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AI and remote sensing technology for managing water risk
CategoriesSustainable News

AI and remote sensing technology for managing water risk

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: By 2030, the world’s communal demand for fresh water is expected to outstrip supply by 40 per cent. How to avert this crisis is a question many innovators, researchers, and agencies are working to answer. And sustainable management of the water that is currently available is a crucial aspect of the global solution. 

Understanding the health of the world’s bodies of water, along with current and potential future risks is vital, and San Francisco-based technology company Waterplan has created a platform that uses remote sensing and artificial intelligence (AI) to track, analyse, and mitigate the risk to global water supplies.  

The platform helps organisations of any kind plan for the future by protecting water supplies now. The highly detailed reports include data from regulatory reviews, watershed authorities, industry analysis, scientific research, and more, with information presented in easily navigable formats. Clients view data by site and can see at a glance which areas need risk mitigation first.  

The reports are structured in a way that makes them usable for investors, and client input helps shape what areas the AI tracks. Sustainability managers use the platform to track progress against targets and measure the efficacy of various interventions. Operations managers can use the platform to maintain peak productivity across all processes and locations, as well as predict adjustments needed based on changing conditions.  

With the need for robust data continual, Waterplan recently closed an oversubscribed series A financing round that raised $11 million (around €10 million).  

Cleaning polluted water is one way to improve the quantity of supply, and examples from Springwise’s archive include a membrane that generates electricity while cleaning wastewater and a modular sewage treatment plant that fits inside a shipping container.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Creating circular raw materials by upcycling tires
CategoriesSustainable News

Creating circular raw materials by upcycling tires

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: According to a 2021 study, about 1.5 billion tyres end up as waste every year. But Polish company Contec has a better idea than letting tyres go to landfill, however, and is treating used tyres as a source of valuable raw materials.

Contec uses pyrolysis to break down the vulcanised rubber in the tyres. Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process in which the shredded tyres are heated to temperatures between 400-700 degrees Celsius in an oxygen-free atmosphere. This breaks down large, vulcanised rubber molecules into smaller compounds to produce soot, gas, oil, and other chemicals.

By adapting this process, Contec is able to recover rubber and steel for reuse in new tyres, oil for use in the chemical and refining industry, and carbon black, which is used as a pigment and a filler to the mechanical strength of rubber compounds used in tyre manufacture.

Although still in the early stages, Contec has developed its process to a commercial capacity. The company recently secured zł 70 million (around €15.6 million) in funding from investors HiTech ASI, Pruszyński Sp. z o.o. and Mariusz Machciński. The funding will be used to the processing capacity of their plant from 10,000 to 33,000 tonnes of used tyres a year.

Contec is not alone in the search for a more sustainable way to manufacture and recycle tyres. In the archive, Springwise has also spotted innovations such as a bio-based carbon black and tyres made from recycled plastic.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Microbes turn harmful methane into soil nutrients
CategoriesSustainable News

Microbes turn harmful methane into soil nutrients

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The move to get to net zero is often focused heavily on CO2, but methane, which has an 84-86 times higher global warming potential than CO2 in a 20-year period, is also rapidly accumulating in the Earth’s atmosphere. One reason for the increase in methane levels is that conventional agriculture practices have degraded soil health, causing a loss of naturally occurring, methane-digesting microbes.

A solution being developed by agritech startup Windfall Bio involves capturing methane and transforming it into living organic fertiliser. Windfall Bio uses a proprietary, nature-based technology to capture methane and use it to enrich methane-eating microbes that are found in soils. These organisms consume the methane, while also capturing nitrogen from the air, and transform these naturally into organic fertiliser.

Windfall Bio’s process takes place on-site, allowing agricultural enterprises such as farms and dairies to transform waste emissions into high-value organic fertiliser. This can either be used directly or sold to organic farms to generate new revenue streams.

The company recently announced it raised $9 million (around €8.3 million) in a seed round led by Mayfield and venture fund Untitled, with participation from additional investors. The capital raised will be used to begin pilot deployments on farms and to accelerate research and development (R&D) activities. Windfall Bio plans to enter broad commercial deployment soon.

There is growing concern about the role of methane in global warming. Luckily, this concern is beginning to be met with new innovations aimed at reducing methane levels. In the archive, Springwise has spotted the use of seaweed to tackle methane emissions from cattle and a plant that turns manure – a major source of methane – into biogas.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Sustainable packaging keeps perishable produce cool 
CategoriesSustainable News

Sustainable packaging keeps perishable produce cool 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Home delivery grocery shopping in European countries is expected to double in value by 2030. And, in the United States, researchers expect sales to be double 2021 levels by 2025. All those shipments require packaging, and many of them require temperature-controlled packaging for cold foodstuffs and other products.  

Wanting to eliminate the polluting Styrofoam that would likely go along with many of those food shipments, US-based TemperPack has created a compostable packaging material suitable for shipping pharmaceuticals, groceries, meal kits, flowers, and more. Not satisfied with simply providing a Styrofoam alternative, the company seeks to improve efficiency and reduce waste along the entirety of the cold shipping supply chain with its insulation production station. 

Called WaveKraft, the platform provides suppliers and distributors with on-demand packaging customised to the current temperature demands – of both the goods being shipped and the external weather conditions. Businesses buy the paper required to make the insulated packaging, and then fill the required sizes and shapes of paper forms with as much or as little air needed to maintain the required temperature.  

ClimaCell thermal liners help maintain correct temperatures within the packaging. Made from paper and cornstarch, the liners are also recyclable, and, as a direct replacement for Styrofoam, they meet certified performance requirements.  

Green Cell Foam is TemperPack’s third product, a compostable material that quickly breaks down in water and flushes down the kitchen sink. Made from corn, it provides both cushioning and temperature regulation, and for disposal, it can be fed to plants as a healthy supplement.  

Biobased packaging is an exciting area of growth, with innovations in Springwise’s archive including a recyclable waterproof coating and single-use bags that dissolve in water.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Microforests return degraded lands to productivity 
CategoriesSustainable News

Microforests return degraded lands to productivity 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Tropical East Africa and the region’s coastal forests are considered some of the world’s most important areas of biodiversity. At the same time, Africa’s economic growth is increasing the demand for wood so quickly that current supplies cannot keep up. Like many other areas in the world, consumer demand drives deforestation, leaving behind low-quality soil tended by subsistence farmers. 

Kenyan forestry company Komaza has big plans for little trees. The company identified a way to improve the stability and health of both the land and subsistence farmers’ finances. The organisation’s nursery in Kifili County produces around two million seedlings a year that are designated for smallholders’ fields. The seedlings are provided free of charge to farmers willing to set aside some of their land for reforestation, and in partnership with Komaza, farmers plant the trees for harvest in three to 15 years. 

Microforesty restores nutrients to the soil while the growing trees sequester carbon. Richer soil helps to increase local biodiversity and improve the yield of other crops that benefit from the improved growing conditions. Komaza provides three types of trees – two eucalyptus and Melia Volkensii – that are all fast-growing, hardy, and drought-resistant, making them perfect for many regions of Africa.  

Field Extension Network managers use Komaza’s tech platform to monitor tree growth and conditions across the more than 25,000 different parcels of land being cultivated. If the seedlings grow enough to be thinned, farmers receive their first payment. The second payment comes after the harvest and sale of mature trees. That could occur in as few as eight years or as many as 15. Some of the trees regrow after harvest, producing multiple yields from a single planting.  

Komaza’s goal is to plant one billion trees across the continent by 2030 and generate $125 million (around €115 million) in annual income for farmers by 2050. Already, the company and its smallholder farming partners have replanted more than 9,500 hectares of land in Kenya with microforests.  

Reforestation is crucial to the long-term health of the planet, and the innovations in Springwise’s archive, like self-drilling wooden seed carriers and drone-managed replanting programmes, highlight the diversity of solutions being applied to the problem.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Robotic waste collection for green spaces
CategoriesSustainable News

Robotic waste collection for green spaces

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: You may have seen pictures of parks or nature areas after a sunny day with rubbish strewn everywhere. More than an annoyance, rubbish in nature is also a hazard for animal and plant life. However, German company Angsa Robotics has developed an efficient and ecologically friendly way to pick up that litter.

Angsa has developed a robot named Clive that acts like a Roomba for natural spaces. The autonomous robot uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify litter and leave nature alone. It is able, for example, to distinguish the difference between a leaf and an empty crisp packet. Objects such as bottle caps or cigarette butts are targeted for collection, but insects and stones are spared.

Conventional sweeping machines are designed for flat asphalted surfaces, but Clive can clean both grass and gravel areas, which traditionally need to be cleaned manually. By automating some of the clean-up process, Clive saves money and time, as well as reducing the negative impact of rubbish on the environment.

Angsa is focusing on use cases including festival clean-up and the daily cleaning of parks and other green spaces. Lawnmower manufacturer Husqvarna is a major investor, having recently invested €2.5 million in the company. The funds will be used to accelerate the development and commercialisation of Angsa’s robotics platform.

Robotics, in combination with AI, is delivering an ever-increasing number of innovations focused on sustainability and aiding the environment. In the archive, Springwise has also spotted developments such as robots that clean ships to improve their efficiency and robots that provide chemical-free treatments to plants.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

A leather alternative made from beer brewing waste
CategoriesSustainable News

A leather alternative made from beer brewing waste

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Spent grain from brewing practices is usually burned, sent to landfill, made into gas, or used as cheap feed for livestock. All of these are low-value enterprises. So, instead, one startup, Arda Biomaterials, is utilising this cheap waste product to create leather, without needing to farm animals for their hides. 

Arda Biomaterials is currently working with breweries from South London’s ‘Bermondsey Beer Mile’, which was once the leather tanning district of the City of London, to make its leather alternative. 

The material is produced by taking the grain that has had its sugar removed for brewing purposes, also known as brewer’s spent grain (BSG). This grain is rich in protein and fibre, which makes it an ideal blueprint for an alternative to conventional leather. It is chemically treated and manipulated in order to create a material that resembles conventional animal leather, a process developed by the company’s founders Edward TJ Mitchell and Brett Cotton. 

Arda Biomaterials has just received a £1.1 million (around €1.3 million) investment led by Clean Growth Fund, a UK cleantech venture capital fund. Now, the company is hoping to both reach a completed product and subsequently start launching its material in a limited capacity next year, and scale the business from there. 

Reimagining material production is one important step we must take towards net zero. Springwise has also spotted one company that makes plastic alternatives out of invasive plant species, as well as one startup in the archive that aims to replace plastic bubble wrap with a wool-based alternative.

Written By: Archie Cox

Reference

Cost-Effective Retrofits: 7 Steps to Zero Energy
CategoriesSustainable News Zero Energy Homes

Cost-Effective Retrofits: 7 Steps to Zero Energy

By Zarkon Group,

How to use the 7 Steps

Building professionals can use the resource to inform clients and help explain sustainable design-build processes that maximize energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness. All eight pages are easily integrated into PowerPoints, and are free to share with colleagues. A builder’s or architect’s website can reference the steps as a proven methodology that is part of their corporate mission. And it’s easy to write and post case studies that show how a project successfully followed the steps.

The design and construction team work together to integrate each step’s purpose and strategies. So the 7 Steps spur discussions on where additional evaluations and expertise may be required, and how the different trades can be impacted. There are reminders that existing buildings are all different and that upgrades will interact with each other, so sequencing and phased implementation require careful consideration. Future maintenance requirements and expected lifetimes of different systems are major factors in determining the lifecycle cost and carbon accounting.

Think globally, act locally

Construction Worker Installing New Windows In apartment

The ZERO Coalition unites businesses, nonprofits, and local governments to propel our shared goal to change how we build and retrofit our homes and businesses. We seek to reduce buildings’ carbon footprint and electrify them with clean energy. As a coalition, we are accelerating the transition to a decarbonized building sector in Oregon. But builders, designers, policymakers, and other members of the sustainable building industry can use the 7 Steps to advance building decarbonization anywhere in North America, and beyond.

Buildings in Oregon account for about 30% of Oregonians’ energy use and 40% of our GHG emissions, the most significant chunk after transportation. According to Rocky Mountain Institute, buildings also account for 40% of global energy GHG emissions. Architecture 2030 found that “To accommodate the largest wave of building growth in human history, from 2020 to 2060, we expect to add about 2.6 trillion ft2 (240 billion m2) of new floor area to the global building stock, the equivalent of adding an entire New York City to the world, every month, for 40 years.” This is why building decarbonization is finally getting wider attention. The time is now.

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Turning waste plastic into non-toxic resin
CategoriesSustainable News

Turning waste plastic into non-toxic resin

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says in a recent report that plastic pollution could be reduced by 80 per cent by 2040 if reuse, recycling, and reorienting and diversifying techniques are adopted worldwide. New Zealand company Nilo’s repurposing technology could be an important strand in that push towards circularity.  

Nilo’s patent-pending technology makes use of plastics that are not normally recycled, such as food film packaging and post-industrial waste. The company focuses its work around the Māori concept of Kaitiakitanga, or environmental guardianship, and as part of that, is developing a process in which Nilo pays people in the informal garbage picking industry to collect plastic waste. 

By making plastic waste collection a valuable part of a new economy, Nilo hopes to contribute to broader economic growth. The company’s technology is scaleable, and because the upcycled plastic waste is so versatile, local production plants can customise outputs for each region’s particular needs.  

Currently, the plastic that Nilo recycles is used as a binding agent in manufactured wood and on roads. The binder can be used as a direct replacement for Urea-Formaldehyde (UF), one of the most commonly used chemicals in the building industry. Largely because of the substantiveness of its carbon footprint, the European Union is working to restrict the use of UF by 2026.  

Nilo’s binder, on the other hand, is non-toxic and the boards it is used to create can be continually recycled when a product reaches the end of its lifespan. IKEA recently acquired a 12.5 per cent stake in the company, which allows it to use Nilo’s adhesive in its wood-based board products. Bringing the binder to commercial market is a key focus of the company’s current work.  

Plastic pollution is such a difficult task that the Springwise archive contains myriad innovations – such as a jellyfish-like robot that cleans ocean plastic and a type of fungi that can break down polypropylene – working to reduce the problem.  

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Quantum computing turbocharges investments – Springwise
CategoriesSustainable News

Quantum computing turbocharges investments – Springwise

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Quantum computing is an early-stage technology that offers far higher processing speeds than even the most advanced conventional supercomputers. This represents an extraordinary opportunity for business, with McKinsey forecasting that quantum computing could capture nearly $700 billion (around €642 billion) in value by 2035. However, today’s quantum computing hardware is still underdeveloped and largely confined to use by specialists in research labs.  

Spanish startup Multiverse Computing is already looking to change this.  

The company has developed a software-as-a-service platform – called Singularity –that provides non-specialist employees with an intuitive interface that connects to quantum computers on the Cloud.  

Today’s quantum computers are most advanced when it comes to problems that involve optimisation, and Singularity’s first use case is in financial services. Employees in the sector can use Singularity to maximise returns from their investment portfolios through a plugin added to a regular Excel spreadsheet.  

Users input data, such as the expected returns and volatilities of different financial assets, and set parameters such as the total amount to be invested. This information is pre-processed by the software to determine the best algorithms and quantum computers to use. The data is then sent to the computing hardware and the results are returned to the user in an easy-to-understand format. In a matter of minutes, Singularity can identify the optimum allocation of assets in a portfolio, delivering higher returns than industry standard solvers for any given risk level. 

The Singularity platform enables companies to gain some of the promised benefits of quantum computing immediately, even though quantum computing hardware remains in its infancy.

Quantum computing is only just starting to reveal its full potential. In the archive, Springwise has also spotted it being used for cybersecurity and to tackle the climate crisis.

Written By: Matthew Hempstead

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