The choice between paper and plastic may seem simple at first glance, but there’s more to it than you might think. Paper packaging is becoming increasingly common in stores, supermarkets and delivery services. This isn’t just a trend. It reflects … Read more
Increasingly, methane (CH4) emissions are on the critical path – the path towards limiting climate change to 2°C. This is the upper target of the 2015 Paris agreement. Methane emissions are rising very fast, says Euan Nisbet, a professor of … Read more
In the Netherlands, the business case for wind turbines and solar panels keeps getting worse; writes Roy op het Veld on change.inc (in Dutch). The supply side of the energy system isn’t the bottleneck anymore – it’s the demand side. … Read more
RethinkX’s Bradd Libby recently posted two useful articles on technological change. He distinguishes between partial and real solutions, or as he calls it ‘band-aid’ versus ‘bona fide’ or disruptive solutions for problems. Real solutions take place in four sectors of … Read more
Is Europe still the world leader in climate issues? The continent has ambitious plans. But in the field of energy transition, things do not play out as planned. Europe may be overtaken by the US – although this might not … Read more
If we move away from fossil fuels as a source of carbon, the question arises what should then become our source. Lux Research presents an answer: CO2 utilization. This could fulfil the demand for carbon value chains without relying on … Read more
Experts and scientists judged it impossible. The new Dutch wind turbine The Blade seems to mock natural laws. And yet, the new home-sized turbine is claimed to produce 2,500 to 3,000 of sustainable electricity yearly (link in Dutch). That’s the … Read more
In a circular economy, we will use as few resources possible. These we will reuse again and again; in so doing, we will postpone mining new resources as long as possible, we might even prevent this from happening. The Netherlands … Read more
Recently, RethinkX published an article by Taylor Hinds on battery storage. We need such a storage in order to turn the intermittent solar and wind energies into a continuous energy supply. She writes that ‘unsubsidized solar and wind energies are … Read more
Ocean habitats play a key role in storing carbon from the atmosphere; but until now, nobody has known exactly how much ‘blue carbon’ ends up in kelp, seagrass meadows, salt marshes and sediment in the seabed. Now, we tend to damage … Read more
According to RethinkX, our society may be heading towards clean disruption. Meaning that in the coming two decades, old and wasteful industries will disappear and new and clean industries will dominate. RethinkX predicts that technology disruptions in just three sectors … Read more
Polylactic acid, also known as PLA, is a thermoplastic monomer. It is derived from renewable, organic sources such as corn starch or sugar cane. This means that PLA is different from most plastics. It will not fall apart into persistent … Read more
Bidirectional charging, or possible charging from both sides, is a smart solution for grid overcharging. Bidirectional charging means that the current can go both ways. It is useful in particular for preventing the grid to become congested. Or if one … Read more
MaterialDistrict recently renewed its publication on bamboo. ‘Booming bamboo, the (re)discovery of a sustainable material with endless possibilities’, is a stunning book written by Pablo van der Lugt; with indeed: endless applications. As Elora Hardy notes in her foreword: ‘We … Read more
Water scarcity is becoming an urgent problem in more regions of the world. This presses on industrial facilities, for instance. Many of them need to reduce their water consumption – while safeguarding the level of industrial production, of course. Water … Read more
PFAS is a generic term for a large group of fluor containing organic chemicals. They are being used as water repellents, like in non-stick pans, paper and coatings, packing materials for food, dust repellent sprays and coatings, fire extinguishers, surface … Read more
Is the Earth entering a new and more dangerous phase in climate change? Where global heating will accelerate instead of slow down? This may be the case, says Jack Marley in The Conversation. For indicators like global heating, sea-level rise, … Read more
In a first article, we looked into the problem of animal welfare and ammonia emissions in modern cow sheds. Where faeces and urine come into contact with each other. Can we solve this manure problem – while maintaining an economically … Read more
Animal husbandry has a major ammonia problem; in the Netherlands, anyway. Cows are held in barns in which urine and faeces are collected together. This is a perfect mix for a hefty ammonia emission. To the detriment of surrounding nature; … Read more
Most carbon dioxide emission policies have a weak spot: they forget emissions from embedded carbon, through decay of products made from fossil sources. Often, policy only has an eye on fuel related emissions and does not take into account secondary … Read more
The Dutch site sciencelink.net recently devoted its attention to cultured meat. Not 100% vegetarian; for the instruction for meat production must be derived from a code derived from animals. But even so: it has great potential to substitute for ‘animal’ … Read more
Last week, the UNESCO building in Paris hosted a conference on putting an end to plastic waste. Long overdue, according to many delegates. Science Magazine proposed to cap global plastics production – and then reduce it step by step, in … Read more
Can climate change bring food crises? Consider the course of deviations in temperatures from annual averages in Germany between 1881-2021. This helps to understand the importance and seriousness of the work to be done. Originally posted on the site of … Read more
Knowable Magazine ran an interesting article by Bob Holmes on meat consumption. Would we stop climate change if we stopped eating meat? Yes, we might – but then, from an environmental point of view there is no need to stop … Read more
Energy storage doesn’t dominate the news. Sustainable energy gets all the credits: solar, wind, hydropower. But these can only make a difference when combined with energy storage. And the good news is: this is in rapid development. High prices, rapid … Read more
The site Nature Communications ran a remarkable article about wax worms that break down polyethylene. We read it through The Guardian and the Dutch site change.inc. But, we asked ourselves: isn’t polyethylene completely inert? At most to be dispersed in … Read more
We are now three decades into political and research efforts to stop climate change. But we are still in the era of rapid global emissions growth. Since 1990, we emitted more CO2 into the atmosphere than ever before. What is … Read more
Al last, the need to work towards zero-emission construction seems to dawn on the construction trade. Not an easy task, as the volume of building projects around the world is still growing. But at least, some in the branch have … Read more
Ben Rawlence’s book The Treeline makes us aware of our dangerous path as mankind. The climate is heating up and therefore the Northern treeline moves towards the North Pole. Ben Rawlence travelled along the entire treeline and reports on it. … Read more
George Monbiot published a new book, Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet. He is the much acclaimed and (to some) controversial author who criticizes modern agricultural practices. In Regenesis, he develops a vision on what sustainable agriculture could … Read more
In the Netherlands, Amsterdam suffers from congestion on the grid. As do other locations. Sustainable energy projects are stalled because of it. New business projects suffer the same fate. The solution, according to grid companies? More capacity on the grid! … Read more
Until quite recently, lithium-ion batteries were supposed to be the pinnacle of battery technology. These devices would allow the electrification of transport, and indeed of much of the entire world. But they have now got competition from sodium-ion batteries. Not … Read more
A recent article in The Conversation shows the undesirable results of a climate policy that lends its ears to public opinion. For consumers are at odds with themselves – in fact, they are just waiting for governments to take the … Read more
MIT in Boston (UsA) is one of the scientific centres developing initiatives to stop climate change. On April 11, it announced five flagship projects in its Climate Grand Challenges. Among these, a project Revolutionizing agriculture with low-emissions, resilient crops. Intended … Read more
The contours of the future energy system haven’t yet been drawn with great precision. Solar and wind energies lie at its foundation. But these come with their problems: at times they produce too much, at times too little energy. We … Read more
Each year, planet Earth loses 13 million hectares (32 million acres) of forest. Since 1960, more than half of all tropical forests have disappeared. Particularly because of logging in the tropical rain forests of Brazil and Indonesia. Logging also takes … Read more
Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas. It has 82.5 times more warming potential than CO2 over a 20-year timespan. But fortunately, it lives shortly in the atmosphere: it degrades in 12 years. Therefore, methane mitigation is a key opportunity … Read more
A shift towards a plant-based diet could buy humanity a much needed pause in the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. The plant-based diet and global warming The effects of a phase-out of a meat-based diet would have a major effect … Read more
Many proponents of sustainability adhere to the idea that the main path to sustainability lies in high-tech solutions. Like electric cars instead of the old ones, that guzzle fossil fuels. We even wrote a book on this ‘green growth’. But … Read more
Reforestation is an important instrument in the fight against climate change. Particularly in Europe, planting more trees would increase rainfall and reverse a drying trend. But do we know enough about woods, to be able to create healthy woodlands? New … Read more
Almost three years ago, in 2019, we voiced our concern over increased methane emissions. Although then we saw a bright side to this problem: unlike CO2 emissions, methane (CH4) emissions can easily be tracked down and repaired. But three years … Read more
Gut feeling says plastics are bad for the environment – but are the alternatives really better? Originally published in Renewable Carbon News of the nova-Institute. Plastics, an environmental problem? In public perception, plastic has become a serious environmental problem. We … Read more
Biological crop protection is on the rise. In many respects, biologicals are better than chemicals. Generally, they carry low risk for human health and for the environment. Not necessarily harmless however. And they may not protect crops as effectively as … Read more
This month, Science magazine devoted a long article to the ‘forest fight’ that rages in Germany. The debate on how the nation should manage its trees. Storms and drought played havoc on many forests over the past three years. Do … Read more
The recent RethinkX project expects the ‘20s of this century to show revolutionary developments. Driven by stepwise changes in five key sectors of the economy: energy, transport, information, food and materials. Do we see these changes coming? And how does … Read more
For decades, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) spread the message ‘that the energy transition will happen faster and be less costly than many people think’; in the words of CEO Jules Kortenhorst. And now, their predictions are becoming reality. In … Read more
Modesty is not one of the obvious virtues of the RethinkX authors. The subtitle of their report Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030 (May 2017) reads: ‘the disruption of transportation and the collapse of the internal-combustion vehicle and oil industries’. Brought about by … Read more
Under the skin we are still Darwinists. Meaning that all living creatures are in a state of competition with each other. The strong drive out the weak, that’s how progress works. But recent research shows that on the contrary, there … Read more
Floating islands as the lungs of a lake. Made from mycelium, sawdust and turfs made from reed. And island strong enough to carry a person and yet flexible enough to move with the waves. Erik Hobijn designed them and now … Read more
The Earth heats up; and in this process, towns are among the areas most hit. Buildings and streets tend to store incoming radiation. Towns urgently need to be turned greener, if only with the goal to keep them liveable. Green … Read more