Tech for Good

Solar cleaning Ecoppia is a startup from Tel-Aviv that developed a robotic cleaning solution for solar panels. As a photovoltaic panel gets dirty, it may lose up to 35% of its productivity. At large energy production sites, standard wet cleaning requires billions of liters of water annually and thousands of person-hours of work. Ecoppia robots work nightly and remove soiling using rotating brushes with microfiber, without any water. They have an onboard solar module charging batteries between operations and making them energy independent. The robots clean their own solar panel and brush autonomously, and they are operated remotely - which allowed Ecoppia's clients to maintain site productivity during pandemic lockdowns. The company says their dry cleaning services save the amount of water needed for 220 thousand people for one year. It has already served 30+ large energy production sites in India, the USA, Mexico, Chile, and Israel. Though the idea looks genius in its simplicity, I still question the actual startup performance. In 2021, with $19 million in sales, Ecoppia reported a loss of $44 million. It looks like the team needs far more paying clients. 🤖 See the robots at work 🌐 Ecoppia website (they are hiring) #startups #solar #robotics

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Identity on the fly Here is the startup for privacy-conscious. Two brothers, Arjun and Abhijay Bhatnagar, have founded Cloaked in Boston. Cloaked is a service working as an app or a browser extension that creates hidden, "cloaked" identities such as emails, phone numbers, passwords, and credit card numbers. The service works as a password manager, but instead of saving passwords, it replaces your personal information with "cloaked" data for any selected online service. For example, early service users create identifiers for online banking and dating or just don't give Facebook their actual mobile number. Users may personalize the created identities. For example, they choose which messages to forward from cloaked to personal emails and which will stay in the cloaked cloud. They can mute any person or company sending newsletters to their inbox, not bothering with the sometimes frustrating unsubscribe process. The same applies to getting off a call list - that one can actually be annoying: I get spam calls almost every day. I can also imagine girls giving cloaked phone numbers to guys at the party. Created emails and phone numbers can be turned on/off, snoozed, expired, or updated when compromised. Currently, the app is free to use but plans to switch to a freemium model. The team has just raised $25 million to finalize the product and exit the beta stage. The reasonable question a privacy-conscious audience may have is "why should I not give my data to all those online services but give it to Cloaked?" The team says each user has an encrypted database storing all their info and the keys to manage or delete it at any point. However, they all say something similar, don't they? Meanwhile, I think the idea is brilliant for an average user, and the startup has an excellent chance to find its audience. 🌐 Cloaked website showing app at work #software #privacy #apps #startups

Reinventing the electric panel Electric panels have been around for a century. Finally, we get some incredible innovations to those from California-based startup SPAN. The company's product, a SPAN panel, solves the challenges of home-grid balancing, adds visibility to how your home consumes power, why it does so, and allows you to make changes right from the smartphone. The app shows how much every electric circuit in your home consumes and allows switching them on/off instantly or on a selected schedule. For example, if you have an electric car or backup battery, you may choose to charge it when grid energy is cheaper or, if you have a solar panel - when sunshine is most active. SPAN connects with solar panels and lets you understand how much energy they generated and how the home used that energy. Connecting the device with a home battery increases flexibility and backup efficiency during power outages or when you don't need grid power. For example, when there is an outage, the app shows you how much backup time you have and which devices use that energy. Then it allows a simple drag&drop of the backup items you need and shows real-time how the backup time changes. SPAN gives you an understanding of how you use energy. For instance, you could see your energy spending versus the neighborhood or get a tip of your refrigerator consuming increased kilowatts, suggesting it may need a checkup. The app also shows the environmental impact expressed in gallons of oil or pound of coal saved from you optimizing your power usage. The SPAN's price tag is $3500. And it seems that investors strongly believe in the company's success: SPAN has just got a $90 million investment boost to continue developing its products and accelerate home electrification. #devices #startups

Let's have some Saturday's fun. This is one of the best Super Bowl tech ads that was shown in 2015. Mophie, the maker of smartphone cases that double as emergency batteries, created a special-effects-filled minute, imagining what happens when the Almighty's smartphone goes into low-power mode. Enjoy - https://youtu.be/1qI6OnzcW6I #fun

Is the fossil fuel age over? The current geopolitical situation is pushing the oil&gas prices to their previous all-time highs. That could accelerate switching to renewable energy sources in many parts of the world. I found an interesting Forbes article published last year exploring the potential of solar and wind power in replacing fossil fuels. The UK non-profit Carbon Tracker has prepared the report, and here are the key takeaways from it (some of them are quite insightful): 1️⃣ Solar and wind have the potential to produce thousands of petawatt hours (PWh) of electricity a year, while the world’s current electricity demand stands at just 27 PWh; 2️⃣ If humans chose to get all their energy from solar power alone, the land required would take up 450,000 km2—just 0.3% of the world’s total land area. That is less than the space currently taken up by fossil fuel industry operations; 3️⃣ The cost of electricity from solar photovoltaics fell 82% in the last decade, while the costs of onshore and offshore wind fell 39% and 29%, respectively; 4️⃣ We utilize only 0.01% of the world’s solar potential and just 0.16% of wind potential; 5️⃣ Each year we are fuelling the climate crisis by burning three million years of fossilized sunshine in coal, oil, and gas while we use just 0.01% of daily sunlight; 6️⃣ Fossil fuel investments are becoming an increasingly risky prospect: $640 billion in investments in fossil fuel firms had lost $123bn of their value between 2012 and 2020; 7️⃣ At the current 15-20% solar and wind growth rates, fossil fuels will be pushed out of the electricity sector by the mid-2030s and out of the total energy supply by 2050. The authors state that humans have crossed all economic and technological barriers for entering the new renewable era. And the only remaining wall to break is political. Well, the recent events may push that wall down very soon, will see. 💡 Article on Forbes 🧐 Full report here #renewables #solar #wind #basics

How would we survive out there? While some people continue to threaten humanity's existence by a nuclear catastrophe, others are bringing closer the childhood dreams of space exploration and taking the challenge of humans becoming a multiplanet species. Interstellar Lab, a Los Angeles and Paris-based tech startup, has just raised $5 million from several investors to accelerate the manufacturing of their BioPods. BioPod is a closed-loop sustainable living system for Earth and space combining space-grade food production systems and habitat modules. That is a modular, controlled-environment aeroponics farm, creating the ideal climatic and atmospheric conditions for plant growth. The tech allows cultivating species that cannot be grown in traditional agriculture, including high-value plants like vanilla, vetiver, or patchouli. BioPod is controlled by AI management and monitoring software. Maximizing efficiency and production, the farm reduces water consumption by 98% and energy (x20) while boosting yield (up to x300). The company's mission is to develop closed-loop life support systems for lunar missions of NASA's Artemis Program and in the future for Mars exploration. However, the system applications on Earth are not less significant. Sourcing natural ingredients for health, cosmetics, and perfume companies; growing plants locally, efficiently, and all year long, reducing environmental impact; food production in desert zones; protection of endangered plants; providing a solution for universities and scientists for crop and plant research — these are all the challenges BioPod helps to meet. 💡 Article on TechStartups 🌐 Interstellar Lab website #space #startups #AI #biotech

Make e-scooter great When I hear e-scooter, I immediately imagine a scooter-sharing service. I may bet that 90%-plus of the scooters we see in the streets belong to ride-sharing companies. That is why London-based Taur Technologies has drawn my attention. Carson Brown, Taur's co-founder and lead designer, intends to change how scooting looks to people: make it so cool that people actually want to own an e-scooter as a means of city commutes. Taur scooter is white, elegant, and has a foot-deck that lets riders face forward while riding. That "twin ski" ride position helps with stability; adjusting the weight you put on each deck steers the vehicle in addition to the handlebar. That position also gives riders an equal view of the road. Another feature is huge puncture-resistant Continental tires that are 50% larger than most e-scooters. Taur also comes with three lights. The front light gives excellent visibility, and other road users can see it from the side and behind the rider. In addition, there is a brake light and a projection light in the rear that shines upward onto the rider to make them fully visible. The scooter folds up for convenient traveling and storage. And last but not least, the Taur scooter was "built for ownership," which means a modular design to allow swapping out the five modules for easier maintenance. For example, you can change a tire yourself in under 5 minutes using a spoon if you don't have a tire lever. Of course, the scooter is priced on the premium end at $1495. However, Taur is launching in Los Angeles, where such a price tag probably won't look outrageous. The promo video below is well worth your time. It would be great to know your thoughts on the product - please share in the comments. 💡 Article on TechCrunch #urbantech #e-scooter #EV #startups

☀️ Here is the summary of the last week's posts: 1️⃣ The Interceptor - an autonomous, 100% solar-powered catamaran diverting plastic from rivers and preventing it from entering the ocean 2️⃣ Prove your address - an innovative addressing startup tackling the challenge of not having a physical address 3️⃣ A tactile display - an intelligent braille reader, allowing the display of text and tactile representations of imagery empowering people with vision impairments Have a safe week Your Tech for Good #weeksummary

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A tactile display People with vision impairments widely use the Braille language. However, there have been few tech innovations for braille-reader hardware until recently. Korean Dot startup is making a huge step forward with its Dot Pad device, an intelligent braille reader, allowing the display of text and tactile representations of imagery. The Dot Pad consists of 2,400 pins in a pixel-like grid that can quickly move to up or down positions, forming letters in braille or easily identifiable shapes. The core innovation is the "dot" itself. The company had to make dozens or hundreds of these little pins (6 per braille letter) extend and retract reliably and quickly (and not too loudly). The Dot's co-founder Ki Kwang Sung explains they picked the idea from the mechanism of speakers. The tiny electromagnetic actuator vibrates in smartphone speakers. Still, the team adapted it to move a pin up and down instead, using a magnetic ball rotor that locks easily in the up or down position and can unlock and disappear quickly. Voice-powered interfaces have been immensely empowering for people who can't use graphical interfaces, but braille remains an important option, especially for reading and learning. A child growing up with a visual impairment misses out on a lot. Being able to illustrate things like letters, shapes, and simple images others take for granted, like houses, cats, and so on, can be potentially a game-changer. The Dot Pad is neither cheap nor simple - the device uses thousands of tiny controllers, and their prices are through the roof right now. Fortunately, this is the type of device that no one should have to pay for, and for which there are numerous subsidies and other programs. Dot's founders noted that they're working with the Korean and U.S. governments and the blind community and advocacy organizations to integrate the Dot Pad with curricula and use existing funds and methods to pay for them. 💡 Article on TechCrunch #startups #devices

Prove your address Here is another brilliant example of a software tech solution to a painful problem. More than 4 billion people globally don’t have a formal physical address, and it costs the world’s economy over $200 billion yearly. Getting delivery, registering a sim card, opening a bank account, getting the job - these are just a few examples of unresolved issues faced by people who don’t have a physical address included in the global address system. Timbo Drayson was part of the team that launched Google Maps across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. While working in Nigeria, he experienced firsthand the lack of physical address problem. He realized that this was a huge issue, not just for every Nigerian but also for half the world. So, in 2014, he founded OkHi, an innovative addressing startup tackling these challenges in Nigeria with its technology. Consumers go to OkHi’s website and create addresses by dropping a pin on their map with a virtual representation of their street. OkHi collects this address but uses location data from the consumer’s phone to actively check how long the phone spends at the address that the consumer saved. After a while, OkHi builds up a profile using its “AI-powered verification engine” to determine if the consumer resides at that address or not. At the starting point, OkHi is building for the financial service sector. Their service integrates into a mobile banking or fintech app and enables them to digitally collect the accurate addresses of their customers, verify them, and onboard their clients. The company claims a product pilot showing that its address verification product is 30% more accurate, 4x faster, and 50% cheaper than the industry standard of sending a physical agent to a customer’s door. OkHi charges its clients on a per transaction basis. So every time a business successfully verifies a customer’s address, it charges ~$1. OkHi claims to have “hundreds of thousands” of users. 💡 Article on TechCrunch 🌐 OkHi website #AI #software #identity

The Interceptor Dutch inventor Boyan Slat founded The Ocean Cleanup at 18 in his hometown of Delft, the Netherlands. The company's mission is to solve the oceans' plastic problem by doing two things - halt the trash entering from rivers and remove the existing plastics from the oceans. Today, we are talking about capturing plastic from rivers, the primary source of ocean pollution. The company's research shows that about 1000 rivers (1% of all rivers on the planet) are responsible for 80 percent of global ocean plastic pollution. The Ocean Cleanup's Interceptor is an autonomous, 100% solar-powered catamaran diverting plastic from rivers and preventing it from entering the ocean. Water passes through the center of the catamaran, moving plastic onto a netted conveyer belt. Water filters through and back into the river, and plastic goes from the conveyer belt into the shuttle. The shuttle automatically sorts the waste into six onboard dumpsters with a total capacity of 50 cubic meters each. Interceptor works without any human operator, collecting up to 100 tons of waste per day. Once the dumpsters are nearly at capacity, operators receive an automated text message, collect the barge with dumpsters, empty them, and return the barge to the Interceptor to continue picking up debris. The company has already built four Interceptors, two for Jakarta, Indonesia, and Klang, Malaysia. The other two will be installed in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Plus, two are in the works to be installed in rivers in Bangkok, Thailand, and Los Angeles. #recycle #plastics #ocean #solar

Green jobs on the rise LinkedIn published an insightful report on green jobs rising globally. Green jobs are defined as requiring green skills that enable the environmental sustainability of economic activities. Key takeaways from the report: 1️⃣ In the last five years, the number of Renewables & Environment jobs in the US has increased by 237%, in stark contrast to the 19% increase for Oil & Gas jobs; 2️⃣ The share of green talent increased from 9.6% in 2015, to 13.3% so far in 2021 (a growth rate of 38.5%); 3️⃣ While job postings requiring green skills grew at 8% annually over the past five years, the share of green talent has grown at roughly 6% annually in the same period. That means a rising deficit for green talent; 4️⃣ The fastest-growing green skills are in Ecosystem Management, Environmental Policy, and Pollution Prevention; 5️⃣ The top five fastest-growing green jobs between 2016 and 2021, in terms of annual growth, are Sustainability Manager (30%), Wind Turbine Technician (24%), Solar Consultant (23%), Ecologist (22%), and Environmental Health and Safety Specialist (20%); 6️⃣ The top 5 countries with the highest green skill intensity are the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and India. You may read the full report here #jobs

There is no place for politics on TFG, but I am feeling so embarrassed for what is happening with my homeland Russia these days. War can't be right.

Save on concrete 💨 Cement is the most significant carbon dioxide emitter globally: its production contributes 7% of all CO2 emissions. Making cement involves burning calcium carbonate, which separates calcium and releases carbon into the atmosphere. In addition, the construction industry uses carbon-intensive materials, such as concrete and steel, inefficiently. The study by Cambridge University revealed that most commercial buildings in the UK are overdesigned by up to 50 to 60 percent. ♻️ Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an elegant FoamWork solution to reduce construction's carbon footprint, particularly cement. They used 3D-printed formwork elements made from recyclable mineral foam to create a pre-cast concrete slab, which is lighter and better insulated while using 70 percent less material. 🤖 An autonomous robotic arm 3D printed 24 mineral formwork elements in different shapes and sizes. Then they cast and left to cure concrete around them, creating hollow cells throughout the panel. The internal geometry optimized to reinforce the slab along its principal stress lines created the necessary strength while drastically reducing the amount of concrete needed to produce it. The FoamWork system uses an alternative material developed by Swiss start-up FenX made of a waste product from coal-fired power stations called fly ash. That helps to minimize the carbon footprint of the foam. The final FoamWork elements can either be left in place to improve the insulation of the pre-cast concrete slab or recycled and reprinted to create new formwork. The researchers say they can customize the shape and configuration of the internal cells to create a range of concrete building elements from walls to entire roofs. With FoamWork, emissions through material consumption would be reduced in the concrete slab. The lower mass would also have secondary effects on the dimensioning of the entire load-bearing structure and would reduce efforts for shipping and handling on construction sites. 💡 Article on DeZeen #robotics #AI #3dprint #construction

☀️ Here is the #weeksummary : 1️⃣ Paralyzed patients walk, swim, and cycle - a new spinal stimulation device allowing paralyzed men to regain mobility 2️⃣ iPhone Swap - a Finnish company offering its customers a sustainable choice to reduce waste by buying a professionally refurbished iPhone for less 3️⃣ Baloon satellites to space - a Canadian startup to deliver small satellites and payloads into space using rockets attached to balloons 🤜🤛 Please share with anyone who may be interested in our stories. Tech for Good