Tag: technology

The wired wild – data is the key

Some weeks ago the World Wildlife Fund WWF organized the fuller symposium event, bringing together leaders in science, policy business and development to talk about innovative technologies and the promises it give when it comes to face the challenges on our planet. Even if you are not a big fan of WWF, you can check out the “WIRED IN THE WILD – Can technology save the planet?” agenda because it offers some interesting point of views, TED-talks, videos and many more, just click on the link above to get there.

There are some several outcomes of this summit, one is collaboration. Collaboration is crucial to bring together scientist from various fields to guarantee that a mix of different technologies gives a more accurate view on what is happening in the big picture but not only. In fact without community participation and the support of local communities  and their data “from the ground” very often it would not be possible to guarantee that the outcome of the research reflects what is really happening in the “real” world. Here technology is key because without sensors and technologies that gather information and that are positioned in strategic points and possibly with some kind of real-time information. With an everyday growing level of connectivity this could be possible and should help to get the big-data that is necessary to do some high quality research in many fields, from climate change to pollution and renewable energy consumption and many more.

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Technology and Innovation as sustainability promoter

In the past decades we explored a fascinating trend regarding innovation and technology. In fact, technologic innovations changed our planet from the very beginning of humankind, and accelerated with an unbelievable speed in the last 100 years. In some cases technology helped to solve some critical environmental problems (e.g. substitutes for damaging CFC). In the next paragraphs I introduce to you some interesting inventions that could change the world in a quite impactful way.

Transparent solar cells

Ubiquitous Energy is the name of a young startup in California, and what they do sounds like science fiction. They invented “solar glass”, a mix between glass and solar cells, that are transparent but yet energy producing. Its application seems immediate, entire buildings could produce their own clean energy.

Biodegradable batteries

The main problem with batteries is that they are very difficult to recycle. But researchers from Sweden and the US found the solution: batteries made out of wood. Unfortunately mass production is still too expensive, but they plan to be on the market in 5 years with this new innovative product.

Electric cars charged with induction

One of my favourite future technologies are electric cars. But there are still some problems with it, for example the long charging times. But the UK Transport Research Laboratory found the solution for this problem, and it seems to good to be true. They plan to build streets where cars get their energy just while driving.  This sounds crazy but it could be the solution for urban traffic.

Hydrogen fuel cells

It is years that hydrogen fuel cells have been invented, but there are still no cars that work with this technology on the market. This will change in the very near future. Toyota and Hyundai, both are releasing their innovative hydrogen cars.

Source: The Guardian