The blue-green sustainable proteins of seaweed may soon be on your plate 15/11/2024 João Trigo, Sophie Steinhagen, Kristoffer Stedt, Annika Krona, Simone Verhagen, Henrik Pavia, Mehdi Abdollahi and Ingrid Undeland

The protein in sea lettuce, a type of seaweed, is a promising complement to both meat and other current alternative protein sources. Seaweed also contains many other important nutrients, and is grown without needing to be watered, fertilised or sprayed with insecticides. However, the proteins are often tightly bound, and their full potential has not yet been realised on our plates.  But now researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, have found a new way to extract these proteins three times more efficiently than before – and this progress paves the way for seaweed burgers and protein smoothies from the sea. ...more

Industry royally champions sustainable floriculture project led by Coventry University 9/10/2024 Coventry University

Coventry University is leading a project to reduce plastic, packaging and waste in the British cut-flower industry. ...more

Major boost in carbon capture and storage essential to reach 2°C climate target 27/9/2024 Tsimafei Kazlou, Jessica Jewell and Aleh Cherp

Large expansion of carbon capture and storage is necessary to fulfill the Paris Climate Agreement. Yet a new study led by Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden and University of Bergen, in Norway, shows that without major efforts, the technology will not expand fast enough to meet the 2°C target and even with major efforts it is unlikely to expand fast enough for the 1.5°C target. ...more

Europe’s deadly floods are glimpse of future climate 25/9/2024 Mark Poynting and Greg Brosnan

Central Europe's devastating floods were made much worse by climate change and offer a stark glimpse of the future for the world's fastest-warming continent, scientists say. ...more

Which Countries Should Pay for International Climate Finance? 18/9/2024 Chris Qihan Zou, Natalia Alayza, Hayden Higgins and Gaia Larsen

The world needs trillions of dollars annually to combat climate change, but questions remain as to where that funding will come from. Most at stake are poorer countries that are the least protected — and hardest hit — from the increasing ravages of heat waves, storm surges and other extreme weather events exacerbated each year by climate change. Many of these countries lack the resources to undertake a rapid and just transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy without external help. ...more

World’s strongest battery paves way for light, energy-efficient vehicles 12/9/2024 Chalmers University of Technology

When cars, planes, ships or computers are built from a material that functions as both a battery and a load-bearing structure, the weight and energy consumption are radically reduced. A research group at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden is now presenting a world-leading advance in so-called massless energy storage – a structural battery that could halve the weight of a laptop, make the mobile phone as thin as a credit card or increase the driving range of an electric car by up to 70 percent on a single charge. ...more

A method that paves the way for improved fuel cell vehicles 14/8/2024 Chalmers University of Technology

More efficient and longer-lasting fuel cells are essential for fuel cell-powered heavy-duty hydrogen vehicles to be an alternative to combustion fuelled counterparts. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed an innovative method to study and understand how parts of fuel cells degrade over time. This is an important step towards the improved performance of fuel cells and them becoming commercially successful. ...more

Empowering women – a key to both sustainable energy and gender justice 13/8/2024 Kavya Michael and Helene Ahlborg

Involving women in implementing solar energy technologies in developing countries not only has great climate impact. A new study published in Nature Energy and carried out by researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that empowering women through energy care work can change unjust, gendered norms and long-lived injustices. ...more

Could Australia become a green hydrogen superpower? 9/8/2024 Phil Mercer

“If you remember being a kid and blowing up a balloon or into a milkshake, your cheeks got sore because there is an energy penalty associated with bubble formation.” ...more

New Study: The price tag of phasing-out coal 15/5/2024 Jessica Jewell and Lola Nacke

Coal phase-out is necessary to solve climate change, but can have negative impacts on workers and local communities dependent on coal for their livelihoods. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and Central European University in Austria have studied government plans for coal phase-out around the world and discovered that more than half of such plans include monetary compensation to affected parties. This planned compensation globally amounts to USD 200 billion, but it excludes China and India, the two largest users of coal that currently do not have phase-out plans. The study shows that if China and India decide to phase out coal as fast as needed to reach the Paris climate targets and pay similar compensation, it would cost upwards of USD 2 trillion. ...more