It goes without saying there is a moral panic underway about the climate crisis we are currently facing. Thus, it is more important than ever to remain hopeful. Waking up to the potential of sustainable technologies and increasing their use can allow for some optimism amid our current age of eco-anxiety. Climate-restoring technologies do exist, they just need to be adopted as widely as their unsustainable counterparts were.
I was recently at CogX in London – a conference about artificial intelligence and emerging technology with a focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I attended a talk about Climate-Restoring Technology where one of the panellists was Ibrahim AlHusseini, a venture capitalist and avid environmentalist. Through his company FullCycle, Ibrahim accelerates the development of climate-restoring technologies, which are ready to bring to market and scale. I asked Ibrahim what his favourite new technologies that he’s personally invested in were and these were his top two…
- Synova Power
Synova Power is essentially power made from waste, in particular bio and plastic waste. In a Synova plant, recyclables are sent to a recycling centre and materials like sand and stone are returned to the earth. It recycles the remaining waste into clean energy, and it does so by breaking it down into synthesised gas which is then used to power electricity generating turbines. Power generated by Synova has a negative carbon footprint. This technology has the potential to be a revolutionary solution to the masses of plastic waste littering our ecosystems.
2. Resolute Marine
Resolute Marine is a wave-driven seawater desalination system. This means it makes seawater potable using the clean, renewable power of ocean waves rather than the finite power of fossil fuels. As it uses energy produced by ocean waves instead of fossil fuels, it avoids emitting masses of carbon. One plant can produce enough freshwater for forty thousand people a day. Considering over one billion people have no access to clean water, this technology is life-changing for populations of developing countries and good for the planet.
After further research into the field of sustainable technologies, I came across this amazing innovation and found the potential too exciting not to mention…
3. Arborea BioSolar Leaf
This company manufactures a ‘biosolar leaf’ which mimics the natural process of photosynthesis with one hundred times the efficiency of natural leaves. This bionic leaf generates oxygen, absorbs CO2 and simultaneously produces healthy food additives. This is a pivotal technology, especially since nine out ten people breathe polluted air. This company is based in London where the impacts of air pollution are experienced first-hand. This technology could be implemented on buildings and act as remarkably efficient air purifying solar panels in severely polluted cities around the globe. Imagine a new ‘Bosco Verticale’ covered in this!
With hope in mind, we have three technologies that hold great potential for our planet and foster some much-needed optimism. Raising awareness and increasing the wide-scale use of these technologies is paramount to solve the problem we face at the speed and scale required. We need to bridge the goals of technology and sustainability to continue to produce innovations that can go as far as to reverse the current trend of the climate.
Image: Flikkersteph via Creative Commons