Membrane technology emerges as a transformative solution for global challenges, excelling in water treatment, gas purification, and waste recycling. This comprehensive review navigates the principles, advantages, challenges, and prospects of membrane technology, emphasizing its pivotal role in addressing contemporary environmental and sustainability issues. The goal is to contribute to environmental objectives by exploring the principles, mechanisms, advantages, and limitations of membrane technology. Noteworthy features include energy efficiency, selectivity, and minimal environmental footprint, distinguishing it from conventional methods. Advances in nanomembranes, organic porous membranes, and metal-organic frameworks-based membranes highlight their potential for energy-efficient contaminant removal. The review underscores the integration of renewable energy sources for eco-friendly desalination and separation processes. The future trajectory unfolds with next-gen nanocomposite membranes, sustainable polymers, and optimized energy consumption through electrochemical and hybrid approaches. In healthcare, membrane technology reshapes gas exchange, hemodialysis, biosensors, wound healing, and drug delivery, while in chemical industries, it streamlines organic solvent separation. Challenges like fouling, material stability, and energy efficiency are acknowledged, with the integration of artificial intelligence recognized as a progressing frontier. Despite limitations, membrane technology holds promise for sustainability and revolutionizing diverse industries.

The building sector is significantly contributing to climate change, pollution, and energy crises, thus requiring a rapid shift to more sustainable construction practices. Here, we review the emerging practices of integrating renewable energies in the construction sector, with a focus on energy types, policies, innovations, and perspectives. The energy sources include solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass fuels. Case studies in Seattle, USA, and Manama, Bahrain, are presented. Perspectives comprise self-sufficiency, microgrids, carbon neutrality, intelligent buildings, cost reduction, energy storage, policy support, and market recognition. Incorporating wind energy into buildings can fulfill about 15% of a building's energy requirements, while solar energy integration can elevate the renewable contribution to 83%. Financial incentives, such as a 30% subsidy for the adoption of renewable technologies, augment the appeal of these innovations.

Energy derived from fossil fuels contributes significantly to global climate change, accounting for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and approximately 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Alternative energy from renewable sources must be utilized to decarbonize the energy sector. However, the adverse effects of climate change, such as increasing temperatures, extreme winds, rising sea levels, and decreased precipitation, may impact renewable energies. Here we review renewable energies with a focus on costs, the impact of climate on renewable energies, the impact of renewable energies on the environment, economy, and on decarbonization in different countries. We focus on solar, wind, biomass, hydropower, and geothermal energy. We observe that the price of solar photovoltaic energy has declined from $0.417 in 2010 to $0.048/kilowatt-hour in 2021. Similarly, prices have declined by 68% for onshore wind, 60% for offshore wind, 68% for concentrated solar power, and 14% for biomass energy. Wind energy and hydropower production could decrease by as much as 40% in some regions due to climate change, whereas solar energy appears the least impacted energy source. Climate change can also modify biomass productivity, growth, chemical composition, and soil microbial communities. Hydroelectric power plants are the most damaging to the environment; and solar photovoltaics must be carefully installed to reduce their impact. Wind turbines and biomass power plants have a minimal environmental impact; therefore, they should be implemented extensively. Renewable energy sources could decarbonize 90% of the electricity industry by 2050, drastically reducing carbon emissions, and contributing to climate change mitigation. By establishing the zero carbon emission decarbonization concept, the future of renewable energy is promising, with the potential to replace fossil fuel-derived energy and limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C by 2050.

The global amount of solid waste has dramatically increased as a result of rapid population growth, accelerated urbanization, agricultural demand, and industrial development. The world's population is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, while solid waste production will reach 2.59 billion tons. This will deteriorate the already strained environment and climate situation. Consequently, there is an urgent need for methods to recycle solid waste. Here, we review recent technologies to treat solid waste, and we assess the economic feasibility of transforming waste into energy. We focus on municipal, agricultural, and industrial waste. We found that methane captured from landfilled-municipal solid waste in Delhi could supply 8–18 million houses with electricity and generate 7140 gigawatt-hour, with a prospected potential of 31,346 and 77,748 gigawatt-hour by 2030 and 2060, respectively. Valorization of agricultural solid waste and food waste by anaerobic digestion systems could replace 61.46% of natural gas and 38.54% of coal use in the United Kingdom, and could reduce land use of 1.8 million hectares if provided as animal feeds. We also estimated a levelized cost of landfill solid and anaerobic digestion waste-to-energy technologies of $0.04/kilowatt-hour and $0.07/kilowatt-hour, with a payback time of 0.73–1.86 years and 1.17–2.37 years, respectively. Nonetheless, current landfill waste treatment methods are still inefficient, in particular for treating food waste containing over 60% water.

• New technologies, systems, societal organization and policies for energy saving are urgently needed in the context of accelerated climate change, the Ukraine conflict and the past coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. For instance, concerns about market and policy responses that could lead to new lock-ins, such as investing in liquefied natural gas infrastructure and using all available fossil fuels to compensate for Russian gas supply cuts, may hinder decarbonization efforts. Here we review energy-saving solutions with a focus on the actual energy crisis, green alternatives to fossil fuel heating, energy saving in buildings and transportation, artificial intelligence for sustainable energy, and implications for the environment and society. Green alternatives include biomass boilers and stoves, hybrid heat pumps, geothermal heating, solar thermal systems, solar photovoltaics systems into electric boilers, compressed natural gas and hydrogen. We also detail case studies in Germany which is planning a 100% renewable energy switch by 2050 and developing the storage of compressed air in China, with emphasis on technical and economic aspects. The global energy consumption in 2020 was 30.01% for the industry, 26.18% for transport, and 22.08% for residential sectors. 10–40% of energy consumption can be reduced using renewable energy sources, passive design strategies, smart grid analytics, energy-efficient building systems, and intelligent energy monitoring. Electric vehicles offer the highest cost-per-kilometer reduction of 75% and the lowest energy loss of 33%, yet battery-related issues, cost, and weight are challenging. 5–30% of energy can be saved using automated and networked vehicles. Artificial intelligence shows a huge potential in energy saving by improving weather forecasting and machine maintenance and enabling connectivity across homes, workplaces, and transportation. For instance, 18.97–42.60% of energy consumption can be reduced in buildings through deep neural networking. In the electricity sector, artificial intelligence can automate power generation, distribution, and transmission operations, balance the grid without human intervention, enable lightning-speed trading and arbitrage decisions at scale, and eliminate the need for manual adjustments by end-users.

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Microplastic pollution is becoming a major issue for human health due to the recent discovery of microplastics in most ecosystems. Here, we review the sources, formation, occurrence, toxicity and remediation methods of microplastics. We distinguish ocean-based and land-based sources of microplastics. Microplastics have been found in biological samples such as faeces, sputum, saliva, blood and placenta. Cancer, intestinal, pulmonary, cardiovascular, infectious and inflammatory diseases are induced or mediated by microplastics. Microplastic exposure during pregnancy and maternal period is also discussed. Remediation methods include coagulation, membrane bioreactors, sand filtration, adsorption, photocatalytic degradation, electrocoagulation and magnetic separation. Control strategies comprise reducing plastic usage, behavioural change, and using biodegradable plastics. Global plastic production has risen dramatically over the past 70 years to reach 359 million tonnes. China is the world's top producer, contributing 17.5% to global production, while Turkey generates the most plastic waste in the Mediterranean region, at 144 tonnes per day. Microplastics comprise 75% of marine waste, with land-based sources responsible for 80–90% of pollution, while ocean-based sources account for only 10–20%. Microplastics induce toxic effects on humans and animals, such as cytotoxicity, immune response, oxidative stress, barrier attributes, and genotoxicity, even at minimal dosages of 10 μg/mL. Ingestion of microplastics by marine animals results in alterations in gastrointestinal tract physiology, immune system depression, oxidative stress, cytotoxicity, differential gene expression, and growth inhibition. Furthermore, bioaccumulation of microplastics in the tissues of aquatic organisms can have adverse effects on the aquatic ecosystem, with potential transmission of microplastics to humans and birds. Changing individual behaviours and governmental actions, such as implementing bans, taxes, or pricing on plastic carrier bags, has significantly reduced plastic consumption to 8–85% in various countries worldwide. The microplastic minimisation approach follows an upside-down pyramid, starting with prevention, followed by reducing, reusing, recycling, recovering, and ending with disposal as the least preferable option.

Access to drinkable water is becoming more and more challenging due to worldwide pollution and the cost of water treatments. Water and wastewater treatment by adsorption on solid materials is usually cheap and effective in removing contaminants, yet classical adsorbents are not sustainable because they are derived from fossil fuels, and they can induce secondary pollution. Therefore, biological sorbents made of modern biomass are increasingly studied as promising alternatives. Indeed, such biosorbents utilize biological waste that would otherwise pollute water systems, and they promote the circular economy. Here we review biosorbents, magnetic sorbents, and other cost-effective sorbents with emphasis on preparation methods, adsorbents types, adsorption mechanisms, and regeneration of spent adsorbents. Biosorbents are prepared from a wide range of materials, including wood, bacteria, algae, herbaceous materials, agricultural waste, and animal waste. Commonly removed contaminants comprise dyes, heavy metals, radionuclides, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. Preparation methods include coprecipitation, thermal decomposition, microwave irradiation, chemical reduction, micro-emulsion, and arc discharge. Adsorbents can be classified into activated carbon, biochar, lignocellulosic waste, clays, zeolites, peat, and humic soils. We detail adsorption isotherms and kinetics. Regeneration methods comprise thermal and chemical regeneration and supercritical fluid desorption. We also discuss exhausted adsorbent management and disposal. We found that agro-waste biosorbents can remove up to 68–100% of dyes, while wooden, herbaceous, bacterial, and marine-based biosorbents can remove up to 55–99% of heavy metals. Animal waste-based biosorbents can remove 1–99% of heavy metals. The average removal efficiency of modified biosorbents is around 90–95%, but some treatments, such as cross-linked beads, may negatively affect their efficiency.

The rising amount of waste generated worldwide is inducing issues of pollution, waste management, and recycling, calling for new strategies to improve the waste ecosystem, such as the use of artificial intelligence. Here, we review the application of artificial intelligence in waste-to-energy, smart bins, waste-sorting robots, waste generation models, waste monitoring and tracking, plastic pyrolysis, distinguishing fossil and modern materials, logistics, disposal, illegal dumping, resource recovery, smart cities, process efficiency, cost savings, and improving public health. Using artificial intelligence in waste logistics can reduce transportation distance by up to 36.8%, cost savings by up to 13.35%, and time savings by up to 28.22%. Artificial intelligence allows for identifying and sorting waste with an accuracy ranging from 72.8 to 99.95%. Artificial intelligence combined with chemical analysis improves waste pyrolysis, carbon emission estimation, and energy conversion. We also explain how efficiency can be increased and costs can be reduced by artificial intelligence in waste management systems for smart cities.

Burning fossil fuels account for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and over 90% of carbon dioxide emissions, calling for alternative fuels such as hydrogen. Since the hydrogen demand could reach 120 million tons in 2024, efficient and large-scale production methods are required. Here we review electrocatalytic water splitting with a focus on reaction mechanisms, transition metal catalysts, and optimization strategies. We discuss mechanisms of water decomposition and hydrogen evolution. Transition metal catalysts include alloys, sulfides, carbides, nitrides, phosphides, selenides, oxides, hydroxides, and metal-organic frameworks. The reaction can be optimized by modifying the nanostructure or the electronic structure. We observe that transition metal-based electrocatalysts are excellent catalysts due to their abundant sources, low cost, and controllable electronic structures. Concerning optimization, fluorine anion doping at 1 mol/L potassium hydroxide yields an overpotential of 38 mV at a current density of 10 mA/cm². The electrocatalytic efficiency can also be enhanced by adding metal atoms to the nickel sulfide framework.

Climate change is a major threat already causing system damage to urban and natural systems, and inducing global economic losses of over $500 billion. These issues may be partly solved by artificial intelligence because artificial intelligence integrates internet resources to make prompt suggestions based on accurate climate change predictions. Here we review recent research and applications of artificial intelligence in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change, with a focus on energy efficiency, carbon sequestration and storage, weather and renewable energy forecasting, grid management, building design, transportation, precision agriculture, industrial processes, reducing deforestation, and resilient cities. We found that enhancing energy efficiency can significantly contribute to reducing the impact of climate change. Smart manufacturing can reduce energy consumption, waste, and carbon emissions by 30–50% and, in particular, can reduce energy consumption in buildings by 30–50%. About 70% of the global natural gas industry utilizes artificial intelligence technologies to enhance the accuracy and reliability of weather forecasts. Combining smart grids with artificial intelligence can optimize the efficiency of power systems, thereby reducing electricity bills by 10–20%. Intelligent transportation systems can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 60%. Moreover, the management of natural resources and the design of resilient cities through the application of artificial intelligence can further promote sustainability.