Environment
With new solar modules, greenhouses run on their own energy
Research
EPFL
Plants use light waves from only a portion of the spectrum for photosynthesis – the remainder can be recovered and used to generate solar power. That’s the idea behind the solar modules developed by EPFL startup Voltiris. Following encouraging preliminary results, a new pilot installation was recently installed in Graubünden.
A historical perspective on glacial retreat
Research
ETH Zurich
Researchers at ETH Zurich and WSL have for the first time reconstructed the extent of Switzerland’s glacier ice loss in the 20th century. For this purpose, the researchers used historical imagery and conclude that the country’s glaciers lost half their volume between 1931 and 2016.
rebuiLT, or how to rebuild a house sustainably
Teaching
EPFL
The Low-Tech Lab in Lausanne has been part of the Unipoly association of EPFL since 2021 and aims to popularize the low-tech approach already found in several other European universities. Its showcase project rebuiLT is one of EFPL’s interdisciplinary MAKE projects and seeks to reuse parts of a building being demolished to create a community pavilion in Ecublens.
The physics of snow slab avalanches similar to that of earthquakes
Research
EPFL
Scientists from EPFL and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF have gained deeper insight into how snow slab avalanches form, paving the way to more effective risk assessment measures for these catastrophic events that induce more avalanche accidents and fatalities every year than other types of avalanches.
Science is revealing the scale of microplastic pollution
Research
EPFL
Plastics are everywhere in our environment, even inside living organisms. This article looks at the impact of this major pollution risk and accompanies our report on the SEA Plastics expedition, which is currently crisscrossing the Mediterranean to raise awareness of the issue. 
Podcast series: Energy fact check
Research
ETH Zurich
Does nuclear power have a future? Are electric cars dirty? In a four-part series, the ETH Podcast takes a detailed look at popular theories about the future of energy.
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