Green Technology

An organization called Pull to Refresh hopes to use seaweed to remove and store atmospheric carbon to stave off climate change. Here's how this cool idea works.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Hair trimmings from salons and personal donations can be repurposed as mats that soak up oil spills and help protect the environment.

By Patrick J. Kiger

From the chemicals that pollute and the massive use of water, the traditional method of dyeing blue jeans is an environmental disaster. Nanoparticles made from wood pulp might be the answer to the problem.

By Jesslyn Shields

Rooftop solar panels are nearly 80 percent cheaper than they were just 10 years ago. A new paper says that if we installed them on 50 percent of roofs, we could meet all the world's yearly electric needs.

By Siddharth Joshi, James Glynn & Shivika Mittal

A July study found that every coastal estuary could prevent $38 million of damage from major storms like Hurricane Ida. But that means wetlands need protecting, too.

By Liz Kimbrough

Purdue University researchers have developed an ultra-white paint that reflects more than 98 percent of sunlight and could reduce the need for energy-consuming air conditioning.

By Patrick J. Kiger

The controversial technology of reflecting sunlight away from the planet could help blunt the worst impacts of climate change. Harvard University climate scientist David Keith weighs in.

By Betsy Mason

Kernza is a wheat-like grain that doesn't have to be replanted each year, making it the ideal crop to aid in the fight against climate change and help to feed the world.

By Patrick J. Kiger

These new devices may be used in the future to absorb more of the sun's energy than today's solar panels are capable of collecting.

By Patrick J. Kiger

In Africa's Ivory Coast, a group of women saw a need and came together to collect plastic for recycling into bricks to build schools.

By Michelle Konstantinovsky

A new technology can speed the purification of water using sunlight, potentially providing clean water to billions of people.

By Jim Marion

There are seven different numbers you might see on a plastic container. And each number has its own meaning.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

The forward momentum on recycling has stalled in the U.S. and other countries, but some experts say there's still potential for growth.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Cockroaches are taking a big bite out of a Chinese city's trash problem.

By Loraine Fick

Coral grows faster when it's cut or broken and scientists are taking advantage of that to replenish depleted reefs.

By Cherise Threewitt

Urine is so much more valuable than we think. Soon, we might be building houses with pee bricks.

By Jesslyn Shields

While green roofs make sense in a lot of ways, requiring their installation isn't as simple as it might seem.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Sweden puts less than 1 percent of its household trash into landfills, in part because it burns nearly half to generate heat and electricity.

By Patrick J. Kiger

As sea levels rise with climate change, beaches are losing ground against ever-encroaching waters. Trucking in sand may seem like a good idea, but the evidence, while not yet conclusive, may show otherwise.

By Amanda Onion

People have floated the idea of towing icebergs to drought-stricken parts of the world for years. Sounds like a good idea, but how viable is it?

By Amanda Onion

While plastic such as Styrofoam may be cheap and convenient to use, it contributes to costly health issues and is an inconvenient pollutant that takes up to 500 years to biodegrade.

By Carrie Tatro

Wine pomace — the portion of grapes left over from winemaking — has a variety of uses, from fertilizer to a nutrition-enhancing ingredient in foods.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Fog harvesting has been going on in some form since ancient times, but scientists have been refining the method so people living in some of the most arid climates can have water.

By Mark Mancini

Human attempts to alter the Earth's natural systems could either successfully avert climate change or fail and cause even greater harm.

By Patrick J. Kiger

In Colorado, a recycling robot uses artificial intelligence to sort through discarded cartons more efficiently.

By Patrick J. Kiger