Innovation for Our Future: Recent Episodes
Prasad S N
This Podcast brings the latest research and Innovations by various research teams and startups which are made for our Future.
Hello and welcome to the podcast "Living Green in India". Today, we are going to talk about the basics of living green in India and why we all must make a shift. According to a report by the United Nations, India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with a population of over 1.3 billion people. With such a large population, it is imperative that we take steps towards sustainable living.
Visit Grewind website to know more
Hydrogen produced from treating Sewage in energy efficient method can be used in fuel cells / Electric Vehicle.
Trackless trams could be new sustainable & economical mode of transportation which is experimented in China
Every year around 8 million tons of plastic trash enters the ocean which becomes microplastics and cause harm to sea life and marine ecosystems, and are difficult to track and clean.
University of Michigan researchers have developed a new way to spot ocean microplastics across the globe and track them over time, providing a day-by-day timeline of where they enter the water, how they move and where they tend to collect.
The approach relies on NASA's Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) and can give a global view or zoom in on small areas for a high-resolution picture of microplastic releases from a single location.
This could really change the way microplastics are tracked and accordingly help in cleaning them up.
Kudos to the entire research team !!
The rechargeable battery inside #smartwatch might last 2 to 3 years or 300 to 500 cycles and after that most of them would end up in landfill if not disposed in right manner.
So would it really be possible to eliminate battery from smartwatch ?
Well yes !!
Sequent a Swiss company has revolutionized the way we wear a smartwatch. Its 100% autonomous, sustainable and really fun to feel the mechatronic pulse that makes sure the watch never runs out of power.
The watch captures the power of body motions transforming it into energy to power smartwatch. The turning rotor is made of premium grade tungsten, that uses the basic principle of gravity to create power and thus charge the watch.
Bubble wrap has not just been a packaging method protecting fragile items from breaking but also an addictive to many of us to pop the bubbles. It might be stress reliever for one popping the bubble, but it is indeed adding stress on the environment, because bubble wrap is made from polyethylene that are not biodegradable and takes more than 500 years to decompose in landfill thus having adverse effects on the environment.
Little do we think about this while popping the bubbles.
But thanks to a new startup Woola who are making packaging from leftover sheep wool to reduce plastic waste. Company reports that in Estonia around 90% of waste wool which is around 153 tonnes of wool goes as waste. They use these waste wool and turns them as alternate for bubble wrap which is more environment friendly material.
Kudos to the team of Woola and let us spread the word for more such alternate solutions.
Worldwide nearly 20% of population don't have access to clean drinking water. Also, people in rural Africa struggle to have access to clean drinking water, many would have to walk for kilometers to get water.
Well understanding the concerns of these people a low cost solution was built by founder of "The Warka Water Tower" Mr.Arturo Vittori. This tower made of bamboo was piloted in 2015 and after the successful implementation has been expanded to other locations where having access to water is a challenge.
The company is mimicking natural process where certain insects can collects water from air and stores them for hostile environments. A 30 feet economical Bamboo Tower contains special fabric which condenses water from air thus creating 26 gallons of water everyday which can feed 50 families. The tower is simple in design and can be installed within an hour time.
In 2020 an estimated 18.6 million tonnes of clothing ended up in a landfill. It is estimated that with this trend it will be around 150 million ton by around 2050. Also, manufacturing creates over half a million tonnes of microfibre pollution which is equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles that ends in the ocean.
Our Fashion sense is definitely be responsible to an extent to this growing manufacturing and waste.
But what if we can still be responsible and keep our fashion hunger intact ?
Well Singaporeans are already a step ahead .. Thanks to company The Fashion Pulpit.
Company has created Singapore's First and Largest Swapping Platform. Individual has to just scan through wardrobe, identify clothes which are still in usable condition and based on membership, take them to the shop where they will undergo a quality check and based on brand / quality certain points will be credited to them to start swapping.
Interesting concept. Would this be successful in India ?
Creating Magic from Air
Textile production is the worldโs second most polluting industry after the oil industry. Conventional polyester is derived from petroleum in a process that emits huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Fashion industry contributes to almost 10% of the global carbon emissions and according to United Nation Climate Change.
Countries like China and India who majorly rely on coal power could further increase the carbon footprint.
But thanks to a company Fairbrics which has innovating technology converting greenhouse gas into sustainable polyester. CO2 captured at source reacts with catalyst and solvent to generate chemicals which are polymerized to create polyester pellets which are then spun into yarn and finally into fabric.
Kudos to the team of Fairbrics for this Innovative solution.
Generating Electricity from plants - A revolutionary solution from Spanish company Bioo.
Bioo works on producing electricity due to decomposition of organic substances by microorganisms in soil which releases electrons and are captured by system.
Microorganisms breaks organic molecules setting electrons free, thus generating an electrical current in the cell. Sensor works only with soil, naturally present bacteria, fertilizers and water. Company claims the sensors to be half the price of batteries and 10 times cheaper than solar panels on agricultural sensors.
These sensors can be applied in natural parks & gardens powering the light and systems with the electricity generated fitting into the landscape.
These might be small in size and therefore don't really see the harm they could do to us and our world.
Am referring to batteries we use in household. The small AA and AAA size batteries. Their sizes might be so small that many of us neglect method in which we dispose not realizing the huge impact they have on environment. These batteries in landfills release harmful metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium into soil causing soil contamination, water pollution and when these batteries are incinerated they add to air pollution thus damaging #environment.
But thanks to #startup in India Aloe E-Cell Private Limited, Winners of National Startup Awards 2020. They have developed world's first 100% Eco-Friendly and Non-Hazardous AA and AAA size batteries using Aloe vera replacing existing hazardous dry cell batteries. Company also claims that these batteries are 10% Cheaper and are 1.5 times more durable.
Kudos to the team of Aloe E Cell Pvt Ltd and looking forward for these batteries to be mass adopted in each household.
Today's waste is Tomorrow's Raw Material
The food industry generates 6 million to 8 million metric tons of seafood waste every year and 9.5 million tons of coffee waste grounds which ends up in landfills.
Combining these 2 which we seen them as waste, Tomtex a New York based company has developed new method to convert these food wastes into 100% natural biodegradable material without using any toxic chemicals.
The material produced can be either leather-like/ rubber-like / plastic-like by adjusting the formula and production method thereby expanding the applications beyond fashion, packaging, interior or industrial design.
Also, Tomtex material is easy to discard and can be decomposed or recycled as raw material to produce a new product without losing the quality.
Kudos to the Team of Tomtex for this amazing Innovation
A fabric called Lumiweave, which can provide Shade during day time and also light using Solar Energy during night has won this year Women4Climate Tech Challenge.
Designed by Anai Green, it has four layers and major component is flexible Organic photovoltaic with is stuck to a UV-resistant fabric imprinted with conductive copper-based ink that acts as circuit board which is with polymer strips with LEDs.
Lumiweave is flexible and mobile and thus provides a wide range of application. This innovative concept is being encouraged by the municipal by providing the necessary resources to grow and a prototype is in progress at Tel Aviv in Israel. Kudos to the innovator and looking forward for a successful prototype and mass scale adoption of such innovations.
Learning from nature a group of researchers from City University of Hong Kong have developed a photocatalyst which can covert CO2 into methane fuel.
Creating a carbon neutral / negative world with alternate fuels is one of most important agenda for us. Most research and scientists continue to work on this agenda and a team of researchers have developed a new photocatalyst , cuprous oxide with copper-based metal-organic frameworks. Using this new catalyst, the team could manipulate and selectively produce pure methane gas from CO2 using sunlight.
Team had been working on this for over 2 years and finally have been able to make success. Kudos and Congratulations to the team. Now they look forward to scale up this to large scale and produce methane on large scale which could really solve the crisis of CO2 to a large extent.
With transition to alternate fuels, one fuel with potential is #hydrogen. Smaller #vehicles always face challenge of adopting hydrogen due to its high pressure requirement.
But thanks to #researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM, Dresden who have now come up with a new paste called POWERPASTE which #riders have to just replace an empty cartridge with a new one and then refill tank with water.
POWERPASTE stores hydrogen as paste at room temperature and pressure and releases paste from cartridge by means of a plunger. The Water from tank thus reacts and produces hydrogen.
The researchers further claim that only 50% of hydrogen is generated from water and therefore POWERPASTE has very high energy storage density much higher than #EV battery and thus equated with fossil fueled vehicle. Also, this doesn't require big infrastructure and can be easily sold in regular fuel station.
This research really could be an answer to range anxiety and infrastructure challenges. Kudos to the research team and really looking forward for mass scale application in EVs soon.
From plant based to next air-based food ?
Future is to develop different ways on how food can be produced to feed estimated 10 billion people by 2050. The United Nation Food and Agricultural Foundation predicts #farmers will need to increase food production by 70% with only 5% land increase. This will pose a great challenge to basic necessity of food production.
A #startup Air Protein taking inspiration from NASA has developed technology which can make food out of elements of the air, such as CO2.
Air Protein uses CO2 as a #carbon source and through proprietary pro-biotic production process using solar power to split water and then air protein flour is made by a special class of microbes called hydrogenotrophs which use CO2 to produce amino acids in few hours. Air Protein flour which is produced is highly rich in protein by 80% compared to 40% in typical soy protein flour.
Traditional Ammonia production utilizes 2% of world's energy and contributes 1% of Industrial Co2 emissions. In addition to this, we all learnt with Beirut explosion how dangerous it is to store.
But thanks to lab experiment by Researchers at University of New South Wales, who have found new method to make ammonia from air, water and renewable electricity.
Traditional method of producing Ammonia requires high temperatures of over 400 degrees and high pressures of 2930 psi which are all attained using fossil fuels.
But researchers have designed a plasma reactor which which uses renewable sources and converts air into intermediary NOx. This technology scaled could produce ammonia directly at the fields itself thus supporting the farmers.
Kudos to the team and looking forward to commercialization of this research.
Don't throw your leftovers on to road or your dustbin. Make use them to make your next meal.
With that mission, a #startup in Japan, Grubin has developed Hungry box where one can put their leftovers from the meals to feed the larvae. These larvae decomposes leftovers much faster than than conventional bacteria used for composting. These larvaes grow up to be a protein-rich feed for chickens, fish or porks. Hungry box also allows one to feed fishes with the mature larvae and the fish poop be used as great fertilizer for vegetables or herbs.
Great use of natural process to reduce the waste and make potential use of leftovers at home.
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Supermarkets face challenge of liquidating the stocks before they shoot the expiry date by promoting these products by offering higher discounts which would need the staff to manually paste the stickers making it time consuming and laborious.
Realizing this problem, students from National Taipei University of Technology developed Barcodiscount which uses color-changing ink technology and displays different discounts as expiration date nears.
This color changing discount was found to reduce the waste by ~33% and also increase the revenue by around 6.3% making it really a win-win to all.
Kudos to 3 students for thinking out of the box on such an Innovative solution tackling food wastage.
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Globally Dominos sells around 3 million Pizzas a day according to their website. That is around 1.1 billion pizzas a year. Now add the other Pizza food chains into it and you can estimate the magnitude of pizzas people eat.
Due to Covid19, the take-away and online orders have increased thus inviting for more pizza boxes.
With an innovative approach of going eco friendly, a Phillipine Cafe, The BrickOven Cafรฉ is now serving its pizzas in handwoven reusable boxes made using pandan leaves. This alternate to Pizza cardboard boxes is also bringing the local weaving industry an extra source of income. Customers can reuse the box at the restaurant and receive a discount for going eco-friendly route.
Microbiologist Phil Ross is working to develop sustainable construction material from root-like fibers of mushrooms. The Root-like fibers of mushrooms which is called mycelium is lightweight, water resistant, fire-proof material that is an effective insulator.
A archway was a 6x6 foot sculpture titled Mycotectural Alpha, first man-made structure is made entirely out of mushrooms. It is also said that these bricks made out of Fast-growing mushrooms are stronger than Concrete.
Kudos to the Innovation and Innovator for this International Patent pending product !!
In Africa, 95% of people own a mobile phone despite lack of electricity supply and people travel for around 2-4 hrs for charging. They also spend 10-20% of their income on their energy needs like purchasing kerosene.
Addressing these major challenges faced by people in rural Africa, a startup Yolk has developed an innovative solution called 'Solar Cow' of rewarding parents for sending their children to school.
Solar Cow installed at schools where children plug their power banks to charge while they study and take them back home to charge mobile phones, radio, tv and provide light at night.
This innovative solution has reduced kerosene burning and their expenses and has thus increased the attendance rates and student registration rates by 8% and 10%.
Kudos to the team for tackling such an important issue in rural regions of Africa.
Irrigation in dry lands a possibility in Future
Researchers at Texas may have found a way to water plants in dry areas with soil additive Super-Moisture-Absorbent Gel (SMAG) which when mixed into the ground, will absorb water from the air to plants.
The Gel functions similar to dew, which is formed due to air temperature difference during day and night. When the air cools at night, it loses its ability to hold moisture and excess moisture will condense out onto surfaces, forming dew and the gel absorbs the moisture and doesn't allow it to evaporate, instead releases water into the soil.
Researchers have already successfully grown radish on the roof of a building in Texas, however for commercial application in large fields further research is still required.
Congratulations to the researchers and hope to see the mass scale experimentation a success which could then allow crops grown in dryer climates, where irrigation was not considered.
Getting access to clean drinking water is a challenge still in many parts of rural areas. A WHO report indicated around 29% of population lack even a basic drinking-water service. But what if clean drinking water can be created directly from sun and air ?
A company Source has developed has developed Hyrdropanel that makes, stores, and dispenses clean, mineral water.
Fan is powered Using Solar energy which draws air from surrounding and traps water vapor using water absorbing material. The vapor is then condensed into liquid and collected adding minerals into it.
Simple, but really could solve one of the most important problem of drinking clean drinking water.
Kudos to the team of Source.
Did you know Tyre Wear is 2nd largest microplastic pollutant in our ocean. It is produced every time we brake, accelerate or turn through corners. Innovative startup Tyre collective is working on solution which can capture almost 60% of this airborne particles.