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Resource efficiency 5 Dec 2018

Adaptation to extreme temperatures

A study published in PLOS ONE addresses the increasing challenges climate change and extreme temperatures pose to individuals and their health. The aim of the paper is to better understand the roles that tangible assets (e.g., physical or financial) and intangible assets (e.g., human or social) play in the way older adults adapt to extreme temperatures, the types of adaptive…...

Resource efficiency 29 Nov 2018

New EU provisional agreement on recycled and organic fertilisers

by Kees Roest PhD BSc

On Tuesday 20 November, the European Parliament and the Council agreed on new rules enabling access to the EU single market for fertilisers made from organic or recycled materials. The agreement represents a success of long negotiations on rules on fertilisers, already started in 2016, when the Commission announced a legislative proposal on fertilizing products, in line with the Circular…...

Resource efficiency 30 Oct 2018

Global Green Economy Index 2018

by Kees Roest PhD BSc

The results from the new 2018 Global Green Economy Index™ (GGEI) are online. This 6th edition covers 130 countries (up from 80 in the 2016 edition). Like in past years,...

Freshwater resources management

Drought 2018: maize crop benefits from treated wastewater

4 Sep 2018 by Ruud Bartholomeus PhD MSc

The 2018 drought affected agriculture heavily, especially in the sandy Eastern part of the Netherlands where freshwater supply by rivers is not possible. Treated wastewater is increasingly being considered as freshwater source for irrigation. Our experimental site in Haaksbergen clearly showed the benefits for crop yields of subsurface irrigation using treated wastewater. Additionally, the drought provides insight in the ‘worst...

Resource efficiency

Wastewater treatment: A critical component of a circular economy

29 Aug 2018 by Kees Roest PhD BSc

In a blog Diego Juan Rodriguez, Senior Economist at the Water Global Practice of The World Bank Group, writes about ‘wastewater from waste to resource’. Worldwide, the majority of wastewater is neither collected nor treated. Wastewater is a valuable resource, but it is often seen as a burden to be disposed of. This perception needs to change. Shifting Paradigms: From...

Resource efficiency 10 Dec 2018

Policy note about mineral mining exploration

by Kees Roest PhD BSc

Newcastle University and the International Union of Geological Sciences published a policy note about what is needed to ensure the future of mineral resources for addressing climate change. To make any far reaching progress in producing the required sustainable technologies for curbing carbon emissions, strategies are needed to ensure the future supply of minerals, including exploration and mining. According to…...

Resource efficiency 10 Dec 2018

50 climate solutions from Chinese cities

by Kees Roest PhD BSc

This publication is an overview of best practices from cities taking action on climate change, highlights case studies where cities in China have embraced means of ensuring more sustainable and climate-resilient growth. The solutions include reducing energy consumption, improving waste management, promoting green spaces, as well as introducing clean-fuel vehicles and public transport....