Today’s Solutions: May 19, 2024

Design

Evian introduces a label-free,

Evian introduces a label-free, 100% recycled plastic bottle

When a plastic bottle ends up in a recycling plant, the label attached to it usually isn’t recycled. This is because the labels are made from a different type of plastic than the PET used in bottles. And while they’re technically recyclable, most recycling facilities don’t have the adequate Read More...

Eau de Space: NASA-designed pe

Eau de Space: NASA-designed perfume smells like outer space

You’ll never get a whiff of it directly — but astronauts have long said that space leaves a distinctive residual smell on their suits. Though it varies with the teller, some say it evokes gunpowder, burned meat, and even raspberries. “At first I couldn’t quite place it,” former ISS Read More...

These water-filled windows can

These water-filled windows can cool and heat buildings more sustainably

Given the thermal shortcomings of glass, windows can significantly undermine the sustainability of a building. Most conventional windows allow heat to escape during cold weather, increasing heating costs, while, during hot weather, they allow sunlight to stream in, thus driving up the use of Read More...

This energy-neutral Dutch scho

This energy-neutral Dutch school promotes sustainability by design

What better way to teach kids about sustainability than to have them study in a school building that has embraced the concept to the maximum? In the Dutch city of Utrecht, a recently completed primary school has done exactly that. Located in Utrecht, Dutch architecture firm EVA architecten has Read More...

Museum in Bilbao uses advertis

Museum in Bilbao uses advertising banners to help purify the city’s air

Advertising banners rarely add any value to the aesthetic of urban areas, and even less so to residents’ health. But that doesn’t necessarily stand for the Spanish city of Bilbao, where a museum has recently unveiled a project that wants to help purify the city’s air through its outdoor Read More...

New biomaterial has plastic-li

New biomaterial has plastic-like properties but is eco-friendly

Due to its amazing material properties such as flexibility, durability, and ease of manufacturing, plastic has made its way in virtually all aspects of society, becoming an indispensable material in nearly all industries. But, of course, this wondrous material has also brought our planet on the Read More...

Growing colorful cotton may be

Growing colorful cotton may be a game-changer for the textile industry

Throughout the years, growing concerns over environmental and water resources have pushed textile manufacturers to seek out alternative and sustainable dyeing practices. Now, scientists in Canberra may have come up with the ultimate solution by developing a new kind of colored cotton that Read More...

You can disinfect your N95 mas

You can disinfect your N95 mask with tools you have at home

Months after mask manufacturers ramped up production of N95 masks in response to the coronavirus crisis, hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes taking care of COVID-19 patients are still facing shortages of the respirators. And while some hospitals have been provided with fairly expensive Read More...

How a small furniture company

How a small furniture company pivoted to medical supplies to stay afloat

When Matthew Moore’s company, Urban Plough Furniture, lost 80 percent of its business during the pandemic, he turned to an innovative new production strategy to stay afloat. Instead of making furniture, he began making intubation boxes for local medical facilities.  Intubation boxes protect Read More...

Artist Thomas Dambo’s recycled wood troll sculpture.

This Danish artist creates giant troll sculptures using local trash

Since 2014, a Danish artist by the name of Thomas Dambo has erected dozens of wooden, folklore-inspired trolls in greens-aces and parks around the world: a seated, bearded dude in Copenhagen’s hippie enclave of Christiana; sister and brother trolls “lost” in Florida’s Pinecrest Gardens; a Read More...