Story Search Results

Advanced Search

There are so many ways to search the solutions journalism stories in this database. Explore our searchable fields:

Search Results

You searched for: -

There are 322 results for your search. View and Refine Your Search Terms

The ‘solar canals' making smart use of India's space

Kalpana Sunder

August 03, 2020 |

BBC |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Gujarat

Covering canals with solar panels has allowed Indian communities to save land, water and carbon emissions, and even bring electricity to rural villages. The solar panels are suspended on metal structures over the canal, which can generate electricity for farmers and be fed into the state grid or sold to public utilities. While these canal-top solar power plants can be expensive to build, so far, eight Indian states have commissioned canal solar projects.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Could carbon-removal tech make travel more sustainable?

Sarah Reid

July 27, 2020 |

BBC |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Iceland

Climeworks, a Swiss start-up, is using technology to suck carbon out of the air and turning it into stone, essentially cutting greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere permanently. Their plant in Iceland is able to turn 50 tonnes of carbon to stone per year. While that amount of carbon won’t solve the climate crisis, they are expanding their work to other countries and are launching a personal carbon removal subscription service as a way for the travel industry to help offset the carbon that they emit each year.

Read More
Go to Original Story
The revolutionary boat powered by the ocean

Rina Diane Caballar

July 15, 2020 |

BBC |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Philippines

Since the Philippines relies on boats to transport people and goods across the island nation, a shipbuilding company is designing a new low-carbon alternative of the bangka — a traditional Filipino boat — that uses the waves of the ocean to power it instead of fossil fuels. The ship, known as the trimaran, uses wave energy that converts into electricity for the ship. However, a typhoon and the COVID-19 pandemic have delayed the project, and there are also cost and design challenges. But the trimaran’s use of wave energy could be a step toward reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Going ‘Deep Green,' Office Buildings Give Back to the Planet

Jane Margolies

July 14, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

More and more commercial real estate projects are popping up around the United States that are focused on “deep green” building. This movement suggests that it’s not enough to just make a building out of renewable materials, but they can also be self-sustaining. For example, the Watershed, an office building in Seattle, has a slanted roof that collects rainwater that is then used in toilets. These types of projects can be more complicated and expensive to build, but developers can save money in the long run with the improvements.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Blockchain technology to boost power access in rural areas

Faustine Ngila

July 14, 2020 |

Nation Africa |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Kenya

A micro-grid system has been paired with blockchain technology to easily sell and buy affordable and clean energy in rural Kenya. Residents living in the countryside don't generally have access to reliable and affordable electricity but this new technology allows rural Kenyans to install solar panels on their homes and easily sell surplus electricity to neighbors. The pilot program is a result of a collaboration between an NGO and a local tech company.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Will Your Next Salmon Come from a Massive Land Tank in Florida?

Michael Grunwald

July 14, 2020 |

Politico |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Homestead, Florida

A Norwegian firm has built a land-based fish farm – which is "a supersized aquatic version of greenhouse agriculture that aims to solve a host of environmental problems plaguing conventional salmon farms in coastal waters" – near the tip of the Florida peninsula. Although it's yet to be seen if demand will be to the scale necessary to deem the endeavor financially viable, in Denmark where this concept was initially piloted, more than 25 generations of salmon have already been harvested.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Can direct air capture make a real impact on climate change?

Anna Kusmer

July 03, 2020 |

Public Radio International (PRI) |

Radio |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Switzerland, Zurich

Climeworks is focusing on pulling carbon dioxide directly out of the air to store or reuse in some capacity as a way to lower global greenhouse gas emissions. The Swiss company has 16 plants around Europe, with their biggest one in Switzerland that removes 900 tons of carbon dioxide a year that is then sold to Coca-Cola Co. to put in soft drinks or to local industrial greenhouses for plant growth. Scaling the operations to capture more carbon is costly, but the startup recently raised $76 million from investors.

Read More
Go to Original Story
How ‘Sustainable' Web Design Can Help Fight Climate Change

Clive Thompson

June 23, 2020 |

Wired |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Netherlands

As part of a growing movement in sustainable software design, Danny Van Kooten, a Dutch programmer, refactored the code on his website plug-in to reduce the amount of energy expended when someone interacts with it. About 2 million websites use his plug-in and by trimming the code, he estimates that he reduced the world’s monthly carbon dioxide output by 59,000 kilograms. While larger companies like video-streaming services put out more emissions, individual website owners can take steps to reduce their own CO2 footprint.

Read More
Go to Original Story
Solar Power Fills Gaps in Underserviced Rural Argentina

Daniel Gutman

June 10, 2020 |

Inter Press Service News Agency |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Argentina, Entre Rios

Solar energy has provided an affordable and efficient source of energy to rural farmers in Argentina, who live too far off the electrical grid and have traditionally relied on powerful diesel-fueled water pumps. Solar panels have reduced carbon emissions, eliminated the need for expensive diesel fuel, as well as the hassle of transporting it to the countryside - often over rough roads. The initial investment in solar panels is recouped in a short amount of time and has resulted in a drastic reduction in water consumption.

Read More
Go to Original Story
A New Weapon Against Climate Change May Float

Stanley Reed

June 04, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Portugal, Viana do Castelo

Floating wind turbines off the coast of Portugal is one of the latest experiments to convert wind energy into electric power. These machines can generate electricity for a city of up to 60,000 people. While it will take more financing and time to scale the project, investors are impressed with the results and see it as a viable financial return to combat climate change.

Read More
Go to Original Story