Sustainable Technologies

The future of electric cars is changing as Sweden builds the world's first electrified road that will charge vehicles as they drive.

By Jesslyn Shields

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

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

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

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

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

By Loraine Fick

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

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

We live in an age when DIY has taken on exciting, nerve-wracking connotations. Add in some knowledge and some money from crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, and you have a recipe for a transformed world. Will glow-in-the-dark plants be a part of it?

By Nicholas Gerbis

As far back as 1500 B.C.E., people were trying to purify water to make it drinkable. And we're still at it. Today inventors use tools as simple as clay and as sophisticated as carbon nanotubes to bring clean water to the world.

By Patrick J. Kiger

Imagine a different kind of light bulb, one that lasted as long as a fluorescent bulb, but without the buzz, as energy-efficient as a CFL but with a more pleasing light. Meet the FIPEL bulb.

By Patrick J. Kiger

We live in a universe of clocks. The technology may not sound as dependable as your cell phone alarm clock, but humans have turned to water-powered clocks for more than three and a half millennia.

By Robert Lamb

If you turn off the lights in your computer room, you'll probably see the glowing eyes of vampire electronics peering back at you. A smart power strip can help you cut down on how much energy they waste.

By Nathan Chandler

While you shouldn't expect to find a "flying electric" option at the airport anytime soon, electrically powered aircraft not only exist, but the technology continues to evolve at an encouraging rate.

By Robert Lamb

LED light bulbs have taken over the market. But what are their pros and cons?

By Francisco Guzman

Solar air conditioners take advantage of the sun at its brightest and use its energy to cool you during the hottest part of the day. What are we waiting for?

By Maria Trimarchi

What if your net power usage was zero? Some homes combine energy efficiency with their own power plants to end up consuming no energy at all.

By Julia Layton

Imagine finishing off a nice cup of morning coffee and then, instead of throwing the grounds into the trash, pouring them into a cartridge where they become printer ink.

By Jacob Silverman

Green technology is always better, right? Not so fast. Find out five of the biggest misconceptions about green technology.

By Maria Trimarchi

As the symbol of innovation, the incandescent light bulb is not very innovative. Luckily, there's a new type of light bulb -- a greener one -- that stands poised to replace Edison's most famous invention as the icon of ideation.

By William Harris

If you drive a compressed natural gas vehicle, you'll soon learn that fill-up stations are few and far between. Is there an alternative way to gas up these alternative-fuel vehicles?

By Maria Trimarchi

Is the remote control dead again? Or does the flashlight need another eight new batteries? The wind might just be able to save you a trip to buy new AAs.

By Julia Layton

If you've ever used a solar-powered calculator, you've experienced the power of thin-film solar cells. But can spray-on solar panels take that technology one step further?

By Maria Trimarchi