Blogs

Craig McGregor, Stellenbosch University South Africa’s coal-fired power stations are retiring. The country must replace a huge amount of electricity over the next two decades. Currently, coal still supplies 74% of the country’s power. But the government’s national energy plan has largely overlooked one technology South Africa is particularly suited to build: concentrating solar power. There are two main ways of generating electricity from the sun. Photovoltaic (rooftop) solar panels […]

Cement production is usually a major contributor to Carbon Dioxide emissions but a new study suggest ways to turn it into a method of Carbon capture instead. https://iono.fm/e/1707728 You can read more, including all the technicalities, here: https://www.techexplorist.com/cement-plants-giant-carbon-removal-machines/103904/

Concerns have been raised about what the environmental impact of thousands of tons of solar panels when they reach redundancy and need to be swapped out. Thankfully a new study has found that rather than simply ending up in landfills, if recycled properly, they could actually generate trillions in revenue. https://iono.fm/e/1707137 Find out more here: https://techxplore.com/news/2026-08-photovoltaic-billion-industry.html

Johann Frederich Kirsten, University of Johannesburg and Mduduzi Biyase, University of Johannesburg A long-standing idea in environmental research is that people are more likely to care about the environment, and do something to prevent environmental damage, once they earn enough to stop worrying about paying their bills. But what happens in rural communities with high levels of poverty, where money is scarce and environmental changes directly affect people’s livelihoods? We […]

Malawi has for a long time relied on hydropower but with droughts and extreme weather conditions having affected how much power can be produced at any given time, the country is turning to battery storage as the solution to their power woes. https://iono.fm/e/1706777 You can read more here: https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/08/malawi-bets-on-battery-storage-to-climate-proof-its-fragile-power-grid/

With air fryers already touted as a healthier way of cooking food, scientists decided to test whether their health benefits extend to airbourne pollutants and found vast differences in the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and ultrafine particles (UFPs) when compared to conventional and deep-fat frying. https://iono.fm/e/1706235 You can read more here: https://www.techexplorist.com/air-fryer-frying-pan-produces-less-air-pollution/101923/

Floating wind turbines have been thought about for a long time and have now become a reality in the shape of the EFGL floating offshore wind farm which is anchored 16km off the Occitanie coast. This wind farm though not only proves the concept but has added green credentials in that the foundations for the turbines also provide breeding grounds for marine life. https://iono.fm/e/1705993 Find out a lot more about […]

While 'loud budgeting' is said to be a relatively new concept, which is especially popular with Gen Z, financial advisors and journalists say it is a concept that has been around for a while. Essentially what it entails is being 'loud' about your financial situation rather than being secretive. Instead of pretending that everything is fine and spending money that you don't have because you don't want people to know […]