Spotted: The average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water at home each day. And while water is essential for a whole host of daily activities, a lot of it is wasted, whether through user behaviour or leaks.
In fact, startup Conservation Labs has calculated that, in the US, the cost of unwanted water use amounts to $62.64 billion per year. To tackle this issue, the company is deploying machine learning and sound-monitoring sensors.
When water flows through a plumbing system, whether to a toilet, a sink, or a bathtub, it creates a distinct sound. And machine learning algorithms can be trained to identify different sound patterns and what they mean for the system.
Conservation Labs’ technology, called H2Know, uses a WiFi-connected sensor, which is attached to a house’s inbound pipe. This sensor can be clipped onto the pipe easily and links to a user-friendly app that provides continuous water use monitoring.
Users can compare their usage to weekly averages, and the system provides email and text notifications for leaks. The technology can also integrate with a third-party water shut-off device, which kicks in if a catastrophic leak is detected.
Other water-saving innovations spotted by Springwise include greywater-recycling showers, a system that recycles household water, and a fibre optics system that detects leaks.
Spotted: The International Energy Agency (IEA) calls heat pumps “the central technology in the global transition to secure and sustainable heating.” Although they tend to come with higher upfront costs than other heating options, their low rate of emissions and general high rates of efficiency are driving sales to record highs. Solar, wind, and hydropower are well-known renewables used to power many devices, and now French technology company Equium is introducing a new source. Thermoacoustic power transforms the energy of sound waves into heat or cold.
The company’s Acoustic Heat Pump compresses or expands high power sound waves in order to produce the desired temperature. The action requires very little power, and as the sound waves expand and contract, the movement produced is similar to that of a piston in a traditional engine, yet without the mechanical moving parts. It is possible to use the thermoacoustic pumps in most temperatures and climates, without the need for greenhouse gases.
The devices themselves are made from 100 per cent recyclable materials and are designed for extremely low maintenance, with expected product life spans of up to 30 years. They are also easy for owners to install without requiring advanced technical skills. The elimination of greenhouse gas refrigerants combined with minimal maintenance needs contribute to the new pumps’ efficiency, which further reduces long-term investment costs.
Making sources of renewable heat and electricity more affordable is a foundational element of many of the energy innovations Springwise is spotting, such as geothermal systems for individual homes, and tailored electrification plans.
Music and sustainability collective Evolution Music has designed a 12-inch vinyl made of bioplastic using existing record pressing machinery, which features tracks by artists Beatie Wolfe and Michael Stipe.
Hailed as the world’s first commercially available bioplastic 12-inch vinyl by Evolution Music, the product is made from specially designed bioplastic instead of traditional, carbon-intensive PVC.
The 12-inch vinyl is made from bioplastic created by Evolution Music
The bioplastic 12-inch vinyl looks and functions like a standard vinyl, comprised of a black disc illustrated with a central graphic design.
It was manufactured using existing record pressing machinery and production processes.
It is manufactured using existing record pressing machinery
Its A-side features the track Future, If Future by American musician Stipe, while Oh My Heart by British-American artist Wolfe can be played on its B-side.
The bioplastic 12-inch vinyl’s creators said that they were prompted to design the material and the product themselves after struggling to find “sustainable solutions for physical media”.
“It is a robust, ecologically secure compostable material created specifically to act and sound the same as PVC-derived vinyl,” Evolution Music CEO Marc Carey told Dezeen.
Tracks by Michael Stipe and Beatie Wolfe feature on the record
To create the bioplastic, a four-year development process involved identifying a base polymer that acts in the same way as traditional PVC, without producing harmful substances, according to Carey.
After this, the team sourced bio-organic fillers and co-created a solid additive used for plastics called a bio masterbatch.
Evolution Music’s aim was “to create a biopolymer that is authentic, truly sustainable and ecologically sound,” explained Carey.
“We’ve never developed traditional plastic vinyl – I guess you should ask the PVC manufacturers why they didn’t [create bioplastic vinyl],” he said.
Evolution Music aimed to create a “sustainable” product
Five hundred copies of the bioplastic 12-inch vinyl were initially sold when it was released earlier this year, with the proceeds donated to the charity EarthPercent.
Founded by musician Brian Eno, EarthPercent invites artists to pledge a portion of their income to the charity, which is then donated to organisations that tackle climate change.
“It took three passionate, independent music lovers from the UK to develop this product out of necessity,” concluded Carey.
“The fact that ‘big’ players did not do this in the first place raises interesting questions about the petrol, chemical, oil and plastics industry… just saying!”
Other recent bioplastic designs include a clingfilm alternative made from waste potato peels and a polystyrene substitute created from plastic-eating mealworms.
Spotted: The desert locust, which is found in various parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, is considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world. When locusts swarm, they can destroy crops, pasture, and fodder over a large area. A small swarm can consume the same amount of food in one day as 35,000 people, while a large swarm can eat food that could feed 81 million people.
Locust swarms are a serious threat to food security in Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, which is why a group of innovators at the Amman, Jordan FabLab decided to work on a solution. The group submitted designs for a prototype as part of an application for a funding award from the Orange Foundation. The project uses high-frequency audio to disrupt and disperse the swarms.
The team developed a small, 3D-printed rocket-shaped device, designed to be released from a drone. This system was chosen because the desert areas where swarms form are often difficult to access by land. Once released, the nose of the rocket embeds in the ground and a speaker plays high frequency audio. The team plan to use any funding they receive to further refine the design and add solar power.
In 2014, the Orange Foundation launched a number of digital education programmes to focus on young people in need. The FabLab movement offered a natural alignment with this goal and the Foundation established the concept of the Solidarity FabLab to help young people develop professional and technical skills. All of the people working on the anti-locust rocket are part of this programme.
A number of innovators are working to help farmers in regions where farmers cannot afford high-tech crop management systems. Springwise has covered a number of these developments, including a desalination system that can be adapted to off-grid use and the use of non-toxic emulsions to control fungi and bacteria and enhance crop growth.
