We, the humans call planet earth home. On one hand since the earliest civilizations we have loved and even worshiped it calling it "mother" - in essence the bearer, on the other its our greed which has plundered and polluted it to a point where it needs serious thought and more importantly action, if we do not wish to suffer the likes of fate humans in the movie interstellar did. Remember what professor John Brand tells Cooper? "We are not meant to save the planet, we are meant to leave it!" To prevent this very situation, inspired by the survival instincts deep rooted in our genomes, humans have begun on a trajectory from taking baby steps to using paper to plastic bags, using recycled paper, water, etc to bigger ones like developing alternate green energy sources, reaching an extent where recently having a day dedicated to educating more people to conserving nature, World Environment Day (WED).
To target the waste generated in public places, recycling systems typically rely on the strategic placement of bins for recyclable waste around facilities. Advanced recycling systems for the monitoring of recycling bins exist which use electronic sensors to report recycling events to a central monitoring facility, but the cost of purchasing and installing a system capable of monitoring an entire campus can be cost-prohibitive.
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It is celebrated on 5th June to spread global awareness and increase sensitivity towards the environmental problems. The history of WED takes back to 1972, when it was established by United Nations General Assembly, on the day that United Nations Conference on the Human Environment began in the Stockholm Conference. Today WED is celebrated globally in more than 175 countries every year. Every year this day brings back the fear and responsibility in us to innovate ways which help us sustain longer, importantly without causing ore damage to the planet. This WED we went searching for the major innovations in sustainable innovations which can save us all.
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Over the last 20 years, there have been 1.2 million granted patents and published patent applications for green technology across the globe. Ideas like creating fuel from sources as diverse as marine algae, extracting gold from waste and intelligent monitoring of trash are no longer a science fiction. Likewise there are so many astounding innovation and technological development happening around the globe. Though it is unlikely that any one of these innovations is “silver bullet” solution; but the brighter side of the picture is that inventors and corporations alike are focusing inventive efforts on improving and increasing green technologies.
Over the last 20 years, there have been 1.2 million granted patents and published patent applications for green technology across the globe. Ideas like creating fuel from sources as diverse as marine algae, extracting gold from waste and intelligent monitoring of trash are no longer a science fiction. Likewise there are so many astounding innovation and technological development happening around the globe. Though it is unlikely that any one of these innovations is “silver bullet” solution; but the brighter side of the picture is that inventors and corporations alike are focusing inventive efforts on improving and increasing green technologies.
Without further ado, here is a brief snapshot of four recent innovations to cover major domain of green technology that are worth keeping an eye on.
Algae fueling our car and planes
Globally, the demand for energy is increasing at exponential rate especially in developing countries such as in China and India. Additionally, the increased release of greenhouse gases (GHG) due to continued combustion of fossil fuels is creating serious threat to the environment. Biofuel emerged as a potential alternate for reducing world dependence on fossil fuel, but Biofuel have their limitations like availability of land.
Microalgae proposed for carbon sequestration, emerges as a viable option by producing fuel like biodiesel as a by-product. They are promoted as ideal third generation biofuel feedstock, because of their rapid growth rate, greenhouse gas fixation ability by balancing net zero emission and high production capacity of lipids. Further, they do not compete with food or feed crops, and can be grown on barren land and saline water. The major challenge, however, has been the high cost of recovering the oil from the algae prior to converting it into biodiesel.
There are many known extraction methods reported such as solvent extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, ultrasonic extraction, and mechanical pressing; however the downside is that they require longer extraction times, large volumes of solvents, and are energy- and cost-intensive. In comparison to vegetable oils that can be extracted by mechanically crushing the oil seeds from various crops followed by a solvent extraction, recovering oil from algal cells is limited by its rigid cell wall structure.
To address the above mentioned concern, here the inventor (U.S. Patent No. 8858657) used microwave-assisted extraction or extractive trans-esterification as the microwaves has the ability to penetrate through the cell wall structure, making it an efficient method for oils and lipids recovery. This invention provides a single-step supercritical alcohol process for simultaneous extraction and trans-esterification of wet algal biomass into biodiesel.
Solar energy recycling greenhouse gases
As far as alternative, renewable forms of energy are concerned, solar energy collection for the generation of electricity is one of the hot areas of research. Further it does not disrupt or create any threat for our ecosystem, the way oil and some other energy sources might. It does not cause greenhouse gases, air or water pollution. Different countries have prepared their solar energy policies for reducing dependence on fossil fuel and increasing renewable solar energy production. However, solar cell technologies are undesirably complex and expensive.
As far as alternative, renewable forms of energy are concerned, solar energy collection for the generation of electricity is one of the hot areas of research. Further it does not disrupt or create any threat for our ecosystem, the way oil and some other energy sources might. It does not cause greenhouse gases, air or water pollution. Different countries have prepared their solar energy policies for reducing dependence on fossil fuel and increasing renewable solar energy production. However, solar cell technologies are undesirably complex and expensive.
Herein, the inventor Yong Lee of Seoul (U.S. Patent Application No. 20140102439) has developed a way to cut down on the complexity of generating energy through solar means utilizing greenhouse gases, which normally we consider to be pollution. This describes an apparatus consisting of a sealed compartment through which flows a greenhouse gas, in this case sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), a waste industrial gas that creates a very intense greenhouse effect. When this pipe of SF6 is exposed to sunlight, it heat-up to increase the temperature of the gas without electrical power and can applicable for the use of hot water supply and heating.
The advancement of technology also made intelligent monitoring of trash a reality, which can reduce the efforts of the garbage disposal companies to control every single recycling bin. Only the bins that are full will be emptied. Not only this smart trash bins automatically segregate and manage our trash but also send collection data to a central monitoring server.
Smart recycling system: Intelligent monitoring of our trash
To target the waste generated in public places, recycling systems typically rely on the strategic placement of bins for recyclable waste around facilities. Advanced recycling systems for the monitoring of recycling bins exist which use electronic sensors to report recycling events to a central monitoring facility, but the cost of purchasing and installing a system capable of monitoring an entire campus can be cost-prohibitive.
This patent application (U.S. Patent Application No. 20140074298), filed by the University of Georgia Research Foundation in September 2013, would protect a smart recycling system capable of being retrofitted to existing recycling bins. The system includes a housing mounted to a recycling bin that uses sensors that can monitor for recycling events, such as when a person inserts a can or bottle into a receptacle. Further the sensors measure the level of recyclables deposited in a given recycling bin and report the measurements back to a central monitoring and data collection server. Visual feedback, such as a light display in the shape of a “smiley face,” could be provided to individuals to inform them that a proper recyclable has been inserted or the deposit of a non-recyclable.
Electronic waste management: Getting precious metals from throw away batteries
E-waste or electronic waste refers to old electrical and electronic equipment that have reached the end of their life. E-waste contains numerous toxins, which if not disposed in an appropriate manner can cause environmental pollution and health hazards. However, the brighter side is e-waste also contains metals and rare earths which can be recovered and reused. Thereby, proper e-waste management would ensure the extraction of metals from e-waste while the toxins are disposed with proper measures.
One of the major e-waste generated around the world are batteries, which constitutes harmful chemicals, e.g. battery acids, mercury, lead and cadmium, causing deleterious effect on the human body. Improved extraction of cadmium from spent nickel cadmium battery from spent nickel cadmium battery is the focus of CSIR patent application 1687/DEL/2010. The process is particularly useful for the selective cadmium extraction while avoiding the co-extraction of nickel and cobalt. Another Indian patent application 996/MUM/2008 by Sanjiv and Mohan describes a system which could replace galvanic cells and thereby reducing e-waste. Unlike conventional galvanic cells this inventions doesn’t use any chemical (other than water) as a part of the electrolyte solution. These water cells can be connected in series and parallel combinations to generate electricity.
The Authors:
Dr. Sudhanshu Sekhar Das, is an Assistant Manager at Ingenious e-Brain solutions, wherein he handles patent matters directed to life sciences theoretical research ranging from biotechnology, virology, molecular biology to diagnostics, therapeutics and small molecules.
He holds a PhD degree in life science from International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Delhi. He is also the author of numerous scientific publications, blogs and has given a number of presentations both in India and internationally.
Nimi Vashi: Founder and Editor: Matrix Life Magazine and The Readers Cosmos
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