Environmentally-friendly

A major redevelopment of Ford's Dearborn campus in Michigan is set to see it become greener, more high-tech and better at fostering innovation. Ford says the 10-year project will both reflect and aid its increasing focus on mobility as well as its continued car manufacturing operations.

While most of us may not give much thought to the dyes used in color inks, they are in fact often quite toxic. That's why scientists have developed a more eco-friendly alternative – a non-toxic ink that produces different colors by altering the nanostructure of the material to which it's applied.

Known as "frozen smoke" because of their milky translucent appearance, aerogels are among the world's lightest solid materials. Now, scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have used paper waste to create one.

According to NASA, US airlines could save up to 250 billion dollars between 2025 and 2050. It will all be thanks to green technology pioneered by the agency and industry partners, as part of NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project.

A new flow battery technology promises to drastically lower the cost and sustainability of running energy storage systems. The battery uses low-cost and sustainable organic materials for electrolytes rather than the usual commodity metals, and it could be retrofitted to existing batteries.

A new flow battery developed at Harvard University uses only Earth-abundant materials and is much safer, cheaper and greener than previous designs.

Standing at 12 meters (40 ft) tall, the Big Delta, reportedly the world's largest delta 3D printer, will be used to build houses quickly and, through using locally available materials, inexpensively.

Toyota and Hino Motors have begun testing a jointly-developed fuel cell bus in Tokyo, Japan. The brief test, which is taking place on public roads in the central and waterfront areas of the city, is designed to will help Toyota improve the technology ahead of a possible market launch.

Plastic carrier bags are typically petroleum-based, take a long time to decompose and are often imported from distant countries. They're also tricky to carry when cycling. The new PaperJohn tackles all of these issues. It's a backpack made of biodegradable, 100 percent recycled paper.

Australian Architect Stephen Sainsbury has spent decades researching materials to reduce environmental impact. This has culminated in the development of Ecoshelta’s prefabricated modular building system.

As electronic devices are becoming outdated at an increasingly fast pace, e-waste continues to be a huge problem. That's why scientists have started producing "wooden" semiconductor chips that could almost entirely biodegrade once left in a landfill.

In tropical countries such as the Philippines, there are plenty of rice husks ... and also plenty of termites. A group of engineering students recently decided to use the former to address the latter, by creating termite-resistant particleboard from rice husks.