The more planners know about how people move around a city, the easier it is for them to develop sustainable transport policies. EU-funded researchers have used data from personal smart devices to shed light on urban mobility and improve transport planning tools and models.
Waste prunings from orchards, vineyards and olive groves could be a valuable source of biomass energy and help boost rural economies, say EU-funded researchers. The key ingredient is a sustainable supply chain.
The production of cement and lime involves fossil fuels and produces harmful greenhouse gases. Industry could change this, if scientists can develop a technology that can use solar power for high temperature industrial processes. The EU-funded SOLPART project has built lab-scale reactors that use a solar powered process to meet this need.
High-performance biocomposites derived from wheat straw and recycled paper? EU-funded researchers have developed new materials and components based on substances isolated from these renewable residues. They have also found a way to extract silica from the straw, offering a greener alternative to current production methods for this compound.
The EU-funded InnoRenew Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Slovenia will foster research on the innovative and efficient use of renewable resources in building materials.
Limited understanding of the role of aerosols in our climate system means a lack of policies addressing them. The EU-funded BACCHUS project aims to expand understanding of how clouds are affected, providing the knowledge for improved climate models and projections, and - eventually - more effective policies for sustainability and climate change mitigation.
