Category: Sustainability

Sustainability-In-Tech: AI Boom Could Leave An E-Waste Trail Around Earth

Posted on by Paul Stradling

The expansion of AI could leave enough retired electronic equipment to fill shipping containers stretching six times around Earth, according to a new report warning that the technology’s environmental footprint extends far beyond electricity and water consumption.

What Has The Report Found?

The Basel Action Network (BAN), a non-profit organisation campaigning against toxic waste and irresponsible waste exports, estimates that AI-driven equipment retirements could total between 395 million and 617 million tonnes from 2025 to 2050.

To put that volume of waste into perspective, The Coming AI Waste Wave estimates that it would fill between 15 million and 23 million shipping containers, with a line of 20 million stretching roughly 244,000 kilometres, enough to circle Earth about six times!

However, how much of that equipment eventually becomes waste will depend on how quickly AI infrastructure expands, how often devices are replaced and whether older hardware is reused. The figures therefore show the potential scale of the problem if those assumptions hold, rather than the amount certain to end up in landfill.

Why Count More Than AI Chips?

Much of the discussion about AI hardware focuses on graphics processing units, or GPUs, the specialised chips used to train and run models. However, those chips need servers, networking equipment, electricity distribution, backup power and cooling systems to function.

BAN estimates that servers, accelerators and racks account for only 13 per cent of the equipment mass in its reference data centre. Across all five equipment categories, it calculates approximately 7,000 tonnes for a facility with 100 megawatts of capacity.

The report argues that overlooking this supporting infrastructure understates the eventual disposal challenge, explaining, “Counting servers alone is like estimating the scrap value of an automobile factory by weighing only the engines.”

This wider view matters because an upgrade can affect more than the computing hardware. For example, installing more powerful systems may also require changes to electrical connections and cooling, potentially displacing equipment that still works but no longer meets the facility’s requirements.

Why Might Equipment Be Replaced So Quickly?

It seems that BAN’s calculations assume that servers, accelerators and racks are replaced every 2.5 years on average, with networking equipment lasting 3.5 years, power distribution equipment eight years, and backup power and cooling systems five years. It’s worth noting that some of these timings come from industry sources and others are BAN’s own estimates, so they actually describe the replacement patterns used in the model rather than a schedule followed by every operator.

The concern is that pressure to keep up with newer AI systems could lead businesses to replace equipment while it still has some useful life left. That creates demand for more materials and energy to manufacture replacements, making it important to find another use for the outgoing hardware wherever possible and recycle it responsibly when reuse is no longer practical.

The Report Also Counts Phones And PCs

BAN also says it expects AI adoption to encourage people and businesses to replace computers, phones and telecommunications equipment sooner, adding to the waste generated outside data centres. For example, some new AI features need more powerful processors or extra memory, while others may simply tempt customers to upgrade even though their existing devices still work.

However, missing out on a new feature doesn’t make a device unusable, and many cloud-based AI services can still run through older equipment. How much extra replacement AI will cause is therefore difficult to predict, as BAN acknowledges in its report, saying “very little data exists to quantify this segment.” Its higher estimate actually includes upgrades driven by the appeal of new features, making consumer choices part of the projected waste total.

How Certain Is The Forecast?

The scale of BAN’s forecast also really depends on data-centre capacity continuing to grow by approximately 8.8 per cent a year through 2050. Sustaining that pace for decades would mean considerably more equipment being installed and eventually replaced, while the report’s own calculations show that slower growth would produce much lower waste estimates.

What happens to that equipment after replacement will also make a difference, because a server removed from one facility may still be suitable for less demanding work elsewhere. BAN says it plans to examine reuse, refurbishment and repurposing in a later instalment, leaving an important question about how much retired hardware could remain useful rather than immediately becoming waste.

That said, some companies are already working on this. For example, Microsoft has reported reusing or recycling 90.9 per cent of its servers and components in 2024, although combining those activities in one figure does not show how much equipment continued to be used. The wider picture is somewhat less encouraging, with the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor finding that only 22.3 per cent of e-waste generated worldwide in 2022 was documented as formally collected and recycled, highlighting how much work is needed even before AI adds to the volume.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, the practical starting point is to question whether an AI project genuinely requires new equipment. Purchasing decisions should really follow a demonstrated operational need, with repair, memory upgrades and reassignment considered before replacement. Keeping suitable devices in productive use can reduce both costs and demand for newly manufactured hardware.

When buying equipment or selecting cloud services, organisations should also ask about expected lifetimes, repairability, spare parts and what happens when systems are retired. A recycling claim is more useful when it explains how much equipment is reused, which materials are recovered and how downstream contractors are checked, rather than simply promising that nothing reaches landfill.

The report’s strongest message is really that sustainability planning must begin before purchasing and construction. Cleaner electricity can’t remove the material footprint of repeated replacement, while recycling alone can’t preserve all the value invested in making equipment. Businesses can act now by extending useful life and making end-of-use arrangements part of the original investment decision.

Sustainability-In-Tech : Could Seawater Supply Nuclear Fuel For 50,000 Years?

Posted on by Paul Stradling

US clean technology startup Fluxnium is developing a way to collect uranium from seawater, targeting a resource potentially large enough to support nuclear generation for tens of thousands of years while attempting to reduce the environmental damage associated with conventional mining.

Looking To The Ocean

Nuclear power can provide electricity with low emissions over its lifetime, but its fuel still needs to be sourced and processed. As countries consider expanding nuclear generation, securing uranium supplies without increasing environmental damage becomes part of the sustainability challenge.

However, the International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that the oceans contain approximately four billion tonnes of uranium. Although that resource is enormous, it’s actually spread through seawater at very low concentrations, making collection difficult and potentially expensive.

The 50,000-year figure given by Fluxnium shows the scale of the resource against assumed consumption, rather than a quantity the company has proved it can recover. Higher nuclear demand would change how long it could last, while the amount available economically remains a separate question.

How Would Fluxnium Collect It?

Fluxnium’s approach uses specially engineered polymer fibres that attract dissolved uranium as seawater moves past them. This is adsorption, meaning uranium attaches to the material, rather than being extracted by digging up and processing ore.

The fibres are deployed on offshore lines similar to those used by seaweed and mussel farms, then retrieved for processing and reuse. The company describes its approach as uranium “passively adsorbed from seawater on proven aquaculture infrastructure”.

After collection, the uranium is removed from the fibres and purified into yellowcake, a uranium concentrate sold into the existing fuel supply chain. It would still require further processing before use in a reactor, so the innovation concerns the source of the raw material.

What Is Different About This Attempt?

Scientists have actually researched uranium extraction from seawater for decades, and US national laboratories have already demonstrated fibres collecting uranium under natural seawater conditions.

Fluxnium is building on that work, focusing on fibre design, manufacturing and deployment to improve the economics. The company’s work to increase the surface area available to capture uranium could allow each deployment to collect more material. Reusing fibres could also spread their manufacturing cost across several collection cycles, provided they remain effective after processing and exposure to marine conditions.

The company’s website describes a “cost projected to match conventional mining”, which makes clear that competitiveness remains a projection. The evidence needed now is consistent performance and a credible total cost across offshore operations, processing and replacement materials.

The Importance Of Fuel Security

The appeal also reflects concerns about dependence on overseas uranium supplies. The US Energy Information Administration reports that “U.S. material accounted for 7 per cent of total deliveries in 2025”, demonstrating how heavily American nuclear operators relied on foreign-origin uranium.

However, that dependence shouldn’t automatically be presented as reliance on hostile countries. For example, Canada (which some would say is now regarded as a hostile country by the Trump administration) supplied 32 per cent of deliveries, Kazakhstan 28 per cent and Australia 15 per cent, giving a more balanced picture of the existing market.

The EIA also records a weighted-average purchase price of US$58.46 per pound in 2025, up 11 per cent from 2024. That figure combines different contracts, so it should not be confused with a current spot price or treated as directly equivalent to a startup’s projected production cost.

Better For The Environment?

Avoiding excavation and mine tailings, the waste left after processing ore, could reduce some impacts associated with conventional uranium mining. Collecting material through passive seawater flow could also avoid the energy needed to pump enormous quantities of water through a treatment plant.

However, passive collection doesn’t make the whole operation impact-free. For example, manufacturing the fibres, installing offshore equipment, operating vessels and processing the collected uranium all require resources, while marine deployments would need assessment for effects on habitats and other sea users.

A meaningful comparison would, therefore, need to cover the full production process and the amount of usable uranium delivered. It would also need to keep fuel extraction separate from electricity generation, because seawater sourcing would not remove the need to manage spent nuclear fuel.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses seeking dependable low-carbon electricity, Fluxnium represents a possible improvement further up the energy supply chain. It is not an immediate source of cheaper power, and the size of the ocean resource shouldn’t influence purchasing decisions without evidence that the technology can deliver reliably and affordably.

The broader lesson is to examine where a sustainability innovation reduces harm and where it introduces new demands. A process that avoids mining may still consume substantial materials or energy elsewhere, so procurement teams should seek comparisons based on equivalent output, including maintenance, transport and waste management.

Successful development could give nuclear operators another fuel source while reducing pressure for some new extraction projects on land. For now, though, the important milestones are repeatable offshore results, independently assessed environmental performance and costs that hold up beyond trials, turning an impressive resource estimate into a practical contribution to cleaner energy.

Sustainability-In-Tech: Google Backs Cleaner Rice Farming

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Google has agreed to buy one million carbon credits from Indian startup Mitti Labs by 2030, funding changes to rice farming that could cut methane emissions and water use while testing how corporate climate spending can deliver measurable benefits beyond a company’s own operations.

Why Rice Farming Matters

Rice fields may seem far removed from Google’s data centres, but their contribution to global warming explains the connection. For example, when paddies remain flooded, oxygen levels in the soil fall, creating conditions in which microbes produce methane as they break down organic material.

Periodically draining and reflooding fields interrupts that process, reducing methane production while requiring less irrigation. Known as Alternate Wetting and Drying, or AWD, the technique already has an established research base, with careful management allowing farmers to conserve water without sacrificing their harvest.

For communities facing water shortages, maintaining food production with less irrigation could be as important as reducing emissions. However, farmers need control over water supplies and guidance on when to irrigate, because drying fields too far can put yields at risk.

What Has Google Agreed?

Announced on 10 September, the agreement will support the expansion of changed irrigation practices across approximately 100,000 hectares of smallholder farmland in India. Mitti Labs says the partnership could save 1.5 trillion litres of water by 2030, although that remains a projection rather than an achieved result.

Its website describes a four-year agreement (while its press release says five years), but both specify delivery of one million credits by 2030. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

Google describes it as “the largest publicly announced agreement to date” for purchasing credits from rice-methane reductions. Its announcement also confirms direct payments to participating farmers, connecting the financial incentive with changes in cultivation.

Why Methane Needs Attention

Methane remains in the atmosphere for much less time than carbon dioxide, but has a stronger warming effect over shorter periods, making reductions particularly valuable for limiting near-term warming.

As Mitti Labs co-founder Xavier Laguarta explains, “Reducing methane from rice farming is one of the most powerful levers we have to slow near-term warming.”

Two Figures Given

It’s worth noting here that Google is actually giving two figures for the expected climate benefit because methane has a stronger warming effect in the short term. Measured over 20 years, the benefit is equivalent to avoiding around three million tonnes of carbon dioxide, compared with one million tonnes when measured over 100 years, so these are two ways of describing the same benefit and shouldn’t be added together.

How Can The Savings Be Checked?

To check whether farmers are changing how they irrigate their fields, Mitti Labs combines satellite radar images with observations collected on the ground. This helps it track flooding, soil moisture and crop conditions across thousands of small farms, with its recent US$9.5 million funding round supporting further development of the technology and expansion into more farming areas.

Those observations help show whether the farming practices are being followed, but calculating how much methane has been avoided requires some further checks. For example, Isometric, a carbon-credit certification body with which Mitti Labs is registered, requires projects to monitor water levels and reduces the number of credits they can claim where uncertainty in the estimates could overstate the benefit.

For buyers, this means checking both how the project measures its results and whether the reductions would have happened without its funding, so they can judge whether their money is making a difference.

Does This Address Google’s Own Emissions?

The agreement comes as Google’s expanding infrastructure complicates its climate ambitions. Its 2026 environmental report records approximately 14.5 million tonnes of emissions under its “ambition-based” accounting measure for 2025, an increase of 18 per cent.

It should be noted here that preventing methane from entering the atmosphere doesn’t remove carbon dioxide already released by data centres or construction. Google acknowledges this, saying credits used to counterbalance emissions will either be matched against shorter-lived emissions or replaced with carbon removals when their atmospheric benefit expires.

How Effective Is Offsetting?

Google’s agreement raises a wider question about whether businesses can compensate for their own emissions by paying for reductions elsewhere. Supporters argue that deals like this fund changes to farming that might otherwise struggle to attract investment, while critics warn that offsetting can allow companies to claim climate progress while their own pollution continues to grow. The value therefore depends on whether the promised benefits are delivered and verified, and whether Google continues cutting its own emissions.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses considering carbon credits, the agreement shows why the underlying activity deserves as much attention as the number purchased. For example, a credible project should explain how reductions are measured, why funding changes what happens and how participating communities benefit. Promised savings should remain clearly distinguished from verified results.

The broader sustainability opportunity here is to support changes that solve more than one problem. Reducing irrigation demand could help protect agricultural production in water-stressed areas while lowering emissions, giving food businesses and their suppliers reasons to examine farming practices within their own supply chains.

However, external projects should support continued work on a business’s own energy use, purchasing and operations. The strongest approach combines direct reductions with carefully assessed climate funding, then reports both clearly so customers can understand what has improved within the organisation and what its money has helped others achieve.

Sustainability-In-Tech : Solar Ambulance Passes Kenya Test

Posted on by Paul Stradling

A solar-powered mobile clinic (ambulance) developed by Dutch students has completed more than 800km of testing in Kenya, demonstrating how sunlight could power both the journey to remote communities and the medical equipment needed when it arrives.

Taking Healthcare To The Patient

For communities far from a hospital, reaching medical care can mean travelling for hours over difficult roads. Even arriving at a local clinic may not guarantee access to diagnostic equipment if the building has no reliable electricity.

Stella Juva was designed around those connected problems. Built by 23 students from Solar Team Eindhoven, working with Amref Health Africa, the vehicle carries equipment including an X-ray machine, ultrasound scanner, defibrillator and refrigeration for vaccines.

Although its developers describe it as the world’s first solar ambulance, it works more like a travelling clinic. Its purpose is to bring health workers, equipment and electricity to patients, rather than primarily carrying patients to hospital.

Tested In Kenya

By way of testing, during August this year, the team drove the mobile clinic / ambulance named ‘Stella Juva’ more than 800km through Kenya, including a six-hour journey over difficult roads to Mosiro, where the local health clinic has no electricity. Reaching places like this was central to the trial, which tested whether the vehicle could both withstand the journey and provide the power needed to make medical equipment useful on arrival.

According to the developers, the vehicle completed the route with relatively few problems, although a broken steering rod needed replacing, a repair that took half an hour. Once parked for medical testing with Amref, it generated more solar electricity than it consumed while all its onboard medical equipment was being used simultaneously.

For the team, that result seems to have demonstrated the potential to bring working diagnostic equipment to communities where a lack of power limits the care available. For example, team manager Mathijs van Gerven described the achievement as being able “to drive sustainably, but also to be able to provide fully independent care”, adding: “Especially in remote areas where energy is often scarce, this can make all the difference.”

How Sunlight Powers The Clinic

In terms of how the solar power for the vehicle works, panels on the roof collect energy while Stella Juva travels, with additional panels extending from its sides when parked. A battery stores electricity for use when sunlight is limited.

The arrangement gives parked time a practical purpose. For example, while health workers carry out examinations, the larger solar collection area can supply equipment and replenish stored energy, reducing dependence on a charging point or fuel delivery.

However, the reported electricity surplus applies to stationary medical testing. It should not be read as proof that the vehicle produces surplus energy throughout every journey or can maintain the same schedule regardless of weather, distance and demand.

Why This Matters For Healthcare

Reliable electricity is essential for refrigeration, diagnosis and many routine procedures, yet a 2023 report from WHO and partner organisations estimated that close to one billion people in low- and lower-middle-income countries were served by facilities with unreliable electricity or none at all.

For pregnant women, the consequences can include missing opportunities to identify complications early. Amref’s maternal and child health project lead Geoffrey Sadera explained in the team’s announcement: “In Narok, long distances and unreliable electricity still make quality healthcare difficult to access.”

Sadera suggested that one outreach visit could allow 30 to 40 pregnant women to receive ultrasound examinations within their own community. That illustrates the intended benefit, although no real patients were examined during this trial.

The estimate that approximately 200 people could have received care over two days was similarly a projection from the testing, rather than a count of patients treated.

Where The Environmental Benefit Comes From

Using sunlight for transport and medical equipment could reduce reliance on petrol or diesel vehicles and generators. Bringing services closer to communities could also reduce some patient journeys, although the project has not published a measured carbon saving.

It should be noted here that solar-powered healthcare itself isn’t new. For example, UNICEF supports solar refrigeration that keeps vaccines cold without a grid connection, while WHO identifies solar panels and battery storage as options for improving healthcare resilience and reducing polluting emissions.

What’s different about Stella Juva is that it combines those energy benefits with mobility. That said, its environmental performance over its lifetime will likely still depend on manufacturing, battery production, maintenance and how much conventional transport or generator use it replaces.

What Happens After The Trial?

The prototype is returning to the Netherlands, with the students seeking partners to explore further development. Turning it into a dependable service will require funding, trained staff, spare parts and arrangements for maintaining both the vehicle and its medical equipment.

Amref programme manager John Kutna said: “The solar ambulance would be quite useful in these locations.” Establishing how to provide that usefulness affordably and consistently is the next task.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses considering sustainability investments, Stella Juva offers an example of renewable energy addressing an operational problem as well as emissions. Generating power where work happens can make services possible in places where fuel supplies or electricity connections are difficult to secure.

The useful part of the exercise is really the ability to assess energy, transport and service delivery together. Investment decisions still need realistic running costs and maintenance plans, but this trial shows why the value of cleaner technology can extend beyond energy savings to the services it enables.

There is also a question of where each pound invested delivers the greatest benefit. A mobile solar clinic could make sense for scattered communities, while a busy permanent clinic might benefit more from its own solar panels and battery storage. Businesses face similar choices, making it important to compare a new solution with simpler alternatives and judge success by the reliability, reach and quality of the service it supports.

Sustainability-In-Tech : Laser Mosquito Control Could Cut Chemical Use

Posted on by Paul Stradling

A portable device that uses LiDAR, radar, AI and a laser to detect and kill mosquitoes is now being sold commercially, raising a much bigger question than whether people will pay around US$1,000 to keep insects away from their patios and instead focusing attention on whether precision technology could eventually reduce our reliance on chemical mosquito control.

How Does The Laser System Work?

Chinese company Photon Matrix describes its product as the “world’s first portable laser mosquito air defense”, with separate infrared and blue-laser versions for indoor and outdoor use. The company says the system scans the surrounding area with LiDAR (a laser-based technology that measures distances and maps objects in its surroundings), measures the distance to the background and looks for changes caused by flying insects.

If an insect matches the expected characteristics of a mosquito, a galvanometer-controlled laser is directed along the same optical path to hit it. Photon Matrix says its six-metre system can detect flying insects between 2mm and 20mm moving at up to one metre per second, while power consumption is rated at no more than 20W.

The company describes the approach as “a clean, chemical-free solution” without sprays, odours or harmful residues. The infrared model is currently listed at US$988 and the outdoor blue-laser version at US$1,088, with both offered on a pre-order basis and delivery expected within 120 days.

Why Chemical-Free Mosquito Control?

Mosquito control is not simply about avoiding bites. Malaria alone caused an estimated 282 million cases and 610,000 deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the World Health Organization, with the African Region accounting for 94 per cent of cases and 95 per cent of deaths.

Chemical insecticides remain one of the most important defences, particularly through treated bed nets and indoor residual spraying, and any new technology would need to complement rather than displace proven public-health measures. However, resistance is now becoming a serious problem, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting pyrethroid resistance in 48 of 53 countries that supplied relevant data.

This makes the idea of targeting individual mosquitoes without repeatedly spraying chemicals particularly interesting from an environmental point of view. By identifying a mosquito before acting, the system could reduce unnecessary exposure for people, other insects and the wider environment, while also reducing reliance on the same insecticides over and over again.

Has Anything Like This Been Tried Before?

Photon Matrix isn’t the first company to explore using lasers to control mosquitoes. A larger system called the Photonic Fence, originally developed by US-based Intellectual Ventures, uses cameras and infrared light to spot insects flying through an area and a laser to target mosquitoes.

In tests published in Scientific Reports in 2024, the laser system was reported to be highly effective. When the laser was switched off, researchers recovered 38.3 per cent of the mosquitoes released into the test area, but when it was switched on, only 0.86 per cent remained. The system also detected nearby orchid bees without targeting them, suggesting it may be able to kill mosquitoes while leaving other insects alone.

Also, Australia’s World Mosquito Program, owned by Monash University, uses another chemical-free method by releasing mosquitoes carrying the naturally occurring Wolbachia bacterium, which makes them less able to spread viruses such as dengue.

Could Lasers Help In Africa?

The biggest potential benefit could be in Africa, where malaria remains a major health threat and where most of the world’s malaria deaths occur. If laser systems became cheaper, tougher and practical to run from solar power or batteries, they could eventually be tested around African homes, clinics, schools and other high-risk locations.

For now, though, there is no evidence that Photon Matrix has been tested as a malaria-control tool in Africa, or that a six-metre consumer device could reduce disease transmission across a community. Cost, reliability, safety, maintenance and the number of units needed would all have to be proven first.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation?

For organisations looking at more sustainable pest control, the main opportunity is greater precision, because technologies such as LiDAR and AI can identify a mosquito before acting rather than treating a whole area with chemicals.

Using fewer insecticides could reduce contamination and limit harm to beneficial insects, although laser systems still require electricity, electronics and manufactured components, so their overall environmental impact would need to be properly assessed.

Photon Matrix could, therefore, be best seen as an early example of a wider move towards more targeted mosquito control, with the real sustainability potential depending on whether these systems can become affordable, independently tested and practical enough to complement proven methods.

Sustainability-In-Tech : How AI Could Help Planes Avoid Warming Contrails

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Google and the UK government are launching a £5 million trial using artificial intelligence and advanced weather forecasting to help aircraft avoid the atmospheric conditions that create persistent warming contrails over the North Atlantic, potentially reducing part of aviation’s climate impact without changing the aircraft themselves.

What Are Contrails And Why Do They Matter?

Contrails are the white lines that sometimes form behind aircraft when water vapour from jet exhaust freezes into tiny ice crystals in very cold air. Many disappear quickly, but under the right temperature and humidity conditions they can persist for hours, spread into larger cloud formations and trap heat that would otherwise escape from the Earth’s surface.

Google estimates that warming contrails account for roughly one third of aviation’s total climate impact. That makes them an attractive target to tackle because, unlike replacing aircraft fleets or developing new propulsion technologies, avoiding the worst contrails may require only relatively small changes to how existing flights are operated.

The Met Office says that two aircraft flying at slightly different heights can experience very different conditions, with one producing a persistent contrail while the other does not. Accurate forecasts could therefore identify troublesome layers of air before an aircraft reaches them.

How Will Operation Blue Skies Work?

The project between the UK government and Google, dubbed “Operation Blue Skies”, will operate in Shanwick airspace over the eastern North Atlantic, an area that accounts for around 5 per cent of global contrail warming. It is described as the world’s first state-backed trial to test contrail avoidance across an entire oceanic airspace rather than with individual airlines.

Google UK says it will develop AI models using satellite imagery, flight information and weather data to predict where strongly warming contrails are likely to form. The Met Office says it is developing a new contrail-impact forecasting capability, while NATS (the UK’s leading air traffic control provider) will use the forecasts during normal air traffic operations so selected aircraft can be asked to make relatively small altitude changes.

Google says: “Our AI-powered forecasts have enabled flight crews and air traffic controllers to make targeted adjustments that avoid contrail-sensitive regions while remaining within normal flight operations.”

A 30-Month Programme

The 30-month programme includes operational trials during the winters of 2026/27 and 2027/28. Around 10,000 flights are expected to pass through Shanwick during trial hours each year, although only a small proportion will be diverted so researchers can compare outcomes.

Why Use Weather Intelligence?

Contrail formation depends heavily on local atmospheric conditions, particularly temperature and humidity at cruising altitude. If those conditions can be forecast accurately enough, controllers may be able to move aircraft above or below the layers where persistent contrails are likely to develop.

Emma Corrigan, an aviation expert at the Met Office, said: “Every day, our forecasts help airlines, airports, air traffic controllers and pilots make informed decisions. Through this programme, we are exploring how those same weather and climate science capabilities could help address environmental challenges for aviation.”

The combination of AI and increasingly detailed atmospheric forecasting is therefore intended to identify precisely where intervention is worthwhile, rather than asking aircraft to make unnecessary changes throughout their journeys.

What About The Extra Fuel?

Avoiding contrails is not automatically beneficial because changing altitude can cause an aircraft to burn more fuel, increasing carbon dioxide emissions. The important question is whether the warming avoided by preventing a persistent contrail is significantly greater than the climate cost of the extra fuel used.

That trade-off is one reason independent scientific verification is built into the programme. Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge will assess the trial results, while the Met Office will help evaluate forecast performance and scientific uncertainties.

James Shapland, Head of Regulated Transport Services at the Met Office, said: “Our understanding of regional weather regimes will provide an important scientific basis for the trials, and developing a global contrail forecast capability aligns with our strategic work to support the aviation industry in managing its longer-term environmental impacts.”

A Complement, Not A Cure

Contrail avoidance will not remove aviation’s carbon emissions and is not being presented as a substitute for sustainable aviation fuel, more efficient aircraft or cleaner propulsion technologies. Its attraction is that it could provide a relatively quick operational improvement while those longer-term technologies continue to develop.

Google describes contrails as “one of the most urgent yet solvable climate challenges facing aviation today” and says the trial aims to provide a validated blueprint for reducing aviation’s climate impact through airspace management.

The £5 million programme is supported through the UK government’s Aerospace Technology Institute Programme, while Google is contributing £1.4 million in research expertise, engineering time and high-performance computing on a pro bono basis. Government grant funding goes directly to the academic, non-profit and aviation partners involved in the project.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

The wider business lesson here is that sustainability improvements do not always require replacing existing infrastructure. For example, Operation Blue Skies is attempting to reduce environmental impact by combining better data, AI and operational decision-making around aircraft that would be flying anyway.

That principle can apply far beyond aviation, with businesses potentially finding some of the quickest gains by identifying where relatively small changes to scheduling, routing, energy use or operating procedures can prevent disproportionately large amounts of waste or emissions.

Operation Blue Skies also highlights the importance of measurement, because the project is designed not only to identify where an intervention could have the greatest effect, but also to independently assess whether the environmental benefit genuinely outweighs any additional fuel used. Businesses taking a similar approach to sustainability should therefore focus on changes whose overall impact can be measured, rather than adopting initiatives that appear greener in isolation but may deliver little real benefit.

If Operation Blue Skies succeeds, it could demonstrate that one of aviation’s significant climate effects can be reduced not by redesigning the aircraft, but by helping them fly through slightly different parts of the sky.

Sustainability-in-Tech : New Electric Aircraft Makes Record $5 Flight

Posted on by Paul Stradling

The largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown has completed its first successful flight, demonstrating that electric propulsion can now operate at something approaching commercial-airliner scale while highlighting both the enormous potential and the significant limitations still facing cleaner regional aviation.

A Record-Breaking First Flight

Heart Aerospace’s X1 demonstrator, developed by the Swedish-founded aviation company before it relocated its operations to the US, took off from Plattsburgh International Airport in New York on 12 August, completing a 27-minute piloted flight that included taxiing, take-off, climbing, manoeuvring and landing.

The aircraft is certainly substantial. For example, with a wingspan of a massive 106 feet, a length of 76 feet and a take-off weight exceeding 25,000 lb, Heart says the X1 is the largest battery-electric aircraft ever to have flown. During the test, it climbed to 1,100 ft above ground level while its all-electric propulsion system delivered more than one megawatt of power.

Heart’s Founder and CEO Anders Forslund said: “With the first flight of X1, Heart Aerospace has demonstrated electric flight at the scale of a commercial airliner.”

Perhaps the most eye-catching figure, however, is the energy bill. Heart says powering the entire flight required approximately US$5 worth of electricity, providing an intriguing glimpse of how electric propulsion could eventually change the economics of short-distance flying.

Why The US$5 Figure Matters

That US$5 should be treated carefully, since it represents only the electricity consumed during one demonstration flight rather than the total cost of operating an aircraft.

Airlines would still need to pay for pilots, maintenance, airport charges, battery replacement, insurance and the aircraft itself. However, energy represents a significant operating expense in aviation, while jet-fuel prices can fluctuate considerably with global oil markets.

Electricity could potentially make part of that cost both lower and more predictable, particularly on the short regional journeys for which Heart is developing its technology.

Heart expects its eventual commercial aircraft to reduce operating costs by more than 40 per cent compared with older regional aircraft, citing cheaper energy, simpler electric propulsion requiring less maintenance and improved aircraft reliability among the reasons.

The Environmental Opportunity

The potential sustainability benefits are equally important, particularly because aviation remains one of the harder sectors of the economy to decarbonise.

Battery-electric aircraft can operate without burning jet fuel during flight, eliminating the associated direct carbon emissions from their electric operation. Where batteries are charged using increasingly renewable electricity, the overall environmental benefits could become more significant.

Regional aviation is a particularly interesting place to begin because many flights cover relatively short distances, yet conventional aircraft still need to burn fuel throughout those journeys.

Electric propulsion also offers the possibility of quieter aircraft, while lower operating costs could potentially make smaller regional airports and less heavily travelled routes commercially viable.

Forslund believes this could ultimately enable “more affordable, frequent, and cleaner air service to and from airports closer to home”.

The Big Battery Problem

Despite the successful X1 flight, batteries remain the fundamental obstacle preventing large commercial aircraft from simply swapping their jet engines for electric motors.

Jet fuel contains far more usable energy for its weight than today’s batteries, and weight matters enormously in aviation. Adding enough batteries to fly substantially further also makes an aircraft heavier, which in turn requires more energy to keep it airborne.

That explains an important distinction behind Heart’s programme. The X1 demonstrator that has just flown is entirely battery-electric, although the commercial ES-30 aircraft it is helping Heart develop will actually be hybrid-electric.

The 30-seat ES-30 is being designed to combine batteries and electric propulsion with a combustion-powered range extender, allowing Heart to pursue commercially useful regional routes without depending on battery improvements that have yet to arrive.

Rather than undermining the achievement, that compromise illustrates where electric aviation realistically stands today. Batteries can increasingly power larger aircraft, although their weight and energy density still limit the distances those aircraft can practically travel.

From Demonstrator To Airliner

Heart Aerospace, which was actually founded in Sweden but is now headquartered in Los Angeles, is already developing the first pre-production ES-30 at its pilot manufacturing facility in California.

Flight testing is scheduled to begin in 2028, with entry into commercial service targeted for 2031. The aircraft is being developed for certification under the same FAA Part 25 framework governing commercial airliners, meaning substantial testing and regulatory work still lies ahead.

There is certainly commercial interest, with Heart reporting customer commitments from airlines including United Airlines, Air Canada and JSX.

Michael Leskinen, Chief Financial Officer of United Airlines, said electric commercial aircraft have “real potential to deliver a better travel experience for passengers while strengthening our business”.

What Happens Next?

Turning a successful 27-minute demonstration into an aircraft carrying paying passengers will require considerably more than proving electric motors can lift an airliner-sized aircraft.

For example, Heart must successfully develop and test its pre-production ES-30, complete certification, demonstrate commercially acceptable reliability and convince airlines that its promised operating savings can be achieved in everyday service.

Battery development will also be a particularly important element. Improvements in energy density could allow future aircraft to travel further electrically without adding excessive weight, gradually reducing dependence on the combustion range extender and increasing the environmental benefits.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, Heart’s achievement provides an interesting example of how decarbonisation can increasingly be driven by economics as well as environmental targets. If electric propulsion genuinely reduces energy and maintenance costs, airlines could have a strong commercial reason to adopt cleaner aircraft rather than relying solely on regulation to encourage them.

The flight also demonstrates why sustainability breakthroughs need to be viewed realistically. The X1 has not solved aviation’s emissions problem, and Heart’s first commercial aircraft will still use fuel when its range extender is required. What it has demonstrated is that battery-electric propulsion can now operate successfully at a scale that would have seemed extremely ambitious only a few years ago.

The next stage will determine whether that engineering achievement can become a commercially viable aircraft. For example, if battery performance continues improving and Heart can deliver the reliability, certification and operating savings it is promising, electric propulsion could begin making some of aviation’s shortest journeys cleaner long before completely electric long-distance flight becomes practical.

Sustainability-in-Tech : Solar Sets New UK Record

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Britain generated more electricity from solar power than ever before in July, underlining how rapidly renewable energy is becoming a mainstream part of the UK’s electricity system while strengthening energy security and helping reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

A Record Month For Solar

Solar energy supplied a record 14.4 per cent of Great Britain’s electricity during July, comfortably surpassing the previous monthly record of 12.4 per cent, which had been set only two months earlier.

According to data from the National Energy System Operator (NESO), solar generation was also 50 per cent higher than in July last year, producing a total of 3.2 terawatt-hours of electricity during the month. The increase reflected a combination of unusually sunny weather and the continued rapid expansion of solar installations across the country.

Chris Hewett, Chief Executive of Solar Energy UK, said: “Fifteen years ago, solar energy was a footnote in the electricity mix. Now it is a major player, delivering home-grown, cheap, clean and reliable energy. It’s a success story that the whole nation should be proud of.”

More Panels, More Sun, And More Power

Whilst July was clearly extremely sunny and warm this year, Solar Energy UK is keen to highlight that the new record has not been driven by the favourable weather alone.

For example, official figures show that 142,536 new solar installations were completed during the first half of 2026, making it the busiest six-month period for new installations since the end of the Feed-in Tariff subsidy era. Most of these were domestic rooftop systems, reflecting growing consumer interest in generating electricity at home as energy prices remain a significant concern.

Commercial rooftop installations on warehouses, factories and supermarkets have also continued to expand, although many are not fully reflected in official installation statistics because they often fall outside the planning system. Together with larger solar farms, they have substantially increased Britain’s overall generating capacity.

The figures also seem to illustrate how the economics of solar have changed. For example, falling equipment costs, improved panel efficiency and stronger financial returns mean that many installations are now commercially attractive without relying on government subsidies.

Building A More Resilient Energy System

The record also highlights an important sustainability benefit beyond simply generating clean electricity.

Unlike fossil-fuel power stations, solar panels produce electricity without releasing carbon dioxide during operation while reducing the amount of imported gas needed to meet daytime electricity demand. Every additional unit of renewable electricity therefore helps improve both energy security and carbon reduction.

Julian Leslie, Strategic Energy Planning Director and Chief Engineer at the National Energy System Operator (NESO), which operates Great Britain’s electricity system, said: “These new records show the increasing power of solar. It’s hard to believe how far Britain has come over the past quarter of a century, with renewables now producing around 60% of our electricity – up from just 3% in the year 2000.”

He added: “Enabling low-carbon technologies like solar to play their part in our energy future is critical to helping us on our journey towards building a cleaner energy future.”

Growing investment in battery energy storage is also making solar more valuable by allowing excess electricity generated during sunny periods to be stored and used later, helping smooth fluctuations in renewable generation while reducing pressure on the electricity grid.

A New Chapter For Rooftop Solar

It’s worth noting here also that the growth of household solar looks set to receive another boost later this month.

From 27 August, new legislation will allow plug-in solar kits to be sold legally in the UK for the first time. Unlike conventional rooftop systems, these compact panels can simply be plugged into a standard household socket, allowing people living in rented accommodation or properties without suitable roofs to generate some of their own electricity without major installation work. The systems are expected to cost around £400 and could save households between £70 and £110 per year.

Although these systems did not contribute to July’s record, they represent another example of how solar generation is becoming accessible to a much wider range of households.

At the same time, larger utility-scale projects continue to expand. Britain’s largest operational solar farm, Cleve Hill in Kent, is already generating electricity, while even larger developments remain under construction, illustrating that growth is occurring across every scale of deployment.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, July’s record demonstrates that renewable electricity is becoming an increasingly important part of the UK’s energy infrastructure rather than an occasional supplement to conventional power generation. As solar capacity continues to expand, organisations are likely to benefit from greater energy security, lower long-term exposure to fossil-fuel price volatility and continued progress towards national carbon reduction targets.

The figures also reinforce the growing commercial case for on-site renewable generation. Falling installation costs, improving battery storage and rising electricity prices continue to strengthen the financial case for businesses to invest in rooftop solar, particularly for organisations with large warehouses, offices or manufacturing facilities that consume significant daytime electricity.

Britain’s latest solar milestone also illustrates how sustainability and economic resilience are becoming increasingly closely linked. Greater use of home-grown renewable energy not only reduces greenhouse gas emissions but also helps create a more diverse and resilient electricity system that is less exposed to global fuel markets, providing long-term environmental and economic benefits for businesses and consumers alike.

Sustainability-In-Tech : 3D-Printed Battery Could Speed Up Net Zero

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast have developed a low-cost 3D-printed battery that could help overcome one of renewable energy’s biggest obstacles by making long-duration electricity storage cheaper, more reliable and easier to research, potentially accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels.

What Problem Are Researchers Trying To Solve?

Renewable energy generation continues to expand rapidly around the world, yet one major challenge remains unresolved. Wind turbines only generate electricity when the wind blows, while solar panels stop producing power overnight or during periods of poor weather.

That means electricity generated from renewable sources must be stored efficiently so it can be used whenever demand requires it. Without reliable energy storage, electricity grids continue to rely on fossil-fuel power stations to bridge the gaps when renewable generation falls.

As Dr Hugh O’Connor from Queen’s University Belfast explains: “Tackling climate change is widely recognised as one of the major challenges facing modern society.”

He also points out: “The biggest challenge with renewable energy is simple – we cannot control when the sun shines or when the wind blows. The uncomfortable reality is that clean energy still only makes up a small share of our overall energy use – around just 16 per cent in both the UK and Ireland.”

The research team believes solving the storage challenge is essential if renewable energy is to replace fossil fuels on a much larger scale.

Why Flow Batteries Matter

Much of today’s attention seems to be focused on lithium-ion batteries, which already power smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles. Although highly effective for many applications, they become increasingly expensive for storing very large amounts of electricity over long periods.

Unlike lithium-ion batteries, which store energy within solid electrodes, flow batteries store it in liquid electrolytes held in external tanks. This makes them particularly well suited to grid-scale energy storage, where large amounts of renewable electricity may need to be stored for many hours before being released.

Most commercial flow batteries currently rely on vanadium, a metal that is produced in relatively few parts of the world and whose price can fluctuate significantly. Queen’s researchers have instead developed a battery based on iron, which is far more readily available and considerably less vulnerable to supply constraints.

The team also points out that flow batteries use safer aqueous chemistry than lithium-ion systems while avoiding the ethical concerns associated with cobalt mining that has historically been linked with many lithium-ion batteries.

A Battery That Costs A Fraction Of The Price

The breakthrough began during Dr O’Connor’s PhD research when he discovered that purchasing a laboratory flow battery cell could cost between £2,000 and £3,000.

Rather than accepting that cost, he began designing and manufacturing his own using 3D printing.

Describing the project, Dr O’Connor said: “As part of my PhD research, I realised how expensive it was to buy a flow battery cell – anything up to £3,000 – so I started 3D-printing them. After a lot of trial and error, eventually these started to work really well and I was able to create one for around £75.”

Reducing the cost of individual research cells makes advanced battery research accessible to many more laboratories while allowing researchers to test new battery chemistries much more affordably.

Why Standardisation Could Be The Bigger Breakthrough

Perhaps the most significant achievement is not the battery itself but the way the researchers have chosen to share it. For example, Dr O’Connor discovered that laboratories around the world were often obtaining different experimental results simply because they were using different battery designs and testing methods. That inconsistency made it difficult to compare findings or build confidently on each other’s work.

He explained: “For research to move forward, the way we use flow batteries needs to be standardised.”

Instead of commercialising the design, the Queen’s team produced what Dr O’Connor describes as an “Ikea-style” instruction manual and distributed both the battery design and assembly guidance to research groups worldwide.

The initiative has already brought together more than 35 research groups, including teams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University and the University of Cambridge, all using identical battery cells and testing protocols.

Dr Josh Bailey, a fellow researcher at Queen’s University Belfast, said: “It’s been fantastic to see that we’re already making global impact. By distributing the Queen’s cell around the world, we have been able to lead a large, international research study.”

He added that the collaboration is “helping to accelerate breakthroughs in long-duration energy storage, advance the transition away from fossil fuels, and firmly position our team at Queen’s as leading the development of clean, reliable energy technologies.”

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, the research highlights that long-duration energy storage is becoming one of the most commercially important technologies supporting the transition to net zero. Reliable, affordable storage allows renewable electricity to be used more efficiently, helping reduce dependence on fossil fuels while making electricity systems more resilient.

The project also demonstrates how sustainability innovation increasingly delivers value by solving several challenges at once. The Queen’s battery reduces costs, uses a more abundant raw material, improves research consistency and encourages international collaboration, all of which could accelerate the commercial deployment of cleaner energy technologies.

Perhaps most importantly, the decision to make the battery design openly available illustrates that collaboration can sometimes create greater long-term impact than protecting intellectual property. As businesses and researchers work towards ambitious climate targets, innovations that are affordable, reproducible and easily shared may prove just as valuable as the scientific breakthroughs themselves, helping sustainable technologies move more quickly from the laboratory into widespread commercial use.

Sustainability-In-Tech : A New Way To Clean Forever Chemicals

Posted on by Paul Stradling

Scientists have developed what could become one of the first practical ways to remove harmful “forever chemicals” from contaminated farmland at scale, combining plant-based clean-up with carbon removal in an approach that could make environmental remediation far more affordable while helping tackle climate change.

What Problem Are Scientists Trying To Solve?

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as forever chemicals, have become one of the world’s most persistent environmental pollutants.

Used for decades in products ranging from non-stick cookware and waterproof clothing to firefighting foams and industrial manufacturing, PFAS resist natural breakdown and can remain in soil and water for many years. Their persistence has led to growing concern because exposure has been linked to a range of health issues, including certain cancers, liver damage, thyroid disease and immune system problems.

One of the less widely recognised sources of contamination comes from sewage sludge, often referred to as biosolids, which has been spread on agricultural land as fertiliser for decades in many countries. While providing valuable nutrients, this sludge has also introduced PFAS into farmland, where the chemicals can move into crops, groundwater and eventually the food chain.

As the Yale University research team explains in its paper: “PFAS contamination of agricultural soils represents a pervasive and persistent environmental challenge.”

A Different Way To Clean Contaminated Land

Traditional methods for cleaning PFAS-contaminated soil are both disruptive and extremely expensive. They often involve excavating large volumes of soil or heating it to very high temperatures, approaches that can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars per hectare while leaving farmland temporarily unusable.

Researchers from Yale University have instead proposed an integrated approach that works with the land rather than removing it.

The process begins by applying finely crushed alkaline rock to contaminated fields. This raises the soil’s pH, making key PFAS compounds more mobile and easier for certain plants to absorb.

Farmers then grow crops known to take up PFAS efficiently, including hemp and certain grasses. Once harvested, the contaminated biomass is heated through a process known as pyrolysis. The high temperatures destroy the targeted PFAS while producing biochar, a stable carbon-rich material that can be returned to the soil to help reduce further PFAS movement and improve soil health.

The researchers describe the approach as combining “phytoremediation, biochar production, and enhanced weathering to simultaneously remove PFAS from soil, immobilise residual contamination, and achieve durable carbon dioxide removal.”

Faster, Cheaper And Better For The Climate

One of the most significant findings is that the different elements reinforce one another. For example, the study found that managing soil pH accelerated the removal of PFOS, one of the most common and tightly regulated PFAS compounds, reducing remediation times by more than a decade under typical contamination levels.

The economics also appear promising. The researchers estimate median remediation costs of around US$1,460 per hectare per year, more than an order of magnitude lower than conventional techniques, which often cost between US$0.8 million and US$1.6 million per hectare.

Unlike traditional clean-up methods, the proposed system also delivers significant environmental benefits. Applying crushed rock helps remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through enhanced weathering, while biochar locks carbon into the soil for the long term.

National modelling suggests that, if widely adopted across PFAS-contaminated US farmland, the approach could remove around 10.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, equivalent to approximately 4 to 6 per cent of the country’s 2050 carbon removal target.

Helping Farmers Rather Than Displacing Them

Another important aspect of the research is that it aims to keep farmland productive. For example, conventional remediation often requires contaminated land to be excavated or taken out of agricultural use altogether. By contrast, the Yale approach allows farmers to continue managing their land while progressively reducing contamination.

The researchers note that the strategy “empowers the communities most impacted by contamination—farmers—to directly remediate their land while potentially maintaining productive use.”

The study also highlights how future improvements could make the process even more effective. Researchers believe better PFAS-absorbing plant species, together with advances in crop breeding and biochar production, could further reduce costs and shorten remediation times.

Not A Complete Solution Yet

Although the findings are encouraging, the researchers are careful not to present the approach as a complete answer to the PFAS problem.

The work is essentially based on modelling supported by experimental data, and large-scale field deployment will still need to demonstrate how the system performs under different soil types, climates and farming conditions. Questions also remain about the long-term stability of biochar’s ability to immobilise PFAS and how the approach should be adapted for heavily contaminated sites.

The researchers therefore describe their work as providing “a viable pathway to restore contaminated farmland, mitigate PFAS exposure risks, and contribute meaningfully to national climate mitigation goals”, rather than a finished commercial solution.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For businesses, the research demonstrates how environmental innovation is increasingly addressing multiple challenges at the same time rather than solving one problem in isolation. In this case, the same technology has the potential to reduce hazardous pollution, restore agricultural land, protect food production and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The work also highlights growing commercial opportunities in environmental remediation. As governments strengthen regulation around PFAS and other persistent pollutants, demand is likely to increase for technologies that can deliver practical, scalable and cost-effective clean-up without disrupting productive land use. Companies involved in agriculture, environmental services, carbon markets and green technology may therefore find new opportunities emerging as these solutions move from research into commercial deployment.

More broadly, the study reflects a wider change in sustainable innovation. Increasingly, the most valuable environmental technologies are those capable of delivering several measurable benefits at once, combining pollution reduction, climate mitigation, resource recovery and economic viability into a single integrated solution. As sustainability moves from compliance to competitive advantage, approaches like this are likely to become an increasingly important part of the transition to a lower-impact economy.