Turning abandoned mineral waste into insulation

FenX wrote: Thermal insulation materials are mostly flammable, toxic and having high carbon footprint due to the production process. After the london grenfell fire in 2017, there are increasing demands for non-flammable insulation materials. To address this need, a new type of non-flammable insulation foam is developed at eth zurich. The foam is produced from non-toxic materials and has zero co2 emission during production... Source: EIT Climate KIC's ClimateLaunchPad

Switzerland

Super-fast broadband enabled dematerialisation

Dematerialisation reflects the move to a more digital society enabled through digital communication, replacing physical objects with digital and on-line equivalents. This also includes reduction in personal travel by moving to on-line transactions. The avoided carbon emissions include: the reduction in embodied carbon from the de-materialisation of CDs, DVDs, games, books, newspapers and mail; and transport emissions savings from personal travel reductions associated with shopping (these savings are offset to a certain extent by an increase in courier/delivery travel emissions). BT developed a methodology to quantify the carbon benefits associated with super-fast broadband (fibre-optic residential internet access), which is driving the uptake of digital distribution of goods and services. Current avoided emissions calculated to 0.307 tCO2 per annum per residential fibre broadband connection (2018). https://www.btplc.com/Digitalimpactandsustainability/Tacklingclimatechange/Ourmethodology/index.htm

United Kingdom

Sari-cycling

Sari-cycling wrote: Our solution to the poor waste management system in our city is to create a social enterprise (called sari-cycling, a wordplay on the tagalog word “sari,” meaning variety, and the english word “recycling”) that will collaborate with sari-sari stores (which are small, community-based convenient stores that are found in every street in the philippines) by deploying recycling bins and environmental awareness posters to unused spaces in front of each store. Sari-sari store owners, who are regulated by local government units, will be incentivized on a monthly basis for providing space for our recycling bins and campaign posters. Our company will also partner with fmcg companies, junk shops, and local government units... Source: EIT Climate KIC's Climathon

Philippines

An algae based wastewater treatment technology

MicroChar wrote: The main problems in the waste water treatment plants nowadays are connected to the sludge management and sludge disposal, due to the waste’s harsh chemical content, incorporated into the sludge through the chemical treatment. Our technology is offering a unique solution to these problems. Through microalgae biological treatment and biochar filtration we are eliminating the need of any chemical additives, which results in a final sludge product that is totally reusable as a fertilizer in the agriculture and is also a source of a high quality biogas... Source: EIT Climate KIC's ClimateLaunchPad

Bulgaria

ENLIL-Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

ENLIL-Vertical Axis Wind Turbine wrote: By placing the hybrid vertical axis wind turbine (inclueding a solar panel on top of it) on highways, ‘’metrobus-lines’’ and other transportation lines as well as high-rise residences , enlil will generate energy by using the winds created by the vehicles aswell as the natural winds. It will also measure the city’s temperature, humidity, wind and co2 by using the the build-in sensors and the iot platform. The measurements made by enlil will be used on the carbon footprint map to provide the comfort of the city and it will also contribute to the safety of the city by providing information to. Possible earthquakes in istanbul with the earthquake monitoring station... Source: EIT Climate KIC's ClimateLaunchPad

Turkey

Smart rice cultivation

Farmers can use Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) as a more efficient method of rice cultivation. This involves allowing fields to dry down between floods on rice fields. By decreasing the amount of time fields remain flooded, AWD reduces water use, fuel and electricity use for running irrigation pumps, and the need for nitrogen fertilizers, while also slowing down the anaerobic activity that creates methane gas. However, AWD can be challenging. It requires farmers to control water levels carefully across large tracts of land. It also introduces risk to the rice crops, as it can be difficult to assess depth accurately with only a few measurements at various points in the fields. Together, these barriers have slowed adoption of AWD. AT&T connectivity enables water-level data to be remotely collected and connected to pumping systems to automatically control the water level in the rice fields. This helps both with the implementation of the AWD process and with the data collection required for verification of the carbon credits. Thus the technology helps to overcome barriers to implementation and increases the AWD adoption rate. Current avoided annual emissions calculated based on adoption of IoT-enabled AWD expanded to all rice farmers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas. http://about.att.com/content/dam/csr/otherpdfs/10x-Precision-King-FINAL.pdf

United States

"Acoperisul Verde" - Green Roof

Green Roof wrote: Our solution is the green roof technical system for rooftops. It is used on a large scale for many years in europe and usa but unknown in romania even for professionals. There are seven million square meters of rooftops only in bucharest, black tar rooftops unused, heating at 80c in summer, creating a heat island effect with immense implications. We already implemented a proof of concept in bucharest on three distinct places, with seven experimental areas, an experiment unique in romania... Source: EIT Climate KIC's Climathon

Romania

Coffee grounds as fertilizer

SUD & SATZ wrote: Coffee grounds are being disposed as garbage - 9 million tons every year, worldwide. Our plan is to use this awesome resource in a new and innovative way. . Currently we are developing our first product: coffee to grow, an all-natural, all-compound fertilizer. This fertilizer does not only provide your plant with all the nutrients it needs, it also builds up a strong and fertile layer of humus. That way we save co2-emissions and offer a way to transform worn out low nutrient ground into a rich and profit-yielding soil for decades. . Vienna, the city with the 3rd highest coffee consumption rate worldwide, offers the perfect setting to farm this resource and learn everything we need to scale all over europe. ... Source: EIT Climate KIC's ClimateLaunchPad

Austria

Planeta Renewables s.r.l.

Planeta Renewables s.r.l. wrote: Our purpose is to realize and enhance an industrial supply-chain focused on the use of. Non-food lignocellulosic plant called miscanthus giganteus. This biomass is one of. More promising energy crop that grows on marginal, uncultivated, degraded lands and. Not suitable for food crops. Its uses are numerous: clean energy, biofuels, biomaterials,. Bioplastics, packaging and non-wood paper... Source: EIT Climate KIC's ClimateLaunchPad

Italy

Gardens of the Future

Gardens of the Future wrote: Nicosia, the divided capital of cyprus, suffers from urban pollution (including abandoned/decaying buildings), the inefficient use of local urban spaces, unsustainable cultivating, and the large-scale effects of a regional refugee crisis that has resulted in a high number of asylum seekers. Gardens of the future aims to spark the beginning of how an urban unutilized space can be transformed by the people, for the people, with institutional support... Source: EIT Climate KIC's Climathon

Cyprus