EcoPact is sold at a range of low-carbon levels from 30%-100% less carbon emissions compared to the traditional concrete by using a circular business model by using waste from demolition of other projects
Company integrates fine mixed granulate from construction and demolition material as an additive. Concrete mix is currently available in many European and South American countries
Belfast Valley, a Baltimore-based contractor, is using EcoPact on Georgetown university 12 story residence hall building which is the first major construction project in Washington DC. to use the green products
Products formation seem to not be much different than the traditional concrete except when temperatures fall at or below freezing where concrete sets slower than traditional concrete
Stake Holders
Construction companies
Contractors and developers
Governments who set sustainability goals
Deployment
EcoPact to ramp up marketing the product at a larger scale
Work with cement plant where the product is being marketed to make sure supply is available
A large contributor to traffic in Rome is caused by those seeking to park. Increase in traffic causes more emissions and pollution as well as delays in public transportation. This also leads to long queue’s at bus stops, lowering the citizen’s journey experience.
Tech: Image sensors with AI processing technology
Rome is adopting image sensors from Sony Europe with AI processing functionality to cut city’s transport related pollution and public transportation efficiency.
One of the trials will deliver a smart parking system. Using the Genius smart tip sensors, it can identify free parking spaces and stream the exact location.
The location is then sent to Envision, their cloud software partner, and then displayed on a mobile device used by the driver looking for parking.
The Genius smart tip can also identify the amount of people waiting at a bus stop. This data will be sent to the public bus manager in order to enhance the planning and scheduling of bus network
The technology will not store images, in line with privacy requirements
Stakeholders:
Drivers looking for parking
Public transportation company managing the network
Citizens taking public transportation
City traffic department
Steps
Plan the optimal amount of sensors required and install them
Integrate the system with the cloud software partner to ensure the data is accessible to the targeted stakeholders
Begin testing the use of the mobile app where drivers can see the free spaces.
Cement production attribute to one of the largest GHG emissions globally. Cement production releases 5–6% of all carbon dioxide generated by human activities, accounting for about 4% of global warming. The manufacturing process of cement also causes pollution and can contaminate the water which causes adverse affects to human wellbeing and environmental health concerns.
Sustainable technology:
To address this, there is a push for smart and sustainable construction materials as well as alternative processes for cement manufacturing. Construction companies are looking for efficient manufacturing process and low-carbon sources.
Neustark is a swiss startup that removes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and stores it in recycles concrete. (Stores about 10kg in each cubic meter of recycled concrete aggregate)
It uses principles of natural mineralization accelerating it to capture carbon more efficiently. It optimizes concrete usage to minimize cement usage in concreate manufacturing.
Neustark carbonation takes place before the granules are mixed with cement. The pH value of the finished concreate is the same as that of conventionally produced concrete.
Key Stakeholders:
Real estate Developers
Construction companies
Government Urban planning department
Implementation steps:
1.) Determine the ecological and economical potential of neustark based on the specific framework condition on the business that is considering using this technology
2.) Validate the key assumptions behind what could potentially be saved through the companies ‘lab scale concreate test’ series
3.) Rent their mobile unit to validate those test at large scale at their location of choice
Sustainability Issue: Safety and Health. Currently there is no strong centralized team of IT experts to support State agencies and the public in Connecticut. In addition there is public demand for up-to-date technology especially in schools and hospitals. Technology has become a central need that we have seen especially through the aftermath of COVID-19.
Name of technology solution: Through a press release in March of 2021 Governor Lamont of CT announced a plan to build a new information technology organization within the state government to deliver modern IT solutions to support state agencies and the public.
It is being formed in order to improve cybersecurity, create new professional opportunities for residents, allow the state to use technology and update it sustainably and allow gaps in service quicker so that we can figure out how to provide more advancements in the future within the current infrastructure.
The new IT Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary position will involve that individual to be responsible for an IT Capital Investment program currently at 516 million dollars.
The opportunity aims to have more collaboration on new projects for employees and create a central hub for professional development and the ability to work with many other agencies.
Government agencies, IT professionals supporting this new infrastructure, professionals that will need to manage this hardware, security, networks and storage. Agencies that will need to migrate their systems as a result of this plan, state-based collaboration to serve these enterprise platforms, the residents of Connecticut who will be a part of this change and hopefully benefit as a result of this economic and job growth. The state data center security is a priority.
According to the articles related to this plan – this will be a year long process to build this new iT hub for state agencies. Once this is built the process to centralize will lead to the required collaboration with IT professionals, and the appropriate training to the professionals dedicating their services to work on a common platform that will communicate across State agencies instead of individual agency by agency processes. Third step will involve the training, roll-out and maintenance for this. The funding will also need to be allocated towards where the needs are. I’m also curious to see how this impacts low-income areas in Connecticut and school systems?
Another thing we have to consider is, will this proposal actually make the services for residents and employees more accessible and digital? Will this investment allow for quicker services at places that need it to the most like the DMV or voter registration? How will the follow-up be for this – how will it be measured, and will ordinary residents see the effects of this in their day-to-day lives?
By 2050, it is predicted that 3 billion people will be living within informal settlements and 1 in 3 people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water . An informal settlement is housing that falls outside of government control or regulation. These communities are excluded from regular access to the benefits of urban development, including public services, infrastructure, public spaces and collective facilities. It’s clear that providing safe water for all is one of the most pressing problems in public health.
Technology Solution:
Designer Henry Glogau developed a no-cost lighting solution for homes in shantytowns – a skylight dubbed ‘Solar Desalination Skylight’ that provides free lighting and drinkable water.
The Solar Desalination Skylight works by evaporating seawater using heat from the sun. During the day, seawater trickles through a pipe into the bowl-shaped skylight. The salt and pollutants are removed and clean drinking water is extracting via a tap at the Skylight base.
At night, the remaining brine left over from the purification process generates an electrical charge to power a dim light.
As well as the functional performance, the desalinated water adds a morphing dappled effect that changes mood throughout the day, creating a soft ambiance for the living room space where family activities take place.
Waste: Ocean waste is an ever-worsening problem, and since many plastic wastes do not decompose, we need to extract the trash in order to effectively mitigate the solution. This has to happen in parallel with waste reduction efforts in order to holistically address the pollution of our oceans.
2) Technology Solution
This solution can collect 3 tons of waste per hour, and is primarily self sufficient by using wind and solar energy. They believe that “400 vessels could eventually remove 33% of the world’s ocean plastic pollution”. While crew members sort the waste on board and much of it is retained to later discard, certain plastics are also ground down and incinerated to be used as a fuel for the ship – removing waste and powering the vessel for ongoing waste removal.
3) Stakeholders
A number of stakeholders will need to be engaged to drive this project forward:
Engineering and investment stakeholders
Environmental groups
Waste facilities
Coast Guard
4) Implementation
In order to roll out the program to convert urban orange waste into electricity one would need to:
Conduct research to understand the highest concentrations of waste
Work with engineering, investors, etc. to develop a working model of the boat
Coordinate with Coast Guard to arrange tests and operations and ensure they feel the endeavor is safe
Traffic is certainly a widespread issues that is not specific to any particular location, however many regions are worse off than others when it comes to delays on roadways. Traffic causes frustration and stress, increased emissions from vehicles, and wasted time and energy (perhaps the precursor to frustration and stress). I would considers these issues of civic engagement (possibly?) and health + safety.
2.
The town of Peachtree Corners, which is a suburb about 20 miles outside of Atlanta, has what they call a “Curiousity Lab” where they develop and implement smart-city-living measures, seems pretty cool and unique!
Through this Curiosity Lab, the town has partnered with Qualcomm and infrastructure firm Jacobs and are in the process of implementing Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2xE) technology on some of the town’s vehicle fleet and their roadways.
This technology sets out to dramatically improve road safety and roadway congestion. This is accomplished by altering traffic light patterns based upon real-time demand and congestion levels. Another cool feature is that it can alter traffic signals to help first responders move more quickly to emergencies.
Ford has made commitments to the effort by deploying C-V2X tech in ALL of its vehicles starting in 2022!
Article Title: Atlanta suburb deploys new tech to tame traffic
City/State/Federal Legislators to help further integrate this technology
4. I mentioned that city/state/federal legislators are stakeholders that will need to use or will be impacted by this technology. to that end, being that this is such a far reaching technology, I think that the first step would be to engage lawmakers to start encouraging and/or subsidizing the plan.
As the involved organizations presented in this article have done, the second step would be testing this technology at a small scale in private applications because there are some certain dangers involved if things don’t work perfectly in a public setting.
Thirdly, this technology would need to be beta tested also at small scale in “the real world” to ensure that there is a seamless transition from private lab testing to public testing.
1) Sustainability Problem: Health and Safety (Radiation)
Rocket engines powered by mainstream hydrocarbon propellants release black carbon into the stratosphere, which is the second layer of the atmosphere. Because the particles are literally black, they absorb light and warm the stratosphere. These warmer temperatures accelerate the chemical reactions that deplete ozone, which we know protects us from harmful radiation. While total black carbon emissions from global space activity are not yet at high enough levels to have a significant impact, the global launch rate is experiencing a surge and is expected to continue increasing. Without any preventative or mitigative measures, the ozone depletion and corresponding radiation from aerospace activity could cause serious adverse effects for the human population.
Hydrogen fuel is readily available and can be produced efficiently. (WHA International)
Hydrogen fuel burns cleanly and has the potential to have a 100% clean energy cycle if it is produced using renewable energy sources. (WHA International)
Hydrogen-based rocket fuel has no black carbon emissions and performs better as a propellant than other hydrocarbon fuels. However, it is more difficult to work with than other propellants because of its sensitivity. It is also low density, requiring a larger tank and more weight which is disadvantageous when trying to get the rocket off the ground. Finally, it requires much cooler storing temperatures. (Source: Martin Ross [my manager at The Aerospace Corporation, personal interview).
3) Organizational Stakeholders
Transitioning the aerospace industry to hydrogen fuel from hydrocarbon propellants will require research, acceptance and support, and changes in infrastructure. This means that the following stakeholders will be involved:
Aerospace engineers to adjust the actual rocket engines to use hydrogen propellant
Climate and atmospheric scientists to continue monitoring and researching the effects of rocket engine emissions on the stratosphere and other layers of the atmosphere not so well understood
Communication experts to translate the science to policy makers and make them understand the urgency of the situation
Policy makers so that policies can be implemented to make the transition
Aviation experts that have used hydrogen fuel to make connections between airplanes and rockets and this specific use case
4) Implementation Steps
As mentioned in the stakeholder section, making this transition will require lots more research as well as communication and changes in infrastructure, not to mention significant costs. Therefore, the following steps should be implemented:
Teams should be created to combine experts in aerospace, climate/atmosphere science, aviation, and policy. All perspectives should be accounted for and professionals from various fields should work together to implement the hydrogen technology to ensure that adverse effects in other areas are not being created.
Before implementing changes in infrastructure to accommodate hydrogen fuels only, research should be completed on other clean fuels to determine if there are even more ideal options. While hydrogen seems like a good fuel to use, there is always a need to continue searching for even better ones.
Financial modeling should be performed to determine how much it would cost to make the infrastructure and rocket engine modifications to accommodate hydrogen fuel.
Fertilizer runoff from agriculture is a major contributor to the eutrophication (essentially creating too many nutrients) of waterways and the oceans. This creates algal blooms which choke out other plant life and then die, and when they are decomposing the decomposers use up all of the available oxygen in the water creating hypoxic or even anoxic conditions, killing any aquatic life nearby. Huge “dead zones” have been created just beyond the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico, and many other areas worldwide.
Technology: Non-toxic stabilizer “N-Protect”
When fertilizer is applied, bacteria will often use up part of it in a process called “Volitalization” which creates ammonia gas and causes the available nitrogen in the fertilizer to not reach the roots of the intended plants. Because of this, excess fertilizer is used to get enough to the plants, and/or toxic stabilizers are used to make the nitrogen accessible to the plants but not the bacteria.
Solvay has come up with an alternative to this with their “N-Protect” product. This is a stabilizer which is non-toxic, and does not have the foul odor that conventional stabilizers have. It also has a higher efficacy than conventional stabilizers, at 50% instead of 30%. This means that less fertilizer has to be applied, and that more is taken up by the intended plants. Both mean less runoff into waterways and less volitalization into ammonia which then gets captured in the water cycle in clouds and rain, also ending up in rivers and oceans.
Stakeholders:
-Agriculture industry
-Fertilizer supply industry
-Fisheries
-Coastal and River-adjacent communities near ‘dead zones’
Implementation:
Implement wider usage of the product
Test rivers and ocean areas near applications to determine level of effectiveness at reducing eutrophication
Consider legislation requiring a higher level of volitization reduction in fertilizers
By utilizing blockchain and the Bitcoin infrastructure, the concept of Citycoin(s) attempts to raise equity for US cities, allowing for external investment.
(2) Citycoin attempts to strengthen the treasury of existing cities, as individuals stake their existing crypto (Stacks, or STX) to support the particular city.
The first city (arguably the pilot) is Miami
Without getting technical, users can commit their STX crypto, exchanging it for Citycoin.
With Citycoin, users are able to “stack” (lock) the currency, providing security to the network while earning interest paid out in STX/BTC
Big picture, this mechanism provides the given city an ongoing revenue stream to benefit its infrastructure and civic engagement
While this is a premature idea (in my opinion), Citycoin provides a clever way for cities to generate external capital without raising debt
Includes Local (and potentially State) Government (in the case of Miami, specific the Mayor and other public offices like the Treasury Dept.)
Includes the general public within the cities as ideally they support a crypto treasury
Potential projects resulting from the funds can span various industries and consequently NGOs, Universities and Corporations (e.g, Utility companies, Water companies, Waste companies, etc.)
(4) Next Steps
Develop a user engagement plan/strategy to spread the concept of Citycoins, in an effort to gather feedback/input from City Governments and the community (both general public and crypto community)
Have individuals that hold Stacks (STX) vote in their desired cities to be a part of Citycoin(s) to ensure the sustainability of the Citycoin concept
Request that Stack (STX) holders execute a Stacks smart contract (already a part of the ecosystem), locking their crypto to mine Miamicoin ($MIA); publish results from first mining and staking cycle to justify concept
1)Sustainability Problem (Safety and Health): Unhoused people (aka homeless) are part of a systematic cycle that hinders their safety and progress. Many displaced individuals lose their personal documents including birth certificates, licenses, social security card, etc. This makes it extremely difficult to rent, get a job, and receive medical attention.
The question posed by Dell Medical School is “How do you get more access to health care and social service resources for people experiencing homelessness in Austin?” In a study, the school found that 1/3 of people trying to get medical attention did not have documents to prove their identity.
Dr. Tim Mercer, director of the global health program at Dell, and his colleagues are trying to use Blockchain technology to create a system in which information and identity documents can be stored and used across different platforms and institutions.
The technology would store the data provided in one medical provider the information would be updated and stored so that if the person goes to another provider or tries to obtain human services their information is already available.
This blockchain system would help not only those experiencing homelessness, but also allow those trying to provide services to more efficiently do their job
This blockchain technology is being developed and is in it’s initial steps through student led research and testing.
3.)Stakeholders
People experiencing homelessness
Doctors/Nurses/etc.
Human Services providers
Health/Human Services office staff
4)Implementation Steps:
Further research: testing and trying to perfect the blockchain further in every attempt to ensure the system speaks to each other but also is ethically ran
Securing further funding via grants, investment, etc.
Community involvement: Speaking with the populations that will be directly affected by the technology (i.e. stakeholders) and ensuring this meet their needs
Sustainability Problem: Many, if not most buildings, are energy inefficient and are big greenhouse gas emitters. In New York City, buildings account for 47% of all GHG emissions. Another problem is that this technique costs more upfront, usually making it inaccessible and unaffordable.
Solution: Passive Housing techniques are being built into new buildings and retrofitted into old ones to make them, in some cases, 90 percent more energy efficient. One such apartment complex is being built in East Harlem called Sendero Verde. Sendero Verde is also affordable housing and is making this technique affordable and accessible.
Passive Housing must use 5 principles: 1. High quality insulation 2. Heat control and robust windows (often triple planed glass) 3. Airtight construction 4. Heat recovery ventilation 5. Thermal bridge-free design. The whole system is succinctly explained in this video: Passive House Explained in 90 Seconds.
This technique, once implemented, is cost efficient to the point where some buildings can be heated by the sun alone and reduces the heating bill to almost zero. As more and more buildings in NYC become electrified they will also need to retrofit their buildings unless the tenants will have to start paying higher heating costs. As of now, most NYC buildings run off of oil heaters which are terrible GHG emitters and polluters but building owners pay for it, not the tenants.
Which is why Sendero Verde is such an appealing project. The vision of the project is to build a “Community of Opportunity.” and will have very affordable heating and cooling bills for its tenants. The poor in New York City must often choose between paying their heating bill and paying for groceries and they often choose groceries. Passive housing techniques will significantly lower bills allowing them to not have to make that decision.
Stakeholders: 1. New York City government. 2. Architects 3. Construction and building managers 4. Tenants of the building 5. Citizens of New York
Implementation of this technology: 1. Teaching architects, builders, city planners of the Passive Housing techniques 2. Change of policy requirement (passive housing will work nicely with Local Law 97, which is requiring buildings to greatly reduce their GHG emissions. 3. Building and retrofitting buildings with passive housing techniques
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released a pilot version of a no-cost, no-touch software system for cities and counties across the country to streamline rooftop solar permits in late 2020
Besides gaining efficiency, local governments can count on SolarAPP to increase permitting fee revenue, enhance local resilience, establish safe solar-grid connections, and accelerate job growth in solar energy
SolarAPP is beneficial for both compliant and non-compliant solar project designs. If a system is compliant, SolarAPP will approve the design and issue a permit instantly. If a system is not compliant, SolarAPP will decline the application and clarify why the system was not code-compliant, allowing the contractor to go back and revise their application in real time
SolarAPP is compatible with local government permitting software, including Accela and OpenGov, which serve thousands of local governments across the United States
STAKEHOLDERS
Government officials
Contractors
Private Citizens
DEPLOYMENT STRATEGY NATIONALLY
NREL to start a campaign and market the app
Target marketing to areas with 150 and more days of sunshine
Environmental degradation is a result of various causes such as waste. According to Green Choices, while some waste can naturally rot, others generate explosive methane gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect. For this reason, it is important to incorporate technologies that assist in waste management for both companies and households.
The article focuses on several types of smart waste bins including the IoT Based Smart Waste Bin, which use sensors to detect the level of the waste in the bin and alerts through methods such as opening up the lid when an individual passes to eliminate the odor.
The smart bin will send notifications to the owners of the household to empty when full.
Smart bins are effective in preventing the elimination of harmful gases by overstayed waste as well as encourage recyclable practices.
Stakeholders
Organizational stakeholders that would use this technology include the operations department within the organization, the city council waste collection department, as well as the property owners.
Implementation
Purchase of digital gadgets and the integration of Wi-Fi technology that will allow connection between the users and the smart bin system.
Strategic placement of the bin in areas adjacent to the organization or building.
Allocating a specific team to monitor and perform the necessary procedures after receiving an alert from the system such as disposal or recycling will go a long way towards realizing the positive effects of the technology.
During the hot summer days, traditional windows allow in a lot of heat, radiation, and glare, causing the room temperature to increase. The consequent energy use for cooling increases drastically. Minimizing sunlight is not a solution, since it is believed that sunlight triggers the release of serotonin, which is a mood boosting natural chemical. It is increasingly popular for homes and offices to adopt floor to ceiling windows to maximize sunlight, but with it the HVAC energy consumption increases.
2. Technology – View’s Immersive Experience with Smart Windows
825 Third Avenue in NYC is the first building to incorporate smart windows
The smart windows increase natural light, improve human health, and reduce energy consumption by blocking heat and glare
The windows are also transparent, digital screens with touch displays that enable communications.
It uses AI to automatically adjust in response to the sun, increasing access to natural light and decreasing glare.
3. Stakeholders
Building owners and developers – the installing of smart windows can potentially increase rent and attract quality tenants.
Individuals and corporations renting in the building – experience lower energy consumption and increase in work efficiency through the use of smart windows
Construction companies – installing smart windows is a much more complicated process than traditional windows
Designers and architects – they can now incorporate this into the blueprint
Maintenance crew – smart windows would require more maintenance and cleaning.
4. Steps
Consider the use of View’s smart windows by creating financial models to measure the overall costs and benefits
The design/architecture team must incorporate the technology in the design and collaborate with electricians to plan the wiring
Sustainability Problem (Energy and Health and Safety): Los Angeles owns and maintains more than 223,000 electric street lights. Old, standard street lights provide an important service, but they also suck energy and are ubiquitous infrastructure that is underutilized. Between 2009-2020 LA switched almost all of its streetlights to LEDs and saved $11 million in electricity costs and prevented 72,000 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. Now LA is ready to transform these infrastructure staples into multi-service hubs.
Solution: LA’s smart street lights, or “Superblooms” as they’re called, provide an opportunity to reconfigure and innovate streetlight design beyond simply providing light.
The new lights are described as a “bouquet with extra tubes and arms for features such as shade sails, pedestrian fixtures or solar panels” which will allow streetlights to meet other city demands like EV charging, shading, wayfinding, internet, air pollution monitoring, and more.
During the pandemic, LA was able to equip street lights with cell phone equipment and about 3,000 street lights now provide extended 4G and 5G cellular data connectivity to Angelinos.
The 5G connectivity of the streetlights will allow for deployment of wifi, sensors, digital signage, extensive data collection, and will ultimately even enable smart cars to communicate with the traffic infrastructure.
Data gathered could be used to reveal traffic and pedestrian patterns, periods that require more or less lighting, and even identify communities with the poorest air quality.
One potential use of smart street lights that is more controversial is the incorporation of public safety cameras that could be used to help solve crime.
Implementation: Implementation of the Superbloom streetlights will be slightly complicated by the fact that they are not uniform. First, it will be necessary to identify which street light add-on features are most necessary or desirable in different locations (i.e. perhaps some require a sun shade while others may require an EV charging station). Next, Project Room (Superbloom’s design studio) and LA’s Chief Design Officer will need to work together to design the desired series and locations of lights. Third, a combination of these variations of lights should be piloted in their target neighborhoods to better understand user engagement and feedback before launching across all of LA.
Over 60 percent of our electricity comes from fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gases. It is now more important than ever to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that increase air pollution and the the effects of climate change. Renewable energy is one way to do that.
Sustainability Technology: Wearable technology that produces power using sweat
Researchers at Tokyo University of Science tested a biofuel cell that uses lactate chemicals in sweat and a specific enzyme to create a chemical reaction and produce power.
This wearable tech is like a bandage that one can wear alongside an Apple Watch or a Fitbit and it uses the “capillary effect” method to transfer the sweat through the layers and create chemical reactions that transfers energy to the wearer’s wrist device (Apple Watch, Fitbit, etc).
Currently, the researchers have managed to power an activity meter for 1.5 hours using a drop of artificial sweat with their biofuel cells.
There is potential for this technology to work with not just smart watches, but other smart devices as well.
Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed a way for buildings to act as their own battery storage facilities using the cement that they’re made of.
Buildings typically include structural metal rebar within the concrete. Incorporating strategically placed metal plates within the concrete can allow the concrete to conduct electricity and act as a battery.
Concrete batteries can help to store renewable energy during peak production times and feed it back into the grid during peak usage times. Also, buildings could store and discharge enough energy to help stabilize their occupants’ power supply in case of emergencies or other outages.
Stakeholders:
Building Developers (Commercial/Residential/Industrial)
Renewable Energy Installers
Concrete and Rebar/Metal Manufacturers
Structural Engineers
Real Estate Management Companies
Next Steps:
Further R&D into the practicality/feasibility of introducing this type of technology into new building construction, including researching building codes and engineering limitations.
Partner with Building Developer and Renewable Energy Installer to implement full-scale renewable/battery-powered building system in a new development.
Monitor system regularly for potential areas of improvement and move to broaden scope of clientele.
In a landmark Dutch court decision a few weeks ago, Royal Dutch Shell Plc was ordered to slash its emissions harder and faster than planned. While Shell has pledged to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gasses by 20% by 2030 and become net-zero by 2050, the Hague ruled that it must slash emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. While this ruling is only legally binding in the Netherlands, it sets a precedent for other nations currently dealing with climate-change related lawsuits against oil and gas producing companies (over 1800 lawsuits). The industrial equipment utilized by oil and gas producing companies are susceptible to methane leaks, flares, fluid overflows, among others. Methane leaks, being the most detrimental to the environment, are currently poorly managed and poorly predicted.
Andium is a company focused on remote field monitoring of industrial assets, recently narrowing their focus on the oil and gas industry. They are an IoT platform using smart sensors and camera tech to both monitor and make predictive forecasts that target leaks and other issues oil and gas companies may experience. Their marquee service is their flare tracking, which allows clients to track any excessive flaring and be immediately alerted and mitigate unnecessary emissions and gas leaks to stay in compliance, lower emissions, and save money (mostly through regulatory fees).
The main stakeholders for Andium are oil and gas companies (who are also some of the main investors of the startup), and regulators across the board. In order to market their services effectively to oil and gas companies, Andium must demonstrate an accurate and robust understanding of what emissions regulations are and the alert mechanisms for when a company may be on the brink of failing. In addition, if a possible stakeholder for Andium is ‘The World’, sustainability becomes a lofty goal for the company to aspire too, creating alerts that aren’t solely linked to regulations, but specific emissions benchmarks.
In context of the Hague’s decision, Andium has positioned itself as a very likely and important partner for oil and gas company. Their IoT technology can make business processes more efficient, while also maintaining a regulatory backbone that can monitor and risks the company may have. A few challenges Andium may face can be related to shifting and constantly changing laws around the world–Andium must maintain and consistently update their regulatory backbone based on judicial decisions around the globe. In addition, there is a high reputation risk if a client ends up emitting too much methane due a failure in Andium’s monitoring technology.
Scientists at the National Robotarium in Edinburgh are using the four-legged robot ‘dog’ created by robotics design company Boston Dynamics as part of investigating how technology can help people working in hazardous environments.
Using telexistence hardware, they are carrying out research into how robots can support humans in hazardous environments such as offshore energy inspection and disaster recovery. This is especially prudent due to the ongoing dangerous volcanic eruptions in the Congo.
These robots are specially outfitted with sensors that can monitor a casualty’s vitals and transmit images and sounds back to a hospital. Additionally, they can cope in hazardous conditions like dust, rain, even and sulfurous air or radiation (see video in sources below).
Further research is looking into how the robots can help support the construction industry by acting as virtual eyes on the ground. “Spot” will be set up as a moving data collector and data center, equipped with advanced telepresence solutions (and lidar – which uses light instead of radio waves), able to measure in real-time to multiple experts at once, all around the world.
3. Organizational stakeholders:
Construction companies
Civil engineers
Offshore energy inspectors
Hospital medical staff
Disaster recovery units
4. Deploying the technology:
Financing and procurement of the expensive robotic hardware (~USD 85,000) between multiple stakeholders.
Feasibility studies on offshore energy sites and in disaster relief scenarios.
Expansion of program and potentially looking into rental options by private industry or government.
Sustainability Issues: Safety and Health, Water, Energy, Waste
There is a $20 billion market for salads and lettuce, and it has become increasingly common for salad greens to be contaminated or recalled. Meanwhile, the lettuce dilemma translates into safety and health, water, energy and waste issues. This is all compounded by the rising global population that is estimated to need fifty- to one-hundred percent increase in food production by 2050.
• Revol Greens (Revol) is expanding to construct a the first 20 acres of a potentially 80-acre-large indoor greenhouse in Texas • Revol’s goal with installing these climate-controlled, solar-powered greenhouses is to be in proximity to provide lettuce to a third of the U.S. Population within 24 hours. Beyond that, Revol plans to multiply the model building 5 indoor greenhouses in 5 years • The Texas facility is the third of Revol’s plan; the others include Minnesota and California. Collectively, all facilities should enable Revol to generate over 33 million pounds of lettuce annually, which will help alleviate the recalled and contaminated greens • More than that, Revol’s controlled-environment platform technology uses climate-controlled, solar power to combat climate change and food insecurity. Revol intends to enable its technology to be deployed anywhere in the world. Designed to remove waste and enhance growing, the agtech startup utilizes hydroponics, sterilized water, and LED-supplemented sunlight (when necessary) to produce non-GMO lettuce • Revol’s Greenhouses require 90% less water than standard agricultural fields in addition to lowering transportation costs by being able to yield more lettuce per acre than traditional fields
Stakeholders:
-Salad and Lettuce consumers
-Restaurants, grocers, distributors, retailers
-Agricultural regulators
-USDA, FDA, EPA, and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
-Agricultural service providers
Implementation:
Proceed in constructing the 3rd facility, a 20-acre greenhouse in Dallas-Fort Worth region
Collect data on Revol’s two other greenhouse (Minnesota and California) lettuce distribution and market reach. Identify pain points and successes
Map out target market and distribution in order to fulfill Revol’s goal: to provide non-GMO indoor lettuce to one-third of the U.S. population in 24 hours
Fossil fuels from internal combustion engine vehicles as well as electricity generation from coal and natural gas emit greenhouse gases that cause global warming. To decarbonize transportation and electricity, renewable energy sources are needed. Since the sun and wind are not always present, energy must be used immediately or stored. Upgrading residential and commercial buildings with battery storage is expensive and time-consuming. The batteries inside electric vehicles (EVs) provide an opportunity for power without resorting to fossil fuel sources. However, traditional grid-to-vehicle (G2V) charging stations are unidirectional.
Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology provides bidirectional charging for plug-in EVs, battery EVs, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell EVs. V2G provides drivers demand response services with the ability to send electricity into an EV battery as well as sell this energy back to the grid. EV batteries are the most cost-efficient energy storage solution since no new hardware investment is needed. With broad deployment, V2G could improve grid stability and reduce stress to meet peak demand from renewable sources. This will ultimately reduce carbon emissions on the journey to net-zero. Key features include:
— V2G EV charging equipment enables the flexible two way flow of electricity. — EV drivers select charging or selling electricity to the grid with a mobile application. — Drivers set minimum charge levels, plus view charging updates and history. — The charge management system enables and monitors V2G charging features. — Drivers save money via credits to reduce the total cost of ownership in participating markets. — Using EVs for grid storage may impact battery life based on a finite number of charges.
Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) expands use cases to include vehicle-to-home (V2H), vehicle-to-building (V2B) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G). The V2X ecosystem at scale can reduce the need for new power plants by tapping into EV batteries as distributed energy sources.
3. Stakeholders
The stakeholders in the V2G ecosystem include:
— Charging Station Hardware Manufacturers: Dcbel and Coritech Services manufacture and sell residential fast chargers with V2G features. — Charging Software Integrators: Virta provides V2G charging integration services for businesses. The mobile app allows an EV battery to remain 70-90% charged. — Car Manufacturers: Nissan is the only major manufacturer making V2G compatible cars with the Leaf and e-NV200. Other manufacturers are conducting V2G research and development. — Consumers: Drivers must buy EVs with V2G charging capabilities and enable these features. — Real Estate: Public and private site owners must approve V2G charging deployment. — Utilities: EDF is a Britain utility company that provides V2G charging energy bill savings. Other utility companies globally must develop and implement V2G programs. — Policymakers: V2G incentives must be developed to spur adoption by market participants.
4. Implementation
Significant market development is required before V2G can be deployed at scale to meet peak energy demand. Key challenges for V2G include:
1. The adoption of V2G standards by the majority of car manufacturers for future car models. 2. Utility network upgrade costs and standards for widespread bidirectional energy distribution. 3. Policies that incentivize V2G public private partnerships.
For car and utility companies that are currently V2G ready, the implementation steps include:
1. Residential or business customers confirm V2G site feasibility with the utility company. 2. Customers complete any utility grid interconnection requirements. 3. Once approved, customers purchase and install a V2G ready EV charging station. 4. Customers signup for a V2G digital service accessed by mobile app and dashboard. 5. Customers receive credit for energy sold back to the grid.
Two critical problems: 1) extractive agriculture accelerating climate change and 2) wealth inequities faced by family farmers.
2. The solution
The Farm Fare creates a regional market that supports the economic viability of family farms, specifically those focused on regenerative agriculture practices.
They work to build coalitions among regional food hubs, encouraging these micro-distributors to come together to tackle the food system as partners rather than competitors;
They link neighboring hubs together with a platform that allows them to share information and resources and work collaboratively;
They provide distribution service from hub to hub and from hub to wholesale customers within a region.
Local goverments of agricultural areas who are looking to expand its local merchants to ensure that family farmers can receive federal tax credits.
Family farmers to access larger institutional markets, which supports rural livelihoods and incentivizes commodity and conventional growers to evolve their growing practices away from intensive plowing and chemical-based inputs.
Big companies in the food/hospitality industry who are seeking to reduce their enviromental footprint to supply their chains with local quality products.
4. Next steps
Farmers to invest in this new software and join this initiative to scale their agricultural capabilities
Organizations to plan and coordinate production on a regional scale.
Farmers to access larger institutional markets and gain exposure to promote local, sustainable and efficient products and supply chains
Sustainability Problem: Buildings account for about 40% of all US energy consumption and a similar proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. The technology used to temper the climate in the buildings tends to be reactive and manual – pulling blinds, turning up heat, blasting the air conditioner.
Technology: · To better balance energy consumption with comfortable buildings, it is necessary to capture information constantly about the climate and weather outside to properly automate the adjustments buildings should constantly undergo to properly react. · View is a company that creates windows that automate their tint based on outside conditions. Their energy benefits amount to up to 18% in Annual Energy Savings and up to 23% Peak Cooling Load Reductions as Smart windows can block more than 90% of solar radiation. · Their approach allows for flexibility of tint level, location of applied tint, and allows building to not disrupt their view with no blinds.
Organizational Stakeholders: To implement for new buildings, architects of new office building construction will need to incorporate the windows into their plans and have the building investor align to the windows being an integral component of their design. For implementation of old buildings, building owners will need to align on the windows being a top priority for adjustment.
Initial Implementation Steps: 1. Ensuring that the windows work in the design of the building 2. Proper procurement of the technology for the building. 3. Installation of the data analytics component and installation by construction and building maintenance teams.
It is evident that current fossil fuel consumption levels are harming the environment and human health. The use of fossil fuels can lead to land degradation, water pollution, and air pollution. In fact, in 2019 alone, over 5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide was emitted into the air in the United States. Nearly 12.6 million Americans are exposed to toxic levels of air pollution from active oil and gas wells daily. Furthermore, climate change impacts have become more severe over the last few decades, as a result of the increased consumption of fossil fuels. It is crucial for the well-being of our planet and its inhabitants that countries lean away from fossil fuel dependency and increase renewable energy use.
2. Sustainable Technology: SmartFlower Solar System
The SmartFlower solar panel is a ground-based system that is arguably more efficient and better designed than standard solar rooftop systems. The SmartFlower panel is a self-sustaining system that can avoid certain limitations that are found are rooftop systems. Specifically, the SmartFlower can be installed in any location that has sufficient exposure to sun, whereas rooftop systems are constrained by availability of space and roof type.
The SmartFlower includes a dual axis tracker, which means that the panels can follow the sun throughout the day, in order to maximize energy production. Engineers from the company suggest that the SmartFlower can produce 40% more daily energy than standard rooftop systems.
The SmartFlower is designed using 12 petals, that open up as the sun begins to come out at the beginning of the day and close when the sun sets. Brushes are added to the back of each panel, so that at the end of each day, the system cleans itself.
Another advantage of the SmartFlower system is its ease of set-up and take-down. According to the company, the system only takes 2-3 hours to be installed/uninstalled.
Unfortunately, the SmartFlower system is more expensive than a standard solar panel system; the SmartFlower solar panel system ranges in price from $25,000 to $30,000. There is a range in price because the company sells two different systems, one with a battery to store solar energy (SmartFlower +Plus), and the base version (SmartFlower).
1. As a company, SmartFlower must work to increase its marketing campaign within the solar industry. This is a relatively new technology that needs as much recognition as possible, thus the company must invest in its marketing effort to maximize sales.
2. The SmartFlower company must work to reduce its prices, in order to become an appealing alternative option for solar buyers.
3. The company must work on its battery technology. Increasing the efficiency of battery storage within the SmartFlower system would significantly increase interests of buyers. The current battery storage of this technology is limited and can be considered insufficient for larger buildings.
Sidewalk Labs has created a vehicle sensor that will provide real time parking and curb availability
The data is generic and does not impinge on privacy issues, something that Sidewalk Labs has recently struggled with in relation to their $1bn deal in Toronto that folded
The project is in pilot stage, as a roll out in a city the size of New York could raise many complications as it scales
Through data collection, the app may be able to reduce traffic congestion by up to 30%, which would help reduce car usage and the resulting pollution
3. Stakeholders: Sidewalk Labs/Alphabet, municipalities, businesses that require parking lots, people who drive cars, people who want clean air in their envivonment
4. Implementation:
Continue with Pilot program, compile initial data, and show progress
Based on data collection, identify pain points for increased scale
Make necessary adjustments for larger scale implementation
Energy: Urban energy consumption is a major contributor to global emissions, and so cities need to convert more of their energy grid over to renewable sources. Additionally, the transportation sector is also one of the largest contributors to emissions. Cities need to find more renewable energy sources for their grid overall and incentivize alternative forms of transportation other than cars.
2) Technology Solution
The development of a bike path covered by solar panels offers myriad benefits to cyclists. On the energy side, the PV panels offer lighting at night, can supply charging stations for e-bikes or other devices, and then can provide excess clean energy to the grid. For cyclists and pedestrians, this can provide them additional designated pathways with which to travel in a carbon neutral way, provides coverage in inclement weather, and the lighting can help with safety concerns for night travel. Overall, this is a really innovative approach to building on top of existing infrastructure in a way that offers many additional benefits.
3) Stakeholders
A number of stakeholders will need to be engaged to drive this project forward:
City governance
Transportation groups
Cyclists
Grid oversight
4) Implementation
In order to roll out this program one would need to:
Campaign the project to understand demand and ideal locations
Align with stakeholders on the location, budget, alternative paths during construction periods, and supplemental amenities and their required infrastructure (charging stations, etc.)
Work with the city and construction companies to build the bike path (if it is a net new path) and the technology above it
More than 30% of Irish bee species are threatened with extinction, part of the reason that bee populations have undergone a rapid decline is the rise in imports of international bees. Originating from totally different climates, these bees and others, like the Italian bee, are used to warmer weather. They can’t survive the Irish rain.
Technology:
Niamh built a hive (Econooc) that’s designed to help save the native bee population. It will not reject international bees, but it will focus on conserving black bees.
This self-assembly hive “biomimics” the shape of a tree hollow, this being the perfect shape for bees to move around in a cluster during the winter months.
The base of the Econooc is made from mycelium, which is grown from mushrooms, and is similar to polystyrene, while also having natural substances that give the bees an extra defense against the varroa mite that can carry viruses into the hive.
The hive comes with a calendar that teaches the user about biodiversity and how to create a more diverse garden. This calendar is made from paper embedded with wildflower seeds which the user can plant to encourage pollinators.
The aquaculture industry in Singapore, while trying to meet the demand to produce safe and quality seafood, enables an annual consumption of 100 million kilograms of frog flesh and fish. More than 20 million tonnes of frog skins and fish scales are discarded every year.
Technology solution: A biomaterial made from discarded bullfrog skin and fish scales
Scientists and researchers at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have developed a new biomaterial with discarded fishery by-products that could help in bone repair
The material contains the same compounds that are in bones and helps bone-forming cells to multiply – creating new bone cells. This material acts as a scaffold and has many beneficial uses regarding bone tissue regeneration.
Using aquaculture waste and turning it into a valuable resource can help close the waste loop in the future.
For more in-depth information about this technology, please check out the articles below:
The solar industry has grown significantly over the last 10 years; however, manual, inefficient distributed generation installations for both residential and commercial projects are still used. There is currently a significant disconnect between the manual solar surveying process, and the needed results. Many solar installers rely on outdated satellite imagery, and manually sketch project mockups from scratch, and costly project site visits are made before construction to verify data for their layouts. This is time-consuming, often inaccurate and accessing roofs presents safety concerns that limit productivity. Software and new technologies provided by companies such as Scanifly, aims to improve efficiency and reliability of solar project surveys and installations.
Scanifly is a solar software platform that incorporates drones and 3D modelling technology to improve the way solar contractors survey, design and install residential and commercial projects; A drone with a LiDAR sensor mounted to it captures reality using an array of lasers to acquire coordinates which create a point cloud. The point cloud is then used to create a 3D model.
Scanifly’s software automates and centralizes the manual day-to-day tasks in the solar workflow, so one can sell, survey, design and install projects with greater system accuracy, reducing onsite survey and design time by up to 90%
The software also enhances worker safety while lowering soft costs of solar installations throughout the process.
The software can be used across any project: rooftop, ground mounts, canopies, or carports, and for residential, commercial, and small utility scale projects. Unique features include: 1) ability to conduct real time shading analysis of the site without going on the roof, 2) Designers don’t have to guess tree or obstruction sizes, or any of the dimensions on the site.
The technology also aims to accelerate solar developers’ sales conversions because customers can better visualize the project in a virtual replica of their properties.
3) Organizational stakeholders
Designers
Surveyors
Customers
Construction workers
Health and Safety Officers
Investors
4) 3 steps in deploying this technology
Stakeholder engagement: Educate all relevant stakeholders regarding integration and use of the new technology to maximize benefits and reveal any possible drawbacks. Understand viewpoints of stakeholders through frequent discussion
Development and risk assessment: Evaluate prime customer targets, craft detailed use cases for the marketing of the platform. Detailed successful use scenarios will help to sell the technology. Conduct a risk assessment on potential pitfalls of the technology i.e. issues around data transparency and ethical issues surrounding automating jobs that are currently done manually.
Monitoring performance. Consider issues around future stages of software development and ongoing lifecycle by setting a schedule and pattern to monitor progress. Operations and maintenance of the technology requires dedicated personnel to measure success, that are informed of stakeholder preferences to maximize future developments of the technology.
Sustainability Issues: Safety and Health, Water, Waste, Energy, and Civic Engagement
Chemical insecticide use for farming spans safety and health, water, waste, energy, and civic engagement issues with an emphasis on the former issues.
Across the globe, chemical insecticides are used for commercial farming to prevent insects. The use of chemicals on farms is harmful for the environment, animals and people. Farmers must control and thwart of pests, because pests-or destructive insects- can cause damage to crops, property, and equipment, among other things. Needless to say, curbing pests is crucial for successful agriculture.
BigSis technology offers an alternative to chemical insecticide treatment for many sectors, including agriculture
This environmentally-friendly technology can reduce the cost of traditional chemical insecticides-known as sterile insect technique (SIT)- by 90% per hectare, while simultaneously treating the environment better
SIT acts to rear and release sterile male insects, which mate with wild females resulting in fewer fertile eggs. This method has proven to prevent and reduce target species such as agricultural pests and mosquitoes
The technology is supported by artificial intelligence and automation capabilities
SIT is non-toxic and involves no genetic modification, which is compatible with organic agriculture and results in reduced regulatory implications
Stakeholders:
-Commercial Farmers
-Agricultural Regulators
-USDA, EPA, and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
-Agricultural Service Providers
-Consumers
Implementation:
Collect results from field trials and continue to expand field trials into new geographies.
Evaluate field trial results so far. Based on results, target technology expansion- from 4 states and England- into broader markets.
Assess the trial results to plan and prepare partnerships and marketing to start to grow product awareness. Lastly, use the trial results to begin to prepare logistics for more widespread deployment.
Sustainability Problem: Climate change is causing the temperature and sea levels to rise, thus causing flooding and storm surges in cities around the world. Since 2008, the number of Chinese cities affected by flooding has more than doubled. During 2019 alone, the United States was impacted by 14 separate billion-dollar disasters including 3 major inland floods, 8 severe storms and 2 tropical cyclones.
Solution: The “sponge city,” an idea created developed by landscape architect Dr. Yu Kongjian, is “one that is designed to retain, clean, and reuse stormwater.”
Dr Yu Kongjian founded and runs the architecture firm Turenscape and they have over 500 designs built and implemented around the world, but especially in China.
Inspired by peasant farming techniques, such as irrigation systems used in Chinese mulberry fish ponds, Turenscape uses nature based solutions to solve ecological problems.
Yu calls the design concept “negative planning” a term that means to put green spaces at the core of city panning. The sponge city designs include developing rooftop gardens, ponds, filtration pools, and wetlands, with permeable roads and public spaces designed to soak rainwater back into the ground.
The sponge city concept is the same for every project, however the specifics change depending on the location. For instance, in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, Dr Yu and his team revitalized a dying wet-land with a cut-and-fill strategy that added ponds and mud flats to already existing wetlands while in Shanghai Houtain they transformed a former industrialized site into a natural water treatment center, which cleans up 634,000 gallons of water daily.
The sponge city design not only lowers the risk of flooding but also increases biodiversity, decreases pollution, stops combined sewer overflow, and may even make citizens happier through access to beautiful park space.
Stakeholders: Turenscape architecture firm, city and country government, citizens of the city, (in America or Europe: NGOs that want to revitalize areas, and various neighborhood groups that surround the landscape)
3 Steps in Deploying: 1. Design sponge city landscape based off of the area’s needs, 2. Convince city government and perhaps big business donors as well as local citizens that the design should be built 3. Build the design
I found this part of the article rather enlightening in how Dr Yu was able to deploy the idea of the sponge city in China, despite some resistance: “Part of Yu’s success in China has been his ability to have the ears of the country’s top leadership. After being implemented as an integral part of China’s “ecological civilization” movement — which effectively made sustainability part of nationwide urban planning policy — Yu says that the model was more quickly implemented into a wider range of projects.ur He adds that he has delivered over 300 lectures to mayors around China, and a book documenting the subsequent conversations with these figures has been reprinted over 15 times. The book was later published in English as Letters to the Leaders of China: Kongjian Yu and the Future of the Chinese City in 2018.”
Technology: Einride, A Swedish startup, created electric autonomous pods that are designed to carry freight.
The company has two kinds of vehicles: connected, heavy electric trucks driven by humans and its driverless Pods. The PODS come without steering wheels, pedals, windshields, (no driver cabin). The company claims their pod’s vehicles will “reduce transport costs by up to 60 percent and CO2 emissions by 90 percent.”
The company hopes to have the Pods on the road delivering freight starting in 2021. The vehicles, known as Autonomous Electric Transport (AET), comes in four different variations. The categories are conditions under which the Pods can drive autonomously.
The company is using Nvidia’s self-driving software for their Autonomous driving. The trucks can also be controlled by a remote operator who is located hundreds of miles away using its in-house teleoperation technology.
It is expected that the trucking industry will see severe displacement in its workforce due to this technology. In the US, 4.4 million jobs are related to driving; of those, trucking jobs comprise about 2.5 million. A recent study found that automated trucks could reduce the demand for drivers by as much as 50 to 70 percent in the US and Europe by 2030, with 4.4 million of the 6.4 million professional drivers on both continents being displaced.
Stakeholders:
Freight Companies
Retailers
Brands
Consumers
Employees in the trucking industry.
Implementation:
Explore feasibility of this technology within our current freight system.
Create awareness for cost savings and reduction of carbon emissions among potential freight customers.
We walk our streets and some of us drive on them, everyday. We know a bad road when we walk or drive through them. Unfortunately such rich information is dispersed among us, rendering it useless. At the same time, road quality problems persist, due to lack of timely detection and reporting to a large measure, and cause injuries or damages and become a major source of liabilities for the cities that have bad roads.
Crowdsourcing is not a new idea. In its essence, it aggregates dispersed information, capital, or knowhow for a common purpose. Several startups have been formed to crowdsource the road quality information leveraging the little supercomputer in our pockets or cars that can sense motions and therefore infer quality problems like potholes. Carbin, an app from fixmyroad.us is one such app. 1 This project was started by some MIT students and professors out of frustration that they could not get road quality data from city governments. The first iOS version of the app was released in February 2019, and the android version was released soon after. After that, they had a media blitz culminating in a New York Times article on the startup in Jan 2020. 2 Their plan was to commercialize the app. Then COVID came. They faced their first hurdle.
Wide spread use of road sensing apps like Carbon clearly provides benefits to many parties. The municipal governments who have long relied on call-in reporting to gather road quality data from complaints (by its nature, complaint data may not be timely or accurate as they depend on the subjective judgement and emotional state of the reporter), can acquire more timely and good quality data from such apps which leads to timely repair. This in turn will benefit citizens who can enjoy safe roads they use daily.
Despite benefits to city governments and citizens, the success of road quality sensing startups is far from being assured. At the core of the uncertainty lies the incentive structure. Some civic conscious users will use the apps, but what is the incentive for large groups of users to download and use such apps? For the startup themselves, while it is all good to contribute to social welfare, where does their income come from? In order for crowdsourcing apps to scale, three things startups must do:
continue to improve their technology,
provide incentives to users for large scale adoption and
work with municipal governments to help improve their operations.
As the biggest beneficiary, the municipal governments should step in to influence the development of the sector and help resolve some of the problems startups will face, by working with and funding startups, for example.
Airbnb teamed up with governments and tourism organizations to add the City portal for locally-specific data. The dashboard includes local and global insights into the short-term rental market characteristics, which helps governments and tourism organizations to take advantage of the information. information is currently available for certain big cities.
local information(restaurants, entertainment, etc.) is available to travelers in one location
Tourism organizations can see where the guests are coming from and adjust their marketing accordingly
Governments can develop fair short-term rental policies and regulations and allocate appropriate taxes
Central location for resources such as neighborhood support hotline and where law enforcement supports may be needed
Policing the policies is easier if officials have questions or receive complaints as the information is all in one place
STAKEHOLDERS
Local governments
Tourism organizations
Travelers
Local businesses and communities
IMPLEMENTATION
Since this portal has already been established for larger cities and hot vacation spots, an initiative to expand to smaller towns and communities will benefit the local communities.
Establish a group within Airbnb, or government funded team, to research and prepare a list of isolated vacation locations that could be added to the existing hot vacation spots.
Reach out to local businesses and potential available rental properties to expand the database
Market these isolated new locations with a campaign slogan “Spread-out America” to ease back into normality post COVID19 pandemic.
Problem: Population Growth and Lack of Affordable Housing
Urban communities around the world face a coming reality of population growth that outpaces the supply of safe, affordable housing, with many cities having already reached that point given the presence of large slum neighborhoods with “structures” made of tin, dirt, tarps, and other non-permanent materials. To be able to grant everyone the right to safe shelter, communities need an inexpensive and more permanent way to house low- or no-income residents.
Solution: 3D-Printed Houses (ICON)
ICON is a building company that uses a proprietary printing system called Vulcan that can print concrete structures up to 10.5 feet in height. In a recent collaboration with the U.S. non-profit New Story, the Vulcan created the world’s first 3D-printed community for homeless citizens in Tabasco, Mexico. The structures were printed with a floor plan of two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom and each were printed within 24 hours – local workers were used at the end of the project to install plumbing, wire electric service, and install windows/doors. The structures can withstand earthquakes and other natural disasters, with the goal of having “generational impact” for low-income residents.
Beyond building completely new communities in areas such as Texas and Mexico, ICON has also piloted a 347 sq. ft. home that has potential to be built as an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit), making communities more affordable for both new and existing residents where extra space is available.
Stakeholders
The two primary groups of stakeholders in these types of projects/communities are municipalities and low-/no-income residents and/or homeless population. Both groups benefit from an inexpensive, more permanent housing structure that has the opportunity to raise health/social outcomes for these populations – by providing a safe, permanent structure with the potential for running water and electricity, residents can fulfill one major component of the base level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and focus on improving other needs such as food, water, employment, health, and education.
Implementation
The successful construction of these new communities open the door for opportunities elsewhere around the world, in both developed and developing countries. ICON could continue to partner either with NGOs or municipal governments to locate, fund, and construct suitable sites in order to create additional housing. Implementation would be fairly quick given the short printing time of a Vulcan structure (24-48 hours), though the front-end logistics would be more involved given the size of the equipment (shipping concerns) and the amount of community planning required.
Contaminated water transmit water borne diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Approximately, 502,000 people pass away from diarrhoeal death each year.
SODIS stands for Solar disinfection, and this technological approach is critical for developing countries that suffer from waterborne diseases.
2)Technology
The initial idea of using sunlight to disinfect water was already used in India a long time ago by putting water into trays under the sun. The fundamental concept of this approach is putting water in a transparent container and placing it under sunlight for 6 hours. When water is exposed to the solar UV light, it damages microbes and repairs endogenous microbial mechanisms.
The EU funds the technological development of SODIS technologies, and it aims to reduce childhood diarrhoea and dysentery in rural communities. The advanced technology harvest rainwater to meet water demand in deprived areas. In order to avoid contamination, the technology uses reactors that produce energy through solar panels. However, this simple water technology can be implemented at household level by reaching water temperature more than 45 celsius with the solar infrared light. The setback of the technology is that it takes a long time for disinfecting water to a satisfactory level. It also takes a lot more time under cloudy conditions. In order to overcome this setback, low-cost and simple water treatment techniques like solar concentrators/reflectors are implemented to increase radiation exposure.
People live in rural areas without access to treated water mostly in developing countries
Multilateral organizations, many African organization that seek to solve water contamination
Sub-Saharan African Countries such as Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya
4)Deploying the technology (household level)
Provide sustainable containers such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles or clear plastic bags
Place water and expose them to direct sunlight for 6 hours
Individuals, households, small communities, and refugee camps use clean water by removing bacteria and virus
*While this simple technology is more applicable to many african countries, community level utilize the enhanced CPC photoreactor to dispense treated water into a collection tank.
By 2050, it is projected that more than two-thirds of the world population will live in urban areas. The issue is the existing infrastructure in most of these metropolises was not created with the population increase and influx in mind. Therefore, as more people descend on urban areas, its infrastructure and its technology will face an unprecedented safety, mobility, health, and resource challenge.
Article with Interesting Technology
Unfortunately, commonly an influx of people comes with more cars. Many cities were not built to handle the simultaneous pedestrian, bike, and automobile traffic. In fact, there has been a 41% increase in pedestrian deaths since 2008. There are many solutions coming out to try to gather more automated street level information to allow for meaningful changes
Numina is a computer vision sensor solution built for streets to capture information about frequency and congestion of the three transport methods
With the information captured, they aim to make recommendations to cities about how to make a more connected environment with safer bike lines, more pedestrian walkways, and ultimately fluid, accessible no-car location.
Typically, these technologies involve camera analysis, where Numina is trying to capture through put information while maintaining anonymity of the travelers as much as possible.
Organizational Stakeholders
In order to make this technology effective, a city has to be interested in a carless model and have baseline infrastructure to make connected walkways and bike paths a success. The prioritization of this must come from city leadership. Once the mayor’s office is on board, city planning of public parks, transportation, and accessibility would need to work together to select and prioritize the locations of deployment.
Deployment
Procurement of the technology from department of transportation
Creation of working group with Department of transportation, mayor’s office, public parks, accessibility, and MTA to determine location of placement and develop overall strategy
The problem is that aircrafts contribute to the ecological footprint of our world and reducing that with electrification and improved mobility is an important game-changer to the way we travel.
This particular issue is similar to the one Annie shared in class from Lilium regarding electric taxis in Florida, however this is a French-based company that’s trying to develop a 19 seat electrically powered regional and eco-efficient aircraft in Europe.
In a two year collaboration with Toulouse-based manufacturer AURA AERO, AKKA is supporting the development of two new electric aircrafts, one of which is being discussed in this post: ERA.
AKKA is going to mobilize 40 engineers from their group to its Toulouse based Engineering and Aviation centers to provide research and development support to AURA AERO.
The president and co-founder of AURO AERO announced in this same article the people-centric importance of achieving this technology goal which would further contribute to the future of aviation.
Organizational stakeholders that will have to use this technology:
AKKA will be supporting AURO AERO by contributing to the build of ERA; this includes the 40 engineers deployed to work on this project.
Jeremy Caussade, president and co founder of AURO AERO and Stephanie Latieule who is the SVP of Aerospace at AKKA France, will need to continuously strengthen and support each other in their partnership via management decisions in order to see this project through.
The success of this project will also affect worldwide industrial players across different sectors.
First three steps in deploying this technology:
The right funding and support is already in place so first, the engineers will need to build this technology over the two year partnership.
Second the aircraft will have to go through the necessary assessments and approvals to prevent any inadvertent failures and be ready for initiation.
Third will be making sure the right infrastructure is in place to test flight to and from one region to another.
Street lighting comprises 15-40% of an average city’s energy consumption1. Street lighting therefore contributes to a city’s emissions. In the UK specifically, 60% of the CO2 emissions from the Transport for London Road Network (TLRN) lighting assets are from street lights2. As such, technology that improves the sustainability of street lighting could be impactful in improving energy consumption, efficiency, and its associated emissions.
Urban Control, a smart cities technology company, is partnering with DW Windsor to upgrade Surrey County Council’s street lights. The effort will replace or retrofit 89,000 street lamps. Urban Control will also roll out an upgrade to the existing central management system (CMS).
The streetlights will use energy efficient LEDs, which are expected to provide energy savings of ~60%.
The updated CMS will provide the Council with data on the county’s lighting, energy use, and maintenance.
Skanska, the Council’s street light contractor, and Urban Control are also coordinating the roll out of the new program with the decommissioning of the former CMS such that there are no gaps in coverage.
It is anticipated that this technology will save ~7.7k tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
3) Stakeholders
Urban Control
DW Windsor
Skanska
Surrey County Council
Surrey residents and businesses
LED lighting companies
4) The First Three Steps in Deploying This Technology
Raise awareness of the changes being implemented amongst the residents and businesses
Ensure stakeholders are coordinated for the replacement and retrofitting process
Monitor the performance of the new system and the data that it collects
The lack of public charging options creates range anxiety that prevents internal combustion engine car drivers from buying an electric car. Electric vehicle charging with a cable generates friction when outdoors in cold or wet weather. Although the J1772 electric vehicle charging standard is gaining widespread adoption, driver must still make sure each charging station works with their car. Public charging stations increase street furniture in communities. Traditional public charging stations deployment can create trip hazards for pedestrians.
2. Solution: Electronic Vehicle WirelessCharging
Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging Systems (WEVCS) reduce friction for drivers by preventing the need to plug in. Wireless charging also reduces street clutter and the hazard of tripping over cables. Once a driver parks above a charging pad, the car starts charging via resonant magnetic induction. Automakers and suppliers have agreed on a wireless power transfer (WPT) standard to charge electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. SAE International develops and promotes standards for the aerospace, commercial vehicle and automotive industries. In November 2020, the SAE J2954 inductive charging standard was accepted by car manufacturers. Key features include:
— Wireless signals sent between the car and charging system to initiate and stop charging. — A charging pad that is about one square meter and receiving pad integrated under the car. — Enabling increased interoperability between hardware and software across manufacturers. — Achieving 94% efficiency compared to wired connections ranging from 3.3 to 20 kilowatts. — The potential to enable autonomous cars to charge themselves without human interaction.
Wireless Charging Companies:
— Witricity provides 3.6kW to 11kW wireless charging from in-ground placements in asphalt and cement with foreign object detection, live object detection, and position detection. — Plugless Power provides 3.3kW and 7.2kW wireless EV charging stations. Purchase of the charger includes hardware and installation to upgrade an EV for wireless charging. — Wave provides fast wireless EV charging for buses with deployments up to 250kW.
Dynamic WEVCS is a potential future technology to charge electric vehicles while driving by embedding roads, such as highway sections, with charging transmitters.
3. Stakeholders
The stakeholders in the wireless charging ecosystem include:
— Wireless Charging Providers: Witricity, Plugless Power, Wave and other providers. — Car Manufacturers: BMW, Honda, GM, and Nissan are all Witricity development partners. — Consumers: Drivers must buy future cars with EV wireless charging capabilities. — Real Estate Owners: Public and private site owners must approve wireless charging sites. — Utility Companies: Energy distributors must support standards and interconnection to the grid. — Policymakers: Politicians must generate policy that allows wireless charging deployment.
4. Implementation
It remains questionable if wireless charging will be implemented and deployed at scale. Cost and deployment hurdles must be solved in order for wireless charging to gain traction. Wireless charging requires:
1. Refinement of wireless charging systems to provide auto manufacturers confidence to deploy this technology. 2. Wireless charging pilots with public and private partners to get support for widespread deployment. 3. Assuming barriers are overcome, each site will require approval from public and private real estate owners. 4. Once a site is confirmed, ground pads will require utility companies to confirm interconnection requirements. 5. Upon gaining utility approval, ground pads will require permitting, leasing, provisioning, and construction. 6. The wireless charging system can then be installed. 7. Drivers can then gain the benefits of wireless charging. 8. The wireless charging system will then require operating and maintenance by the provider.
Orbital Marine Power’s 2MW turbine, the Orbital O2
Sustainability Issue: Energy
The world is running out of fossil fuel resources, and the mining, transportation, and burning of them results in the release of many harmful GHGs which contribute to global warming. The energy needs of the world only continue to increase, however, as our population continues to grow exponentially and the developing world increases its demand for energy. We must develop sources for sustainable, clean, nonpolluting energy.
Technology: Marine Energy (Tidal and Wave)
Concentrating on these coastal areas, we find that producing energy here would be beneficial for many reasons. About 40% of the world population lives within 100km of the coast. This means that power generated from marine energy would be created close to the demand, further increasing efficiency. Also, land which is often at a premium for other uses would not need to be set aside for power generation by wind or solar.
Stakeholders:
-Energy Companies
-Nations, both developing and developed, who are working on their power generation
-Energy consumers
Implementation:
More research and development is needed to develop larger and more efficient generators.
More investment is needed to produce this technology, and implement it.
Installation of these technologies can be clustered and linked to reduce the need for additional transmission infrastructure.
1) Sustainability Problem (Energy): According to the World Wildlife Organization, “aviation is one of the fastest-growing sources of the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change.” It is also the largest individual contributor to the carbon footprint and is exponentially higher than any other source. Reducing consumption would be one of the quickest ways to reduce pollution caused by aviation; however, that is unlikely to be a viable solution that would be widely implemented. Companies are now looking at alternate sources of energy. Although there is a long way to go in this type of technology, there are some initial efforts that look bright.
VoltAero is developing a series aircrafts known as The Cassio; the plane is a hybrid electric aircraft that can fly for 800 miles that fits 4-10 seats. They have concluded over 40 hours within 70+ flights with the demonstrator as they continue to test out the hybrid-electric Cassio.
The CEO stated that he is looking to develop a plan that uses a hybrid configuration which differentiates from current all electric technology in development. This would allow to use existing hardware.
A hybrid model would provide a second layer of security allowing for a second source of energy to always be available; a purely electric component would require a lot of battery and would potentially limit the distance the aircraft could go.
VoltAero has signed a deal with KinectAir which would have VoltAero developing the technology while KinectAir would develop the necessary uses and infrastructure to implement the new technology. These types of partnership will become more popular as development of hybrid and electric airplanes grow.
3)Stakeholders: Stakeholders involved would be manufacturers (ex. VoltAero), distributers, charter companies (KinectAir), and eventually flight customers.
4)Implementation
Testing, testing, testing – continue to test the plane for efficiency and safety
Research the market for these planes and what potential further partnerships are available
Modify existing blueprints and project growth of the aircraft
The construction industry accounts for a substantial amount of emissions, however there are more streamlined ways to build infrastructure. The energy that is used to manufacture and transport materials to and from the site represent a lot of the emissions. Energy and waste would be the two areas of sustainability impacted by this technology.
2.
The article highlights Popeye’s rapid expansion in the British Columbia market, but specifically discusses their most newly constructed restaurant by Nexii. This restaurant was constructed in less than two weeks.
Nexii uses 3D printing software to manufacture the parts needed for the construction off-site, and assembles everything (kind of like a jigsaw puzzle) on site. This reduces emissions during the manufacturing (types of materials chosen), transportation, and construction phases. It also expedites timelines between 50% and 75%.
Popeyes leadership says that this type of construction can eliminate up to 30% of climate-related emissions resulting from their new-construction endeavors.
Article Title: Nexii partners with Popeyes® to deliver sustainable new restaurant
4. The first step in deploying this technology is to engage with the companies that are performing these types of services and understanding which one meets your needs the best. I do not believe Nexii is the only company building structures in this way.
The second step is understanding all pertinent details and presenting them to the necessary parties in a clear, concise, and informative way to get the necessary approvals to move forward.
The final step would be choosing the building materials that both meet your needs and reduce your company’s carbon footprint effectively.
Charm Industrial’s “bio-oil” — a carbon-rich oil made from almond shells and other types of biomass
Peter Schott // pcs2144 (1) Sustainability Problem: Waste // Carbon In order to curb the effects of climate change, it is essential to phase out fossil fuel use and decarbonize the economy more broadly. Carbon removal is one solution.
(2) Charm Industrial represents a significant change to reduce the cost from $600 to $50/ton CO2e while elimination 10%+ of global CO2e in the process.
Charm partners with farmers (who grow a lot of crops) that generate biomass waste, converting the left over biomass into “bio-oil”, drilling a well, and pumping the bio-oil underground; this achieves the removal of carbon from the atmosphere “permanently, reliably and potentially on a grand scale”
This is achieved through a process called “pyrolysis,” (read: organic chemistry) producing hydrogen (that can be used in refineries or to make fertilizer/power vehicles) and “bio-oil”
The modular Pyrolyzer can be put on the edge of the farm, reducing the need to transport the biomass outside of a local area; this technology has gained attention from Stripe and Microsoft
Fortune 500 companies and beyond: who are seeking to reduce their environmental impacts as they attempt to offset their corporate emissions through carbon removal opportunities. Stripe and Microsoft to name a few.
Nonprofits and academic institutions: to provide a third party assessment of the carbon removal projects (e.g, Carbonplan) and potential analysis around the broader carbon removal market.
Lobbyists/Government: to ensure that Charm Industrial can receive federal tax credits, as only CO2 gas is recognized as a CO2e carbon removal technique.
(4) Design/Implementation/Next Steps:
Raise capital from existing investors to scale manufacturing capabilities of the Pyrolyzer machine
Manufacture one machine and dedicate it to launching a pilot on a large-scale farm to collect data and conduct research; use biomass to create bio-oil and measure components on transporation, equipment cost, potential revenue, etc. to forecast the scale-up of the business
Meet with scientists and clients to share results of the pilot program to collect feedback, with the goal of creating a pitchbook for future investors
As the world population increases, the planet has experienced increasing demands in food production and consumption. Additionally, climate change is leading to agriculture loss. These phenomena put pressure on farmers and agronomists to use and manage their resources more effectively and efficiently in order to secure the health and well-being of the people the industry serves.
Precision agriculture practices including fine-scale monitoring and mapping of yield and crop parameter data help farmers exercise more intense and efficient cultivation methods. They can make decisions based on economic and environmental factors to boost yields and achieve cost and environmental savings.
Using drones with robust data analytics can be a powerful method of supporting precision agriculture practices. Drones can be used in a variety of functions:
Crop monitoring to plan and make improvements such as the use of ditches and evolving fertilizer applications
Accurately tracing products from farm to fork using GPS locations throughout the entire journey
Carefully monitoring large areas of farmland, considering factors such as slope and elevation, to identify suitable seeding prescriptions
Assessing crop fertility with high-resolution drone data to more accurately apply fertilizer, reduce wastage, and plan irrigation systems
3) Organizational Stakeholders
Stakeholders for drone technology in precision agriculture could include the following:
Local community members that may be concerned about privacy, especially if drones are collecting data very high level data (controlled airspace, around airports, individuals’ privacy)
Famers
Drone manufacturers
Software providers
Agricultural service providers
Agronomists
4) Implementation Process
Before implementing drone technology for precision agriculture purposes, agricultural professionals need to decide whether to train an internal team to fly the drones or to hire a third-party. There are cost considerations associated with this decision.
The parties using the drone need to assess regulations in the area before using the drones. Regulations vary by region and are constantly changing, so drone users need to make sure they comply with regulations involving controlled airspaces around airports or the privacy of individuals.
A technology evaluation must be completed to determine which type of drone with which software is best suited for the land in question. Since drones have so many uses and can collect so many different types of data, some types may be better suited for certain situations.
Safety. There is an increase in crime and gun violence in certain areas, such as Chicago. The data currently being provided to the public comes in the form of incidents and district that did not prove useful for violence reduction groups and often lag.
2. The tech
Chicago, with the help of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, is developing a violence reduction dashboard offering the residents and community organization close to real-time access to crime data
Violence reduction partners will be better able to coordinate with each other, the police department, and other city departments for safety initiatives
The dashboard focuses on data framed by victimization counts and community areas rather than traditional data on incidents, districts, and beats that were more useful for law-enforcement
Across the globe, water is lost during showers or salon visits. Specifically, a standard showerhead produces eight liters of water a minute. The Water Saver aims to manage water and reduce the use of the vital resource. The product anticipates reducing water usage by a billion gallons annually.
-L’Oreal partnered with Gjosa, a Swiss environmental innovation company, to design and produce a showerhead, the Water Saver, that will reduce water consumption by 6 liters a minute compared to a standard showerhead
-The product aims to cut water usage by 80% overall by applying micronization technology to a showerhead cartridge that holds haircare products
-The Water Saver’s patented cloud cleansing approach includes dividing water flow into ten times smaller droplets to accelerate the rinsing timeline
-The Water Saver system also contains a data dashboard to alert salon professionals about their water and energy consumption usage
-The Water Saver is already accessible in specific salons throughout New York City and Paris; the global rollout, reaching 10,000 salons, is expected to continue into 2023
Stakeholders:
-Global Salons (currently select salons in NYC and Paris)
-Salon Managers and Coordinators
-Hair Colorists and Hairstylists
-Retail Consumers (in the future)
Implementation:
Access and assess data on global salons and deduce a target area for deployment
Engage highly-trafficked salons for interest in a free 3-month trial period to use the Water Saver in the salons
After the 3 month trial period, evaluate the successes, issues, and lessons learned from the trials and apply to larger scale roll-out
1. What is the social or environmental issue being addressed? Waste
CERO Cooperative is simultaneously addressing the problem of landfills receiving organic material, which generates methane and contributes to global warming and the challenge to find green jobs with acceptable wages and working conditions.
2. How is this being addressed?
CERO (Cooperative Energy, Recycling, and Organics) is a commercial composting company providing effective commercial composting services:
Providing food diversion and pickup services for commercial clients
Transporting food scraps to local farms, where they are recycled into nutrient-rich compost products used to support the local agrucilture economy
Helping creating quality jobs for local community members, primarily immigrants and people of color
Prioritizing reasonable reasonable pricing to clients by a more direct and efficient process, saving their customers over $400,000 in trash hauling expenses
CERO Cooperative offers a unique business model in which every employee is also part owner.
City leaders are responsible to pivot away from current systems and invest in zero waste, which would safeguard public health, create good jobs, build local economies and fight climate change.
Big companies to engage in these programs as main clients and waste generators. They will not only see theis cost decrease but will also be helping to a circular and green local economy.
Communities in general need to advocate and push their leaders to take part in these initiatives.
4. Next steps
Create the channels: adapt regulation, form local cooperatives and build composting facilities
Engage the stakeholders: require big companies in each community to engage and contact with local farmers
Technology Solution: Wasteloop – Fully electric waste management system.
The sanitation trucks work silently and they don’t empty waste directly on site. By doing this, it reduces the energy consumed by 80%
By making the switch to this one stop shop for disposal, it would produce 99 % CO2 emission less emissions
The major plus is it can be profitable, it has low operation cost.
Stakeholders
Public
Waste management companies
Energy Companies
Environmentally Friendly
Government
Implementation/Deployment
With the help of the government funding and a private public partnership, there could be select locations in the state for each county with these waste bins available. After Department of Sanitation unloads the waste in one location and after it is filled a sensors would send a message for it to be delivered to the waste loop fully electric waste management system.
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