Worldchanging Year-End Summary

Worldchanging.com has posted its Best Of list for 2007. Info on Food Design, Tech, Energy, etc

www.worldchanging.com/archives/007718.html

Algae Power

another great one from BLDGBlog:

A proposal in Iceland for alternative energy created from algae pond gases. Be sure to check out the full range of drawings and analysis with your own presentations in mind.

Forum: Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development

The Forum is an excellent resource for information on current research being done by people with specific technical and methodological skills. It is a clearinghouse of published work from international researchers, scientists, engineers, and social scientists working in the fields that related to issues of sustainability ranging from water and sanitation to agriculture to urbanism.

"The Forum on Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development is an attempt to outline the burgeoning field. Rather than looking broadly at sustainability, the Forum focuses on the way in which science and innovation can be conducted and applied to meet human needs while preserving the life support systems of the planet. It highlights people and programs that are studying nature-society interactions and applying the resulting knowledge to create a sustainability transition around the world."

NY Times Environment Section Online

The Times Science section has a new Environment subsections that is a clearinghouse for a number of different ecology and sustainability articles.

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/earth/index.html

Also, be sure to take a look at their blog in our links section.

The World Technology podcast

PRI and the BBC's regular radio program, The World regularly features a technology report. Many of these reports deal with sustainability, new technologies, and green issues. Their technology podcast conveniently packages them all in short audio programs which are all available for download at their website.

Some highlights below:

May 13, 2007
Who needs a car that goes over 25 mph anyhow? The all-electric car is back! What's so great about biofuels? Oil issues in Iraq an Russia. Checking in with the Iraqi blogger Riverbend. And two stories about HIV in Mexico and South Africa. Download mp3

May 4, 2007
The UN’s panel on climate change issues their third report this year: This one looks at what role technology can play. What about ocean sequestration to remove carbon from the air? Will it work? How Germans are slashing energy use. Biofuels in Denmark. A discussion about design concepts to help the other 90 percent. And, the world is moving too fast! (It’s scientifically proven.) Download mp3

April 6, 2007
A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change looks at the impacts of global warming. This podcast explores how climate change is affecting our world: from Africa, to South America, to Europe. And what global warming could mean in your neck of the woods. Download mp3

February 23, 2007
The power of the ocean: Wave Energy takes off in Portugal. A high-tech solution to, sadly, abandoned babies in Italy. Work from home? Ever get lonely? No longer the case in France. And cars are catching on in Vietnam. Download mp3

January 26, 2007
Gas hydrates... hot new fuel source or environmental menace? A blanket of pollution covers a village in rural China. And the role of immigration in American hi-tech startups. Plus the return of The Plastic People of the Universe. Download mp3

Brownfield Restoration

"After years of industrial pollution on the shores of Syracuse's Onondaga Lake, the Solway Settling Basins is now setting a precedent for the restoration of contaminated brownfield sites, or parcels of land that previously housed industrial facilities.

Rather than fencing off the area, capping it with clay and plastic, and then posting "Keep Out" signs, a partnership of engineers, scientists, and new corporate owners decided to restore the ecosystem, remediate the environmental concerns, and turn the site into something beneficial."

via Treehugger.com

Geo-Engineering

Talk about potential for unexpected effects. Treehugger reports on a general warming to the idea of geo-engineering and other unorthodox methods that might slow global warming ranging from seeding the stratosphere with aerosol particles to simulate the cooling effects of a volcano to seep sea and bedrock carbon sequestration.Rather interesting that so many of the studio's geo-engineering topics are represented in this image.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/scientists_consider_geoengineering.php

Algae Fuel Cells

Image by John MacNeill, commissioned by Solix Biofuels

If you think algae is just that green grime that dirties up your pool, think again: it’s also a surprisingly viable source for biofuel. The LiveFuels Alliance, funded by LiveFuels Inc based in Menlo Park, CA, is tapping into the oil producing potential of algae with an ambitious initiative to replace millions of gallons of fossil fuels with algae-based biocrude by 2010.

via Inhabitat.com