Tag: Sustainability

Yeast accelerates hydrogen production. Which could be of interest for a French startup and its newly designed business jet with fuel cell drive. The eight-person aircraft is equipped with two electric duct propellers, powered by six 400 kW fuel cells and should be able to cover up to 800 nautical miles from 2030. Meaning 80% of business flights in...

Special bumpers on ships filter water while loudspeakers purify the air. Now a Romanian startup is combining air purification with a new marketing opportunity for firms. Its large-scale air filter stations for shopping centres, petrol stations or airports contain digital displays which companies can book through an online platform to advertise their brands. Cutting property owners’ costs for clean...

Some tiny houses descend from wind turbines. Now, a German-Ukrainian team has built its own tiny trailer using recycled plastic and 3D-printing techniques. With granules from 7,500 recycled plastic bottles, reinforced by stabilising fibreglass, the prototype was printed in one piece. Ensuring the 3m x 1.85m mobile home weighed only 400kg. The kitchen is concealed towards the rear, under...

A Toronto-based team is looking at environmentally-friendly ways to provide clean water. In the same city, a research team is searching for high-strength lightweight materials that could replace common metals. With the help of an algorithm developed in South Korea the team successfully optimised a carbon material on the nanoscale. The system arranged the carbon building blocks in new...

Unfolding pasta saves on packaging. Now a Finnish consortium is experimenting with different folding techniques to create a durable cardboard packaging alternative to plastic and polystyrene. Inspiration came from the Japanese Miura origami method. The team pooled its knowledge of geometry, maths, art and design, as well as materials science and mechanical engineering, to create a number of 3D...

Some toys are rightfully unwanted. The multi-coloured building blocks manufactured by a Danish firm, however, have given children and grown-ups joy for decades. But when themed sets are dismantled and the bricks get mixed up, that enjoyment can be lost. Enter an independent Lithuanian startup and its new service for used and undamaged original bricks. The team will first...

Electric shoes can increase walking speeds. To New Zealand, where a startup is looking at cable cars as a local transport alternative to trains, buses and cars. Unlike a traditional aerial gondola with its moving cables and fixed cabins, here modules are fitted with an electric engine. The cabins move autonomously along a guideway of static cable and rail,...

Warmth stored in building walls can be converted into energy, while flexible solar modules keep interiors cool. Yet a research team from Germany is looking to regulate room temperatures without using electricity at all. Its shade-giving system for windows is modelled on movements found in woody fruits. Taking its cue from pine cone scales, the team developed a sheet...