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Geoengineering technologies such as injecting sulfur into the atmosphere to offset carbon dioxide will begin to seem less like science fiction and more like a reasonable solution, argues David Keith of Harvard Kennedy School. Not everyone's convinced that's a good idea, though. "Solar climate engineering is a flawed idea seeking an illusory solution to the wrong problem," counters Mike Hulme of King's College London.

Carbon Engineering has one idea for taking dangerous greenhouse gas emissions out of the air. It sounds like it's from a cartoon, but it's real life.

Recycling clothes is hard, thanks to mixed materials used to make them and the poor quality of recycled cotton. That's why fast fashion retailer H&M is now offering an annual $1 million prize for winners who can come up with better ways to recycle what we wear.

Turn off your air conditioner and stay cool in your shirt instead. That's the idea behind a new plastic-wrap-like material that Stanford University scientists say could be made into "cool" clothing, the use of which could slash emissions and energy consumption in buildings. If woven into fabric, the wearable cloth could keep humans cool on the hottest of days, eliminating the need to adjust the thermostat or crank up a fan. That could make a dent on a major source of U.S. greenhouse gases, the researchers say.

The citizens of four major European countries think the impacts of climate change such as severe floods and storms are already affecting them, according to a major new polling study. The research dispels the idea that global warming is widely seen as a future problem, and also shows strong support for action to tackle global warming, including subsidies for clean energy and big financial penalties for nations that refuse to be part of the international climate deal signed in Paris in 2015 - as US president Donald Trump has threatened.

When we first heard of green roofs, they sounded like a great idea, but one that would have a hard time gaining traction. Today, they are one of the great successes of green building, with more than 10,000 green roofs in the United States.

Based on the Wikipedia model, MIT started Climate CoLab, a collaborative online community centred around a series of annual contests that seek out promising ideas for fighting climate change. P

A 19-year-old Dutch student had a bright idea for ridding the sea of floating trash -- and now he's built a team of 100 people and is raising $2 million to fund his invention. The system uses long, floating barriers to passively guide floating trash to collection areas and is said to be capable of eliminating all waste larger than 1 millimeter

This year, the Environmental Leader Product & Project Awards have been opened for corporations to submit projects they have implemented that helped improve sustainability metrics (or for consultants to submit projects they have implemented for corporate partners). Here are a few ideas, examples of successful projects that have come across our desks in recent months. These are the types of projects that would be strong submissions to win a Top Project of the Year Award.

Developers in Japan built too many golf courses during a recent real estate boom, and now some of the under-used facilities are being converted into solar farms, with hundreds of thousands of solar panels lining former fairways and putting greens. Similar strategies are being considered in the U.S. as interest in the sport wanes

Good news on a technology that could revolutionize geothermal energy made waves at the American Geophysical Union meeting last week. Anyone who understands that the world's hunger for energy will push our planet beyond the point of no return without technological solutions will welcome the idea of CO2 plume geothermal power or CPG.

Researchers from Northeastern University studied how concrete buildings would fare under "aggressive global warming projections." They found that by 2025, cities could face steep repair bills as the concrete begins to fail. The American Concrete Institute is reviewing its standards for the thickness of concrete as related to climate change.

Big, boundary-pushing ideas - such as the Google founders' many varied tech endeavors - could help move the needle on sustainability in a more meaningful way.

What if everyone could have access to food that meets their dietary needs without preventing future generations from meeting theirs? That's the idea at the heart of sustainable nutrition. Increased attention to the environmental impacts of food types drives interest in sustainable nutrition, helping spur innovation and interest in those foods that can deliver nutritional value with a reduced environmental footprint.

A report by Frost & Sullivan found that government funding is making zero-energy buildings possible, but the idea is not widely known. "While governmental or regional funding are the main drivers of NZEB technologies, public-private funding is the most effective in sustaining the application of the NZEB concept and advancing its development globally," said Technical Insights industry analyst Jennifer Tan.

Should we invent big new things or deploy effective ideas that already exist? The conflict was neatly summarized by clean-energy entrepreneur Jigar Shah, in a message meant to push back against the announcement from Gates and his billionaire friends.

The political outcomes of COP21, the UN climate conference, may still be unknown, but at least we can expect substantial investment in clean energy following two initiatives announced earlier this week: Mission Innovation, a commitment from 20 participating countries to double their governmental and/or state-directed clean energy research and development investment over five years; and the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a global group of private investors who will support the commercialization of clean energy ideas

Climate negotiators in Paris are warming to the idea of "carbon farming," or sequestering carbon in soil. That's a critical adjunct to curbing emissions, since it allows the active removal of existing atmospheric carbon, experts say. "This is a game changer," said Andre Leu, president of IFOAM -- Organics International

Researchers say there's potentially a "brutally ugly technical fix" for climate change, if the world gets desperate enough. Their idea involves simulating a volcanic eruption by spraying sulfuric acid into the stratosphere, reflecting sunlight away from the planet. 

Mexico is expected to increase its installed wind capacity 30% this year, the Mexican Wind Energy Association says. The additional capacity is from six new wind farms with a combined capacity of 730 megawatts. Mexico currently has an installed capacity of about 2,500 MW, the group said