Green Friendly – Page 12

Natural gas firms have a proposal to convert home heating to hydrogen

December 7, 2018

Three companies want to test out a pilot project in Northern England by 2028.

Three natural gas distributors issued a report this week detailing plans to convert the UK’s residential gas system to a hydrogen delivery system. UK firms Northern Gas Networks and Cadent, as well as Norwegian gas firm Equinor, wrote that the proposal (PDF) was technically feasible. They also suggested an initial roll-out of the program to 3.7 million homes and 400,000 businesses in Northern England could commence as soon as 2028.

Continue reading… “Natural gas firms have a proposal to convert home heating to hydrogen”

Agriculture, Ecological Products, Green Friendly, Legalized marijuana, Science & Technology News

Why sun-grown cannabis will make the marijuana industry greener and richer

November 27, 2018

The future of cannabis cultivation isn’t in massive grow facilities with high-tech lights and complex temperature control systems. It’s out in the open air, according to proponents of the sun-grown movement.

The sun-grown movement is being led by companies like Flow Kana, who consider outdoor cultivation essential to the sustainability of the cannabis industry. Embracing the small, independent farm system infrastructure that exists in California, the company works with craft farmers to help scale their product and extend the range of distribution.

Continue reading… “Why sun-grown cannabis will make the marijuana industry greener and richer”

3D Printer, Agriculture, Food, Green Friendly, Science & Technology News

Novameat’s 3D-printed ‘steak’ looks gross, but could it save the planet?

November 27, 2018

Does your mouth water at the prospect of a nice juicy steak? How about a nice juicy 3D-printed steak, made using a paste composed of vegetable-based materials like rice, peas, and seaweed? That’s what a new Spanish startup, Novameat, is working hard to bring to market.

“I developed the first 3D-printed plant-based beefsteak while I was working as a postdoc researcher in tissue engineering, and assistant professor at the UPC university in Barcelona,” founder Giuseppe Scionti told Digital Trends. “I was lucky … because this city is a great hub for both 3D printing companies and world-renowned restaurants.”

Continue reading… “Novameat’s 3D-printed ‘steak’ looks gross, but could it save the planet?”

Breakthrough Thinking, Ecological Products, Green Friendly, Housing

World-first: Bio-bricks made from urine

November 23, 2018

The world’s first bio-brick made using human urine was unveiled at UCT this week. In picture are (from left) the Department of Civil Engineering’s Dr Dyllon Randall and his students, Vukheta Mukhari and Suzanne Lambert.

The world’s first bio-brick grown from human urine has been unveiled by University of Cape Town (UCT) master’s student in civil engineering Suzanne Lambert, signalling an innovative paradigm shift in waste recovery.

Continue reading… “World-first: Bio-bricks made from urine”

Climate Change, Ecological Products, Global Warming, Green Friendly, Science & Technology News

‘LarvalBot’ underwater drone will reseed coral reefs damaged by climate change

November 15, 2018

Since August 2018, the Great Barrier Reef in the ocean off Australia has had a special protector — an autonomous underwater drone called RangerBot that has monitored the status of the reef and protected the corals from the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish. But now researchers at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia have announced that the RangerBot has a new mission: it is to be rechristened “LarvalBot” and will be repurposed to spread coral babies.

Scientists have collected hundreds of millions of coral spawn from the surviving corals of the Great Barrier Reef which have not yet succumbed to coral bleaching. These spawn are then reared into baby corals in special floating enclosures, and once they have grown large enough to survive on their own, they are delivered by the LarvalBot to a designated location in the reef. If necessary, many coral larvae can be distributed at once in a “larval cloud” that can blanket an entire damaged area of a reef. This technique is called larval restoration and may be reef’s best hope for the future.

Continue reading… “‘LarvalBot’ underwater drone will reseed coral reefs damaged by climate change”

cutting edge, Ecological Products, Green Friendly, Inventions, Science & Technology News

Can mushrooms be the platform we build the future on?

November 11, 2018

Ecovative thinks it can use mycelia, the hair-like network of cells that grows in mushrooms, to help build everything from lab-grown meat to 3D-printed organs to biofabricated leather.

Can mushrooms be the platform we build the future on?

When the first bioreactor-grown “clean meat” shows up in restaurants–perhaps by the end of this year–it’s likely to come in the form of ground meat rather than a fully formed chicken wings or sirloin steak. While it’s possible to grow animal cells in a factory, it’s harder to grow full animal parts. One solution may come from fungi: Mycelia, the hair-like network of cells that grows in mushrooms, can create a scaffold to grow a realistic cut of meat.

Continue reading… “Can mushrooms be the platform we build the future on?”

Architecture, Climate Change, Great New Product, Green Friendly, Inventions

This super-reflective coating keeps buildings cool so we don’t need as much AC

October 3, 2018

Buildings are already being painted white to help keep them cool. As temperatures increase, this new addition to the paint could help lower our massive air conditioning energy use.

One of the ironies of climate change is that as heat waves become more common, people use more air conditioning–and those air conditioners help drive more climate change, and make things hotter. By the middle of the century, as more people around the world can afford air conditioners, the number of units could more than triple and end up using as much electricity as China uses today for its entire economy.

Continue reading… “This super-reflective coating keeps buildings cool so we don’t need as much AC”

Agriculture, Animals, Farms, Green Friendly, Inventions

World’s first floating dairy farm could be wave of the future

September 4, 2018

Floating farm project leader Mink van Wingerden beside the floating dairy farm plaform being built at Merwehaven in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

“It’s a logical step to produce fresh food on the water.”

You’ve heard of offshore drilling platforms and offshore wind farms. Now a Dutch company is developing what’s being called the world’s first offshore dairy farm. Plans call for the high-tech, multilevel facility to open this fall in Rotterdam, a port city about 50 miles southwest of Amsterdam.

Continue reading… “World’s first floating dairy farm could be wave of the future”

Biotech, Breakthrough Thinking, Environment, Green Friendly

Drink that! An edible water orb

August 15, 2018

Using reverse spherification, a biotech researcher in Bengaluru is making edible water orbs.

Bengaluru-based biotechnology researcher Richard Gomes, who has created an “edible water orb” from natural materials, has a modest disclaimer: the technique used by his team is not unique or even particularly new; it’s used in many biotech labs to hold delicate cells together. “The orb provides a stable and sterile environment for cells to grow,” says Gomes, resident biologist at Workbench Projects, a co-working makerspace in Bengaluru. Gomes and his team wanted to take the idea forward and create an alternative to plastic water bottles, potentially replacing them with edible and biodegradable globules that can hold around 50ml of water. They are exploring options to make these orbs bigger, so that they can hold around 100ml, and manufacture them commercially and at scale.

Continue reading… “Drink that! An edible water orb”

Agriculture, Breakthrough Thinking, Food, Green Friendly

This lab-grown beef will be in restaurants in 3 years

July 20, 2018

Mosa Meat has raised a round of venture capital and plans of bringing $10 burgers (without any cows involved) to tables by 2018.

This lab-grown beef will be in restaurants in 3 years

When the Dutch stem-cell researcher Mark Post unveiled the first lab-grown burger in 2013–handmade fiber-by-fiber from cow cells in petri dishes–he announced that the single serving cost more than $300,000. But the research was promising enough that Post launched a startup called Mosa Meat to pursue making cultured meat at scale. The company now says that its first products will be on the market by 2021, fueled by a Series A fundraising round of $8.8 million, announced today.

Continue reading… “This lab-grown beef will be in restaurants in 3 years”

3D Printer, Big Problems, Engineering, Green Friendly, Home Technology

Can 3D printed homes solve the urban housing crisis?

July 4, 2018

Building houses is massively wasteful. During the construction process, building projects accumulate giant piles of garbage from off-cuts of lumber and drywall to pallets that carry materials and the packaging they come in. And once operating, homes consume huge amounts of energy.

“It turns out if you triage the world and you ask where are all these ecological health issues coming from, you get a surprising answer,” Jason Ballard, co-founder and president of ICON, says. “It’s not the gas guzzling SUVs and private jets; it’s buildings, especially homes. They are the number one consumer of energy by sector and the number two user of water.”

Continue reading… “Can 3D printed homes solve the urban housing crisis?”

Batteries, Energy, Green Friendly

Tesla bids for a new world’s largest Powerpack battery system in Colorado

March 23, 2018

After breaking a few energy storage records with its battery system projects in Australia, Tesla looks to come back to the US to build a new world’s largest Powerpack battery system in Colorado.

Earlier this year, we reported on Xcel Energy, an electric utility company operating across the Midwest, Colorado and several other states, requesting bids for major renewable energy and storage projects in Colorado.

Continue reading… “Tesla bids for a new world’s largest Powerpack battery system in Colorado”