Browse by subject: Products & processes: Innovation (86)
What innovators can learn from... paint
31 Aug 2010
With roughly 400 million litres sold in the UK each year, the environmental impact of decorative paint is significant...
Weak signals: how to track a changing horizon
15 Jan 2010
What's a weak signal? And what do we do with it? Hugh Knowles tunes into the signals of the future that are indeed...
Weak signals from the future
09 Sep 2009
A cornucopia of climate solutions, or a tangle of unproven techno-fixes? As part of a series of visions for the future, ‘Weak...
Weak signals from the future
15 Jul 2009
What does the future hold? Water wars? Personal solar panels? Peer-to-peer renting? We've got our finger on the...
Waste vegetable fat to surface the roads
11 Jan 2010
Chip fat could be recycled to surface roads, following successful live trials in Bedfordshire.
Under pressure: the company putting turbines in gas pipes
17 Jun 2010
"There's enough pressure in the world's gas pipelines to make every nuclear power station redundant." Andrew...
Turbulent top-up
20 Jan 2010
Measuring no more than 200 microns across and embedded into car windscreens, 40 volt devices use piezoelectric polymers...
Top banana
06 Nov 2006
Scientists at Nagoya City University in Japan have come up with a process that turns fruit into clothing, paper and shopping bags...
The imitation game
08 Nov 2006
Caspar Henderson talks to biomimicry gurus Janine Benyus and William McDonough about the advantages of imitating nature...
Sustainable entrepreneur: The naked soap maker
25 Jun 2008
The man behind Lush strips down his business beliefs.
Spark plug: can EVs save the climate and the motor industry?
06 May 2010
Electric vehicles (EVs) are the flavour of the year. A hundred years after the petrol revolution swamped the first...
Solar with a light bypass
05 Nov 2006
US scientists have come up with a new technique that they say could make photovoltaics three times more efficient...
Solar into space
17 Aug 2009
California buys energy generated in space
Californians could be catching the rays come...
Second life for EV batteries
05 Feb 2010
The economics of electric vehicles (EV) has been strengthened by a battery re-use deal, as Nissan sells their lithium-ion...
Root canal
09 Nov 2006
Hate seeing those water wasting irrigation schemes that help bring lush vegetation to arid areas? So, it seems, do the Chinese...
Recycled paper cuts water use
22 Jun 2010
New efficient recycling process offers to reduce the paper industry’s water footprint, and produce stock that beats...
Pump primers
10 Aug 2009
From greenhouses in Ladakh to green homes in England, the Ashden Awards celebrate the world's leading breakthroughs...
Patent clarity
28 Mar 2008
Companies show less protective streak over IP to save the planet
Businesses usually fight tooth and nail...
Paper power
09 Jul 2008
Printable lightweight cellulose batteries on the horizon
Batteries have come a long way – and could have...
Next generation PV is smaller than small
16 Aug 2010
A surge in innovative design to capture sunlight could see all high-rise windows double up as photovoltaic panels,...
New turbine design to take wind off the radar
14 Jan 2010
The UK could add a further 5GW of wind power capacity if a new project succeeds in resolving one of the main objections...
New dispensers cut packaging by 96.3%
31 Mar 2010
Asda becomes first retailer to trial vending machines for fabric softener, cutting waste packaging by 96.3%.
Leaf service
10 Jul 2008
Indian leaves bring new life to disposable crockery
They’ve been used in rural India for...
Kinetic energy converters step up
22 Jul 2010
With a $350,000 grant, the race is on to harness power from the slightest swish of a skirt, twist of a wristwatch...
Innovative design can shape the future
04 Jan 2010
It’s up to today’s young designers to sketch out our future lifestyles. Trish Lorenz looks forward to a world...
Innovation with that ‘wow’ factor
28 Mar 2008
Innovation’s the lifeblood of the mainstream business world.
Sustainability advocates are starting to give...
Innovating for a low-carbon age
19 Mar 2009
As five climate change innovations vie for a $75,000 prize, Peter Madden asks you to vote for which will make the...
Hydro power that's fish friendly
18 Aug 2010
Small-scale, ecologically-sensitive hydropower could be part of the solution to our energy problems, Entec's Neil...
Home improvements
18 Jan 2010
With rising energy prices driving innovation, on-site recycling and micro-generation could see our homes minimise waste for us...
From water container to cutlery
16 Mar 2010
Designer Oscar Diaz has found something beautiful in the banal by transforming recycled plastic bottles into elegant cutlery...
From snake bites to solar lights: Sam Goldman is CEO, D.light
06 Aug 2010
It started with a scary night in an African hut. Now it's a multi-million dollar business bringing solar electricity...
Floating cities a vision of the future
12 Mar 2010
Two architectural companies are responding to the problem of rising sea levels, by fashioning cities that float.
Exchange of fire
28 Nov 2007
Does sustainability smother innovation? Nico Macdonald duels with Rob Webb.
Entrepreneurial ingenuity our best hope on climate change
05 May 2009
Our best hope on climate change, says Ed Crooks, Energy Editor of the Financial Times, lies in entrepreneurial ingenuity...
Diving robot runs on renewables
19 Jul 2010
NASA is using ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) to power the world’s first unmanned underwater vehicle running...
Disruptive innovation can lead to new ways of thinking
11 Jan 2010
Forum for the Future’s disruptive innovation cards have helped devise new business models and have even enabled...
CO2: the new green fuel?
04 May 2010
Imagine a green fuel that could power our cars, keep the wheels of industry turning, and wean us off our addiction to oil...
Co-operative weaves gold from arid land
25 Mar 2010
A small farmers' co-operative makes millions weaving carpets from a native agave.
Close competition for clean city cars
09 Feb 2010
A lauded British race car designer and a UK-based car company are touting their design for a sustainable urban car...
Chic cistern recycles water
15 Feb 2010
Chic, stylish and good for the planet: the elegant, self-contained design of Roca's new all-in-one washbasin and...
Catalysing disruption
03 Dec 2009
If we’re to rise to the huge challenges facing us, then business as usual, done a bit more efficiently, simply won’t cut it...
Breakthrough in cool glass
09 Jul 2008
Smart foil technology could cut need for air-con
Rich rewards surely lie in store for innovations that cut...
Biowaste plant for greener scotch
20 May 2010
Bruichladdich Distillery plans to build anaerobic digesters that convert waste into electricity, making Islay self-sufficient...
Bionic bacteria
15 Jan 2010
Instead of wrapping your tasty treats in plastic, why not wrap them in… bacteria? Design students think a form...
An answer to the hydrogen storage conundrum?
27 Jul 2010
French company McPhy Energy claim to have developed a way to store a lot more hydrogen at a lesser cost.
A way forward for rooftop micro-wind?
19 Jul 2010
Solar Aero Research has patented a bladeless wind turbine which poses no danger to bats and birds, and won't show up on ATC radar...
A fully functional future?
27 Feb 2008
More services - less stuff: it's the holy green grail, so why isn't it happening? Rebecca Willis outlines the barriers...
