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 … Read more
The Conversation’s Brad Libby recently posted a thought-provoking article about converging technologies, and their potential. He envisages artificial intelligence (AI), lithium-ion batteries, infrared cameras, lidar laser range detectors, actuators, 3D … Read more
Graphene is twenty years old now. Discovered by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two physicists at the University of Manchester. The Conversation hailed this anniversary in a piece by Stephen … Read more
The site change.inc contained an interesting article (in Dutch) on energy hubs – a central place where regional companies and households share their energy production and consumption. In the Netherlands, … 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 … Read more
Electric vehicles (EV) and autonomous electric vehicles (A-EVs) will create an entirely new business model: Transport-as-a-Service (TaaS). It will disrupt and transform our transportation industries. If major changes in a … Read more
According to RethinkX, precision fermentation and cellular agriculture will create an entirely new business model in the food sector: food-as-software. This will disrupt and transform our food and agricultural industries. … Read more
Solar photovoltaics, onshore wind power and lithium-ion batteries (SWB) will displace fossil fuels and conventional nuclear power during the 2020s. This will create an entirely new business model – SWB … Read more
Solar panel production disappeared from Europe over the past twenty years. Now, a new generation of solar panels is around the corner, and this could mean the return of solar … 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 … 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 … Read more
Pressure on the electricity grid gets heavier all the time. Many corporations and organisations aim to get more sustainable. But there are bottlenecks. Because at times, there is a glut … Read more
Do we need carbon capture in order to meet climate goals? The jury is still undecided. If we would like to keep on using fossil fuels, we need carbon capture … Read more
Engineers have developed a new way to exert control over bioreactions: light. Using light of the correct colour can promote the desired reaction and hence keep costs down in biomanufacturing. … Read more
Green hydrogen has been an expensive fuel, so far. Producing it by solar or wind energy (and electrolysis) is now three to four times as expensive as producing ‘grey’ hydrogen … Read more
A series of articles at the occasion of the GreenTech exhibition in Amsterdam, highlighted innovation in horticulture. Among these are water quality and irrigation management. The site Greentech.nl pays special … 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: … Read more
New technologies require new instruments. That is also true for distributed energy resources (DERs), predominantly renewable energy. So far, their disadvantages could be eased out in the net. But now, … Read more
Renewable energy, mainly solar, wind and hydro, is going to take over global energy supply. But is its development fast enough to prevent global warming beyond 1.5oC? Global annual renewable … Read more
Solar energy continues to astonish the world. In 2024, new developments will ensure continued growth; both in generation and in storage. Largest source of electricity generation Present developments indicate that … Read more
This month, BioBTX collected the € 80 million it needs for construction of its first commercial-sized factory. It will produce benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) from mixed plastic waste. A … Read more
Change.inc devoted an article to thermal industrial heating and cooling (in Dutch). Long neglected in views on the energy transition. Even though there is a lot of energy involved. But … Read more
In rich countries, the urban biorefinery is a much sought after goal, albeit difficult to arrive at. Much sought after because we could solve out waste problem by this concept. … Read more
It isn’t recognized generally yet, but the combination of solar, wind and batteries can supply the whole world with electricity. Writes RethinkX in its latest newsletter. This is happening already … Read more
People must eat. The vast majority of what we eat originates from agriculture. But this produces roughly one quarter of global greenhouse emissions. Can we avoid that? Produce synthetic food … Read more
As researchers succeed in tagging oceanic predators, they discover new facts about the deep sea. Many animals dive very deep, even to where light doesn’t penetrate anymore. It’s indescribable, what … Read more
The Conversation informed us about the negotiations on a global pact on plastic. A penultimate round of negotiations recently ended in Ottawa – the last stage will take place later … Read more
Alternative proteins receive more attention. Meaning: proteins not from animal origin. Like vegetal products, and fermentation and artificial meat and fish. Much progress is being made. Major growth On change.inc, … Read more
On this site, we devoted attention several times to seaweed and seaweed products. Developed among others by The Seaweed Company, an enterprise located in Ireland, Morocco, India and the Netherlands. … Read more
This week, World Bio Market Insights ran an interesting article about bioeconomy and circularity. These are both required for building sustainability into value chains; but they are not identical. Both … Read more
This month, Genetic Literacy Project contained an article by its editor, Jon Entine, on sustainable agriculture and its relationship to the use of glyphosate. Interesting to read. With a view … 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 – … 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 … Read more
Knowable Magazine ran an interesting article by Nicola Jones on a forthcoming treaty on plastic pollution. This would tackle the vast amounts of plastic waste discharged to the environment. It … Read more
Pressure on the electricity grid is rising all the time, because of increasing local production: solar and wind energy. An increasing number of companies needs to wait for a connection. … Read more
Paques Biomaterials, producer of PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates), has obtained a subsidy of € 14 million in order to commercialize its technology. The development of this material called Caleyda® will take place … 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 … Read more
Carbon dioxide is a powerful greenhouse gas. But we can put it to good use as well. Putting CO2 to good use may even reduce the burden of preventing its … Read more
Boards made from agricultural wastes, are they achievable? Often, mdf and chipboard are made from wood. But Ecoboard has a different approach: it uses agricultural wastes. Boards are a wonderful … Read more
This week, the Dutch magazine Sciencelink ran an article written by Marysa van den Berg on an important new development in disease control. The use of bacteriophages, viruses that kill … Read more
Hydrogen is at our disposal, so it seems, in many colours: black, grey, green, blue, turquoise, purple, aquamarine, pink, red, blue, yellow, orange, white, … [1, 2, 7]. Some colours … Read more
The electricity grid is being overburdened fast. Local production, mainly through solar and wind energy, produces an uneven distribution of demand and supply across the grid. Leading to the need … Read more
Plastic consumption is still rising. Versatile compounds! But plastic recycling isn’t well organized. Therefore, the mountain of plastic waste is still growing. The world needs to find a solution to … Read more
Phosphorus is essential for life on Earth, says Chris Slootweg on his profile page of the University of Amsterdam. It is an essential element in global agriculture. It plays a … Read more
Recently, the Dutch site change.inc devoted attention to progress in the production of artificial eggs. Consisting of a number of compounds that approach the natural egg. But then of course, … Read more
At the time of writing, COP28 is still underway. There are serious doubts as to whether the conference will be a success. But it has put agriculture on the stage … Read more
In a previous article, we wondered if the world will continue to produce food in sufficient quantities. What would prevent that? Population growth, increasing meat consumption, climate change, water scarcity … Read more
The threat to global food security is back. The COVID pandemic has had a huge impact. The UN estimate that as many as 811 million people were undernourished in 2020 … Read more
In a recent series on the invaluable site The conversation, Australian scientists raised the question to what extent we will in the future be able to rely on antibiotics. Resistance … Read more
Wind turbines have a bad reputation, particularly in respect of their effect on flying creatures like bats and birds. But new research shows that we can overcome this problem, to … Read more