"Footwear production accounts for 1.4 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2018 Quantis study — roughly equivalent to the emissions of Canada. Manufacturing accounts for 43 percent of those emissions, and extracting and processing raw materials 34 percent, the report found. Making a pair of sneakers generates 30 pounds of CO2, according to an analysis by MIT in 2013. A typical shoe contains several materials tightly sewn together — leather, plastic, cotton, rubber, synthetics and so on — and is thus very difficult to recycle. Ninety percent of old shoes end up in landfill sites."
The Future of Nuclear Energy Will Be Decided In Idaho
"INL calls itself America’s nuclear energy laboratory, and its core missions include keeping the existing fleet of reactors in service and developing the next generation of fission power plants. A total of 52 reactors were built and operated at the facility as the technology became a mainstream source of electricity. The last new one to go into service there was in 1973, though."
With Pivot Bio, Farmers Can Say Goodbye to Noxious Nitrogen Waste
By replicating a nature-driven process, Pivot Bio enables farmers to reduce their reliance on synthetic fertilizers.
The Next Chips to Transform EVs Could Be Made From Wood
"The cost of producing synthetic graphite from wood using CarbonScape’s technology is competitive with making it from fossil fuels, said Williams, without providing detailed figures. Temperatures required to create graphite from wood chips are lower, and the process takes hours rather than weeks, he said."
Will Colorado River Conservation Commitments Make a Difference?
To really change the future of the Colorado River, innovative reforms are needed.
Bill Gates-Backed Group Supporting New Energy Storage Technology
"The company said its technology 'is designed to maximize the value of renewable energy generation and offer grid operators control and flexibility at the lowest cost compared to other energy storage options. The system is also modular and scalable by adding more carbon blocks to increase storage duration, allowing growth with the grid as renewable generation increases.'"
Natural Gas Can Deliver Energy Justice and Climate Progress in Africa
"Natural gas is central in delivering both energy justice and climate progress in African countries. Without it, there is a risk that the disparity in energy consumption will continue to grow. On a per capita basis, when excluding South Africa, consumption of energy in Sub-Saharan Africa is just 180 kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared to the United States’ 13,000 kWh and Europe’s 6,500 kWh. Expanding the supply of energy by leveraging natural gas ensures that demand that decarbonization does not come at the expense of inclusive economic development."
Graphyte: The Biomass Carbon Removal Solution on Everyone’s Radar
Graphyte’s technology offers an immediate, easily scalable pathway to large-scale carbon removal.
A Flawed Green City of the Future Holds a Secret to Taming Heat
"'Masdar City is dismissed because the tech side didn’t work. It's seen as an eccentric experiment of an oil-rich state,' says Sarah Moser, an assistant professor at McGill University in Canada who studies new cities. 'But what's simple and radical about it is that there’s almost no direct sunlight that reaches the pedestrian level.'"
AI-powered permitting is speeding up solar deployments in California
"Symbium is part of a wave of software companies looking to speed up notoriously sluggish permitting timelines for renewable energy projects. These startups say approval processes can be tightened up dramatically with the help of automation software."









