P ERSONAL transportation offers people freedom, but this choice of freedom creates a conflict with growing environmental concerns and the sustainability of humanity's use of natural resources. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) improve fuel efficiency by optimizing powertrain operation and recovering kinetic energy during braking, hence reducing liquid fuel consumption in the transportation sector...

Electrochemical conversion of CO2 into fuels or chemical feedstocks is one the most promising methods for solving problems both fossil fuel depletion and global warming. Herein, we report...

Polyethercarbonate polyols from carbon dioxide (CO2) are starting to be synthesized on industrial scale. These polyols can be further processed into polyurethanes enabling CO2 to be utilized in large amounts. Utilization of CO2 as alternative carbon feedstock for polyols is motivated from the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fossil resource depletion. This article presents...

For almost two decades Brazil has become an important producer and consumer of biofuels as an energy alternative. The need to replace fossil fuels with clean fuels has given Brazilian ethanol an outstanding position. With the market promising, Brazil has been the scene of a growth of the cultivation of sugarcane monocultures to supply the sugarcane industry in the production of ethanol, sugar a...

Bacterial cellulose (BC), obtained by fermentation, is an innovative and promising material with a broad spectrum of potential applications. Despite the increasing efforts towards its industrialization, deeper understanding environmental impact related to BC production process still required. This work aimed at quantifying environmental, health, resource depletion impacts BC. An attributional l...

The d18O values of pedogenic calcites, phyllosilicates, and iron (oxyhydr)oxides from fossil soils throughout the southwestern United States show systematic paleolatitudinal and temporal trends that indicate a significant change in soil moisture conditions and atmospheric circulation patterns over southwestern Euramerica throughout latest Pennsylvanian and Early Permian time. A progressive depl...

Renewable energy integration into multi energy grids (MEG) is gradually getting popular due to the rapid depletion of fossil fuel resources and the global concern on GHG emissions through fossil fuel based energy conversion technologies. However, seasonal changes in solar and wind energy potentials make it challenging to increase the renewable energy capacity especially for urban applications w...

Fossil fuels depletion and increasing environmental impacts arising from their use call for seeking growing supplies from renewable and nuclear primary energy sources. However, it is necessary to simultaneously attend to both the electrical power needs and the specificities of the transport and industrial sector requirements. A major question posed by the shift away from traditional fossil fuel...