1. Sustainability Issue (Energy and Waste):

Our demand for fuel is constant and unfortunately, there is not enough supply for our growing needs. Additionally, the pollution that vehicles emit using fuel further harms our environment. While we are depleting our limited resources, we are also continuing to generate more and more waste, including organic matters that not only take up landfill space but also produce environmentally harmful methane.

 

2. Summary of Technology (Biofuel from coffee grounds):

• Technology collects waste coffee grounds from restaurants, factories, cafes, etc and keeps them out of landfill
• Allows for a coffee-based biofuel that can be used to run London’s diesel buses
• Can also be used to create coffee logs for fireplaces and stoves in place of wooden logs
• Waste coffee grounds as biofuel is cheap, abundant and environmentally friendly since new technology allows for this process to happen in less time and with less money
• Coffee grounds can potentially add 340 million gallons of biodiesel to the world’s fuel supply

Sources:

• American Chemistry Society, Waste coffee grounds offer new source of biodiesel fuel, https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2008/december/waste-coffee-grounds-offer-new-source-of-biodiesel-fuel.html
• New Atlas, A better way of converting coffee waste to biofuel, https://newatlas.com/coffee-grounds-biofuel/49473/
• CNN, London buses are being powered by a new fuel: Coffee, http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/20/technology/coffee-fuel-bus-london-bio-bean/index.html

 

3. Stakeholders 
   • Energy developers
   • Transportation companies
   • Local governments
   • Public transportation users

 

4. Next Steps

• Collect information and data from London buses that use coffee grounds biofuel and create a model based on the successes
• Implement a pilot program in a big city in the US (ie. MTA buses in NYC)
• Based on the availability of resources, either expand to other uses (ie. diesel trucks) or refine current program if resources aren’t enough

UNI – LC3291
Fall 2017 – Week 10

 

Comment on Smart Parking Meters: https://makeasmartcity.com/2017/11/24/smart-parking-meters/

This technology has already been implemented in certain cities like San Francisco and has been pretty well received by the public. I think the biggest pro in this technology is the ability to eliminate the wandering driving that contributes to pollution in search of an open park spot. However, for extremely busy cities like New York City, I wonder if there could be an issue where a driver is driving to an open spot along with 5 other drivers. The positive side of this is that smart technology can be adaptable and therefore, if this becomes an issue, potential solutions can be tested and implemented quickly if successful.