global warming
Research published in this month’s issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery finds a connection between warmer temperatures and dog bites to children. The researchers speculate the connection might be due either to the fact that children play outdoors with dogs more frequently in warmer months, or to the fact
green building
If the housing industry ever springs to life again, two US firms are poised to join the revival using unconventional building materials: junked cars and post-consumer paper. Featured in a recent edition of The Oregonian, Miranda Homes takes an engineering — rather than architectural — approach toward housing design. Why? “The reason
plutonium
The glass jug found during a 2004 dig at the US Department of Energy’s Hanford site in Washington wasn’t your usual archaeological discovery. But, then again, Hanford isn’t your usual archaeology site. Home to two plutonium production reactors that operated between the 1950s and 1970s, Hanford had
cleantech
Follow the money and appointments taking place in the cleantech sector this week: * The chairman of Canada’s BC Hydro, Mossadiq Umedaly, has joined Ventures West to help it raise money for a new $157.6 million (US) clean energy fund, Earth2Tech reports; * The Iowa Power Fund Board this week
nanomaterials
Folding nano-materials into three-dimensional shapes, a la origami, could help lead to radically improved computer memory, motors and capacitors, according to a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Current nano-fabrication techniques are already being used to create microprocessors and other devices, but they are limited to
cleantech
Missed a few of the latest cleantech headlines? Greenbang is here to keep you up to date: * Honda plans to build a research and test facility in Kazusa Akademia Park that will research practical ways to produce non-food-based cellulosic ethanol; * First Direct says it’s become the first UK bank
carbon dioxide
Scientists have long warned that accelerating climate change could lead to more wildfires around the globe, and that those wildfires would release more carbon dioxide … which would accelerate climate change. And that appears to be the case in Australia, where recent fires have — according to Reuters’ Planet Ark — released “millions
cleantech
Cleantech news as it happens — check back for regular updates: * The US Department of Energy and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have teamed up to improve federal weatherization efforts for homeowners across the country; * Smaller is better when it comes to battery packs for plug-in hybrid vehicles, according
solar cells
Researchers in Canada say the public could see cheap and easy-to-manufacture plastic solar cells on the market in the next five to seven years, according to an item in today’s Energy Efficiency News. The researchers at the National Institute for Nanotechnology and the University of Alberta say the largest
innovation
We’re still trying to wrap our heads around this innovative design from astronaut Donald H. Pettit: it’s for a unique coffee mug that would presumably allow space travellers to still enjoy a hot cuppa in zero gravity. As described on the design site Tuvie, the on-orbit coffee cup
data management
The following is a guest article by Jeff Mills, Managing Director of Xenos Europe. Reduce, reuse, recycle is the green mantra that gained a lot of currency in the 1980s. Today, a large number of enterprises are aggressively pursuing 3R policies, covering everything from paper usage and disposal practices to
cleantech
Tired of wading through the endless waves of news from the cleantech industry? Fear not: our daily summary can keep you painlessly up to date: * Denmark’s Novozymes says its second-generation enzyme products, expected to be commercially viable by next year, can cut cellulosic ethanol enzyme costs in half; * The
