News

UK enacts sharing economy law
Last week the UK passed a progressive law supporting homesharing platforms, amid ongoing global debate around regulation of sharing economy businesses.

Smart Glass Windows Harness Weather To Create Energy
Bemoaning rainy days may soon be a thing of the past. In fact, a heavy storm may soon be a good way to top up your energy supply and help home owners to cut back on their energy costs. According to Science Magazine, new technology has been developed to turn glass

“Hybrid Flywheel” Set To Spark Energy Storage Revolution?
One of the biggest obstacles to the widespread integration of renewable power into the production of electricity at the scale required has been the inability to effectively store any energy captured. How do we power our homes when the sun isn’t shining and when the wind isn’t blowing? The solution

Circulate On Fridays: The “Cloud”, Repair Cafes and more…
Every Friday, Circulate rounds up a collection of stories and interesting articles from the week. This week we highlight an article discussing the importance of “the cloud” in enabling a circular economy, a piece about the rise of Silicon Valley in the business world, the value of popular repair cafes and more!

Bio-Inspired Software Optimising Design
New software utilises bio-inspired computer-aided design to optimise the process of design and manufacturing of products. The software takes advantage of increasing sophistication in additive manufacturing to produce objects in a “freeform” manner.

Solar-plus-battery setup could shake up U.S. electricity systems
Lead image licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 / Flickr user Daniel Kulinski New research from the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) explores the potential of decentralised solar energy systems in the United States.

City Of Phoenix Aiming To Utilise Waste As A Resource
The city of Phoenix initiative “Reimagine Phoenix” has put out a call out for innovators to help the city utilise its waste as a resource. The city is targeting a 40% reduction in the amount of material sent to landfill within the next five years. A significant part of meeting that

Motion Powered Fabric Could Charge Mobile Phones
Scientists in South Korea have developed a double-layered fabric made out of silver-coated woven textiles that can charge mobile phone batteries. Energy is gathered through a foldable patch of fabric wrapped around your wrist – the energy is generated through arm movement. The team believe that the technology can be

3D Printing Industry Shows Significant Growth
The 3D-printing market generated revenues in excess of 3 billion USD in 2014 – up nearly 35% from the previous year with prices falling and greater numbers of consumers entering the market.

Circulate On Fridays: Canon Missing A “Trick”, New Uses For Food Waste and more…
Every Friday, Circulate rounds up a collection of stories and interesting articles from the week. This week we recommend a great read on the opportunities for Canon in remanufacturing, we look at a couple of unanticipated uses for food waste and it seems like cities around the world are jumping on the