Cleantech

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/plasticeating-fungus-found-at-a-landfill-site-in-pakistan/ Researchers have found a species of fungus, known as Aspergillus tubingensis, that is able to feed off of plastic. In lab experiments, published in Environmental Pollution, scientists found that the mycelium of the fungus colonizes polyester polyurethane plastic, causing surface degradation and scarring. This is not the first time that organisms have been found to be able to feed →

http://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-have-conducted-the-first-thorium-salt-experiments-in-over-40-years#.WaUkb5ppSUB.facebook Netherlands-based nuclear power provider, NRG, are taking a gamble. They’re conducting experiments that could see a shift from uranium-based nuclear power to thorium. There has been the historical battle between using uranium or thorium as a nuclear fuel. Uranium provided a potential source of weapons-grade plutonium. A significant advantage of using thorium over uranium is it doesn’t →

https://futurism.com/people-are-using-old-laptop-batteries-to-build-their-own-versions-of-teslas-powerwall/ Tesla’s Powerwall was intended to provide a convenient way for homeowners to store electricity for future use, such as when the power goes out. But with a $5,500 price tag, they haven’t been affordable for many consumers.  Some who had been interested in the tech, however, decided to try to make their own: constructed their own powerwalls by utilizing →

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/16/morgan-stanley-predicts-market-grid-storage-will-explode-next-3-years/ A new report authored by Stephen Byrd, a utility and cleantech analyst at Morgan Stanley, and Adam Jonas, its auto analyst, shows that they are bullish on the market for grid storage products. “Demand for energy storage from the utility sector will grow more than the market anticipates by 2019–2020,” the pair says. They predict →

http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/green-energy-will-overtake-fossil-fuels-by-2020-morgan-stanley-analyst-states?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1501961581 According to leading global investment firm Morgan Stanley the continuous drop in costs and the benefits surrounding green energy make it a rapidly more appealing option than its carbon-emitting cousins. A top analyst at the firm says green energy will overtake fossil fuels by 2020. There was no clear answer what they ment by “overtake”, but →

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2017/07/31/study-finds-that-storage-prices-are-falling-faster-than-pv-and-wind-technologies/#.WX_20l9ZtdU.twitter Long-term R&D spending played a critical role in achieving cost reductions. Energy storage projects may bring the cost per kWh of a lithium-ion battery down from $10,000/kWh in the early 1990’s to $100/kWh in 2019, according to a new study written by a research team from University of California and TU Munich in Germany, →

http://theconversation.com/the-scientific-reason-you-dont-like-led-bulbs-and-the-simple-way-to-fix-them-81639 Scientists used to think we could see no more than about 90 flashes of light a second but now we know it’s more like 2,000. During the eye movement, the flicker of light creates a pattern that we can see. It could discourage people from using more energy-saving LED lightbulbs. One obvious way of avoiding →

https://www.inverse.com/article/31438-tesla-solar-roof-price?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=on_site&utm_campaign=mobile_article-top  Tesla opened up orders for its long-anticipated solar roof.  Consumer Reports found that a solar roof needs to be $24.50 per square foot to compete with other kinds of roofs, the Tesla solar roof comes in at $21.85 with 35 percent of the roof being active solar. The solar tiles themselves are $42 per square foot. →

https://www.lut.fi/web/en/news/-/asset_publisher/lGh4SAywhcPu/content/turning-electricity-into-food- Did you know that it is possible to transform carbon dioxide and electricity into cattle feed and food for humans? Because it is. Using renewable electricity and carbon dioxide extracted from air, microbes can be used to produce a single cell protein that is over 50% protein and 25% carbohydrates, with the remaining part →

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/these-four-lifestyle-changes-will-do-more-to-combat-climate-change-than-anything-else/all/ We’ve argued in the past that the most valuable thing you can do for climate advocacy is to vote for politicians that are pro-science and pro-environment. There are plenty of other things you can do too, but as highlighted in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the best courses of action are often rarely reported about. This may →