Sustainability

How can science deliver solutions to global development problems? That was the question before us at one of the panels I moderated during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of New Champions 2013, or “Summer Davos,” the week of September 9 in Dalian, China.

Just outside of Thomaston Ga., a red dirt driveway winds its way through a forest of sweet gums, oaks, pines and beech trees, marking the lone driven track on a large swath of land.

Suburban sprawl might prove a solution if homes boast photovoltaics and electric cars

The industry must fight the perception that wind energy cannot compete with fossil fuels

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences suggests it will be "extremely challenging" to cut emissions and oil use by 80 percent by 2050

Converting savanna to sugar cane plantations could alter the local climate

Only a tiny fraction of corn grown in the U.S. directly feeds the nation’s people, and much of that is from high-fructose corn syrup

As a growing population stresses the world's food and water supplies, corporations and investors in wealthy countries are buying up foreign farmland and the freshwater perks that come with it

Can't unload those muffin stumps? In a biorefinery effort, Chinese researchers show how stale baked goods can be recycled to create ethanol, soap and detergent

A microbe-based technology does it all. Bye-bye, sewage; hello, power

Steven Chu on the futuristic batteries and "little weird" bacteria that will pave our way to energy independence

New technology converts all kinds of plant waste into usable fuel--and is part of a growing array of technologies aimed at island energy independence