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Environment

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  • 5 min

Can Electric Vehicle Batteries Be Recycled?

Between 2000 and 2018, the number of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) manufactured was multiplied by 80. In 2018, 66% of them were used in electric vehicles (EVs). The planned development of electric mobility will increase demand for batteries, with the International Energy Agency estimating that between 2019 and 2030, battery demand will grow 17-fold. This situation raises many questions related to the materials used to manufacture these batteries: what resources are involved? What are the environmental impacts of extracting them? Can they be recycled? When looking into the materials in the LIBs that are currently used in the vast majority of…
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  • 3 min

Earth Day 2021: Technology Innovation Can Restore Our Planet

This year’s Earth Day theme is restoration. We need to reverse the detrimental effects of climate change and stop the pollution of our eco-system to preserve our planet for future generations. Consider this. Every year we are losing 4.7 million hectares of forests, an area larger than Denmark, according to UN data. For sports fans, this is the equivalent of more than 2.5 million soccer fields, based on an average field size of 1.86 acres. Planting billions of trees across the world is an immediate and effective way to combat reforestation and take carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere to tackle the…
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  • 3 min

IBM Commits To Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions By 2030

IBM announced that it will achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to further its decades-long work to address the global climate crisis. The company will accomplish this goal by prioritizing actual reductions in its emissions, energy efficiency efforts and increased clean energy use across the more than 175 countries where it operates. “I am proud that IBM is leading the way by taking actions to significantly reduce emissions,” said Arvind Krishna, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, IBM. “The climate crisis is one of the most pressing issues of our time. IBM’s net zero pledge is a bold step…
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  • 4 min

Amazon Funds Urban Greening Program to Increase Climate-Resilience of German Cities

Amazon announced a €3.75 million commitment to The Nature Conservancy in an effort to reduce climate change risks and increase species biodiversity in three German cities. The initial project is in Berlin’s Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district. Learnings will be applied in two other German locations, and then shared across other European cities. With this, Amazon is recognizing the urgency of the climate crisis and its impacts on urban communities. The announcement follows The Climate Pledge, the company’s commitment to be net zero carbon by 2040. Amazon’s commitment will fund The Nature Conservancy’s Urban Greening program, which uses nature-based solutions to help cities become more climate-change resilient. The program will…
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  • 3 min

Who Has The Greenest Cloud? – The Impacts Of Cloud Computing On The Environment

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud are the three biggest cloud providers as of Q4 2019 based on market share, Synergy Research Group reports.   Together, these three providers account for around 60% of the market share of the global cloud infrastructure. Apart from being practically essential for a huge chunk of global IT operations, the cloud infrastructure is also contributing something far from desirable — carbon emissions. On the whole, The Shift Project estimates the carbon footprint of the ICT sector to be increasing. From the previous year’s 2.5%, it has now become about 3.7% of…
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  • 2 min

Microsoft Announces It Will Be Carbon Negative By 2030

Microsoft Corp. announced on January 16 an ambitious goal and a new plan to reduce and ultimately remove its carbon footprint. By 2030 Microsoft will be carbon negative, and by 2050 Microsoft will remove from the environment all the carbon the company has emitted either directly or by electrical consumption since it was founded in 1975. At an event at its Redmond campus, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, President Brad Smith, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood, and Chief Environmental Officer Lucas Joppa announced the company’s new goals and a detailed plan to become carbon negative. “While the world will…
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  • 2 min

Effects Of Cloud Computing On The Environment

This may be surprising  at first– cloud computing impacts the environment. How so? Let’s find out. Cloud computing saves energy With cloud-based computing, there is less need for physical structures to house the servers of the data centers. The servers need to be up and running 24/7. Needless to say, this is a lot of energy consumed. With businesses and companies taking advantage of cloud services, the bulk of the infrastructure will be shouldered by the service provider instead of multiple companies having to run dozens of servers at the same time. Cloud computing lessens the carbon footprint With less…
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  • 2 min

Google: Collaborating To Protect Nearly Anonymous Animals

When you have a lot of people working in a Google Doc it can look like a zoo, with anonymous animals popping into your document to write (or howl, bark or moo) their feedback. Today, 13 new animals—like the african wild dog, grey reef shark and cheetah—are joining the pack. Though they may be excellent collaborators, they also need our help. Google is teaming up with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Netflix’s “Our Planet” to raise awareness around animals that are at risk. According to WWF, wildlife populations have dwindled by 60 percent in less than five decades. And with nearly 50 species…
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