Environmentally-friendly
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Knocking down a wall to create an open-plan space can be expensive. Researchers have created sustainable, moveable wooden partition walls that can be positioned right where you want them, making ‘knocking through’ a thing of the past.
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Concrete is one of the largest single sources of human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. Engineers at Washington State University have now developed a new method for making concrete that absorbs more carbon than it emits.
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Even though glass is praised for being fully recyclable, the EPA states that only about a third of discarded glass items actually get recycled. With that problem in mind, scientists have developed a new type of glass which is biodegradable.
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Solar stills provide a clever and simple means of purifying dirty or salty water, but they work at a rather slow rate. A new material has been shown to boost their performance, and it's made from fruit waste which would otherwise be discarded.
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Plastics are made to last, which is great while they’re being used but not so great after they’re discarded. Chemists have now developed a new kind of plastic that has all the durability of regular plastic, but biodegrades within months or even days.
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Engineers at UIC have developed a device that can efficiently convert captured carbon dioxide into ethylene, a plastic precursor material. When run using renewable energy, the technique could make for net negative emissions in plastic production.
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Single-use, single-serve coffee "pods" are definitely not eco-friendly, which is why refillable pods have been created. Swiss company CoffeeB is taking a different approach, however, with its fully compostable Coffee Balls.
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Discarded electronics can be a gold mine – literally. Researchers have developed an efficient new way to use graphene to recover gold from electronic waste, without needing any other chemicals or energy.
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The production of cement is a major source of carbon emissions, so the less of it that's used, the better. A new study could help, as it shows that cement can be made much stronger with the addition of material derived from waste shrimp shells.
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Construction is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Flinders University researchers have now developed a polymer made out of industrial waste that can be formed into building bricks that bond together without needing any mortar.
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Although it's always best to reuse and recycle, many small, simple, low-power electronic devices tend to be single-use. A new paper battery could make them more eco-friendly, as it's activated by water, and it biodegrades once discarded.
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Microplastics are a major environmental problem, but a new study could help cut out a decent chunk of them. Silk could be a biodegradable replacement for microbeads and particles that are often added to cosmetics, paints and other products.
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