January 31, 2021
Tucked away in a hidden enclave on Sydney’s North Shore is a private golf course — a golf course with a water issue that needed to be tackled. A long narrow dam of theirs in the base of a gorge suffered from low dissolved oxygen (DO) and destratification. The low DO was causing unwanted odours and poor water quality for use on the course. Wanting to tackle the problem the right way, they employed the services
...January 29, 2021
"The New Possible," a new essay collection, explores how the turmoil of the past year provides unprecedented opportunities.
January 29, 2021
Contrary to popular belief, a profitable business model for reused construction steel is not nearly as impossible as one may believe. Steelmakers have almost perfected the "recycle" element of the four hierarchical elements of the circular economy — reduce, reuse, remanufacture and recycle — with steel recycling rates of almost 90 percent. Despite the recycling success,
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January 28, 2021
This guide helps homeowners understand what steps they need to focus on before buying a solar battery. In turn, you can learn about the main factors to consider when buying a solar battery and why they are important to you.
January 28, 2021
Chemists from Rice University in Texas have converted pyrolysed ash from plastic recycling into graphene using a Joule heating process. The graphene could be used to strengthen concrete and toughen plastics used in medicine, energy and packaging applications. In the lab of Rice chemist James Tour, a strong jolt of energy flashes pyrolysed ash into turbostratic graphene. Weak attractive interactions
...January 28, 2021
The Banksia Foundation and Australia Post have released a white paper that will act as a practical roadmap for small business owners to sustain their operations in the current global climate. “Small and medium businesses are the engine room of the Australia[n] economy, employing close to half of Australia’s workforce and contributing more than $4 billion to the economy,” Banksia
...January 28, 2021
Digital manufacturing technologies like 3D concrete printing (3DCP) have immense potential to save time, effort and material in construction. In a new experimental study, researchers at RMIT University looked to the natural strength of lobster shells to design special 3D printing patterns. Their bio-mimicking spiral patterns improved the overall durability of the 3D printed concrete, as well as
...January 28, 2021
Numerous companies have set 100 percent recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging goals such as Colgate-Palmolive and Kellogg. Virtually all these companies, though, are not tracking whether their packaging is actually recycled and what new products their packaging becomes. Without this end-of-life tracking, they cannot determine the extent of the economic and environmental impact from how their
...January 28, 2021
This analysis of ESG and sustainable finance issues originally appeared in GreenFin Weekly, our free email newsletter. Sign up here. As we begin another year of what's being referred to in climate circles as the "decade to deliver," it is being defined by ESG, driven by shareholders and aided by new disclosure requirements on climate risk and human capital management. "The
...January 27, 2021
Sean Barrett’s community-supported fishing project is expanding to train fisherfolk to grow seaweed and help “make it the new kale.”
January 26, 2021
Despite early fears that reusable containers could be a vector for disease, public concern over the environmental impacts of our trash hasn’t gone away.
January 25, 2021
There's something shellfishy about the algal blooms.
January 25, 2021
This year, financial institutions must make a significant leap forward on climate — from pledges to progress. Even amidst a global pandemic, 2020 proved climate finance and a focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are more than passing fads, with net-zero financed emissions commitments from Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and a group of 30 international asset managers
...January 24, 2021
CSIRO has released the National Circular Economy Roadmap, detailing key strategies for creating jobs and reclaiming billions in economic value from plastic, glass, paper and tyres currently going into landfill. According to the roadmap, innovation is crucial to realising Australia’s largest economic gains, which will come from designing new products and materials and embracing new business
...January 24, 2021
first factory production means recharging could soon be as fast as filling up petrol or diesel vehicles.
January 22, 2021
On a clear day, you may see wind turbines forever.
January 22, 2021
The South’s biodiversity can be saved — if we can learn to value its natural resources the way we value those of the American West.
January 22, 2021
This essay originally appeared in Food Weekly. Sign up for your free subscription. Last week, I mentioned a project in the Netherlands that puts circular thinking at the heart of plans for a more sustainable food system. Afterward, I realized that the project jumped out at me partly because this kind of thinking is so rare, at least in the private sector. This makes no sense. We know that circular economy
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January 21, 2021
It is becoming evident this shift in buying priorities is changing our perspective globally and making a positive difference for our earth and human rights. It may not be clear, but we can thank this recognition and awareness at least in part to the passionate writers, reviewers and community campaigns propagated by bloggers.
January 21, 2021
In a continuation of SA Water’s progression to a zero-cost energy future, the Morgan–Whyalla Pipeline — which spans a large part of regional South Australia — is now powered by more than 19,000 solar panels. At a length of around 358 km, and starting from SA Water’s Morgan Water Treatment Plant, the concrete pipeline transports treated, high-quality drinking water from the
...January 21, 2021
5 steps boards can take to be ESG-ready for 2021 Pamela Gordon Thu, 01/21/2021 - 01:40 Amongst the many dramatic challenges global businesses faced in 2020, one that had been simmering for years bubbled up and promised to stay at a high boil in 2021 is ESG: Environment, Social, Governance. Signs that ESG expectations were becoming more ubiquitous included the establishment of global ESG
...January 20, 2021
The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has awarded La Trobe University’s new sports stadium a ‘6 Star Green Star Design and As Built’ rating for sustainable building practice. The stadium is reported to be Australia’s first sports building to achieve such an accolade. The stadium — built as part of stage 2 of La Trobe’s Sports Park development — is a key
...January 20, 2021
Sustainable investing strategies have ascended quickly in the last 10 years. The events of this year have been first and foremost a human tragedy, but they also have served as a catalyst to awakening interest and adoption of these strategies as reasonable approaches to remain resilient during these uncertain times. Indeed, in early 2020, J.P. Morgan Global Equity Research estimated that the sustainable
...January 20, 2021
To electrify many of the world's vehicles in the coming years, the EV industry will need to procure a massive amount of lithium-ion batteries. And that will require brand-new sources and technologies to find, extract and process battery materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel. These materials currently are extracted from beneath the earth through mining. Sometimes that mining process is
...January 19, 2021
The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has published a report that tracks Australia’s progress towards the 2025 National Packaging Targets. The report — Australian packaging consumption and recycling data 2018–19 — is second in a series of annual publications mapping the state of packaging in Australia, demonstrating that overall trends are positive and
...January 19, 2021
The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) has published a report that tracks Australia’s progress towards the 2025 National Packaging Targets. The report — Australian packaging consumption and recycling data 2018–19 — is second in a series of annual publications mapping the state of packaging in Australia, demonstrating that overall trends are positive and
...January 19, 2021
Most GreenBiz readers are well aware of the complex sustainability reporting landscape. It seems like every year new reporting standards or frameworks are added to the overstuffed workload of the corporate sustainability professional. As the former chief executive of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), I had a role in the ongoing movement to "standardize the standards" that companies use
...January 19, 2021
Solutions to the world's biggest problems, including climate change and the coronavirus pandemic, are studied in research laboratories across the globe. But as sterile as those labs may appear, they have a dirty secret: immense carbon footprints. Labs burn through five to 10 times more energy per square foot than offices, an impact that may be magnified tenfold for clean rooms and other specialized
...January 18, 2021
Victoria’s recycling infrastructure is set for a turbocharge, with the federal and state governments making major investments to double the state’s domestic glass recycling capacity, increase plastic recycling by 40% and create 350 jobs. Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley — represented by Senator for Victoria Jane Hume and Victorian Minister for Energy, Environment and
...January 18, 2021
With carbon emissions expected to rebound this year, 2021 presents another opportunity for companies to invest in climate-saving initiatives that move the corporate world closer to a net-zero future, especially carbon removal projects. While some companies already have started investing in these solutions on a larger scale, questions remain about how to conduct the process equitably. In other words,
...January 18, 2021
By now, you know the problem: Nearly 250 billion single-use cups are used globally every year — most of which end up in a landfill — and the environmental, economic and social costs are mounting. And that’s just cups. You also know the solution: In addition to recyclable and compostable alternatives, reuse models are quickly emerging as a fundamentally better alternative to single-use
...January 17, 2021
The compound that makes chili peppers spicy has been found to boost perovskite solar cell performance. According to scientists in China and Sweden, a pinch of capsaicin — the chemical compound that gives chili peppers their spicy sting — may be a secret ingredient for more stable and efficient perovskite solar cells. The research — published in the journal Joule — determined that
...January 17, 2021
Smart water networks are at the forefront of smart city and IoT technology, with the sector set to boom in the coming years. A report released by IDTechEx predicts that, in the water pipe network alone, the industry of sensors will grow to over $3.5 billion by 2030. The report — Sensors in the Water and Wastewater Treatment Industries 2020–2030 — points to the need to create a smart water
...January 17, 2021
Coalition says promise is key to preventing mass extinctions and ensuring clean air and water.
January 15, 2021
Careprost Eye Drops Contain the bimatoprost ophthalmic solution 0.03 for eyelash growth, Make You Eyelash Longer, thicker, and darker using Careprost.
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January 15, 2021
Have electric scooters whizzed into your city yet? Smartphones and other IoT advancements have paved the way for shared rides to expand beyond car travel. Now, alternative transport methods are popping up in cities across the globe, with less CO2 emissions than automobiles. Cities focused on sustainability are looking into how micromobility can solve transportation issues that have long plagued
...January 15, 2021
Just over a year ago, the Rockefeller Foundation put out a global call for proposals for radical reform of our food systems. More than 1,300 teams from 119 countries responded. The pile of submissions was whittled down to 79 semifinalists and then, last week, to 10 "bold ideas for tackling some of the world’s most pressing food systems challenges." Each winner was awarded $200,000 to pursue their
...January 14, 2021
New diversity report finds green groups are making progress … but not as much as they should be.
January 14, 2021
For the last two decades, the European Union has played a leadership role in tackling the risks hazardous chemicals pose to our health and environment. It has now proposed a new vision for a "toxic-free environment" and published a strategy for moving the EU towards that goal. Just as its current policies have inspired imitation, it’s likely that these new policies will drive significant changes
...January 14, 2021
For the last two decades, the European Union has played a leadership role in tackling the risks hazardous chemicals pose to our health and environment. It has now proposed a new vision for a "toxic-free environment" and published a strategy for moving the EU towards that goal. Just as its current policies have inspired imitation, it’s likely that these new policies will drive significant changes
...January 13, 2021
Creation Justice Ministries wants to help congregations prepare for floods, droughts, and other disasters — while making their communities more sustainable.
January 13, 2021
GM's electric delivery foray, plus other mobility trends headlining CES Katie Fehrenbacher Wed, 01/13/2021 - 01:30 For the first time in its 54-year history, the world's largest tech show — the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) — kicked off this week as an all-virtual event, cramming a week of keynotes, press conferences and over 1,000 exhibitor booths onto the screens of our laptops and from the
...January 12, 2021
3 charts show 2020's historic drop in greenhouse gas pollution.
January 12, 2021
New York City and Los Angeles might endorse a "Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty."
January 12, 2021
The same stuff you see wrapped around sushi can make fake meat look, cook, and taste like the real thing — and help save the planet, too.
January 12, 2021
In simple terms, greenwashing is when a company presents itself as environment-friendly to promote its products which inherently are manufactured with practices that aren’t sustainable. With the increasing awareness among consumers, most look for options that are both cost-efficient and environment-conscious. Through different ways of marketing and production, companies often deceive their
...January 11, 2021
RMIT engineers have partnered with Victorian recycling organisations Replas, RED Group and SR Engineering to develop a concrete material made from lightweight recycled plastic. Polyrok — a sustainable aggregate alternative — has enhanced durability and is lighter to work with than traditional concrete. Australians return 1.3 million pieces of soft plastic per day via REDCycle recycling
...January 11, 2021
Server farms equipped with batteries that store renewably generated power could one day become “critical components in carbon-free energy systems.”
January 11, 2021
Server farms equipped with batteries that store renewably generated power could one day become “critical components in carbon-free energy systems.”
January 11, 2021
One of the biggest stories of 2020 was the rise of the corporate tree-planting movement, with dozens of multinational businesses from virtually every industry pledging millions of dollars to one of nature’s most effective carbon sequestration solutions. Now, NGOs and investors are urging consumer goods and food companies and financial institutions to devote more resources to addressing
...January 11, 2021
As I begin to think about the year of content and coverage ahead, I thought I’d start things off by sharing some big questions I’ll be asking in 2021 — plus some predictions on how they might be answered. 1. Will companies align circular economy initiatives with climate goals, or continue to treat these as discrete initiatives? Prediction: To date, only a handful of
...January 10, 2021
A new recycling facility to be built by Remondis Australia in Dandenong, Victoria, will process a third of the state’s solvent waste each year. The facility will give cleaning solvents, inks and paints a second life, turning them into products that can be reused by industry, such as secondary cleaning liquids used in spray guns, alternative fuels and raw solvent material. In addition to reducing
...January 9, 2021
Facilities are being built with storage systems that can hold enough renewable energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes, addressing concerns over the intermittency of wind and solar.
January 8, 2021
Massachusetts nonprofit HEET wants to turn leaky infrastructure into district-wide geothermal heat-pump systems that it hopes will create a “post-gas world.”
January 7, 2021
Even the winds are getting more polarized.
January 7, 2021
The Australian Government has selected NSW company Scimita Ventures as a partner in a study investigating the feasibility of an Australian–German supply chain for hydrogen produced from renewable energy. The study will holistically analyse hydrogen supply chain options from Australia to Germany. Scimita Ventures — part of a consortium of industry and academia headed by UNSW — will
...January 7, 2021
We built this tiny model town to show what it would look like if we tried to transition to 100% clean energy.
January 7, 2021
The world is changing, and it’s changing fast. More companies are committing to emissions reductions but still struggle to measure and verify the impact from corporate headquarters to global operations to supply chains. Now, new breakthrough climate accounting technologies are emerging as solutions to track and verify energy and carbon emissions, and report energy purchases and consumption. As
...January 7, 2021
A recent issue of the Economist featured an article titled "The Plague Year: The Year When Everything Changed" (subscription required). Few will be surprised by this title. However, aside from the COVID-19 reflections, the article provides insights about lessons learned from several events from the early part of the last century. The article explains, "The horrors of the first world war
...January 6, 2021
A Singapore restaurant is the first to serve lab-grown meat. Is the U.S. next?
January 6, 2021
A Singapore restaurant is the first to serve lab-grown meat. Is the U.S. next?
January 6, 2021
When the pandemic exposed major issues with our lengthy food supply chain — in the form of shipment delays and inadequate demand forecasting — local vertical farms and indoor growing operations (aka controlled environment greenhouses in urban or rural locations) were called upon to fill in the gaps in a way that was unprecedented. With 2020 in the history books and hopes for an end to the
...January 5, 2021
The Energy Security Board (ESB) has released details on the future direction of the National Electricity Market (NEM), identifying four areas of reform to address key challenges facing Australia’s electricity supply. Following consultation with industry and governments during 2020, the Post 2025 market design directions paper consolidates proposed reforms to address the challenges set out in a
...January 4, 2021
Last year, a number of automakers announced or advanced ambitious plans to electrify heavy-duty big rigs, semi-trucks, box trucks, delivery vans and more. That article was one of GreenBiz's most popular stories throughout the year. And the demand and interest in this technology is only growing stronger. Given that trucks consume the vast majority of energy compared to other modes of freight
...January 4, 2021
For companies with sustainable packaging goals, 2025 is fast approaching. That’s the year when many have pledged to become zero waste, or to use 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging. But COVID-19 has thrown a wrench in those plans, with single-use packaging skyrocketing, low fossil fuel prices and disrupted recycling systems, already weakened by China’s 2018 plastics waste
...January 2, 2021
Climate change is making landslides more likely and preparation vital.
January 1, 2021
Bright yellow stickers warn drivers burning of gasoline has ‘major consequences on human health and the environment.'