Today’s Solutions: February 17, 2025

Empty strip commercial spaces with parking lots in front

This is how strip malls could provide a solution to the housing crisis

From San Jose, California, until San Francisco along El Camino Real you can find stretches a six-lane road outfitted with an endless stretch of strip malls and enormous parking lots. In its current state, the street doesn’t necessarily welcome pedestrians to walk alongside it, as it has been Read More...

Worker installing a GAF solar roof

Your future rooftop could be made out of easy-to-install solar shingles

The roofs of the future may be made entirely out of solar panels. At least that’s the goal of GAF Energy, which has recently launched a new solar roof that it believes can revolutionize the future of the roofing industry by making it an integral part of our green energy transition. “The Read More...

Alphabet makes its low-cost wa

Alphabet makes its low-cost water harvester open-source

According to WHO/UNICEF, about a third of the global population doesn’t have access to safe drinking water. More than half of these people, however, live in areas with just the right climate conditions to enable special water harvesting technologies to provide clean drinking water. This is Read More...

This startup wants to use ball

This startup wants to use balloons to capture CO2 miles above ground

Direct carbon capture is key to reducing the dangerous amount of greenhouse gases that humanity has put into the atmosphere. One startup is taking a new approach to the problem by capturing CO2 from the atmosphere at a height of 52,800 feet. Called High Hopes, the Israel-based company has figured Read More...

These emergency shelters can l

These emergency shelters can later be converted into permanent homes

When a natural disaster occurs, aid organizations typically send emergency relief tents to those who have lost their home as a result. While extremely helpful, these tents usually last a year at max, after which they become no longer functional and end up in the landfill. In a bid to extend the Read More...

Turn your regular bike into an

Turn your regular bike into an e-bike with this clever attachment

Unless you live in a flat country like the Netherlands, chances are you have to navigate up a few hills during your daily commute. That idea alone might be enough to deter many folks from opting to ride a bike on their way to work. For that reason, product designer Somnath Ray decided to create a Read More...

These stickers help people wit

These stickers help people with disabilities get a seat on public transit

“Please offer me a seat. Not all disabilities are visible,” reads a new sticker that’s available to buy online, intended for disabled people who struggle to find seating on public transit. The idea is the brainchild of Catherine Callahan, who volunteers with Bay Area Rapid Transit, the Read More...

Geohacking: Could “green san

Geohacking: Could “green sand” beaches help us fight climate change?

On a beach in the Caribbean, a nonprofit called Project Vesta will soon begin testing a radical new way to fight climate change that involves spreading ground-up olivine—a cheap green mineral—over the sand, where ocean waves will break down the mineral, which in turn will pull CO2 from the Read More...

What does it mean for the clim

What does it mean for the climate when oil prices fall below $0?

As you probably heard this week, the price of oil has actually crashed below $0 for the first time in history. At a time when the world needs to transition from fossil fuels to avoid the even bigger catastrophe of climate change, what does the state of the industry mean for the climate? Some Read More...

Asthma rates plummet in Kentuc

Asthma rates plummet in Kentucky as coal plants shut down

Air pollution has long been linked to health issues, especially asthma. Coal-fired power plants are a definitive source of air pollution. But it’s been difficult for scientists to attribute respiratory problems of people living near coal specifically to those coal plants because a host of other Read More...