Jurdy: Feeling the heat
Jurdy discovers a new climate at the G8 Summit …
Latest
hybrid vehicles
Hybrid double-deck buses take to London streets
Six new and eco-friendly double-deck buses — the first of a new generation of hybrid vehicles from Volvo — are now tooling about London. The Volvo B5L Hybrid Double Deck buses entered service this week on Arriva London’s Route 141. Each bus is powered by a combination of an electric motor
waste-to-energy
London waste-to-energy could power 2 million homes
Every eight days, London produces enough municipal waste to fill up Canary Wharf … and city officials believe much of that garbage is too valuable to be buried in landfill sites. Members of the London Assembly Environment Committee plan to meet tomorrow to investigate how the capital could put its trash
Shipping's actions could sink global climate goals
The international shipping sector has one last chance to decide how to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions before UN negotiators meet in Copenhagen this December to tackle climate change, according to the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E). The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is set to
Mmm, beer ... now with clean energy
As if we needed any more reasons to love beer, along comes this one: it’s a promising source of clean energy. Breweries generate a vast amount of leftover grain during the beer-making process, but Wolfgang Bengel saw that waste as an opportunity. The technical director at German biomass company
robots
Creepy Einstein robot smiles, scowls
If you haven’t yet had your fill of robots for the week, check out this spooky (at least, we think it is) video from the University of California, San Diego, where researchers have created a life-like Einstein robot that’s learned how to make a variety of emotive facial
greenhouse effect
New evidence for ancient, ice-free Arctic
What will the Arctic look like in a warming global climate? Researchers at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, believe they’ve caught a glimpse thanks to fossils from the Late Cretaceous, a period that experienced greenhouse conditions. The Late Cretaceous, the period between 100 and 65 million years ago leading
water
Government to water industry: Plan now for climate change
Even if strict carbon emissions cuts were to go into effect today, the UK can expect to feel some impacts — including increased water challenges — from climate change, new Environment Minister Dan Norris said today. Speaking at a special conference on the UK Climate Projections 2009 released by Defra last month,
solar energy
Wrap-around solar panels to power radio antenna
Ericsson and Telecom Italia are testing an innovative solar power system designed for developed areas with minimal space for photovoltaic installations. The first of its kind in Europe, the “Eco-Smart” solar-powered base station site in Italy “wraps” around a radio antenna, meaning it requires no more space than a non-solar
wind energy
Home wind turbines have vast potential ... if sited right
Location is key to getting the most out of small home-based wind turbines, and householders in Scotland enjoy the greatest potential for domestic wind energy, according to a new report from the Energy Saving Trust. The study, “Location, location, location,” summarises the organisation’s findings from a field trial of
The house that algae power built
Can you imagine a house powered not by sun, wind or coal, but by living algae? A group of graduate students at the University of Cambridge can … and their idea has won them international recognition. Practising what they call “algaetecture,” the students designed an “Algae House” they say could provide
robotics
Meet 6 robots that could improve your life
While robots aren’t the ubiquitous household companions many science-fiction novels and films imagined in the last century, they are increasingly being put to work in a variety of specialised fields. Following are six robots that could soon prove helpful in monitoring the environment, improving efficiency and enabling other types