily available, and very commonly used,” states…