Researchers at MIT and the University of Michigan have developed fibers with engineered reflectivity that can be woven into fabrics, and scanned under infrared light that act as barcodes to help with sorting and recycling.
This fascinating Shortwave episode describes how American scientists working with Chinese farmers have successfully engineered a strand of perennial rice and harvested it over mutiple crop years. Rice usually has to be planted from seed each year, which is labour intensive and harmful to the health of farm land. This perennial rice regrows each year without having to replanted, while also rejuvenating the land.
A farmer in Armagh is using anaerobic digestion to convert waste from his cattle into methane, which powers electricity generators. He sells the renewably sourced electricity back to the grid when the price is high, and when it's not, he uses it to power a turnkey bitcoin mining container built and maintained by Cork company Scilling Digital Mining.
Geothermal energy company Fervo Energy have discovered a way to utilise a geothermal well as a battery. By drilling cracks into geothermal hard rock, pumping lots of water in and sealing the well, the water can later be released at high pressure, allowing energy to be delivered at high output at times when renewables are generating low output.
The IPCC released its sixth report, a synthesis report of all its previous reports, updated with the latest data on climate change.
It shows that we are currently on track for 3.2°C warming.
It states starkly that "the level of greenhouse gas emission reductions this decade largely determine whether warming can be limited to 1.5°C or 2°C" and "The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years".
Deloitte launched a SaaS product called GreenLight Solution aimed at allowing organisations to track & plan their decarbonisation work that needs to be done to reach net-zero emissions.
The UN Environment Programme published a book of green nudges, showing a set of changes that were made across hundreds of universities to promote & encourage climate conscious behaviour. One case study included from UCC describes a 20% increase in the use of reusable cups after the installation of cup washers.
Researchers led by Lining Yao at Carnegie Mellon University developed a biodegradable wooden self drilling seed carrier which can be deployed from the air.
Other than the main tracking feature of GPS, the system can also be used to detect and monitor in a range of additional and unique situations. The amount of snow on the ground can be measured from GPS signal noise, it can used to detect earthquakes, monitor volcanoes, and to analyse the atmosphere.
