“Believe it or not, the electric storage battery — a technology that has been around since the eighteenth century — could change the economic course of the twenty-first century. Thanks to breakthroughs on the horizon, batteries qualify as one of 12 disruptive technologies that the McKinsey Global Institute has identified.” That paragraph is how a […]

Good news has been published about a vaccine that might help people with diabetes produce their own insulin. The injection helps reduce the number of cells that attack the needed insulin-producing cells. Diabetes occurs in people whose pancreas does not produce sufficient insulin or whose cells do not react to the insulin produced. Insulin is a hormone […]

“How would you run a whole country without oil?” That’s what Shai Agassi is asking. Agassi is the founder of Better Place, which has developed a model and infrastructure for using electric cars as an alternative to fossil fuel technology (see The Good Times story of August 2011). His answer is to convert an entire country (in […]

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 […]

Bunker Roy is truly a visionary. He’s the now well-known founder of Barefoot College in Tilonia, India. Recently The Good Times had the privilege to meet Bunker and hear about one of his new ideas: Solar Mamas. The initiative provides grandmothers from Africa with training in solar engineering. The women who are sent to Barefoot College for six months to […]

What is Solar Impulse? It’s already quite well known, but here’s how it’s described on the Solar Impulse website: “The gigantic, but ultra-lightweight dimensions of this revolutionary airplane – capable of flying day and night without fuel – are its trademark feature.” It’s a long-range solar powered plane whose challenge is to fly around the […]

By Danielle Carpenter (June 2012) – Rio+20 sounds like the name of a band, or perhaps a kind of sunscreen that works best in the southern hemisphere. In fact, Rio+20 is the short name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. It will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 20-22 June 2012. Coming […]

It has been three years since the China Business Council for Sustainable Development (CBCSD) launched its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) “1+3” project. The CBCSD has worked together with BASF and 14 other member companies and their “1+3” teams, actively exploring and promoting both a local and international approach to social responsibility in China. The CBCSD […]