Can Technology Save the World?

Can technology save the world? In short: No, not by itself. A sweeping set of changes in the way we interact with the planet is needed to stabilize our rapidly deteriorating biosphere and avert a bleak

72,000 Ladybugs Released Inside Mall of America

Photo via Shutterstock Minnesota’s Mall of America may be known as the largest retail complex in the country, but it is also now home to 72,000 lady bugs! The ladybugs were released inside the

Helius Energy Opens Whiskey-Powered Biomass Plant in Scotland

Photo via Shutterstock In 2009, Inhabitat reported that Helius Energy was teaming up with the Rothes consortium of whisky and scotch companies to create a biomass power plant fueled by by-products from

IEA Report States Clean Energy Uptake is Too Slow to Calm Global Warming

Photo via Shutterstock Despite significant gains in both large scale solar and wind energy throughout the globe, a new report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that the rapid

The World’s First Algae-Powered Building Opens in Hamburg

The world’s first algae-powered building just opened in Hamburg! Dubbed the BIQ House, the project features a bio-adaptive algae facade and it will serve as a testing bed for sustainable energy

Horse Poop Could Be the Key to Commercial Biofuel Production

Horse photo from Shutterstock Scientists just discovered a key ingredient that could help propel the production of biofuel: horse poop. Converting corn stalks and grass to biofuel requires removing

Researchers Design Synthetic Trees to Produce Algal Biofuels and Water

In the global effort to wean ourselves from fossil fuels, scientists have been looking towards algal biofuels as renewable sources of energy. Microalgae is capable of using sunlight and carbon dioxide to

Recycled Cooking Fat to Power Equivalent of Nearly 40,000 London Homes

Image via Shutterstock Every month London spends £1 million cleaning up its sewers, which are clogged with a greasy mass of cooking oils. Now Thames Water and the utility company 20C have unveiled

Scientists Engineer Algae to Make Nanocellulose for Biofuel and Supermaterials

If you like vinegar, kombucha, durable textiles, and also enjoy driving your car, then welcome to the future of biofuels and supermaterials! Dr. R. Malcom Brown Jr. has pioneered research that uses

Caffeine-Addicted E. Coli Bacteria Could Decontaminate Coffee-Ridden Wastewater

Photo via Shutterstock The news that the Pacific Ocean is polluted with coffee, or rather, caffeine in general, was pretty baffling. But one research team has developed a solution that may be even

BionicOpter: Remote-Controlled Dragonfly Robot Flies Just Like the Real Thing!

The dragonfly is the aerial stunt of the insect world. It can hover, fly backwards and glide without moving its wings. They align their wind stroke planes to be nearly normal to the direction of the total

New Microbe Could Turn Carbon Emissions in the Atmosphere Into Biofuel

Air Pollution photo via Shutterstock Scientists at the University of Georgia just announced that they have found a way to capture and transform carbon dioxide into useful industrial products. Although

Report Says US Petroleum Consumption and Greenhouse Gases From Cars Could Plummet by 2050

A new report by the National Research Council has some good news for the future of US transportation. By taking advantage of biofuels, new vehicle technology, and policy reform, America has the potential

Discovery of “Corrosive” Concrete Halts Construction of China’s Tallest Building

Several major construction sites in Shenzhen, China have been temporarily closed due to reports of the use of cheap, unsafe and corrosive concrete. A public investigation revealed that several developers

Concrete Made with Biofuel Waste is Strong, Durable, and Has a Lower Carbon Footprint

Photo via Shutterstock In the crusade to cut global CO2 emissions, we tend look to power plants, cars, and manufacturing. Nowadays, our building materials are also garnering attention, and researchers

rPETable: UK Company Makes First Ever 100% Recycled Food-Safe Plastic Products

UK company Invicta Group has become the first company in the world to make food-safe products from 100% recycled plastic bottles, containers, tubs and lids. Their new rPETable patented process focuses on

17-Year-Old Builds Algae Biofuel Lab in Her Bedroom to Win $100K Intel Science Talent Search Prize

Meet a next-generation scientist making the next generation of biofuel. 17-year-old Sara Volz invented a process that increases the amount of biofuel produced by algae to win this year's Intel

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Launches Weekly Flights Using Biofuel Made from Cooking Oil

Biofuels have been embraced by assorted military organizations, but commercial adoption has thus far been lagging behind. Despite this, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines just announced plans to start weekly

World’s First Algae-Powered Building by Splitterwerk Architects Opens This Month in Germany

We’ve all heard about buildings powered by solar or wind energy, but an algae-powered building? Splitterwerk Architects have designed just such a structure, dubbed BIQ, which will be the very first of

Quetsol CEO Lives in the Dark to Raise Funding for Pay-As-You-Go Solar Power in Guatemala

In Guatemala, over half a million homes are without electricity. That means these families rely on candles or kerosene lamps to do homework, read or eat dinner at night. Quetsol, a renewable energy

MIT Scientists Engineer Yeast Cells to Produce More Efficient Biofuels

In the hunt to replace petroleum, scientists are looking for more efficient ways to produce biofuels from organisms. A team of researchers at MIT have engineered yeast to manufacture the heavy alcohol

Brown University Identifies Hungry Microbe That Could be Key to Turning Biomass Into Biofuel

The quick rise and depressing downward spiral of the ethanol industry proved that using food to make biofuel is both wasteful and costly. Non food-based biofuels, such as those derived from grasses,

MIT Team Creates Genetic Circuits From Bacteria That Remember Logical Functions

A team of engineers from MIT has created genetic circuits in bacterial cells that can not only perform logic functions, but also remember the results. These functions can then be encoded within the

The Biobot 20 is a Tabletop Biodiesel Processor for Waste Cooking Oil

Now there is something better you can do with that viscous mess of cooking oil instead of sequestering it in a can or pouring it down the drain. The UK-based company Biobot offers the Biobot 20, a

Two Makers Create a $150 Open-Source 3D-Printed Prosthetic Hand for a Five Year-Old Boy

Two men living on opposite sides of the planet have teamed up to design and build a 3D-printed prosthetic hand for a five-year old named Liam, who was born with no fingers on his right hand. By combining

Our Favorite Sustainable Home Furnishings at the 2013 Las Vegas Market!

The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is a North Carolina-based family-run company who makes impressive use of salvaged materials and sustainably-sourced wood. Their one-of-a-kind pieces make

Cal Poly Project Produces Energy and Purifies Water Using Algae and Human Waste

Photo via Shutterstock The Keystone XL pipeline has some big competition, and it is coming from a number of very small challengers. Scientists at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA are working under a

The Cultured Landscape Sets Out a Strategy for Sustainable Transformation of an Australian Brownfield

Rather than simply let the Latrobe Valley revert to a supposed “natural” state, NAAU proposes a new urban design that retains and adaptively reuses “the significant industrial infrastructure as a

Scientists Trick Iron-Eating Bacteria into “Breathing” Electrons in Effort to Create Biofuels

Photo via Shutterstock Scientists have developed a technique to “trick” common iron-eating bacteria into capturing electrons, which the bacteria use to grow. Typically the bacteria contribute

MIT Turns Carbon Dioxide from Bioengineered Soil Bacteria into Clean Biofuel

Scientists at MIT have genetically engineered a soil bacteria that can create fuel for cars. The bioengineered Ralstonia eutropha converts carbon into isobutanol—an alcohol that can replace or blend

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