Interesting Ideas

So far this month, we have seen global trade start to realign on multiple fronts. Past relationships are failing. New alliances are forming. Canada created an opening for Chinese EVs. The UK is headed to China to repair the relationship between the two countries. Finland is also looking for a ... [continued]

The post Could Trade Routes That Once Oppressed Now Liberate The Atlantic From Fossil Fuels? (Skipping the US?) appeared first on CleanTechnica.

With an increased prize fund of US $7.2 million, the Zayed Sustainability Prize supports enterprises, nonprofit organisations and schools delivering transformative solutions. Entries are now open, with applicants invited to submit innovative, scalable sustainability solutions. Now in its 18th year, the Prize has positively impacted over 400 million people by expanding ... [continued]

The post Zayed Sustainability Prize Opens Global Call for Submissions for 2027 Cycle appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Tesla’s decision to remove Autopilot and Autosteer as standard features in North America initially struck me as a step backward for safety, a cash grab for the Full Self Driving monthly subscription and as such an attempt to boost TSLA stock price. That reaction was almost automatic. I’ve used and ... [continued]

The post Tesla Removed Autopilot. The Data Says Safety Wasn’t Lost appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Compact Thermomagnetic Generator Delivers Continuous Electricity Using Natural Temperature Differences Between Ocean Water and Air The key to future technologies can sometimes be found in the past. What Ravi Kishore is working to perfect, for example, has its origins in the 19th century imaginations of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. ... [continued]

The post NLR Advances Battery-Free Power for Remote Maritime Sensors and Navigation Aids appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Updated Tool Could Help Marine Energy Developers Save Time, Money, and Effort A team of national laboratory researchers recently released version 1.0 of the Marine Hydrokinetic Toolkit (MHKiT)—a free, publicly available software tool used to process, analyze, visualize, and standardize marine energy data. Marine energy—energy generated from ocean and river waves, currents, ... [continued]

The post From Beta to Data: Marine Energy Analysis Tool Is Now Stable & Ready appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Donald Trump continues his assault on climate change awareness and climate action while pushing more fossil fuel extraction and use. Well, in this case, it’s not a post on antisocial media that looks 50 years out of date or a mind-bogglingly stupid statement in front of world leaders. However, his ... [continued]

The post Trump Admin Fast-Tracks Oil & Gas Drilling in National Forests, Removes Signage on Climate Change & Native American History appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Why particulate matter … matters. PM 2.5 (n.): Air pollution consisting of particles less than 2.5 microns across A year after New York put its congestion pricing program into place, requiring vehicles to pay a fee to enter the central business district of Manhattan, city dwellers noticed changes. The sounds of car honking had ... [continued]

The post The Particulars of PM 2.5 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Therapy lights, sunrise alarm clocks and infrared saunas can all help shake the winter blues as the weather drops

• Heated socks and puffy booties: what people in the coldest cities on Earth are wearing

• Eight winter clothing essentials Scandinavians swear by – from heated socks to ‘allværsjakke’

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

As a lifelong Canadian, I’m no stranger to that familiar sinking feeling in my chest as the days get shorter, dimmer and colder. I suffer from seasonal affective disorder (Sad), which also affects about one in 20 people in the US.

“Sad is a type of depression that happens at certain times of the year, usually in the fall and winter when there’s less sunlight,” said Dr Stefanie Mazer, a licensed psychologist and founder of the psychology practice Mindwise, Inc. Changes in sunlight can affect your body’s internal clock and levels of serotonin and melatonin, which influence mood and sleep, Mazer explained. People with Sad often feel low energy, sadness and irritability, with noticeable changes in sleeping or eating.

For gentle wake-ups in the morning:
Hatch Restore 3 Sunrise Alarm Clock

The CdTe thin film solar manufacturing industry has an opportunity to grow to 100 gigawatts per year in the US as soon as 2030, according to an US industry-academic research team.

The post 100 Gigawatts Of CdTe Thin Film Solar By 2030, But How To Get There? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Ripon City Wetlands and Welburn, North Yorkshire: First a starling ​and then a robin​ arrived like visitations​. I am truly grateful for ​them both

I’ve heard it said that birds come to people who’ve lost someone dear. It seemed a nice thing to believe, but I never really imagined it might be true. But neither did I imagine losing my only sibling at the age of 53. Nic’s childhood nickname, Twinkle, was apt. She was the brightest, kindest person I’ve ever known, and the ferocity of the cancer that took her in barely a month just before Christmas blindsided us all.

A few days after she slipped away, we went with friends to watch a starling murmuration. It’s something we do most years, but never before have we seen a bird tumble from the throng and crash at our feet like a feathered meteorite. I scooped her into my hat. Sometimes all a stunned bird needs to recover is a warm, safe place to rest. But it wasn’t to be, and so now that impossibly beautiful body is buried* under our damson tree. Star. Sister. Bird. Blossom. All the same interchangeable stuff.

Funding cuts, conspiracy theories and ‘powder keg’ pine plantations have seen January’s forest fires tear through Chubut in southern Argentina

Lucas Chiappe had known for a long time that the fire was coming. For decades, the environmentalist had warned that replacing native trees in the Andes mountain range with highly flammable foreign pine was a recipe for disaster.

In early January, flames raced down the Pirque hill and edged closer to his home in the Patagonian town of Epuyén, Argentina, where he had lived since the 1970s. Thirty people with six motor pumps fought for hours, hoses stretched for kilometres, but “there was no way”.

As the temperature nears 49C in the Mallee region, residents take refuge in air-conditioned rooms

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

In the slanting, late-afternoon summer sun, the fields around the small Australian town of Ouyen – almost 450km north-west of Melbourne – turn the colour of honey. The edges shimmer with silver, that old cruel trick of feigning water where it hasn’t rained for weeks.

Summer is always hot out here in the sparse, flat Mallee, but this year is shaping up to be particularly harsh. Just two weeks ago, on Thursday 8 January, Ouyen got to 47.5C. On Monday it reached 44.3C.

Fifteen years after a tsunami caused the Fukushima nuclear accident, only bears, raccoons and boar are seen on the streets. But the authorities and some locals want people to move back

Norio Kimura pauses to gaze through the dirt-flecked window of Kumamachi primary school in Fukushima. Inside, there are still textbooks lying on the desks, pencil cases are strewn across the floor; empty bento boxes that were never taken home.

Along the corridor, shoes line the route the children took when they fled, some still in their indoor plimsolls, as their town was rocked by a magnitude-9 earthquake on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 which went on to cause the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chornobyl.

Drop-In Solution Benefits From Laboratory Expertise Through Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator To Cut Electric Bills and Strengthen Grid Reliability A smart home battery and energy management platform by Chicago startup Blip Energy is advancing through the 14th cohort of the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), launched in November 2024 and based ... [continued]

The post NLR & Blip Energy Collaborate on Smart Home Battery System appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Communities, local officials, and business oppose planned offshore drilling expansion WASHINGTON, D.C. — Friday, January 23rd, marked the close of the 60-day public comment period on the Trump administration’s draft offshore drilling plan, which proposes an unprecedented expansion off of Alaska, Gulf, and California coastlines. Nearly 300,000 Americans submitted comments in ... [continued]

The post Hundreds of Thousands of People Across U.S. Voice Opposition to Trump’s Plan to Expand Offshore Drilling appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Britain among 10 countries to build 100GW grid in North Sea linking countries through subsea cables

The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has said he wants the North Sea to become the “largest reservoir of clean energy worldwide”, as he announced plans to accelerate efforts to link up offshore wind power projects with Europe.

The UK and nine other European countries have agreed to accelerate the rollout of offshore windfarms in the 2030s and build a power grid in the North Sea, in a landmark pact to turn the ageing oil basin into a “clean energy reservoir”.

It took an FOI request to bring this national security assessment to light. For ‘doomsayers’ like us, it is the ultimate vindication

I know it’s almost impossible to turn your eyes away from the Trump show, but that’s the point. His antics, ever-grosser and more preposterous, are designed to keep him in our minds, to crowd out other issues. His insatiable craving for attention is a global-threat multiplier. You can’t help wondering whether there’s anything he wouldn’t do to dominate the headlines.

But we must tear ourselves away from the spectacle, for there are other threats just as critical that also require our attention. Just because you’re not hearing about them doesn’t mean they’ve gone away.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist

Scientists expect 41% of the projected global population to face the extremes, with ‘no part of the world’ immune

The number of people living with extreme heat will more than double by 2050 if global heating reaches 2C, according to a new study that shows how the energy demands for air conditioners and heating systems are expected to change across the world.

No region will escape the impact, say the authors. Although the tropics and southern hemisphere will be worst affected by rising heat, the countries in the north will also find it difficult to adapt because their built environments are primarily designed to deal with a cooler climate.

After debris balls closed Sydney beaches in October 2024, Guardian Australia reported they could be linked to sewage outfalls. Authorities were less keen to talk

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Last week, after torrential rain in Sydney, fresh poo balls washed up on the beach at Malabar, the closest beach to the problematic Malabar sewage treatment plant.

Signs were erected on the beach warning people not to touch the “debris balls” or swim. But authorities didn’t let the wider community know. There were no other warnings issued by Sydney Water, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) or the state government.

Manufacturers use method that labels plastic as ‘circular’ and climate-friendly, despite being mostly fossil-based

Europe’s supermarket shelves are packed with brands billing their plastic packaging as sustainable, but often only a fraction of the materials are truly recovered from waste, with the rest made from petroleum.

Brands using plastic packaging – from Kraft’s Heinz Beanz to Mondelēz’s Philadelphia – use materials made by the plastic manufacturing arm of the oil company Saudi Aramco.

This article is part of a cross-border investigation, supported by IJ4EU and coordinated by the independent journalist Ludovica Jona, with the media outlets the Guardian, Voxeurop, Mediapart (France), Altreconomia (Italy), Público (Spain), Investigative Reporting Denmark, Deutsche Welle (Germany) and with reporters Lorenzo Sangermano and Lucy Taylor