Science: What scientific innovations will help future generations adapt to – and thrive in — a warmer world?

Ideas answering this question

PARC Hydrodynamic Separation (HDS) for cleaning water

Kelly Brieger

PARC’s breakthrough clean water platform technology, Hydrodynamic Separation (HDS), can potentially provide multiple ... more ...

Algae, BP Oil Spill, Clean Tech, Science, Water

Winds of Progress: University of Minnesota’s Rosemount Wind Power Research Station

Minnesota 2020

Eolos is the Ancient Greek god of wind and the namesake for a new wind power research station at the University of ... more ...

Campus Sustainability, Clean Tech, Education, Engineering, Green Communities, Renewable Energy, Wind

Biodegradable Alternatives to Plastic Mulch

OSU P3 Team, Plastic Mulch

The average person tends to know what plastic drip tape and soaker hoses are, but what is plastic mulch? In China alone, ... more ...

Agriculture, Education, Engineering, EPA P3, Green Communities, Science, Water

Fry a Turkey with the Sun!

If you’re hosting an Easter dinner, why not make it energy-free? GreenPowerScience shows you how to cook at turkey ... more ...

Green Living, Science, Solar

Salt-free farming

UNSW Australia

UNSW’s Associate Professor Greg Leslie has developed new technology that could offer new hope to farmers in ... more ...

Agriculture, Climate Change, Science, Water

University of South Florida: Innovating Generation ‘S’

Christian Wells

With a new School of Global Sustainability and a million-dollar Student Green Energy Fund, University of South Florida ... more ...

Agriculture, Biofuels, Business, Campus Sustainability, Clean Tech, Climate Change, Climate Leadership Awards, Education, Efficiency, Engineering, Green Building, Green Communities, Policy, Science, Water

Local Sources for Sustainable Energy‬

Minnesota 2020

How can communities take advantage of local resources to produce enough energy to meet their needs? This research ... more ...

Agriculture, Biofuels, Campus Sustainability, Clean Tech, Engineering, Renewable Energy, Science, Solar, Wind

Biochar Produces Better Crops and Cleaner Air

National Science Foundation

A multinational research team is developing biochars–fine-grained, highly porous charcoal that helps soils retain ... more ...

Agriculture, Science

Sparking the Algae Harvest

National Science Foundation

A team of engineers and scientists at North Carolina State University has developed a new method for harvesting marine ... more ...

Agriculture, Algae, Biofuels, Science

Engineering Bacteria to Make Biofuels

National Science Foundation

Researchers have re-engineered an anaerobic bacterium known as clostridia to prevent spore formation, a change that ... more ...

Biofuels, Science, Transportation

Oil-spill Cleanup Material: Coal Fly Ash

National Science Foundation

A team of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Central Florida is transforming fly ash–a waste ... more ...

Adaptation, Colleges and Universities, Education, Efficiency, Green Living, Science

Former Admiral Dennis McGinn says Choice Could Challenge Dependency

United States Energy and Security Council

Former Admiral and current president of the American Council on Renewable Energy Dennis McGinn discusses the power of ... more ...

Adaptation, Biofuels, Efficiency, Electric Cars, Green Communities, Green Living, Natural Gas, Renewable Energy, Transportation

Robert Swan’s Ganges River Expedition: “Don’t ask others to do what you’re not willing to do yourself”

Explorer and friend of Planet Forward's, Robert Swan, travels to the mouth of the Ganges River to see--first hand--the ... more ...

Green Communities, Natural Disasters, Water

Adapting Our Lives, Changing Our Legacies

Vietnam is one of the 10 countries considered most vulnerable to climate change. How are the people there coping with ... more ...

Adaptation, Agriculture, Climate Change, Education, Green Communities, Policy, Water

New Materials Turn Heat Into Electricity

National Science Foundation

Most of today’s power plants–from some of the largest solar arrays to nuclear energy facilities–rely ... more ...

Efficiency, Engineering, Renewable Energy, Science, Solar, Water

Smaller Particles Could Mean More Efficient Solar Panels

National Science Foundation

Studies done by Mark Lusk and colleagues at the Colorado School of Mines could significantly improve the efficiency of ... more ...

Adaptation, Architecture, Clean Tech, Engineering, Green Building, Green Living, Science, Solar

Mammals Seek Higher Elevations as Climate Warms

National Science Foundation

Many species of mammals in Yosemite National Park have shifted their home ranges to higher elevations over the last ... more ...

Adaptation, Climate Change, Science

Ocean Circulation Plays a Major Role in Controlling Greenhouse Gas Fluctuations

National Science Foundation

Over time, warming events in Greenland and the North Atlantic were followed by gradual cooling. These changes correlate ... more ...

Adaptation, Clean Tech, Climate Change, International Climate Negotiations, Oceans, Science, Water

Engineering Inspired by Nature

National Science Foundation

A research team at George Mason University is applying concepts from nature to the design of better buildings. Their ... more ...

Architecture, Biomimicry, Efficiency, Green Building, Green Communities, Science

Urban Infrastructure Suits Solar Architecture

Team New York Solar Decathlon

The Roofpod is designed to use underutilized rooftops, places where the sun exposure is greatest, to harness the vast ... more ...

Adaptation, Architecture, Efficiency, Engineering, Green Building, Green Living, Renewable Energy, Science, Solar, Solar Decathlon

New Technique Rapidly Analyzes Chemical Composition of Organic Aerosols

National Science Foundation

Researchers have developed a new way to monitor organic aerosols (OA)–a sizable class of atmospheric aerosols, ... more ...

Adaptation, Clean Tech, Climate Change, International Climate Negotiations, Science

Genetic Consequences of Climate Change

National Science Foundation

Recently, multiple NSF-funded researchers have documented genetic changes resulting from climate change. These studies ... more ...

Adaptation, Climate Change, Science

Scientists Urge Carbon Capture and Storage for Coal Power Plants

The same chemicals we use in shampoo and conditioner could capture CO2 from power plant smokestacks and help limit ... more ...

Business, Clean Tech, Climate Change, Efficiency, Engineering, Science

George Mason Studies Resilience Of Arctic People For Adaptation Research

National Science Foundation

George Mason University researchers are investigating the resilience of Arctic peoples to changes in their local ... more ...

Adaptation, Climate Change, Green Communities, Science

Expand the Role of Renewable Resources to Scale Back Fossil Fuels

We need to use more renewable resources as opposed to burning fossil fuels for obtaining energy. Global warming is ... more ...

Activism, Climate Change, Renewable Energy

New Climate Mode of Variability Links Ocean Climate and Ecosystem Change

National Science Foundation

Decadal fluctuations in ocean salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll, a variety of zooplankton species, and fish stocks in the ... more ...

Adaptation, Climate Change, Geothermal, International Climate Negotiations, Oceans, Science, Water

How Climate Change Is Choking Marine Ecosystems

National Science Foundation

While investigating the effects of climate change on nitrogen cycling in temperate coastal systems, Rhode Island ... more ...

Adaptation, Climate Change, Science, Water

Are Environmentalists Missing the Smoking Gun on Pollution?

Non Encrypted

Why are we still burning firewood without any smog controls at all? We seem to forget that there are way TOO MANY of us ... more ...

Activism, Adaptation, Green Living, Health, Humor, Policy, Science

Thoreau’s Woods Reveal Patterns of Climate Change

National Science Foundation

It is not often that a scientist collaborates with a writer and philosopher, let alone one that lived in a previous ... more ...

Adaptation, Climate Change, Science

Global Climate Change Teacher Institute

National Science Foundation

The development of the Global Climate Change Teacher Institute by Kurt Pregitzer of the Michigan Technological ... more ...

Climate Change, Education, Science

Ask Bill Nye

Is nuclear power safe? Could tornadoes be linked to climate change? Do you prefer the freedom of boxers or the security ... more ...

Ask an Expert, Biofuels, Climate Change, Education, Green Building, Green Living, Nuclear, Policy, Science, Solar, Transportation

Greenstreets: Drexel University Researchers Investigate Urban Ecosystem Improvements

National Science Foundation

Franco Montalto (assistant professor at Drexel University), Kim DiGiovanni (NSF Graduate Research Fellow), and Nandan ... more ...

Engineering, Green Building, Green Communities, Science

The Sustainable Fungus Among Us

Douglas A. Remington

Oyster mushrooms have a high rate of reproduction. If the substrate is ground up finely and ideal conditions are ... more ...

Agriculture, Education, Green Communities, Science

The world's oldest carbon experiment is helping predict what our climate will be like in 2100 if atmospheric CO2 levels continue to rise

There’s a virtual “climate crystal ball” just a few miles from Washington D.C. in Edgewater, MD, where ... more ...

Adaptation, Climate Change, Science

Using common practices to combat warm temps.

Ahmad Coleman

By using our commonsense in warmer climates by covering up ourselves with sunscreen,limiting our exposure to the sun, ... more ...

Adaptation, Climate Change, Green Building, Green Living, Health, Science

Palm Power: Brazil University Farms Fruit for Fuel

Jesse Starita

Researchers harvest oil from bocaiúva, a prominent Brazilian palm fruit, at Universidade Católica Dom Bosco (Dom Bosco ... more ...

Adaptation, Agriculture, Biofuels, Colleges and Universities, Green Living, Renewable Energy

Duke Alumnus David Brewster on a Sustainable Grid

EnerNOK is a business that's harnessing the power of community. They're building a network of large power users ... more ...

Adaptation, Business, Climate Change, Economics, Efficiency, Energy Storage

Retool Old Oil Wells into Geothermal and Solar Production Machines!

Paul Villella

The Next great advancements will come not through the single application technologies but from the synergies created ... more ...

Clean Tech, Geothermal, Renewable Energy, Solar

Media4Green: Using Multimedia to Promote Grassroots Movements

Today’s global social consciousness emerges from the environmental, economic, and social crises and unrest it must ... more ...

Activism, Education