Veolia Environnement sees strong growth in toxic waste recycling and will keep investing in plants to treat industrial solvents and old batteries as it chases more sales from industrial clients. The French water and waste group's toxic waste business includes recycling lithium from batteries, vanadium from industrial catalysts, and cutting oil or lubricant polluted by metal shavings. Strong growt ... read more >>

A solar plane is scheduled to take off and cross the United States. ... read more >>

According to Zpryme, for the second month in a row, U.S. citizens had a more positive (9.5%) than negative (4.4%) view of the smart grid than they had 12 months ago. However, the majority (73.8%) of U.S. adults are still not familiar with the smart grid. There is some evidence to show that energy security concerns revolve around a nation’s reliance on petroleum and strong energy efficiency polici ... read more >>

The growing global demand for energy, combined with a need to reduce emissions and lessen the effects of climate change, has increased focus on cleaner energy sources. But what unintended consequences could these cleaner sources have on the changing climate?

Researchers at MIT now have some answers to that question, using biofuels as a test case. Their study, recently released in Geophysical ... read more >>

Tomatoes from Spain, olive oil from Italy, plums from Chile, salmon from Alaska and green beans from Kenya – how often might some of these ingredients end up in your basket? In the UK most people's shopping trolleys contain a significant proportion of imported foods. But could these foods be grown and produced at home? Which countries are capable of food self-sufficiency? A new series of maps sho ... read more >>

In California's 'salad bowl' – a landscape portioned into emerald fields of spinach, lettuce, kale, and other leafy vegetables, grown to satiate the nation's appetite for greens – hush-hush food safety standards are deforesting land and forcing wildlife out. These practices are unnecessary for ensuring safe food, say experts in a new study, and yet they spell marginalisation for a number of speci ... read more >>

Over time it is amazing to see what man has been able to create. Large construction projects leave us in awe of how the builders brought everything together. All the work, effort and coordination it took to make these projects happen make us wonder how such undertakings ever took place. What are some of the most amazing construction projects in existence today? Rock & Dirt, a heavy equipment mark ... read more >>

Many city residents prefer not to think about the underground network of dark and dirty pipes that carry their water and waste somewhere … else. Michael Cook isn't one of them. On the contrary, Cook goes out of his way to explore and illuminate all types of drain systems winding below his native metropolitan Toronto, as a means of raising awareness about city sewage problems. ... read more >>

Chinese photojournalist Lu Guang goes deep into China's ravaged heartlands and documents the environmental crisis that has been triggered by the nation's dizzyingly rapid economic growth and development. Exposing the droughts caused by open-cast coal mines in Inner Mongolia, documenting under-reported oil spills and sidestepping censorship over chemical pollution of rivers, Guang is a fearless do ... read more >>

Recent reports from China and the USA indicate the production of staple foods including rice, wheat and soya are likely to be hit in the coming decades due to increasing incidences of extreme weather. Experts warn that as the world's population and temperatures rise, so added stress will be placed on regions such as the Lower Mekong Basin, which millions rely on for their supply of rice. Speaking ... read more >>