ATS Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems Earthshot Prize

No less than a “revolutionary solution to capture and convert industrial waste heat into sustainable electricity”: that’s what Advanced Thermovoltaic Systems (ATS) has developed. For its efforts, the company has received the prestigious Earthshot Prize 2024, which recognizes innovators addressing the world’s most pressing challenges in five areas: protecting and restoring nature; cleaning our air; […]

Saildrone

What is a saildrone? you might ask. It’s an uncrewed, environmentally friendly, wind- and solar-powered sailing drone capable of 12-month ocean data collection missions. According to one of its makers, “Saildrone’s measurements and observations, from above and below the ocean surface, provide intelligence and insight for challenges from maritime defense and seafloor mapping to earth […]

Recycling carbon: it just makes sense This woman’s idea is all about turning garbage into gold. She’s Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech, and her company has invented a technology that transforms pollution, including carbon emissions, into sustainable fuels, fabrics, packaging, and other products we use daily. She is transforming waste carbon into valuable and sustainable […]

A glaciologist with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland in 2009 began advocating for covering parts of the Greenland ice sheet with reflective material. In Germany and Italy, among other areas, this approach has already met with some success. And in Switzerland, since 2010 people have spent their summers wrapping the Rhône Glacier in […]

The industrial production of materials such as cement and steel is a significant contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, or so claims the International Energy Agency. Cement, for example, accounts for 7% of such emissions globally. Reducing the sector’s emissions would go a long way towards fighting climate change. Industries can avoid such emissions Heliogen is […]

Seaweed refers to all kinds of marine plants and algae that grow in the ocean, rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. It contains fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals, including iodine, iron and calcium, and is a good source of omega-3 fats.  According to this video, it also absorbs five times more carbon than land-based plants, which […]

Who is credited with having made the lives of an estimated 2 billion people possible over the last century? The German chemists Fritz Haber (1868-1934) and Carl Bosch (1874-1940). How? They invented a process to produce ammonia on an industrial scale. Why is that important? Ammonia can be converted into fertilizer. And abundant fertilizer translates […]

Biotechnology or biotech is not just the weird stuff that goes on in Michael Crichton novels (for example Jurassic Park, Next, Prey or The Andromeda Strain). According to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, it is “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific […]

Calera Corporation aims to stop global warming and ocean acidification by pulling greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere. Essentially, the company is developing a technology capable of converting CO2 into building materials. The company is drawing carbon dioxide from its surroundings during the manufacturing of cement. Normally cement making generates massive amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, by some estimates […]