Category: Environment

Australian researchers have succeeded in turning the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide back into solid matter at room temperature. So it could be stored more safely than in liquid form.

Industrial towers with smoke on the horizon

As long as carbon dioxide emissions are unavoidable, capture could help reduce climate change

Photo: Hackman /

It is a big challenge to limit climate change and it will probably not be enough to reduce harmful emissions. That is why the Intergovernmental (more…)

Scientists at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) have developed a method to protect groundwater from toxic heavy metals. At the heart of the new development are special iron oxide nanoparticles that are injected into the groundwater-bearing rock.

Bubbles below the water surface

The iron oxide nanoparticles are injected into the water-bearing rock layers. There they form an adsorption barrier. Heavy metals from contaminated water are retained.


Wherever (more…)

Researchers at the TU Dresden have developed special wood fiber binders that quickly and completely eliminate smaller oil spills of up to 50 tonnes of oil. They are the core element of an accident system that is currently being established in the Baltic Sea.

You see a net filled with oil binders in the water.

After the floating oil binders pick up the oil, they are “captured” with net barriers.

Photo: TU Dresden / Sören Tech

The oil binders are made from renewable biodegradable wood fibers, which display (more…)

Trucks will emit one-third less CO2 emissions in 2030. Is that realistic?

Trucks on the motorway at sunset


One fifth of all trucks must be emission-free in 2030 or at least significantly lower in emissions come along. Compared to today’s heavy duty vehicles, they should emit at least 50% less CO2. That’s what the European Parliament decided yesterday. In addition, truck manufacturers have been set ambitious reduction targets. Heavy commercial vehicles over 16 (more…)

Researchers at the University of Oldenburg have found a way to identify plastic waste in the sea and classify it according to variety. It is based on signature infrared signatures and is similar to processes used in the recycling industry.

One sees a white plastic bottle floating in the sea.

Using characteristic infrared absorption bands Photo: Kyler Badten / The Ocean Cleanup

Scientists led by Shungudzemwoyo Garaba from the Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Sea (ICBM) have taken photographs and (more…)

Japanese researchers have developed an electrocatalytic process that selectively reduces low-concentration CO2 and enables carbon capture. It could reduce CO2 emissions, for example in heavy industry.

There is a rotary knob labeled CO2

Rhenium-based electrocatalysis can actively extract CO2 from air and exhaust gases , And it works at low CO2 levels.


Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) chemists have found a way to use carbon dioxide to deposit (more…)

Bioplastics is considered to be an environmentally and climate-friendly substitute for plastics based on petroleum. A study by the University of Bonn has now shown that the conversion to plant-based plastics has far less positive effects than expected. At first, global emissions of greenhouse gases would even skyrocket.

You can see different corn plants; in the foreground a corncob can be seen.

The cultivation of renewable raw materials for the production of bioplastics is unsuitable for climate protection. The situation is different with regard (more…)

Scientists at the Technical University of Munich have developed a process that efficiently and economically removes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Even the current World Climate Report points to the technology.

An illuminated greenhouse of the algae technical center of the Technical University of Munich can be seen.

At the algae technical center of the TU Munich, the conditions for the CO2 Algae-based storage created.

Photo: Andreas Heddergott / TUM

There is an urgent need for action to at least partially halt global warming and, (more…)

The first collection system for plastic garbage in the sea is about to be used for the first time: the Dutch startup The Ocean Cleanup is dragging its 600 meter long collector from San Francisco out into the open sea. In the Pacific, the device is to pick up the Pacific Garbage Whirl Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The first garbage collector starts work in the Pacific

The 600 meter long pipe system is being removed from the bay by a cargo ship from San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge into the open sea.

Photo: (more…)

Especially in summer, fresh fruit and vegetables can quickly spoil. A start-up from the US has now developed an edible protective cover that drastically slows down the ripening process. Thus, the fruit treated with it can be left in the supermarket for more than twice as long.

Avocados can be stored two to three times longer with the vegetable coating Apeel.

With the vegetable coating Apeel Avocados are stored two to three times longer.

Photo: Apeel Sciences

On hot days, the shelf life of fruits such as the avocado is not well. Customers (more…)