10 Surprising AC Water Uses Cities Are Ignoring

All air conditioners release water. That's Physics. Cities like Los Angeles pour billions of water down the drain every year. And while home owners who are savvy to water reuse are finding ways to use AC water in the garden (here are 5 ways to use air con water at home), or in art studios (it's basically free distilled water), cities could save water in meaningful ways by using creative ideas. These are solutions you can send to urban planners and those running smart city accelerator programs. Pick one of them and you might win the grant! 
Latest Eco News

Popular

Energy and Business

Appalachian lithium could supply America with EV batteries for 300 years

A vast and largely untapped lithium reserve may be hiding beneath one of North America’s oldest landscapes, the Appalachian Mountains, offering a surprising twist in the global race for clean energy materials. According to new findings from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as much as 2.5 million tons of lithium could be buried across the region, stretching from the Carolinas up through New England.

Japan wants to build a solar panel ring around the moon

Unlike solar power on Earth, which is limited by night cycles, weather, and seasons, the Moon offers something close to uninterrupted exposure to the Sun. By placing solar infrastructure in orbit or along the lunar surface, engineers could generate continuous clean energy at a scale that may exceed global electricity demand,  the Japanese scientists say.

Korean researchers create battery from greenhouse gases

Professor Ji-Soo Jang, in collaboration with Professor Taekwang Yoon of Ajou University and Professor Hansel Kim of Chungbuk National University, has developed a novel energy device that generates electricity during the process of capturing greenhouse gases.

SunZia comes online and America’s 11B, and largest renewable project begins wind power

The impact is already being felt. California has broken its wind generation record multiple times in recent weeks as SunZia begins feeding electricity into the grid. It’s a glimpse of what a renewable-powered future could look like when large-scale infrastructure finally comes online. Can we start saying goodbye to Saudi Aramco and Arabian Gulf oil? 

Featured Content

Eco Tourism

Street Vegan in Sri Thanu is a must-stop family lunch spot on Koh Phangan, Thailand

If you’re anywhere near Sri Thanu on Koh Phangan, Thailand, around the yoga centers: Zen Beach, Haad Yao, or Salad Beach—make time for Street Vegan. It's vegan and so satisfying that one meal might convince you that eating plant-based is not a compromise. I suggest for any vegan restaurant owner or chef to come to this modestly-priced venue to learn from a master.

Plants can eat dust and grow – should we stop dusting them?

Dusty plants? Let them eat their hearts out.

Paris Modest Fashion Week offers style without exposure for Muslims

France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".

Kids are vaping. The media shock that made them stop

On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis. Screenshot

Impact Investing

Batteries from salt? New grid projects suggest the idea is becoming real

Peak Energy makes storage batteries from salt making us one step closer to cleaner, endless energy from the wind and the sun

Essaouira Offshore Wind and what it means for surfers, music festivals and the wild

Morocco’s proposed 1,000 MW offshore wind project near Essaouira promises climate leadership and renewable energy for this Magreb country, but along this stretch of Atlantic coast, wind is more than energy. The coastline is culture, economy, and identity.

Xcimer is the Denver-based startup that could put Saudi Arabia out of business

An American company can collapse OPEC if they can prove their approach to unlimited energy works.

Astro uses AI to help procure land for renewable energy

For oil-rich, environmentally vigilant Gulf states, Astro isn’t just another startup story. It is a blueprint for accelerating an energy transition that is now existential, not optional.

Sustainable Leadership Features

Simple Qatayef recipe makes fabulous nut-filled pancakes

Qatayef - also spelled katayif or qatya’if - is traditionally eaten at Ramadan (get our Ramadan vegetarian ideas here), but it’s a treat anytime. In fact, it’s a treat that’s gone through history. A recipe for qatayif appears in a tenth century Arabic cookbook by the writer Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, who compiled recipes going back to the eighth and ninth centuries. People have been eating qatayif for a very long time.

The ultimate side dish: 8 ways to eat tahini

As earthy as tahini is (or as we say in the Middle East, techinah) the semi-solid paste brightens up with lemon, garlic, herbs and spices. It's great as a dip, but here are some new and surprising ways to eat tehini.

Make a cheesy, warm artichoke dip as an alternative to hummus

Spiky artichokes and bristly cardoons, to be exact. If you're looking to enrich your menus with less meat and more vegetarian food, take advantage of these thorny vegetables while they're still in season.

Honey Cookies for Rosh Hashannah

Celebrate a sweet new year with this Jewish recipe for honey cookies, eaten during Rosh Hashannah holidays.

Editor's choice

Karin Kloosterman

Islam

Architecture

Iran

Beauty

Make safe herbal anti-acne products and masks

The FDA is recalling certain acne medications for cancer link. Our herbalist Miriam Kresh takes her decades of experience and creates a guide to natural acne care.

Your Complete Guide to the Most Effective Hair Loss Solutions

Finding the best hair loss cure depends on seeing a trained dermatologist or trichologist, who guarantees that it is customized to the particular situation of the patient.

Make your own sugar wax

Sugar wax, sugaring or Persian waxing, whatever you want to call it there is an old, tried and true way to wax, naturally.

Massive $60 billion USD MENA beauty market ripe for natural beauty products

Beauty categories such as skincare, make-up, and fragrance will see double-digit growth, with the global fragrance market expected to reach $7.21 billion by 2032, largely influenced by the UAE and Saudi Arabia. We prefer natural perfumes like Le Labo as they don't engage with and mess with your endocrine system. 

Artificial Intelligence

erthos uses AI to scale bio-plastics that work in industry

AI and bio-plastics have a formidable crew looking to solve the plastics problem. It uses AI to match opportunities to existing machinery.

Neuralink rival gets FDA approval for brain implant device

The Connect-One Study will initially enroll two participants—with impaired speech and limited extremity movement (upper and lower) due to severe loss of voluntary motor control—who live within four hours of three clinical sites, UC Davis in Sacramento, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Harvard Medical School.‍University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI - led by Investigator Matthew Willsey, M.D., Ph.D., a neurosurgeon with dual faculty appointments in Neurosurgery and Biomedical Engineering. 

FireDome’s AI eyes the flames and catapults eco-flame retardants to save forests, homes and factories

FireDome’s platform defines what it calls Wildfire Resilience-as-a-Service (RaaS) — a new model that merges detection, decision-making, and suppression into one holistic defense system for communities, utilities, vineyards, and resorts living with wildfire risk.

Blackdot’s painless AI-based tattoos will make inked skin less taboo?

Blackdot’s AI-powered tattoo machine promises precision and less pain, but sparks debate over health risks, artistry, and spirituality. From religious prohibitions to smart tattoos, the future of ink is being rewritten by technology.

Weird Nature

Zentera drops “ethical wool” claim after PETA exposé into ZQ-certified farms

The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.

From Pasture to ROI: Implementing Autonomous Systems in Livestock and Pasture Management

The livestock and pasture management sector is currently facing...

PETA pressures H&M to ban mohair again after new farm abuse investigation

Remember PETA? The group of animal activists that threw...

Seychelles resumes sooty tern egg collection despite population crash

Known as a biodiversity indicator species, local experts say it's too early to stop protecting these important birds in the Syechelles

Video News

Recent Posts

Appalachian lithium could supply America with EV batteries for 300 years

A vast and largely untapped lithium reserve may be hiding beneath one of North America’s oldest landscapes, the Appalachian Mountains, offering a surprising twist in the global race for clean energy materials. According to new findings from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as much as 2.5 million tons of lithium could be buried across the region, stretching from the Carolinas up through New England.

10 Surprising AC Water Uses Cities Are Ignoring

All air conditioners release water. That's Physics. Cities like Los Angeles pour billions of water down the drain every year. And while home owners who are savvy to water reuse are finding ways to use AC water in the garden (here are 5 ways to use air con water at home), or in art studios (it's basically free distilled water), cities could save water in meaningful ways by using creative ideas. These are solutions you can send to urban planners and those running smart city accelerator programs. Pick one of them and you might win the grant! 

Hormuz 2026 Conflict Poses an Energy and Food Security Dilemma in a Warming World

As tensions rise in one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, the ripple effects go far beyond oil—touching food systems, climate pressures, and regional stability

How does Neuralink work?

Current goals are to treat neurological disease like Parkinson’s and restore autonomy to people with severe physical limitations by controlling exoskeletons and prosthetics. There’s also huge potential to improve cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, and languages.

Street Vegan in Sri Thanu is a must-stop family lunch spot on Koh Phangan, Thailand

If you’re anywhere near Sri Thanu on Koh Phangan, Thailand, around the yoga centers: Zen Beach, Haad Yao, or Salad Beach—make time for Street Vegan. It's vegan and so satisfying that one meal might convince you that eating plant-based is not a compromise. I suggest for any vegan restaurant owner or chef to come to this modestly-priced venue to learn from a master.

Plants can eat dust and grow – should we stop dusting them?

Dusty plants? Let them eat their hearts out.

Paris Modest Fashion Week offers style without exposure for Muslims

France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".

Kids are vaping. The media shock that made them stop

On one side: aggressive anti-vaping campaigns from the FDA, Truth Initiative, and state programs, backed by over $100 million in annual spending. On the other: a public health crisis. Screenshot

Baby teeth read like tree rings paint a picture of toxins in early life

A new study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York offers a striking insight into how the environments we are born into can quietly shape our brains years later. By analyzing naturally shed baby teeth, the ones tucked under pillows for the tooth fairy, researchers have reconstructed a detailed timeline of exposure to environmental metals during pregnancy and early infancy.

Shebara hotel Saudi Arabia – is it eco-luxury dream or desert illusion?

A new breed of luxury has landed on the Red Sea, mirrored pods floating above coral reefs, reflecting sky and sea like something not entirely of this Earth. Energy powered by solar powers, drinking water pulled from the sea using desalination. 

Roof sisters changing culture men’s work in Canada

All-women roofing team Summit Sisters installs a sustainable metal roof in Ontario as climate change forces Canadians to rethink asphalt shingles and choose longer-lasting, eco-friendly roofing options.

Poop in the East River shows the city’s rat problem and what people like to eat

New York ecology and health can be monitored by a jug of water a week.

Follow us