Interesting Ideas

Despite the ban on disposables, waste professionals say the mountain of discarded devices is a £1bn-a-year issue

It is 2pm and Ana, 47, has just started the afternoon shift at the Suez recycling plant near Birmingham city centre, standing beneath a sign reading “Non-ferrous sorting station” with a bucket of vapes in front of her. Sorting and dismantling them is part of her job as a site operative.

Recycling them is not simple. Each bucket holds between 40 and 50 devices, and over the course of a shift, she gets through about half a bucket. Using a hammer, she has to smash each vape open, pry out the batteries and separate each component into a different container.

Exclusive: Commission says alert would trigger coordinated international response that could help avoid millions dying

The climate crisis should be declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization, or millions more people will die unnecessarily, leading international experts have said.

The independent pan-European commission on climate and health, which was convened by the WHO, concluded the climate crisis was such a worldwide threat to health that the WHO should declare it “a public health emergency of international concern” (Pheic).

To Shoot for the Moon, Lab Researchers Must First Learn How To Fail on Earth By Rebecca Martineau Weeks ago, four NASA astronauts completed a pioneering journey around the moon. For 10 days, lithium-ion batteries on Artemis II played an important role in powering various communications, navigation, propulsion, and thermal ... [continued]

The post NLR Battery Innovation Awarded NASA’s Invention of the Year appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) is launching a new funding opportunity through the Community Microgrid Assistance Partnership (C‑MAP), with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE). This latest solicitation offers up to $2.5 million in direct project funding supported by $1 million in technical ... [continued]

The post New US DOE Funding Opportunity To Strengthen Microgrids in Remote & Industrial Regions appeared first on CleanTechnica.

After reading some user comments about saving money each month by driving an EV instead of a gas or diesel vehicle, an idea came to write an article asking some of you EV owners how much you are saving each month during this time of extra high fossil fuel prices. ... [continued]

The post EV Owners: How Much Are You Saving? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Various "experts" are predicting the Strait of Hormuz will be open for business soon, but what if those "experts" are wrong?

The post If Supply Drops But Demand Does Not, The Price Of Oil Will Soar appeared first on CleanTechnica.

With Israel blocking imports of building materials, those rebuilding in Gaza are recycling ruins to make new homes

It is difficult to see through the dust inside the cramped, low-roofed tent on the eastern edge of Khan Younis. Ibrahim al-Aloul works alongside four others, with a piece of fabric tied over his mouth and nose as his only shield against the toxic grey powder as he sifts and grinds.

Outside, a skinny donkey waits with a cart to carry the finished product to the next tent along, where it will be mixed with gypsum, calcium and binding agents before being bagged in flour sacks and sold.

After the December end-of-incentive sales rush (NEVs are no longer exempt from purchase tax this year), and the following sales slump, high gas prices and a never ending wave of new models has allowed April to reach record EV market share, with plugins surpassing the 60% barrier for the first ... [continued]

The post The Big ICE Meltdown — April’s China EV Sales Report appeared first on CleanTechnica.

As new settlers clear their forest habitat, the apes are coming into conflict with humans. But simply moving them to another part of the forest may not be the answer

The banana skins were an ominous sign. As was the branch that had been broken off to get to the fruit. Had Edi Ramliwalked into the forest, he might have seen scattered balls of bark that had been ripped off trees, chewed like gum, then spat out. It takes a powerful jaw to do that. Closer to Edi’s home, there was an intricate construction of bent and broken branches high in a tree. The nest.

It was October, the fruiting season. The pile of half-eaten bananas was less than a minute’s walk from where Edi and his family slept. He felt nervous. He got on with his day. He picked sweetcorn and sold it at the market. He bought a carton of chocolate milk and biscuits for his grandson. He and his wife, Siti Munawaroh, ran the farm with their three adult children. They prepped the land, sowed seeds, tended crops. Survival depended on what they could grow.

Study of Channel finds levels of toxic Pfas in Solent at 13 times safe limits in some places, with much coming from treated sewage

Scientists have found high levels of toxic Pfas, or “forever chemicals”, in soil, water and throughout the marine food chain in the UK’s Solent strait, including at protected environmental sites, according to a new study.

In some samples, pollution was 13 times the safe threshold for coastal waters. Others, which were below legal limits for individual chemicals, failed tests for combined toxicity.

Snitterton, Derbyshire: I’ve had some glorious early mornings admiring the abundance of these much-loved flowers

This spring has specialised in very specific kinds of abundance. In February it was snowdrops in extraordinary numbers, but last month it was dandelions. My most exulted sighting came as I drove out of upper Dovedale when, from the corner of my eye, I caught a blanket of gold running over the slope.

The flowers held the foreground before the eye travelled onwards to Sheen Hill in Staffordshire. We overuse the word “carpet”, but in this instance it was appropriate. Each bloom was about the same height as all its neighbours, and if you eliminated gaps in colour by getting down face to face with the flower heads, then the whole land was turned into a single glorious sunshine hue.

The first dedicated gas station in the US was opened in 1905 in St. Louis, Missouri. Before it came to be, there weren’t any gas stations, and at one point there weren’t even any internal combustion engine vehicles. Before trains, for land travel, there were domesticated animals and people rode ... [continued]

The post The Last Gas Station appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Rising demand for exotic pets is pushing many gibbon species to extinction, with their strong family bonds making them especially vulnerable to the brutal trade

It is a cool morning in Thailand’s hilly north, and a wildlife officer sits on the veranda of Omkoi wildlife sanctuary’s office. On her lap is a wide-eyed infant primate dressed in baby clothes. Not unlike a human baby, he kicks and waves excitedly. Most of his dark skin is covered in dense white fur, except for his face and the palms of his hands.

“We call him Chokdee,” the officer says. “It means ‘good luck’.”

Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: Firebugs congregate in large numbers to feast and mate – and this is the first time we’ve known their revelry on the farm

At this time of year the farm is a popular spot, with people strolling, horse riding or picnicking from dawn till dusk. One of the unexpected joys of opening up public access is the extra pairs of eyes. A broken fence or fallen tree is noticed almost immediately; an otter is spotted slipping into a stream at first light. Recently, Laura, a regular dog walker and keen photographer, shared something new.

Congregating on the sunny side of an old lime tree is a colony of firebugs. There are 50 or so, clustered together, like flames flickering up the trunk. Each is nearly a centimetre long, with ember-bright red backs marked by bold, symmetrical black shapes. These aggregations, typically on lime or mallow, are for mating and feeding. A firebug eats seeds, aphids or even its dead relatives, sucking out moisture with its proboscis.

Semiconductor-Catalyst Combo Captures Energy To Drive Chemical Reactions By Connor O’Neil Plants and algae make their fuel from sunlight. Perhaps we could do the same using semiconductors. A team of scientists at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) made strides in that direction. They discovered a silicon semiconductor coupled ... [continued]

The post Scientists Discover Way To Leverage High-Energy Sunlight for Fuel Production appeared first on CleanTechnica.

In our most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that annual electric power generation from utility-scale solar will surpass that from coal for the first time in 2026 within the electricity grid that covers most of Texas. Solar generation is expected to reach 78 billion kilowatthours (BkWh) in 2026 in the ... [continued]

The post Electricity Generation from Solar Could Exceed Coal in ERCOT for the First Time in 2026 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Most people have no idea how cheap it is to charge an electric car. This hit me this morning while unplugging my car, so I decided I should write an article about it. Ironically, a few hours after I had the idea to write the article, Jake Richardson submitted the ... [continued]

The post Charging My Electric Car Is MUCH Cheaper Than Most People Think appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Rush to develop fossil fuel infrastructure in Canada collides with laws meant to protect endangered species

Environmental groups in Canada fear endangered orcas could become a casualty of Mark Carney’s push for a new oil pipeline, as the rush to develop fossil fuel infrastructure collides with laws meant to protect threatened species.

The decades-long tragedy of the critically endangered southern resident orcas has become emblematic of an ecosystem in crisis. But fishermen, whale-watching companies and the marine transport industry have long feuded over who bears the most blame.

Like many informal settlements, communities that have sprung up on the edges of Ayacucho in the Andes are on the frontline of extreme weather events

In December 2009, a late‑afternoon storm unleashed torrential rain over Ayacucho, in Peru, hitting poor hillside neighbourhoods hard. The deluge overwhelmed drainage systems, turning streams into lethal flows of mud, stones and debris that flooded houses and streets and trapped drivers at a busy junction.

Ten people died, 18 were injured, and 530 houses were destroyed or damaged, according to a government inquest. “It was a disaster,” recalls Edgar Castro, a leader in Ayacucho’s largest informal neighbourhood, Mollepata.

The Australian government subsidises diesel from primary producers to the tune of AU$11 billion per year. Dr Andrew Forrest of Fortescue Metals has come out swinging, saying that the 18 largest miners receive about one third of this, and don’t need it.As Fortescue heads to real zero, Forrest wants a ... [continued]

The post Australia’s Big Miners Show the Way with Renewables appeared first on CleanTechnica.