water
With water stresses already at high levels in many parts of the world and not expected to ease in 2013, a number of innovators are trying new technologies to produce, purify and conserve this critical resource. New solutions will be needed across the globe. The central US, for example, which
energy
Interesting energy developments in Germany’s capital: even as cash-strapped cities and government agencies elsewhere in the world continue to sell off public assets to corporate owners, citizens in Berlin want to buy back the city’s power supply from Vattenfall. As reported in Renewables International, the coalition that governs
transport
Worried about how technology-enabled, driverless cars will be able to navigate through intersections without crashing into one another? No need to, according to researchers at Virginia Tech Transportation Research. Automated intersection controllers will be able to help cars through faster and more safely than if humans were driving, they’ve
business
Your business might be humming along just fine right now. But what about five or 10 years from now? Are sure you and your employees will be able to make the most of evolving information technologies to stay competitive? That’s a question all small- and medium-sized business owners should
heating
If winter is making temperatures drop to frigid levels where you live, you’re likely grateful for a functioning home furnace … but dreading the coming heating bills. Wouldn’t it be wonderful not to have to worry about those, knowing that your home stays warm courtesy of nature’s free
climate
The bad news is that global carbon emissions are still going in one direction — up — while the latest round of international climate talks in Doha, Qatar, don’t appear to be going much of anywhere yet. The good news is … well, there doesn’t seem to be any good news
cities
Time is running out for fast-growing cities in the developing world to prepare for the impacts of climate change while also reducing poverty among their citizens. “There is an important – but closing – window of opportunity for many cities to act now before they are locked into unsustainable and unsuitable development
efficiency
Foreign students will get more than just a place to stay while visiting the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland — they’ll also help the VTT investigate new ways to encourage people to control their home energy use. That’s because visiting students’ accommodations aren’t any old dorm, but
transport
A first-of-its-kind analytics technology is bringing new intelligence to the transportation management center for the city of Lyon, France. The system now being piloted gives transportation engineers real-time decision support on how to reduce traffic congestion and provide faster responses to unexpected events. Lyon officials and IBM announced the pilot
energy
Information and communication technologies (ICT) could help cities reduce their electricity use by 30 to 40 percent, according to a European research project. The ENERsip project found that combining a specially designed ICT platform with micro-generation — small-scale renewable installations like rooftop solar panels on homes — could optimise both residential energy
healthcare
Looking for promising, long-term investment strategies? You might be wise to consider putting some money into pharmaceutical companies that manufacture antihistamines. Why? Because climate change is likely to cause, among many other things, a lot more allergy-causing pollen to be floating around in the air in the future. One recent
cities
The ventilation standards most building engineers follow were developed decades ago … long before up was the only way remaining to build in our cities. That means skyscrapers are not only vertically stretching office buildings, but sources of unplanned-for air pollution to their downwind neighbors. With the aid of new building