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Different recycling approaches may be needed for urban phosphorus

Sustainable management of phosphorus requires better information on how it flows through the environment via consumption and waste. New research from Sweden has found that 40% of phosphorus released by Gothenburg to the environment is in sewage sludge and a further 40% is in incineration ash. This suggests that phosphorus could be recycled from solid waste as well as from wastewater.




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Forest management for climate change adaptation must fit the context

Forest management could help adaptation to climate change through its effects on water supply. A long-term US-based study has analysed the impact of forested land use changes on water flow into streams and rivers. It indicated that converting forests from deciduous to pine trees could help water storage in extreme wet conditions, but may be unsuitable in droughts. As such, it recommends tailoring management decisions to the context.




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Small boost of electricity aids natural clean-up of PCB contaminants

Applying a low voltage to polluted river sediment can boost microbes’ natural ability to degrade harmful polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminants, according to a new study. The approach could be a cost-effective, sustainable strategy to bioremediate polluted sites.




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New estimates of the physical and economic consequences in Europe of climate change

Research into future climate scenarios suggest that by 2100, climate change could lead to annual damages in the EU from river flooding alone of €14 billion to €21.5 billion, with more people affected than today, and a reduction in household welfare.




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UK Shellfish are cleaner thanks to sewerage infrastructure improvements

Shellfish harvesting areas in the UK are cleaner, thanks to sewerage improvement schemes over the last decade which have lowered average levels of Escherichia coli in oysters, mussels and other commercially-important species and boosted the shellfish industry’s economic value. Addressing the additional pollution risks from agriculture could further reduce contamination and human health risks.




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Endangered species response to the dual threat of climate change and invasive species

The joint threat posed by climate change and invasive alien species can have different effects on endangered native species, new research suggests. This European study predicts that the invasive zebra mussel may benefit from climate change, negatively affecting native mussel populations; but both invasive and native crayfish could suffer declines.




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Adaptation is a cost-effective way to protect against river flooding caused by climate change

The socio-economic costs and benefits of adaptation to river flooding caused by climate change have been assessed in a new study. According to the study, adaptation measures could save €53.1 billion every year in flood-related losses across Europe by 2080.




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Bicycle commuting improved by town-wide cycling initiatives

Investment in cycling initiatives, such as creating new cycle lanes or providing training, can increase the number of people who routinely cycle to work, a new large-scale study in the UK suggests. Town-wide cycling initiatives seemed to be particularly successful when they included workplace measures such as bike lockers, showers and cycle parking.




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Equality is key to effective climate change adaptation

Climate change adaptation measures could improve the security of some groups of society at the expense of others, a new study concludes. Climate change adaptation policies should be based on genuine democracy and investment must be fairly distributed, to ensure that all at-risk groups benefit equally, its authors recommend.




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Disease risk predicted by new climate change adaptation tool

A tool to calculate the risk of food and waterborne diseases under current or future climate change conditions has been presented in a recent study. Free to use, the online tool can help guide climate change adaptation, such as improvements to water management, by estimating the likelihood of contracting four diseases under a range of environmental conditions.




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Water management and spatial planning's resilience to climate change: key proposals

Eight key features for increasing the climate change resilience of water management and spatial planning projects are presented by new Dutch research. These include: focusing on the long term, integrating the projects with other sustainability measures and encouraging stakeholder participation.




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Bathing water disease risk may increase under climate change

Climate change may increase the amount of pathogens entering bathing waters in some areas, finds a new study. The research, carried out in a lagoon in the Baltic Sea, found that, although higher temperatures can reduce microorganism populations, this is likely to be outweighed by contamination due to runoff caused by increased rainfall. The authors are currently developing a system for alerting local authorities and the public to potentially hazardous bathing water.




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How vulnerable to climate change is agriculture in the Black Sea region?

The impacts of climate change in the Black Sea region are likely to affect agriculture in Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, new research suggests. The number of days of plant growth was reduced in these countries as a result of reduced precipitation, increased temperatures and low capacity for irrigation to supplement water needs. A strong legal framework is necessary to deal with conflicting future demands for water, say the researchers.




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Water demand for crops may rise in northern Germany under warmer climate

By 2070, there may be insufficient water for irrigation to ensure yields and profitability for some crops currently grown in northern Germany - if the IPCC´s worst case climate change scenario becomes a reality - new research warns. To reduce future demand for water under a changing climate, the study suggests that farmers grow different crops and change their management practices.




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Recycling wastewater would bring economic benefits to Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area

The economic viability of wastewater reuse projects could be better determined using methodology from a new study. The authors developed a five-step cost-benefit analysis framework to assess a planned wastewater reuse project within the catchment of the Yarqon River, in Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, Israel. It was found that the scheme could have a net present value of $4.83 (€4.34) million per year. The authors highlight the relevance of identifying external as well as internal economic, social and environmental costs of such projects.




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Cloud-based flood risk learning tool engages multiple stakeholders

A pilot cloud-based learning platform that brings together multiple datasets, models and visualisation tools has been developed with the engagement of numerous stakeholders throughout the design process. This tool could lead to informed decisions about flood risk at the local level. These types of tools and frameworks are effective ways of facilitating better decision making.




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Environmental impacts of ocean-energy systems: a life-cycle assessment

Ocean-energy technologies — which harvest renewable energy from the sea — will have a significant role to play in a future low-carbon society. A recent life-cycle analysis of different ocean-energy devices has found that life-cycle environmental impacts are caused mainly by the materials used in the mooring, foundations and structures. Improving the efficiency and lifespan of the devices, as well as improving mooring and foundations and deploying devices further out at sea, will help to further reduce the life-cycle environmental impact of ocean-energy systems, according to the study.




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Decentralised supply of recycled water may save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Reusing waste water for non-drinking uses in decentralised plumbing networks may improve the efficiency of water supply in urban areas, a new study has found. Modelling this approach in San Francisco, researchers found that, depending on the local geography, a decentralised water supply could lead to energy savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from water treatment of around 30%. Improvements in emerging water-treatment technologies are likely to lead to further savings, which could help increase the efficiency of urban water supply.




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Sewage treatment plants can do better to close the circular economy loop: resources recovered by only 40% of Italian plants

Scientists have published findings from the largest and broadest survey on sewage resource recovery conducted in Europe to date. Researchers surveyed more than 600 waste-water treatment plants (WWTPs) in Italy, which represent approximately 25% of the country’s total load of treated sewage. The findings provide a comprehensive picture of the current state of sewage resource recovery in WWTPs, revealing that just 40% of plants perform some form of material or energy recovery, and identifying several of the important driving forces behind implementation. This research provides valuable information and insights for policymakers and WWTP managers aiming to improve WWTP sustainability and close the sewage resource-recovery loop.




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Changes that occur to nanoparticles in the environment are key to understanding their impact

Available evidence from the last decade, describing the nature, behaviour and effect of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) in the environment, has been reviewed. It identified factors that influence ENP distribution and fate and highlighted the existence of significant research gaps which, if filled, would help in understanding the impacts of long-term accumulation of nanomaterials and the changes that occur to them when they are released into the environment.




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Soil moisture stress on plants leads to uncertainty in carbon cycle estimates

This study paves the way for better projections of the impact of climate change on plants, including agricultural crops and carbon drawdown. The research shows how an equation used in climate models to represent soil moisture levels is responsible for major variations in estimates of the carbon cycle.




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New clause added to IT Act: Onus of content not generated by users on social media platforms

‘Safe harbour protection’ only if intermediaries facilitate and not modify such content, including ads




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Accenture forms alliance with Paxata to help clients build an intelligent enterprise

The alliance aims to help clients provide enterprise end users with exceptional data control across multiple data sources.




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Microsoft joins tech race to clean up shipping with big data

Maritime ships, which transport around 90 percent of the world’s goods across the seas, generate about 3 percent of global carbon emissions.




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Apple clears bills of partners in India for 2 months

Apple has also provided an additional credit period of 60 days to help them tide over business disruptions due to Covid-19.




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Mobile phone retailers' body AIMRA urges govt to not include devices in essential goods

“We did not request you to change the category of mobile phones to essential items. We again reiterate we are not asking to change the category of mobile phones,” Arvinder Khurana, National President All India Mobile Retailers Association said in a letter to Piyush Goyal.​




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How all–in migration to public cloud accelerated digital innovation at Tata Global Beverages

TGBL has transitioned its complete infrastructure landscape on public cloud to enable digital transformation across our business. It translated into benefits like infrastructure flexibility and elasticity and what’s more helped TGBL realize 15% reduction in infrastructure hosting and managed services cost.




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Amdocs launches SI capabilities, to upskill 5,000 Indian employees to cloud-based solutions

The company on Wednesday announced systems integration (SI) capabilities including consulting, agile devOps, cloud migration, cloud capacity optimization and the Future Mode of Operation aimed at taking the communications industry to the cloud at an accelerated pace.




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Google Cloud unveils machine images to simplify workflow

Google has announced machine images, a new type of Compute Engine resource that contains all the information people need to create, backup or restore a virtual machine, reducing the amount of time people spend managing their Cloud environment.




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91% Indian firms rebalancing their Cloud Strategy: Report

Realising that Public Cloud is not the single solution towards their digital journey, 91 per cent of Indian enterprises are already in the process of rebalancing their Cloud strategy, a new report said on Thursday.




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Charting out your multi-cloud strategy

How India Inc is navigating the challenges of taking production applications to the cloud.




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Galvanizing the new age of IT with AI and hybrid cloud

With the emerging synergy between hybrid cloud and AI, we will witness tremendous innovation and business value in the enterprise IT world.




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Microsoft Cloud services witness massive 775% jump

Microsoft has seen a huge 775 per cent increase in its Cloud services in regions that have enforced social distancing or 'shelter-in-place orders.




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Covid-19: Cloud native enterprises see an edge over competitors

While the cloud was seen as a good technology to adopt until some time ago, it has now become a must in order to navigate through these challenging times. Companies that are 100 percent on the cloud have been able to transition far more rapidly than others, making them more agile than their peers.




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Cloud solutions for tax compliance gaining popularity

​​The current lockdown has prompted even fence-sitters to begin using these tools, as they face constraints in accessing critical information that resides on systems in company premises




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Hybrid clouds span the edge of the universe

While workloads are increasingly moving from traditional to cloud data centers - both private and public, hybridization has allowed mission-critical workloads to stay on-premise. Multi-cloud adoption is also being driven by the evolution of new orchestration and management services that are helping to define and run cloud processes and create competitive solutions.




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Misconfiguration top cyber security risk on Cloud: Report

Misconfigurations are the primary cause of cyber security issues in the Cloud, according to a new report.




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Why cloud tech is vital for firms in enabling WFH

Going forward, cloud will play a major role in transformation at every firm.




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Amazon, Microsoft offer little relief to small cloud clients

While Amazon Web Services, or AWS, and Microsoft are restructuring some large contracts on a case-by-case basis, according to people familiar with the decisions, smaller companies aren’t receiving the same flexibility.




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Is Covid-19 the long awaited catalyst for cloud adoption?

As remote work and collaboration intensifies, cloud computing has emerged as an ally for enterprises. Is this the catalyst that technology companies longed for?




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Indian SMEs to benefit from Alibaba Cloud's $30mn programme

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India are set to benefit from a $30 million global "anti-COVID" programme that Alibaba Cloud, the data intelligence backbone of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, launched on Thursday.




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Google may acquire enterprise cloud software firm D2iQ: Report

Google is reportedly in negotiation to acquire enterprise cloud software company D2iQ for over $250 million, the media reported.




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For cloud giants, usage soars but tech investment delays hobble revenue growth

The cloud giants have seen a drop-off in new contracts from big clients for server storage and to overhaul tech.




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Microsoft to invest $1.5 billion in Italian cloud business

Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it would create its first datacentre region in Italy under a $1.5 billion investment plan as the U.S. company expands its cloud computing services to more locations across the world.




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Microsoft to invest $1.5 billion in Italian cloud business

Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it would create its first datacentre region in Italy under a $1.5 billion investment plan as the U.S. company expands its cloud computing services to more locations across the world.




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Nokia bags deal from Airtel to automate data center networks in 15 circles

India has been recording unprecedented growth in data and this requires that service providers, like Airtel, increase the number of data centers, the telecom gear maker said.




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Amazon beefs up cloud business, data centre infrastructure in India

Amazon is beefing up its data centre infrastructure and cloud services business in India as the clamour around data localisation grows louder everyday.




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How born in cloud Vistara manages existing flight sectors, adds new ones

Ravinder Pal Singh, Chief Information and Innovation Officer at Vistara is leveraging the power of multiple technologies ranging from AI, Robotics, SATCOM, Bigdata (Science) and Blockchain to enhance the airline's critical business functions.




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Recent changes in plant life cycles caused by a changing climate

Changes in the timing of biological events in plants, such as flowering, observed in recent decades are in response to ongoing climate change, according to recent research from Spain. These results can be used to improve modelling of the effects of future climate change on plants and crops in the region.




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The importance of social and political context for classifying ecosystem services

It is important to have a single definition of 'ecosystem services', but a single classification scheme for services is not appropriate, according to researchers. There are many contexts in which ecosystem services can be used and the context should help to determine which classification scheme is the most appropriate for decision making.