Students learn about power generation using river currents. A white paper is a focused analysis often used to describe how a technology solves a problem. In this literacy activity, students write a simplified version of a white paper on an alternative electrical power generation technology. In the process, they develop their critical thinking skills and become aware of the challenge and promise of technological innovation that engineers help to make possible. This activity is geared towards fifth grade and older students and computer capabilities are required. Some portions of the activity may be appropriate with younger students. CAPTION: Upper Left: Trey Taylor, President of Verdant Power, talks about green power with a New York City sixth-grade class. Lower Left: Verdant Power logo. Center: Verdant Power's turbine evaluation vessel in New York's East River. In the background is a conventional power plant. Upper Right: The propeller-like turbine can be raised and lowered from the platform of the turbine evaluation vessel. Lower Right: Near the East River, Mr. Taylor explains to the class how water currents can generate electric power.

Our world is the only planet, as far as we know, which harbors life. The number of humans on our planet has grown tremendously in recent centuries. In 1800 one billion humans occupied our earth; on 15 November 2022, this number reached 8 billion.

A result of this growth, the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary greenhouse gas emitted by human activities, drastically increased. The increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere foster the long-term increase of our earth’s temperatures, also referred to as global warming.

While the earth’s population grew, so did our mass consumption society. After the Second World War humanity witnessed gigantic global economic development with great technological improvements. Computers, laptops, airplanes, tablets and Internet of Things connected humans all over the world. The hunger for plastics and steel grew as all products had to be manufactured in ever-increasing volumes. As the economy developed, our consumption grew apace.

The healthcare sector has seen the same increase of consumption. The number of patients grew, and so did the number of single-use medical products. As products become more complex and more different materials were combined., recycling became more difficult. Thus, hospitals transformed into waste factories with ever-growing waste streams. The consumption of (disposable) medical devices takes up scarce raw materials and contributes to the growing CO2 emissions.

In this book, Van Straten, Alvino and Horeman present their findings on how to create a sustainable healthcare economy by introducing different circular strategies. In 9 chapters, they present a wide variation of studies as practical cases to show what strategies and actions can be taken in order to implement sustainable strategies for a circular healthcare.

This book was written in line with the courses the authors developed at TU Extension School, the open online education edX platform of Delft University of Technology/TU Delft, a leading university in science and technology, recognized for its world-class research. This book is a manual for everyone who follows the online course ‘Circular strategies for a sustainable healthcare’, but certainly also for everyone who wants to discover more about circular strategies and wants to understand the principles and practices of circular economy and urban mining. This book is suitable for students, researchers, policymakers and practitioners in the fields of healthcare sustainability, management, business and economics.

Students learn how the process of soil solarization is used to pasteurize agricultural fields before planting crops. Soil solarization is a pest control technique in agriculture that uses the sun’s radiation to heat the soil and eliminate unwanted pests that could harm the crops. The approach is compared to other pest control methods such as fumigation and herbicide application, highlighting the respective benefits and drawbacks. In preparation for the associated hands-on activity on soil biosolarization, students learn how changing the variables involved in the solarizing process (such as the tarp material, soil water content and addition of organic matter) impacts the technique’s effectiveness. A PowerPoint® presentation and pre/post-quiz is provided.

How does infrastructure meet our needs? What happens when we are cut off from that supporting infrastructure? As a class, students brainstorm, identify and explore the pathways where their food, water and energy originate, and where wastewater and solid waste go. After creating a diagram that maps a neighborhood's inputs and waste outputs, closed and open system concepts are introduced by imagining the neighborhood enclosed in a giant dome, cut off from its infrastructure systems. Students consider the implications and the importance of sustainable resource and waste management. They learn that resources are interdependent and that recycling wastes into resources is key to sustain a closed system.

Student teams find solutions to hypothetical challenge scenarios that require them to sustainably manage both resources and wastes. They begin by creating a card representing themselves and the resources (inputs) they need and wastes (outputs) they produce. Then they incorporate additional cards for food and energy components and associated necessary resources and waste products. They draw connections between outputs that provide inputs for other needs, and explore the problem of using linear solutions in resource-limited environments. Then students incorporate cards based on biorecycling technologies, such as algae photobioreactors and anaerobic digesters in order to make circular connections. Finally, the student teams present their complete biorecycling engineering solutions to their scenarios in poster format by connecting outputs to inputs, and showing the cycles of how wastes become resources.

Students begin by reading Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" as an example of how overdevelopment can cause long-lasting environmental destruction. Students discuss how to balance the needs of the environment with the needs of human industry. Student teams are asked to serve as natural resource engineers, city planning engineers and civil engineers with the task to replant the nearly destroyed forest and develop a sustainable community design that can co-exist with the re-established natural area.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Domesticated edible insects are a sustainable protein source that has been gaining global attention. P. brevitarsis is one such species, and their larvae can also eat decaying organic waste and turn it into a plant-growth promoting mixture. But organic matter like this is high in lignocellulose, which is difficult to digest. In fact, these larvae lack the enzymes needed to break lignocellulose down on their own. So, researchers checked their microbiome for microbial genes able to fill in the gaps. The researchers established a comprehensive reference catalog of gut microbial and host genes. Between the two sets of genes, lignocellulose-degrading enzymes were abundant and highly diversified. P. brevitarsis larvae also selectively enriched their microbiome for lignocellulose-degrading microbes and had physiological adaptations that assisted in lignocellulose degradation..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This course explores policy and planning for sustainable development. It critically examines concept of sustainability as a process of social, organizational, and political development drawing on cases from the U.S. and Europe. It also explores pathways to sustainability through debates on ecological modernization; sustainable technology development, international and intergenerational fairness, and democratic governance.

These lessons were created with the aim of highlighting the need to reduce waste and being more sustainable. The lessons are targeted for Second Level Primary School Children (Primary 4-7) with Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Areas in Expressive Arts, Science, Social Studies and Technologies.

Students explore energy efficiency, focusing on renewable energy, by designing and building flat-plate solar water heaters. They apply their understanding of the three forms of heat transfer (conduction, convection and radiation), as well as how they relate to energy efficiency. They calculate the efficiency of the solar water heaters during initial and final tests and compare the efficiencies to those of models currently sold on the market (requiring some additional investigation by students). After comparing efficiencies, students explain how they would further improve their devices. Students learn about the trade-offs between efficiency and cost by calculating the total cost of their devices and evaluating cost per percent efficiency and per degree change of the water.

A design challenge activity that explores renewable energy, sustainable farming, and design thinking to create new solutions for growing food in school communities.

Did you know that cities take up less than 3% of the earth’s land surface, but more than 50% of the world’s population live in them? And, cities generate more than 70% of the global emissions? Large cities and their hinterlands (jointly called metropolitan regions) greatly contribute to global urbanization and sustainability challenges, yet are also key to resolving these same challenges.

If you are interested in the challenges of the 21st century metropolitan regions and how these can be solved from within the city and by its inhabitants, then this Sustainable Urban Development course is for you!

There are no simple solutions to these grand challenges! Rather the challenges cities face today require a holistic, systemic and transdisciplinary approach that spans different fields of expertise and disciplines such as urban planning, urban design, urban engineering, systems analysis, policy making, social sciences and entrepreneurship.

This MOOC is all about this integration of different fields of knowledge within the metropolitan context. The course is set up in a unique matrix format that lets you pursue your line of interest along a specific metropolitan challenge or a specific theme.

Because we are all part of the challenges as well as the solutions, we encourage you to participate actively! You will have the opportunity to explore the living conditions in your own city and compare your living environment with that of the global community.

Life in the city relies on the smooth operation of urban logistics. Everything from retail to services, construction to waste collection rely on an efficient and reliable freight transport system. However, with the increasing pressures of urbanization, this has to be balanced with the environmental and social impacts caused by transport activity. This is the challenge of City Logistics, a field of study that has significant practical implications for the world and the cities we live in. It is not merely a question of what is involved, but what can be done about urban freight transport to improve it for the sake of economic efficiency, quality of life, and sustainability.

From a systematic scientific foundation of the field, this course will take you on a journey to learn how city logistics is understood and practiced in cities around the world. Our instructors, members of a renowned global expert network, will teach you the basics of this highly complex social system. Using their experience in real-world projects, they will illustrate how the knowledge learnt in this course is applied across industry and the public sector.

This course caters primarily to university students or professionals working in urban transport infrastructure planning or logistics management. Whether you are simply curious about the topic or you intend to develop a career in these fields, this course will give you the tools you need to understand the complexities of urban freight transport systems.

The course emphasizes the theoretical foundation, the rigorous evaluation, and a multi-disciplinary approach to this complex area. Course participants will benefit from numerous case studies of best practice in selected cities around the world, in a variety of business settings. Our emphasis on the global perspective is particularly relevant, since an understanding of local culture and political climate is an important factor in the success of any city logistics intervention. The course will provide an avenue for students to learn from their peers about the challenges faced in their respective cities, and how to apply the principles learned to the challenges faced in their own cities.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Unlike for our ancestors, plants can provide all the nutrients we need Yet, worldwide, average meat consumption per person is higher than ever As the global population grows and natural resources wane, how sustainable is this trend? A special issue of the journal animal gathers seven articles that explore that question with respect to livestock production Collectively, they provide a data-driven basis for establishing sustainable livestock practices The research topics covered include the link between livestock and human health The importance of ruminant animals in transforming indigestible plant matter into high-quality food And the trade-offs to consider in minimizing the environmental footprint of livestock production Although not exhaustive, the gathered articles provide a useful look at the current state of livestock production And what the future could hold Editorial: Gill et al. "Livestock production evolving to contribute to sustainable societies..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

In this lesson students are introduced to Architect, Jeremy Peang-Meth. Mr. Peang-Meth was asked to design a local, renewable energy source for building located in the heart of New York City. While the tall buildings surrounding the site caused some obvious problems, there were also some benefits to the site. Students are asked to consider the constraints posed by the location of the building and then, based on their analysis of those constraints, to find a roof location that will provide good energy capture from the wind. After they have made that choice, students are invited to view Mr. Peang-Meth’s solution as he presents it in the provided video.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A new report in the journal Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education describes a laboratory activity meant to help students understand allelopathy – a type of chemical warfare used by plants to secure the resources needed to grow. In this process, plants release biochemicals that affect the growth or development of neighboring plants. It is a common tactic of invasive plant species. The mechanism has also been used in agricultural production systems as a sustainable and organic way to manage weeds and soil fertility. For example, horseradish produces the molecule sinigrin, which is hydrolyzed in the presence of the enzyme myrosinase to generate allyl isothiocyanate, or AITC. AITC has been shown to have allelopathic effects on lettuce, including reduced and delayed seed germination rates, decreased root hair growth, and decreased root length. Mustard green also contains AITC and is widely utilized to control weed growth in current agriculture production..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.