Amanda Saint

Two finalists in the 2022 Ray of Hope Prize have turned to nature for innovative ways to transform the sector and improve the environmental impact of urban construction, ultimately making our cities more sustainable.

Fracking in the UK has been on hold for over a year, but could it be revived as the country seeks to lessen its reliance on imported fuel while ensuring that the lights and the heat stay on for homes and businesses?

Researchers worldwide are coming up with new ideas to make our homes more eco-friendly. For sustainably-minded households, these 2020 innovations could be a good place to start.

While the ‘Cities Race to Resilience’ campaign aims to accelerate action against climate change and ensure commitment to achieving specific goals, many resilience initiatives are already under way in cities all around the world.

Several companies that aspire to make the world a more sustainable place have shown that mushrooms are more than just fungi and food.

The 2019 documentary ‘Fantastic Fungi’ revealed the pivotal role mycelium networks play in the natural world and how the entire ecosystem on Earth is built on collaboration and support. It highlighted how we have to learn to adopt that ethos rapidly to make human life on this planet more sustainable. In the world of biomimicry, the magic of mushrooms is deliver...

Wineries in Europe have been testing a new app to help them manage the effects of climate change on their grapes. Funded by the European Union's Horizons 2020 research and innovation programme, the app aims to help vineyards become more resilient to the impact of changing weather patterns.

Electric vehicles are fast becoming mainstream, and now electric airplanes are becoming more commonplace too. Worldwide there are more than 200 research and development projects in progress to electrify the aviation industry. So how long until we see electric airplanes taking to the skies?
Some small electric planes have already taken test flights, and there are several different versions of electric aircraft in development. But the first commercial passenger planes powered purely by electric...

Scotland is leading the way in moving towards a new circular-economy style of living, where consumption followed by disposal is out and recycling to re-using is in…

Climate change and rising sea levels are already making life in low-lying tropical islands in the Pacific difficult. Increases in global temperatures mean that many of these islands are likely to be completely submerged in the coming years. A report published by The Center for Climate and Security in June 2017 titled “Epicenters of Climate and Security: The New Geostrategic Landscape of the Anthropocene” highlights the plight of the small Pacific island nations ...

Nuclear fusion could become a safe, reliable and convenient energy source.
The Wendelstein 7-X reactor
The Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Germany turned on the Wendelstein 7-X nuclear fusion reactor - the largest ‘stellarator’ reactor ever built - in December 2015. Researchers have begun the advanced testing stage with a view to demonstrating that nuclear fusion has the ability to bring about a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and, at the same time, to ensure the ...

The evolution of new technologies, starting from transports to buildings heating systems will make our future more sustainable.
The latest research into more sustainable energy solutions has been advancing how we power our transport networks, cutting the carbon emissions associated with heating our homes, businesses and public buildings, as well as boosting the battery performance and recyclability for electric vehicles (EV).
New EV batteries
While the environmental benefits of transferring f...

The bicycle as a lever to gain access to electricity.
Creating your own energy at home using a specially designed bike used to be the stuff of science fiction, but it's fast becoming a reality. There are, in fact, bikes that are being used to create electricity for powering events, art installations, and in some cases even entire villages. These power generating bikes could one day be used in our homes and businesses to provide energy for the gadgets and appliances we use in our everyday live...

Scientists working at the Kasper Moth-Poulsen Research Group based on the campus of Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, have made a discovery that turns energy captured from the sun into a fluid fuel. Named MOST (Molecular Solar Thermal Energy Storage), this could be a major step forward in moving the world away from fossil fuel-powered energy systems. The researchers' hope: That MOST could solve the storage problem for solar power once and for all.
Solar has long been la...

The high-tech industry is looking to nature to make the gadgets we use every day more sustainable, using some unlikely materials to make manufacturing of laptops, mobile phones and other consumer electronics less energy intensive and detrimental to the natural world.