Important Innovations

New Device to Cut Vehicle Noise Pollution Source:  Stock image of Paris at Night Paris Without Noise Pollution This new, innovative technology targets noise pollution from very loud sounding vehicles - motorcycles, cars and trucks.  The system is being tested in Paris and is installed on lampposts.  It identifies noisy vehicles, pinpoints their location and automatically tickets them.  Interestingly, the new device was created by engineers at Bruitparif, the city's noise pollution agency. The agency says with this device, the charge of noise pollution from revving your engines is not disputable.  They've nailed it. New Technology to Cut Noise Pollution The system uses four microphones to locate and triangulate where the vehicle loud noise pollution is coming from.  The sound reconfiguration is then linked to police CCTV camera footage to pinpoint the noisemaker.  A ticket is then automatically issued to the noise offender.  The city of P...

Brazil May Send Its Army In to Combat the Amazon Fires Source:  Amazon Burning Global Environmental Concern About the "Lungs of the World" It's mind boggling and clearly an international crisis.  The Amazon Rain Forest, which is the world's largest, is engulfed in raging fires.  In Brazil alone, there have been 74,000 fires in the Amazon this year.  The Amazon Rain Forest covers parts of nine countries, but Brazil is key.  Importantly, the Amazon produces 20% of the oxygen on Earth.  The situation is so severe that French President Emmanuel Macron is calling for it to be included on the agenda at the G-7 Meeting in Biarritz.  The President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro, whose environmental policies are under attack, has just announced he may call in the Brazilian Army to fight the unprecedented fires in the Amazon, which is known as "the lungs of the world." Fires Sending Smoke 2,000 Miles Away The fires are so extensive that smoke extends 2000 m...

High Amounts of Microplastics Found in Arctic Sea Ice Source:  Northwest Passage Project Global Plastic Pollution Even in the most remote corners of the Earth - the Canadian Arctic - very significant amounts of plastic contamination have just been discovered.  A team of US scientists spent 18 days drilling large quantities of Arctic ice in four separate locations and then analyzing it.  Their discovery of high amounts of microplastic contamination in the ice is disturbing and underscores the global extent of plastic pollution.  For a great news blog with more details, go to Important Innovations Collection: Microplastic Contamination in Arctic Ice : New Evidence of Global Plastic Pollution Source:  Northwest Passage Project Even in Remote Regions of the Canadian Arctic US s...

On World Ocean Day, a Rising Tide of Plastic Pollution Source:  Monterey Bay Awash in Plastic On World Ocean Day 2019 there is growing evidence that the global problem of ocean pollution from plastic waste is getting worse.  By latest estimates there are 5 trillion pieces of plastic waste in global oceans.  Every year another 8 million metric tons of plastic are dumped in the ocean.  Once pristine ocean areas from California to Spain are facing pollution problems.  For a detailed news blog, go to Important Innovations Collection: Global Oceans Awash in Plastic : World Ocean Day Source:  Monterey Bay Aqarium - Monterey Shoreline Once Pristine Locations from Monterey, CA to Spain's Basque C...

Wind Power to Power Heating Source:  China Wind Farm World Leader in Wind Power China is waging a multifaceted flight against carbon dioxide pollution.  It's pushing hard to cut carbon emissions from coal burning generating plants.  China is already the world leader in wind power generation with the largest installed capacity and rapid growth in new wind facilities. It's now promoting wind powered heating systems. Wind Powered Heat China just announced it will forward and promote using energy generated by the wind to help power heating systems.  Many regions in China experience bitterly cold winters and coal powered generating facilities spewing carbon emissions are big contributors to China's pollution problems.  China's top steelmaking city Tangshan just issued a smog alert as waves of smog are enveloping the city. Huge Wind Potential Experts say because of China's long coastline and land mass, it has about 2.4 gigawatts of exploitable wind po...

Breathe London Project - Kids' Backpacks With Sensors Source:  Breathe London Project In London, World's Largest Air Quality Study The massive, citywide air quality study is being spearheaded by scientists at Kings College London.  It's called the Breathe London Project and schoolchildren are part of the project.  Dyson has created backpacks for 250 students that contain sensors monitoring the air they are breathing during their daily routines.  The sensors are lightweight and show when and where the children are exposed to pollution.  For a news blog with more details on the project, go to Important Innovations Collection: World's Biggest Air Quality Study - London :  Breathe London Project - Kids' Backpacks Monitoring Air Pollution Source:  Breathe London Project  State of the Art Sensors in B...

Environmental Innovation - Ink & Paint Made from Exhaust System Pollution Source: Grafiky's  KAALINK System Retrofitted to a Diesel Generator MIT Spinoff Company's Tech has Cleaned Nearly 2 Trillion Liters of Air This is remarkable innovation, ingenuity and engineering.  MIT spinoff company Graviky Labs is rolling out a patent-pending device called Air-Ink.  The technology attaches to the exhaust system of cars, diesel generators, vehicles and machines and converts the captured pollution into ink and paints.  The bedrock technology underlying the system is called KAALINK.  It's extraordinary innovation, beneficial to the environment, in the advanced prototype stage.  For a detailed news blog by my journalist colleague Ed Kane on this, go to  https://importantinnovationscollection.blogspot.com/2018/12/air-ink-pollution-to-ink.html

Solar Driven Photocatalytic System Source:  EPFL New Material, Metal Organic Framework Class Drives It Swiss scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have created a system that can destroy pollutants in water while simultaneously splitting out the hydrogen for later use.  This is a solar driven system that is considered an important scientific breakthrough. Solar Driven It's a photocatalytic system based on a material in the metal organic framework class (MOF's).  These MOF's are some of the most versatile and useful materials recently discovered.  This particular substance that cleans and splits water is activated by light. Big Applications The hydrogen produced in the process can be used for hydrogen fuel cells now used in many technologies including green hydrogen trains and space shuttles.  The process is also highly effective in removing pollutants from water.