The small wind turbines you'll want in your back yard

A European Commission strategic plan wants to see 20 percent penetration of wind energy throughout the E.U. by 2020. The growing trend for decentralised energy generation by home and business owners could help meet this target ...

Making fabric from wood

As a material wood has many uses, but did you know that it can be used to make fibres for clothing and other textiles? Perhaps surprisingly, it is the raw material of some well known man-made fibres.

How to measure the quality of life in smart cities?

From pollution levels and the number of traffic accidents to safer public spaces and more efficient heating in buildings—to what extent can the smartness of a city be quantified? And is it possible to measure the quality ...

Bioeconomy innovations: tough starting up

A German blog on innovations management estimates that between 175 and 3,000 ideas are needed to bring just one product or service to the market. Venture capitalists assume that only one out of ten investments pays, says ...

Preventing 'oceans of plastic soup'

Approximately 8 million metric tons of plastic waste washes off land into the ocean each year. Bottle caps, toothbrushes, tiny plastic fragments, filaments, pellets, film and resin float about in the water columns.

Nanosilver in textiles – friend or foe?

Antimicrobial silver nanoparticles may enable people to use textiles in an environmentally more sustainable way, even though a question mark remains on their potential risks

page 3 from 33