What if you could grow biofuels on land nobody wants, using just seawater and sunlight, and produce food at the same time?
The Western Treatment Plant in Werribee, Victoria, largely powers itself using biogas – a by-product of sewage treatment.
Jason Patrick Ross/Shutterstock
Could what we flush down the toilet be used to power our homes? Thanks to biogas technology, Australia’s relationship with organic waste – human and animal excreta, plant scraps and food-processing waste…
Plants use photosynthesis to build molecules and energy they can use. By copying plants, humans can make cleaner fuels.
Ranjit Bhatnagar/Flickr
Most of the energy that fuels our lives comes from plants. Whether it is a fossil fuel that was formed hundreds of millions of years ago or the food we eat, all carbon-borne energy has its ultimate origins…
Electricity from wood? We have the power.
Pixelbliss/Shutterstock
When we think of renewable energy, it’s easy to picture spinning wind turbines or rooftop solar panels. But what about bioenergy? While wind and solar are now well established – in South Australia wind…
A protester at recent Australia climate change rallies in the lead up to the UN climate summit in New York.
AAP Image/NEWZULU/ZOE REYNOLDS
Today more than 120 world leaders are gathered in New York for the Climate Leaders’ Summit. With global emissions continuing to rise, it is easy to be pessimistic. But new research released today shows…
What happens to CSIRO when the federal government decides to strip away A$111 million over four years from its A$733 million annual contribution to the organisation’s budget? We are beginning to find out…
The new budget has served up a big hit to Australia’s environment.
Anton Balazh/Shutterstock
Budgets are often framed as give and take. But in the case of the environment, the government is taking large amounts of money in cuts, while giving little back beyond funding the Direct Action climate…
Seawater could be used to fuel naval ships, replacing the need for oil-based jet fuel. Using metal catalytic converters in…
In Brazil, environmentally sound practices mean ethanol production significantly reduces the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Flickr: Sweeter Alternative
In the lead up to the federal election, Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer called for an increase in the number of vehicles using ethanol-based fuels, as a way of reducing Australia’s greenhouse emissions…
One of Britain’s largest independent cheese producers, Wyke Farms in Somerset, picked up a commendation in the BusinessGreen Leaders awards this month for its efforts to become completely energy self-sufficient…
Whether more power stations should switch to burning wood or biomass is debatable.
David Cheskin/PA
Many countries have turned to the planet’s forests to meet their need for renewable energy, burning wood chips and pellets produced at home or abroad in power stations to generate electricity. But a report…
From the plate to the power station.
Flickr/tomylees
The amount of scrap food thrown away worldwide is staggering. WRAP, a government-funded non-profit set up to encourage recycling and clamp down on waste, reports that in the UK we discard more than 7.2m…
Scientists have created a glucose-powered biofuel cell that is five to 10 times more powerful than existing cells and lasts weeks longer, paving the way for implanted medical devices that run on the body’s…