Sustainable Futures
59
Things to do, consider and act on to create a sustainable future for people and planet
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Designing a Social Impact Bond in the Tropics (SSIR)

Designing a Social Impact Bond in the Tropics (SSIR) | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
Five early lessons on implementing SIBs in developing countries.
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First fully integrated artificial photosynthesis nanosystem | KurzweilAI

First fully integrated artificial photosynthesis nanosystem | KurzweilAI | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
Arrays of tree-like nanowires consisting of Si trunks and TiO2 branches facilitate solar water-splitting in a fully integrated artificial photosynthesis system

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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) scientists have developed the first fully integrated nanosystem for artificial photosynthesis,  in which solar energy is directly converted into chemical fuels.

“Similar to the chloroplasts in green plants that carry out photosynthesis, our artificial photosynthetic system is composed of two semiconductor light absorbers, an interfacial layer for charge transport, and spatially separated co-catalysts,” says Peidong Yang, a chemist with Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division, who led this research.

“To facilitate solar water- splitting in our system, we synthesized tree-like nanowire  heterostructures, consisting of silicon trunks and titanium oxide branches. Visually, arrays of these nanostructures very much resemble an artificial forest.

“In natural photosynthesis, the energy of absorbed sunlight produces energized charge-carriers that execute chemical reactions in separate regions of the chloroplast,” Yang says. “We’ve integrated our nanowire nanoscale heterostructure into a functional system that mimics the integration in chloroplasts and provides a conceptual blueprint for better solar-to-fuel conversion efficiencies in the future.”


Via Wildcat2030
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We're Seeing Green

We're Seeing Green | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
In case you missed the memo, climate change is happening. Luckily those of us who wish to wise up and cut down on our energy consumption can do so in style.
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Utilities vs. rooftop solar: What the fight is about

Utilities vs. rooftop solar: What the fight is about | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
Utilities are fighting with solar advocates over an obscure but important policy called "net metering." Here's what's at stake, and why it matters.
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Why We Should Build Smart Highways

Why We Should Build Smart Highways | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
High-speed rail is still just a dream in America. But why then aren't smart roads a reality?

 

It is possible to imagine a world in which smart pavement, smart cars, and embedded monitoring and controls would turn highways from gulches that pollute a wide swath of land around them with both particles and noise would become more like rivers.

Read more at the article link...


Via Lauren Moss
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The States That Use the Most Green Energy

The States That Use the Most Green Energy | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
Texas leads the nation in wind power; in Washington, hydroelectric dams provide 60 percent of the state’s energy.
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Soils and Forestry Presentation (video)

Soils and Forestry Presentation (video) | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it

Mark Vander Meer gives a presentation on soil science as it relates to forestry. I was presenting in another room at the same time, so Mark gave permission to Jocelyn Campbell to record this for me. Once I saw it, I thought it was so good, that I asked Mark if it was okay to put it up on YouTube.

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Global Efforts to Fight Drought, Desertification Take Shape in Namibia

Representatives from 195 nations party to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification will meet in Windhoek to assess progress and plan future actions.
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GOOD Video: How One Small Business Lights the Way for Sustainability | Business on GOOD

GOOD Video: How One Small Business Lights the Way for Sustainability | Business on GOOD | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idx4qQcu8jc&feature=youtu.be[/youtube] This post is brought to you by GOOD, with support from UPS.
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This Bionic Ear Came Out Of A Printer But Can Go On Your Head

This Bionic Ear Came Out Of A Printer But Can Go On Your Head | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
In the future, 3-D printers won’t just print replacement organs (like the type we’ve covered in the past).
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Your Best Choices for Green Transportation [Infographic]

Your Best Choices for Green Transportation [Infographic] | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
Want to lower your carbon footprint? Looking at how you heat and cool your living space will likely make the most difference; your transportation choices are next on the list in terms of impact.
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World’s First Floating Wind-Current Turbine to be Installed Off Japanese Coast

World’s First Floating Wind-Current Turbine to be Installed Off Japanese Coast | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company is planning to test the world's first hybrid wind-current power generating system this year off the coast of Japan
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Does Every City Need A Chief Resilience Officer?

Does Every City Need A Chief Resilience Officer? | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
The Rockefeller Foundation plans to fund positions in 100 cities worldwide.
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Full Planet, Empty Plates: Chapter 2. The Ecology of Population Growth

Full Planet, Empty Plates: Chapter 2. The Ecology of Population Growth | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
The most recent U.N. demographic projections show world population growing to 9.3 billion by 2050, an addition of 2.3 billion people.
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Green Landscape Economy » Green Landscape Economy

Green Landscape Economy » Green Landscape Economy | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
landscape architecture &sustainability's curator insight, May 17, 4:25 PM

Un nuovo modello di sviluppo verso la Green Landscape Economy

Un nuovo approccio alla sostenibilità, nella quale il paesaggio, elemento di indubbia identità soprattutto in Italia, possa giocare un ruolo di primaria importanza.
Partendo dal presupposto che ogni nuovo progetto di trasformazione del territorio possa diventare un tassello di recupero ambientale, cercando di trarre il maggior vantaggio possibile dall’esistente, mettendo a sistema il contorno. Il paesaggio, perduta la sua connotazione ornamentale – passiva che una logica compensativa gli attribuiva, diventa un elemento centrale nelle nuove politiche di sviluppo, alla ricerca di un rinnovato rapporto con il nostro territorio.

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Nanoscale artificial leaf can extract hydrogen from water with just sunlight

Nanoscale artificial leaf can extract hydrogen from water with just sunlight | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has shown what they call the "first fully integrated nanosystem for artificial photosynthesis".
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10 of the top U.S. cities for nature lovers

10 of the top U.S. cities for nature lovers | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
An analysis of the nation's largest metro areas reveals some of the top urban destinations for people who love the outdoors.
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How to Save Water-Starved Cities

How to Save Water-Starved Cities | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
The key, according to a new report, is forming partnerships with farmers.
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Deep Green Jobs

Deep Green Jobs | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
America's green jobs movement parades as many green hues as our national parks, ranging from deep green work to pale green employment.
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The No Straight Lines challenge: be realistic imagine the impossible | No Straight Lines

The No Straight Lines challenge: be realistic imagine the impossible | No Straight Lines | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
Anne Caspari's curator insight, May 15, 5:45 PM

This is where I want to return to the idea that what we face is a design problem, where answers exist not at an unattainable theoretical level but on the floors of our factories, in the streets of our towns and cities, the classes of our schools, the waiting rooms of our hospitals. These answers will manifest themselves as true acts of creation, originating new ways of getting stuff done, informed by the decisions we collectively take. So in re-designing the world, we need human creativity in the sense of the capacity to ‘make’, we need visionary leadership in the sense of making a difference. And we seek the craftsman’s critical eye, steady hand and creative mind. It is this process of seeing – realising new pathways to success, by bringing two ‘unlikes’ (new information, tools, processes etc.) together in close adjacency – that we create, and make new things. Then we can meaningfully apply that capability.

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Oil, Gas and Minerals for the Public Good: The Revenue Watch 2013 Resource Governance Index

Oil, Gas and Minerals for the Public Good: The Revenue Watch 2013 Resource Governance Index | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
If managed effectively and accountably, oil, gas and minerals can stimulate economic development, but too often, secrecy, corruption and weak institutions obstruct effective development.
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Use Water Like You're Camping | Global Citizenship on GOOD

Use Water Like You're Camping | Global Citizenship on GOOD | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
"When I brush my teeth, I try to remind myself to brush like I do when I’m camping (to conserve water)," designer Michael Buckley writes.
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Full Planet, Empty Plates: Chapter 2. The Ecology of Population Growth

<em>Full Planet, Empty Plates</em>: Chapter 2. The Ecology of Population Growth | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
Editor's note: We're proud to support the Earth Policy Institute's online publication of Lester Brown's most recent book Full Planet, Empty Plates by publishing selections from the book.
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Solar Lights & Water Pumps: Simple Tech for Alleviating Poverty

Solar Lights & Water Pumps: Simple Tech for Alleviating Poverty | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it

A bit of background: "conservation banking" refers to banking for listed species under the ESA (a backgrounder is available here), whereas habitat credit trading (HCT) refers broadly to voluntary offsetting that seeks to protect imperiled species and habitat. HCT has been in the news a lot recently thanks to interest in incentive mechanisms to protect so-called 'Candidate Species', which may be eligible for listing under the Endangered Species Act but the listing hasn't happened yet.

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A Tale of Two Markets | EKO-ECO

A bit of background: "conservation banking" refers to banking for listed species under the ESA (a backgrounder is available here), whereas habitat credit trading (HCT) refers broadly to voluntary offsetting that seeks to protect imperiled species and habitat. HCT has been in the news a lot recently thanks to interest in incentive mechanisms to protect so-called 'Candidate Species', which may be eligible for listing under the Endangered Species Act but the listing hasn't happened yet.

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Glad looks beyond the kitchen with trash bag tents

Glad looks beyond the kitchen with trash bag tents | Sustainable Futures | Scoop.it
In an effort to encourage outdoor music festival clean-up, Glad, the venerable purveyor of plastic wrap and trash disposal accoutrement, introduces a camping tent that doubles as a giant garbage bag.
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