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Innovation
L.A. Port Project Aims to Reduce Wasteful Idling
Jan 13th, 2014 | By Amy Leibrock
Freight is an essential part of the world economy, and goods are largely moved with fossil fuels. But wait times, congestion, idling, and other factors all lead to wasted fuel and air pollution. With U.S. domestic freight expected to double and international freight to triple by the year 2035, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) is spurring development of information systems to improve the efficiency of moving goods. Here's how they hope to do it...
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Innovation
What Is Precision Agriculture?
Jan 10th, 2014 | By Nicole Rogers
With the global demand for calories expected to grow by almost 50% over the next 40 years, the question on many minds is how to produce enough food to feed the world population. Though crop yields in the United States have grown in the last decade, they must continue to grow — and some farms are starting to use precision agriculture to do just that.
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Innovation
Vecarius: Taking the Heat...and Using It
Dec 23rd, 2013 | By Amy Leibrock
Our global oil system is operating at near capacity—97 percent—which just isn't sustainable. Because 70% of oil consumption in the U.S. is used for ground transportation, reducing the amount of gas used by vehicles is key to heading off an impending crisis. Boston-based Vecarius, which recently won the 2013 Sustainable America/Greentown Labs Fellowship, is working to tackle this problem by turning vehicles' exhaust waste heat into energy, technology that can reduce fuel usage in vehicles by 5 to 10 percent. We talked to CEO Steven Casey to learn more about his innovative product.
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Innovation
Vecarius Wins Sustainable America/Greentown Labs Fellowship
Dec 9th, 2013 | By Amy Leibrock
We’re thrilled to announce the winner of the 2013 Sustainable America/Greentown Labs Fellowship. Vecarius, a vehicle waste-heat recovery company based in Boston, was chosen from a field of nine finalists who pitched their business ideas to a room of 60 entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, and students at a networking event Thursday at Greentown Labs in Somerville, Mass.
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Innovation
Turning Truckers Into Treehuggers
Dec 5th, 2013 | By Amy Leibrock
As more and more Americans realize the truth about idling their cars, we can’t forget about the millions of truckers transporting products for us across the nation’s highways. You might not realize how much time those trucks spend idling to power their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems inside the cabs of the trucks in which they basically live while on the road. Regulations require them to take at least an eight to 10 hour break every day—and for much of that time, their trucks are idling or using diesel-powered auxiliary units for power.
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Innovation
Finalists Announced for Sustainable America/Greentown Labs Fellowship
Nov 21st, 2013 | By Amy Leibrock
The applications are in for our new fellowship program, and we’re excited by all the innovative startups that applied. We’ve narrowed the applicant pool down to nine exciting ventures engaged in trying to solve a number of problems in agriculture and transportation via sustainable solutions.
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Innovation
Ag Innovations: Robotic Bug Trackers
Oct 23rd, 2013 | By Amy Leibrock
Here's a head-scratching statistic: In 2010, crop growers in the United States lost $20 billion a year due to insect damage despite spending $4.5 billion on pesticide applications. It turns out that agricultural pest management is a surprisingly inefficient system that involves sticky traps, updating spreadsheets, and a lot of legwork.
An Indiana-based startup, has come up with a way to save growers legwork, hassle, and money—and reduce the amount of pesticides sprayed on crops—by automating the insect-tracking process. We spoke with Kim Nicholson, Spensa Technologies' vice president of business development, to learn more about the product and the company.
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Innovation
Update: Deadline Extended for Cleantech Fellowship
Oct 21st, 2013 | By Amy Leibrock
Northeast-based cleantech startups have a little more time to enter the fellowship program Sustainable America is producing with Greentown Labs. The competition is open to start-ups engaged in sustainable solutions focused on transportation or agriculture.
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Innovation
And the Winners Are...
Oct 14th, 2013 | By Amy Leibrock
The results are in from the Village Capital VentureWell startup accelerator program that took place in Louisville this summer. Two innovative ventures were selected by their peers to receive $50,000 to continue growing their young companies.
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Innovation
Food and Fuel Event Calendar
Oct 3rd, 2013 | By Amy Leibrock
Part of our work here at Sustainable America is helping to spread the word and foster conversations about food and fuel issues. Here's a quick update about some of the great events Sustainable America is going to be a part of this fall.
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