green

Back in March, Google updated its relatively new effort called Project Sunroof, an initiative that uses a bunch of data to estimate the solar potential of buildings in a region. The project is intended to help businesses and consumers make decisions about utilizing solar energy. The project has thus far released solar potential data for regions across the U.S., and now it is expanding overseas with the announcement of a new partnership in Germany. The Project Sunroof has teamed up with E.ON, the European company behind many electric service providers.

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City of Portland has announced the approval of a new clean energy plan that will turn methane from the city's sewage waste into natural gas. The news was announced on the heels of Earth Day, and comes at a time when cities -- despite certain presidential administration issues -- are working to reduce their pollution levels and increase their usage of renewable and 'green' energy. Portland officials call this a 'groundbreaking project,' one that will take the city's sewage and breathe new life into, figuratively speaking.

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We've seen numerous green efforts from adidas, and now Reebok is getting in on the action. The latter company has announced a new initiative called 'Cotton + Corn,' and it aims to launch plant-based shoes on the market under this effort. Cotton + Corn is the brainchild of Reebok's Future team according to the company, which has already produced one environmentally-friendly shoe under it: a pair of shoes that feature an organic cotton upper component and a base made from industrial corn.

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Americans are eating less beef, and the results of that are positive: the average American diet's carbon footprint has shrunk by 9-percent, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the environment. Such is the conclusion of a new analysis that found a significant decrease from 2005 to 2014. Multiple dietary changes in America are cited as the cause of the emissions decrease, with reduction in beef consumption being chief among them.

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Researchers with the National University of Singapore have created a new type of air filter using nanofibers that is about two times more effective than commercial air respirators. This nanofiber air filter is see-through with better airflow than traditionally available air filters, and it also provides some level of UV protection. The air filter is described as eco-friendly and economical.

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Talk of facial recognition tends to settle around either concerns about privacy or the security systems used at events to spot potential terrorists. China, though, has deployed the technology in Beijing for a different reason: to catch toilet paper thieves. The thieves are (were?) stealing toilet paper from public toilets, something made much harder thanks to modern dispensers with facial recognition abilities.

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Solar power is on many individuals’ radar, but even as costs come down, many people are unsure about whether they should take the plunge and have it installed for their own home. Here to help is Google’s Project Sunroof, something that first launched in 2015 to shed light on whether any given building in the nation has adequate enough ‘solar potential.’ As of now, Project Sunroof has been expanded to cover every state in the country.

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It's become apparent this week that Boaty McBoatface, whose dreams of being a real boat have been dashed, will become an official British sea vessel anyway. It was the year 2016 when the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) asked the internet to name their newest boat. Of course, giving this campaign a public voting portal did not end how the council expected - but - BUT! There's a happy ending. Sort of.

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You may not know this if you live elsewhere in the world, but South Australia has something of an energy problem at the moment. Energy shortages have been causing blackouts across the state, and now Tesla sees the opportunity to step in. Yesterday, Tesla vice president of energy products Lyndon Rive said that Tesla could solve SA's energy problems in 100 days through the installation of battery packs, which is a pretty big promise all its own.

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Demand for sand in a variety of industries has led to the slow loss of sandy beaches around the world, a problem one company is addressing via a machine that grinds bottles down into glass sand substitute. The contraption comes from DB Export, which plans to send the beer-sourced sand to industries that would otherwise acquire it from beaches.

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Pollution is a global problem, and that reality is highlighted by a new study indicating smog in western U.S. states originates from Asian countries across the ocean. The movement of this pollution from Asia to the U.S. is curbing the latter country’s emission-reduction efforts. In some cases, pollution coming primarily from China and India is causing 65-percent of the ozone pollution in western U.S. states.

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E.ON North America has announced that it will be building a pair of 9.9MW battery storage facilities in Texas, with one in the Pyron wind farm in Hermleigh, TX and another in the Inadale wind farm near Roscoe. These wind farms have been in place for several years now, and are in possession of 249MW and 197MWs of battery storage at the present, numbers that will both grow when these new facilities go live later on this year.

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