desalination
Researchers say they’ve found a way to use microbes to remove salt from water without the high energy input required by standard desalination methods. The team of scientists from the US and China created the system by modifying a microbial fuel cell, a device that uses naturally occurring bacteria
Siemens plans to showcase a variety of products and services for “Green and Efficient Airports” at this year’s inter airport Europe in Munich from 6 to 9 October. The display will focus on the efficiency of functional processes such as baggage handling, passenger handling, safety and IT integration, as
Scientists at Imperial College London have brought ancient relatives of spiders to “life” with ultra-detailed three-dimensional computer models. The images help reveal some of the physical traits that helped these “pre-spiders” hunt for prey and evade predators. Pictures of the 300-million-year-old creatures are published today in the journal Biology Letters.
Why would the University of Nottingham build a house meeting 1930s specifications in 2008? So it can use it as a guinea pig for a zero-carbon renovation experiment, the results of which will be relevant to millions of householders across the UK. The house is about to undergo the first
wind energy
Renewable Energy Holdings (REH) plc has acquired the Polish development company Gamar GL for €2 million. Gamar is fully permitted to build a 30-megawatt wind project in Kobylany in southeast Poland. “We are pleased that our work with Gamar over the past three years has resulted in the acquisition of
cloud computing
UK-based ElasticHosts today announced the launch of its cloud server services for on-demand burst computing and Web hosting that can be immediately scaled to meet a customer’s changing needs. Unlike conventional Web hosting — which typically ties customers to a fixed capacity for up to two years — ElasticHosts’ cloud hosting
innovation
This year’s crop of designs shortlisted for the James Dyson Award feature a wide range of innovations from the UK and other countries, including a bicycle that folds into its own wheel, an automatic wheel that operates without electricity and a cooling system that uses just a fraction of
global warming
Current targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 aren’t likely to prevent global warming from exceeding the 2 degree C threshold for catastrophic change … and the officials who set those goals know it, according to a researcher from The Australian National University (ANU). Andrew
wave energy
The UK-based company Orecon has signed an agreement with a Portuguese shipyard for the construction of its first three wave-to-energy devices. The announcement of the deal with the shipyard Estaleiros Navais Do Mondego comes on the heels of Oregon’s recent agreement with Portuguese developer Eneolica to develop a 4.
smart meters
The following is a guest column by Steve Cunningham, CEO of Landis+Gyr UK: The Government’s recent Low Carbon Transition Plan and its accompanying Renewable Energy Strategy (RES) saw one issue crop up repeatedly — the necessity of modernising the electricity grid. The present system, installed shortly after the Second
cleantech
British Gas business to acquire Newnova Group Ltd Centrica plc, through its British Gas Business division, announced it has acquired Newnova Group Limited, which trades under BMS Solutions Ltd and BMS Setpoint Ltd, for a cash consideration of up to £3.5 million. British insurers prepare for ‘worst case’ climate
TED talks
If you’ve never visited TED, you’re missing out on some of the world’s most extraordinary thinkers speaking about some of the globe’s most vexing, perplexing and daunting problems. TED’s not a who, but a what: a non-profit dedicated to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Launched in 1984,
