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Making waves with a smart, electric-powered tugboat
CategoriesSustainable News

Making waves with a smart, electric-powered tugboat

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Maritime analysts expect “ever-increasing levels of digitisation and system interconnectivity [for] improved operational efficiency” to be one of the forthcoming improvements in the industry. As electrification of land vehicles continues apace, similar changes to the aviation and marine industries are beginning to gain traction.

In addition to the ships themselves, port traffic contributes to the industry’s considerable carbon footprint. To play a part in improving the sustainability of such busy industrial locations, Turkish marine design and engineering company Navtek created the ZEETUG. According to the company, the novel vessel is the world’s first zero-emissions, electric tugboat.

The tug is smart, efficient, and produces no noise or emissions. Fully electric, the ZEETUG’s operations are managed by smart tug energy management system (STEMS) software. STEMS works on desktops as well as mobiles and coordinates all data related to an entire fleet of tugs. From the position and route of the ship being assisted to wind speed, battery motor charge, and distance to the nearest charging station, STEMS allows the tug to self-manage its energy output.

The platform integrates with marine traffic charts and enables online diagnostics for maintenance needs. That helps operators minimise the amount of time a tug needs to spend in the yard for repair, and the smart system also enables updates and performance improvements as Navtek continues its R&D. Additionally, the tugs can be custom-built to provide a range of power outputs depending on the size of the ships and ports with which they work.

From zero-emissions cruise ships to the generation of energy from a ship’s movement water, Springwise’s library contains a number of innovations that are helping the maritime industry work more sustainably.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Making waves with floating offshore solar panels
CategoriesSustainable News

Making waves with floating offshore solar panels

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: According to the International Energy Agency’s Renewables 2023 report, last year saw a ‘step change’ in renewable capacity additions, driven in large part by solar power, particularly in China. And, in the year ahead, it is expected that the world will pass an important milestone with the combination of solar and wind forecast to generate more renewable electricity than hydropower for the first time.

Despite this heartening progress, there is still scope for innovation in renewable generation, and not every problem is solved. For example, offshore wind had a difficult year in 2023, and Netherlands-based energy company SolarDuck believes that another offshore technology will become an important part of the energy mix.

The startup believes that offshore solar power will be a key component in the push to meet net-zero emissions goals. The company’s founders all have experience in the energy and maritime sectors, expertise that lent itself to the creation of low-maintenance, offshore, floating solar panels designed specifically to withstand high-velocity winds and waves for up to 30 years.  

The patented design includes built-in safety aspects, along with improved means of access for maintenance teams. The solar panels are arranged in a triangle shape with a 10-degree tilt to help maximise self-cleaning capabilities and are placed on a floating foundation several feet above the water. Being slightly raised helps minimise corrosion and marine growth, and each structure is designed to be easily connected to another for quick scalability of energy supply.  

Sea water provides an important cooling factor that helps the panels maintain higher levels of conversion efficiency. SolarDuck plans to generate at least one gigawatt of energy from its solution annually by 2030.  

From a solar-powered cooker to new means of rejuvenating aging PV panels, solar power is such as important source of renewable energy that Springwise’s library contains a range of examples of innovations working to reduce the world’s dependence on oil and gas.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Making soundwaves: AI analyses coral health through audio
CategoriesSustainable News

Making soundwaves: AI analyses coral health through audio

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The Global Coral Reef Alliance predicts there will be unprecedented and globally dangerous coral reef bleaching worldwide throughout 2023 and 2024 as the cooler La Niña weather pattern changes over to the warmer El Niño, releasing the excess global heat trapped in the oceans. 

Tracking those predicted changes, along with mitigation efforts, requires vast amounts of data. With a lot of coral reef monitoring relying on visual assessments, it is difficult to reliably compare the severity of environmental damage and the success of conservation efforts between different sites. 

French marine technology company Reef Pulse is using passive acoustics monitoring to standardise the assessment of coral reef health. By recording and analysing coral reef soundscapes, the company can identify the diversity of marine life living there, the health of the different species, the level of noise pollution, and seasonal reproductive activity. The system tracks all noise made by marine life, human activity, and the physical processes that come from weather, including rain, wind, and more.  

Combining digital signal processing with artificial intelligence (AI) analysis, Reef Pulse’s acoustic monitoring systems are completely passive. They do not affect the environment or wildlife, and monitoring is continuous with a system running for six months without needing a battery change. Acoustics tracking also helps quantify noise pollution, a problem that is increasingly recognised for its dangerous effects on surrounding environments.  

Reef Pulse provides custom reports for each site and visualisations of the data on dedicated websites. Once a baseline set of data has been recorded, the effects and efficacy of bioengineering conservation efforts can be easily and thoroughly tracked, making it easier for scientists to compare approaches and techniques between sites and their many variables.  

From turmeric to electrolysis, the importance of the world’s coral reefs to global biodiversity is reflected in the variety of innovations seeking to preserve, protect, and restore them – as spotted in the Springwise database.

Written By: Keely Khoury 

Reference

Making eyewear from ghost fishing gear
CategoriesSustainable News

Making eyewear from ghost fishing gear

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Discarded or ‘ghost’ fishing nets are the deadliest form of ocean plastic. Made from long-lasting materials, they continue catching marine life for over 500 years after they enter the ocean according to social enterprise Waterhaul. And a recent study calculated that around two per cent of all fishing gear is lost to the ocean, amounting to 218 square kilometres of trawl nets, 2,963 square kilometres of gillnets, and 75,049 square kilometres of purse seine nets each year.

Waterhaul is tackling this problem by collecting ghost gear and converting it into eyewear.  Discarded equipment is collected from rocky and remote coastlines – in Cornwall and elsewhere in England and Wales – that accumulate a lot of plastic and debris. The organisation is also putting in place arrangements to collect used gear in-port, preventing it from entering the sea in the first place.

After the waste material is collected, it is put through a mechanical recycling process to make an injection-mould-ready material that is used in the frames of sunglasses and optical glasses. Different types of net have different properties, and this can be used to Waterhaul’s advantage when designing the products, which are finished with mineral glass, rather than cheap plastic, lenses.

In addition to producing the eyewear, which is marketed both B2B and through a direct-to-consumer model, Waterhaul also makes litter pickers and clean-up kits from discarded nets. These are sent to communities who can use them to conduct their own ocean clean-up projects.

Discarded fishing gear is a major issue, and at Springwise we have previously spotted innovations such as chairs and clothing from discarded nets.

Written By: Matthew Hempstead

Reference

Making jewellery sustainable with regenerative mining
CategoriesSustainable News

Making jewellery sustainable with regenerative mining

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The negative environmental impacts of mining are well-established. As well as generating substantial volumes of greenhouse gas emissions, the mining process is also responsible for biodiversity loss, water contamination, and air pollution. Mineral extraction is still necessary, however, with these materials playing an essential role in energy transition technologies, as well as in electronics and fine jewellery. 

Startup Regeneration, which was founded by US NGO Resolve, is on a mission to make mining a sustainable practice. Instead of sourcing new mineral deposits, the company has a growing network of old mining sites that makes use of waste rock and mine tailings to access essential minerals. Mining techniques in the past were highly inefficient, as well as highly damaging to the environment, meaning that lots of valuable materials have been left behind in legacy mines. Using new methods and technologies, Regeneration is able to re-mine and take full advantage of old mining tailings. 

In addition to putting mining waste to good use, Regeneration also restores surrounding ecosystems that have been damaged by past mining practices, clearing polluted water systems and rebuilding habitats. Once fully re-mined, the company closes out a legacy mine properly to ensure that an area will not continue to be polluted. The startup then monitors biodiversity and regeneration progress on its closed sites to make sure the environment is healing as expected. 

Brands can partner with the organisation to access sustainably re-mined minerals and metals for their own products, and Regeneration uses its sales profits to go back into habitat restoration and mining closures.  

The company has already joined forces with the likes of Apple, and in May this year, popular Canada-based jewellery brand Mejuri also announced its own partnership as part of its first Sustainability Report. Through this relationship, Mejuri will be able to produce its jewellery lines using efficiently and sustainably mined metals, while helping to support essential ecological rehabilitation.

In the archive, Springwise has spotted other innovators looking to make jewellery better for the planet, including one that is 3D printing zero-waste items and another that sources diamonds from the ocean.

Written By: Matilda Cox

Reference

Making banking accessible for neurodivergent users
CategoriesSustainable News

Making banking accessible for neurodivergent users

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: According to the World Economic Forum, between 15 and 20 per cent of the global population is neurodiverse. This includes individuals with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and dyslexia.  

For many neurodiverse individuals, it is easy to become overwhelmed when navigating public spaces and everyday activities. Now, Magnusmode is working to help neurodiverse people gain independence in daily living with step-by-step digital guides. 

Magnusmode has developed a free mobile app called MagnusCards that provides digital ‘card decks’ for everyday activities in categories such as money, safety, shopping, and food. Each deck provides images, detailed step-by-step instructions, and positive, encouraging reinforcement for basic transactions. The collectible decks have been created in partnership with various businesses and non-profits and are designed to walk users through tasks such as ordering food in a restaurant and getting a library card.   

In December 2022, Magnusmode teamed up with Huntington Bank to create a card deck specifically designed to help neurodiverse individuals become more financially independent. The Huntington Card Decks feature real-life scenarios such as paying with a debit card, using an ATM, and paying bills. The guides feature two Huntington Bank employees who are themselves neurodivergent.

Increasingly, innovators are looking at ways to boost accessibility across various industries. In the archive, Springwise has also spotted an education platform to help unbanked communities and a plugin that helps travel agencies serve disabled customers.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Making hi-tech nano-crystals out of organic fishing waste
CategoriesSustainable News

Making hi-tech nano-crystals out of organic fishing waste

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Material waste from the fishing industry, namely crustacean waste, amounts to around 6-8 million tonnes a year. One company is looking to use this waste to solve the problem of material alternatives to plastics. 

The present problem with plastic packaging films is that it’s difficult to achieve high strength, low permeability, and recyclability all in one material. The current market caters to low permeability and high strength but neglects recyclability, with these materials taking decades to be broken down and releasing harmful microplastics in the process. This is where Neptune Nanotechnologies comes in. 

The company is using its proprietary technology to transform the waste material of crabs, shrimps, and lobsters into highly valuable chitin nanocrystals. Neptune Nanotechnologies highlights that these nanocrystals are stronger than steel, lighter than plastic, and fully bio-based and biodegradable. The fully organic crystals replace current additives to base materials, like plastic and composites, that can be an obstacle to a product’s biodegradability.

The crystals solve the problems of performance by making the final nano-structured materials stronger, but equally, the weight reductions allow better efficiency and CO2 prevention downstream in transport. Neptune Nanotechnologies’ crystals have similar characteristics to other nanotech alternatives, including graphene and carbon nanotubes, but have the added bonus of also being biodegradable. 

This high performance means the crystals are suitable for a range of applications, like aerospace and automotive composites, high-barrier films and packaging, 3D-printed materials, and biomedical devices. Neptune Nanotechnologies is currently testing its technologies in these industries and is hoping to become completely commercialised soon. 

There are a number of innovators looking to rid the world of harmful, often plastic-based, materials. In the archive, Springwise has also spotted one startup that turns organic waste into planet-friendly plastic and another that creates footwear from food waste.

Written By: Archie Cox

Reference

Making clean hydrogen and carbon black without combustion
CategoriesSustainable News

Making clean hydrogen and carbon black without combustion

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Hydrogen has long been touted as a clean fuel for the future. And the International Energy Agency forecasts that global hydrogen demand could reach 115 megatonnes by 2030, although this falls short of the 130 megatonnes needed by the same deadline to meet existing climate targets. 

Hydrogen is promising as a fuel because it does not emit CO2 at point-of-use and has a broad range of existing and potential applications – from the power sector to transport and more. However, the way in which the element is produced determines whether or not it is a truly clean fuel.  

Today, almost all the hydrogen we use is created from fossil fuels, which means that its production generates significant amounts of CO2. ‘Green hydrogen’ is an often-discussed alternative to fossil-derived hydrogen. It is produced by running an electric current through water to break the bond between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms. If this current is produced from a renewable source, then the entire process is emissions-free. Although very promising, green hydrogen has its own limitations, such as the current high cost of electrolysers needed for its production. 

Now, however, US startup Monolith, has developed a new clean way of producing hydrogen. Using a process called methane pyrolysis, the company heats up traditional or renewable natural gas or biogas with renewable electricity. This process heats the gas but does not combust it, which means no CO2 is released. Instead, the bonds between the hydrogen and carbon atoms in the gas are broken, and the two elements are collected separately.

Video source Monolith

Although Monolith’s process still results in a small amount of greenhouse gas emissions for each kilogramme of hydrogen produced, these are much lower than those produced by traditional fossil-derived hydrogen processes (at 0.45 kilogrammes of CO2 equivalent per kilogramme of hydrogen, compared to 11.3 for steam methane reforming). Moreover, the company claims that the process could be made carbon negative if renewable natural gas is used as feedstock.  

The key benefit of Monolith’s technology is that it is more affordable than green hydrogen production and uses seven times less energy than is required to produce hydrogen with electrolysers. The leftover carbon from methane pyrolysis can also be used to produce carbon black, a material that is used in tyres and rubber products and as an ink, black paint, or dye. This carbon black is normally produced in very carbon-intensive ways, so its recovery from Monolith’s process offers a more sustainable alternative. 

As hydrogen becomes more important for the energy transition, Springwise has spotted several innovators in the archive working on its clean production, including a company producing next-generation electrolysers, researchers making hydrogen from thin air,  and oil-eating bacteria that produce hydrogen from spent oil and gas wells.  

Written By: Matthew Hempstead

Reference

Making a difference to people and planet with an innovative recycling scheme
CategoriesSustainable News

Making a difference to people and planet with an innovative recycling scheme

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Most people are eager to engage in recycling and want to make more sustainable choices, but logistical obstacles get in the way. In fact, a lack of recycling services was cited as the biggest barrier to recycling worldwide, according to a World Economic Forum study.  

To make recycling more accessible for everyone, South-Africa-based Regenize collects separated rubbish directly from users on specified days – including recyclables and compostable organic waste – taking collections to local Decentralised Recycling Hubs (DRHs). Collection is free for lower-income areas and middle-upper communities pay a monthly fee. Once households sign up to the scheme, they receive a starter kit that includes information on how to recycle. 

In exchange for their recycling, participants receive Remali – a virtual currency that can be spent with Regenize partners, including Vodacom and Telkon Mobile in return for data and minutes. Users track their recycling and Remali rewards on an easy-to-use app. But for those who don’t have access to a smartphone, Regenize also offers ‘Simplified Remali’ that can be redeemed in participating shops instead of online, which further helps to boost the local economy. 

Impactful social change is at the heart of Regenize’s model, and the company chooses existing waste pickers and unemployed community members to become collectors. Collectors are given free uniforms, fossil-fuel-free bikes, equipment, mobile phones, and instead of sorting through dirty landfill sites, they have access to clean and safe rubbish. As well as providing them with a stable income, Regenize also helps the collectors get bank cards and access micro-loans. 

Though currently only available in certain parts of South Africa, Regenize has plans to go national within five years, and then expand across the whole of Africa. The company recently launched more of its services at Khanyolwethu Secondary School, Lwandle in June this year.

Social change doesn’t have to come at the expense of sustainability. In fact, in the archive Springwise has spotted many innovators combining the two, including an Indian startup that employs local women and youth to create artisanal products from upcycled plastic and a Kenyan recycling company that ensures fair wages for waste pickers.

Written By: Matilda Cox

Reference

Making sustainable commuter transport more affordable
CategoriesSustainable News

Making sustainable commuter transport more affordable

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: If you’ve ever ventured out of a city, you’ll know that transportation in rural areas is often unreliable. This leaves people immobilised, often cornering locals to purchase vehicles of their own. Having reliable, shared transportation in these areas is not only a more affordable solution for residents but a more sustainable one too: helping minimise the number of combustion-engine vehicles on the road. UK-based RideTandem decided to put this idea into action, turning local transport providers into smart shuttles for work and educational needs. 

To mobilise those in rural areas, the startup has partnered up with local taxi, minicab, and coach companies. Using an app, RideTandem matches these transport partners to those wanting to book a ride into a shared vehicle. The result is an affordable shuttle-type service for commuters living in areas with poor and expensive transport links. 

“Even before the cost-of-living crisis hit, public transport outside of big cities was broken – expensive, unreliable, or simply not there for people who need it,” explains RideTandem co-founder and CEO Alex Shapland-Howes. He adds: “Almost 5,000 bus services – more than one in four – were axed between 2012 and 2022. Many that remain, especially outside cities and large towns, are under threat from the recent end of the Bus Recovery Grant.” 

Following a recent seed funding, RideTandem has now raised £2.3 million (around €2.7 million) with the aim of extending its reach beyond the UK. 

Springwise has previously spotted other innovations in the archive aimed at increasing mobility through ride-sharing, from a company that offers ride-sharing in greener vehicles and remote-piloted shared cars in Las Vegas.

Written By: Georgia King

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