RYAN BOWERSOX

BOWERSOX INNOVATION GROUP

“We shouldn’t have to rely on the government to take care of us. Let’s take care of each other in whatever capacity we can.”

Just as vital as the latest tech is a motivating force behind climate solutions. Most of this planet’s inhabitants don’t know what to do to save it. Truly impactful solutions still seem out of reach for most.

Some solutions are no-brainers for users. Their waste-reducing, energy-producing functions focus on the broader picture of turning the inevitable byproducts of human existence into treasure. Some have small circles, like recycling gray water in homes, others use the earth to heat and cool, or create localized, greener ecosystems.

Ryan Bowersox embraces them all, melding them into the next generation of sustainable living. Not piecemeal, but thoughtfully curated to fit precisely into distinct natural and societal environments. His supply chain expertise drives that detailed view.

He is inspired, focused, driven, yet his most valuable quality may be patience. The lifestyle he offers is on the leading edge, teetering between what people think they need and where they realize they want to be.

It’s his ‘field of dreams.”

Bowersox Innovation Group evolved from matching investors to green projects to developing its own high-performance real estate. Its mission is to forge a path out of the antiquated housing industry to “one of efficiency and responsibility, by leveraging technology and opportunity. The company’s commitment is to provide innovative decarbonization solutions within an open source collaboration.”

“The problem was, no one was using the sustainable products we wanted to put in the marketplace, so we had to do it ourselves. In the process of learning how, we met a lot of people in renewables and climate tech, partnered with them and broadened our company.”

Entities under the umbrella of Bowerso Innovation Group form an ecosystem that can lead the way to a sustainable future, connecting finance, construction, technology and social impact.

All of these things make Bowersox and his colleagues trailblazers, but none more than the collaboration part.

We’re building a community around future sustainability, and connected with Bowersox, who is “rowing the same boat.” He was just as impressed with Hydraloop’s IoT-connected, decentralized water recycling system as we were, when profiled it for our Water issue.

In January 2023, the Netherlands-based company was collecting …

CLOSING THE LOOP

WITH THE SPEED OF SOUND

The concept of zooming through pneumatic tubes to get from point A to point B has been part of our consciousness for decades. Way back in the 1960’s, it was how George Jetson traveled to the office. Granted, we knew it was the magic of animation, but it was intriguing. And, actually, vacuum tube systems have been used for more than a century in places like telegraph offices and postal services, and more recently, by the general public at the bank drive-up.

Remarkably, “The Jetsons” accurately foreshadowed technology we use now – video calling, smart watches, even chatbots - all now an integral part of life on Earth. So why not “space age” travel?

It’s called hyperloop, and it’s a technology, not a brand name. Except for the transportation factor, it is very different from bullet trains, and a cousin to maglev (magnetic levitation) transportation.

It is probably best known because of Tesla founder Elon Musk’s sidelined foray into building a loop between Los Angeles and San Francisco a decade ago. It promised to best drive and freight time by almost 90%, while being highly energy efficient, immune to weather, collision free and in-service around the clock.

Musk trademarked the tech, but made it open source, and waited to see if other companies would take up the reins of an emerging industry and a “fifth mode of transportation.”

And they did, fine-tuning the vactrain concept to overcome the difficulty of maintaining a vacuum over long distances, tweaking the linear induction motor for ultra-high speeds - 2-3x faster than a bullet train. Around the world, real projects are on drawing boards, but they are pricey and political.

Next Gen, or Bust?

The industry earns harsh criticism from those running the numbers. True, right now, hyperloop transit is far from looking like a profitable venture. But where would we be if innovators ran from the “impossible,” or allowed finances to drive the outcome?

Companies are forging ahead, including Hyperloop Transportation Technologies – HyperloopTT – which used a full-scale test track to determine what it’s like to travel in those conditions, just shy of breaking the sound barrier, including if it would cause passengers to vomit or lose consciousness.

The California-based innovator’s 320-meter track at Toulouse-Francazal Air Base in France precisely mimics the passenger experience, and proved naysayers wrong. The next step is bringing public and private stakeholders together to create the first commercial prototype.

In the U.S, for instance, …

MATCHING THE BIG BOX

KEEPING IT ROLLING

Muuga Harbor, Estonia’s largest cargo port, commands a prime shipping location on the Gulf of Finland, due south of Helsinki. Across its sprawling shipyard, yard trucks, or terminal tractors, shunt semi-trailers around, with no one on board. Not driverless, but remotely operated, as well as electricallyered and packed with technology that dramatically increases efficiency and safety. It is human-in-the-loop automated mobility with future-proof technology and zero emissions; sustainable in every sense of the word.

Fernride is redefining the role of a truck driver, at a time when it was never needed more, and promising it’s just the beginning.

From moving internal production supply, container handling in terminals, yard shunting of swap bodies and trailers, and Hub-2-Hub transportation, its goal is to build a relevant bridge to the future for autonomous driving across ecosystems.

On a fast, but precise track

Only four years in, the German software developer is technically a startup, but its progress says otherwise. That’s credited to a foundation of a decade of research.

Fernride chose to initially target the logistics industry, “the backbone of global trade,” for its Transportation-as-a-Service solutions. In Europe alone, more than 100,000 trucks are in use at ports and shipping terminals, providing the opportunity to greatly, and quickly, reduce carbon footprints.

The supply chain has still not completely rebounded after the pandemic, because the current logistics model is no match for ever-increasing demand. Factor in the global shortage of truck drivers. Europe is short about 300,000, or 10%, predicted to increase to 50% by 2026. The ever-increasing demand for delivered goods is an obvious factor, but only part of this equation. An inherent list of issues includes demanding working conditions and a challenging lifestyle for relatively low wages, and is driving both an exodus to other industries and deterring younger generations. The average age of over-the-road (OTR), long-haul drivers is inching closer and closer to retirement age. There’s no light at the end of that tunnel.

In addition to being ripe for change, logistic facilities also offer the ideal proving grounds; a sort of closed circuit with standardized trucking procedures that offer both the control and the wide application Fernride sought.

For operators, it signals relief from the challenges of spiraling volume and costs.

Drivers bring all their expertise to an upskilled, much more user-friendly version of the job.

For Fernride, it is the first step to its vision of autonomous vehicles for all. It’s actually advantageous to field test with large customers that can easily scale their operations, in response to increased efficiencies. It’s a massive optimization opportunity that will allow Fernride to grow to the point of being able to pivot to providing the service to …

TRADITION TRANSITION

ON TO NEW VENTURES

Quick. What year was the Toyota Prius introduced?

Any year after the turn of the century seems about right. But we’d be wrong. That first mass-produced hybrid vehicle was introduced in Japan in 1997, and worldwide in 2000.

Toyota developed it to be the car of the 21st century. More than 15 million have been sold so far, in 90 global markets, with 2023 seeing a major redesign. Fun fact; that’s millions of Prii, the specific plural given to the little liftback by a public vote.

Craig Scott has a hard time believing it’s been more than a quarter of a century, and he’s the general manager and director of fuel cell solutions for Toyota Motor North America.

But to be fair, as his title indicates, his focus has been on hydrogen vehicles. He’s been working with Joe Adams, chief engineer, and his crew at Kenworth on proof of concept in trucking, where fuel cell powered, over-the-road freight is about to become reality. Among the keys to success was boots-on the-throttle feedback from the trucking community and an approach modeled on lessons learned years ago in developing the Prius, Scott said.

Shore to Store, ZE-style

Terminal Island is a mostly man made land mass off the southern California coast. It is home to a small residential population, and adjacent to the densely populated San Pedro. What happens there, especially air quality impacts, affects nearly 100,000 people.

The island also houses seven major shipping container terminals and six intermodal rail yards that make up the Port of Los Angeles, the busiest in the U.S. About 10 million containers move through it annually. Higher demand for shipped goods, the potential loss of rail service, and the simple convenience of direct-to-site delivery are skewing logistics more and more to the trucking side.

“There’s no doubt that trucks are going to be the main means to move goods for a long time to come. There’s no other way for last mile delivery, or even cross-country. Rail is stressed out,” Scott said, thinking about both capacity and aging infrastructure.

At the port, 10 hydrogen electric Class 8, heavy duty truck prototypes, developed by Kenworth and integrated with Toyota’s fuel cell drive technology, were handed over to 10 drivers who used them for 12 months on their regular routes. There was confidence that they would come to love them, even if it took some time. Driver feedback informed design because nothing is more important than making sure innovation is consumer-friendly.

Freight operators Southern Counties Express (SCE), Total Transportation Services, Inc. (TTSI), Toyota Logistic Services (TLS) and UPS participated, using the …

GEOTHERMAL

ENERGY’S UNSUNG HERO

Imagine if you could turn on a tap of pure heat during the coldest season. The source of the heat wouldn’t be any kind of fossil fuel, and it wouldn’t rely on the sun shining or the wind blowing. No matter what the conditions were outside, you would be comfortable inside. Now imagine that the same tap provided a stream of cool air in the hottest months. As the sun beat down and humidity choked the outside world, your home or business would remain a cool oasis.

Finally… What if I told you that a variation of this miraculous tap could generate electricity?

The reality is, geothermal can do all of these things. Depending on the way that you harness it, the highly predictable temperature of the Earth’s crust and certain persistent hot spots can be utilized to provide effective heating, cooling, and power generation.

All we need to do is build the tap.

The Potential Of Geothermal Energy

In a world that’s trying to become more energy diversified, most countries aren’t trying very hard on the geothermal side of the coin.

Currently geothermal electricity sources only generate half a percent of the world’s power. This isn’t nearly enough to make a dent in our growing energy needs. Experts say that geothermal could potentially generate 10% of the world’s power by 2100. It just needs the same level of tax breaks and government support that every other renewable energy type is getting in the civilized world. Luckily, environmental lobbyists are pushing for that to happen.

How does geothermal energy production work? By drilling into one of the Earth’s hotspots, engineers can take advantage of the potential energy difference between the ground and the surface world. In particularly hot places underground, water is piped down and allowed to boil. The heat creates steam, which turns a turbine, the same way any boiler system works.

Hot spots are formed in many different ways. Friction, pressure, or radioactive decay can all produce zones of incredible heat under the ground. The most intense concentrations will melt the surrounding rock, forming pools of magma. Engineers run their water feed pipes as close to a subsurface heat source as possible while maintaining their operational efficiency.

The benefits of geothermal energy are clear. A geothermal plant produces one sixth the CO2 of natural gas, and almost no nitrous oxide or sulfur dioxide. Applications currently apply to commercial and grid power, but individual or community ‘mini geothermal’ projects might be more common in the future.

The Other Kind Of Geothermal - Heat Pumps That Eliminate Carbon Emissions

But what if we could prevent the use of power via geothermal? And what if that method was available to just about every home and business on the planet?

The other side of geothermal involves …

DIGGING DEEP

TAPPING INTO EXISTING SOURCES

Nature provides for us in simple and elegant ways.

When you hear about geothermal heating and cooling, and the low-key systems that provide inexpensive and sustainable comfort for homes and businesses, you have to wonder how we ended up drilling for fossil fuels.

There’s really no hindsight involved. Formal climate change predictions date as far back as 1896. We just weren’t paying attention. Now we have renewable energy options, but we’re still making poor choices.

To be fair, renewables had long failed to be affordable for new construction, or as a home modification. People may want to invest in the planet, but budgets advise otherwise, and they look instead to the return-on investment.

Kathy Hannun founded Dandelion Energy in 2017, knowing they would have to find ways to make geothermal more desirable, in terms of cost, trust in its capabilities and the installation process. They would have to innovatively hack the industry to achieve its mission of making renewable geothermal energy accessible and affordable to homeowners across the U.S.

So, they went to Sweden.

About 20% of homes there use geothermal heating and cooling.

“It’s already mainstreamed and scaled there. One of the things we wanted to learn was how they are able to do it much less expensively than here.”

A big difference is industry-specific drilling techniques that significantly reduce costs and are less disruptive to property. Swedish installers were happy to share their techniques, and Dandelion returned ready to adopt a different approach from the usual truck-mounted water well drilling rigs that don’t fit in about 50% of yards, and badly damage others.

Mounted on a continuous track, like tanks and bulldozers, the rig’s weight is spread out, so no ruts, and a tighter turning radius. They are safer, less expensive to buy and require fewer operators; cost savings all around and access to twice as many homes.

Here is how geothermal energy systems work

Most have experienced the basement climate phenomenon. While it’s a constant struggle to maintain optimum temperatures in the living space, just below, it's much warmer, even without heating, and blissfully cool on a hot day.

That’s because just 10 feet below the surface …

GARDEN EDEN

INVENTED BY MODERN ADAM

In the center of the Mediterranean island of Ibiza, a park ringed by forests and mountains is an oasis of natural diversity, where 30,000 different plants reside, some recovered from presumed extinction. The public is welcomed to Botánico Biotecnológico – “Bibo Park” - to marvel in the symbiosis of nature and humans that is at the heart of the biotechnology that Bioo does. A favorite is the “piano,” played by touching rows of succulents.

A 30-minute plane ride west, Barcelona is home to Bioo’s headquarters, where Pablo Vidarte Gordillo spins an ever-widening web of innovation that promises to be game-changing for not just climate impact solutions, but a better quality of life.

Biotech is the next revolution, he says. It will feel as magical as when humankind discovered fire, and be just as lifechanging as it scales. Panel, their biological battery, Switch, where humans and plants connect to create electricity, and Sensor, poised to transform agriculture, are on that edge. A basis in solid science, and a firm nod to ease and cost of use, promise that they are just the beginning.

Electricity from nature. Bioo calls it “a new point of view.” Its solution to climate change and the need for clean energy comes from transforming the spaces that are already green; lawns, gardens, farms, planted roofs and forests. Energy doesn’t get any cleaner than that.

Spiritual Quotient

Vidarte is a rarity and a paradox, having maintained momentum from the start. He is a scientist who has not lost his childlike wonder at what is possible and is enthusiastic about sharing what he’s learned.

At 27, he is not far beyond his childhood vision of being on the frontier, maybe working at NASA. At 16, he started software and hardware companies. By the time he finished studying technology and multimedia engineering at university, he had started several more companies, testing the waters until he found his passion. At 20, he was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List in Europe.

As cliché as it sounds, his path was revealed when he woke up from a dream at 3:00 a.m., in shock. He was in a “very cool” village, surrounded by mountains. The sky, the architecture and the clothing were not of Earth. He watched a man lift a piece of farm field to reveal wires below. “I understood they were actually generating energy out of nature itself.”

Bioo, launched in 2015 as part of his overarching company, Arkyne Technologies, began as he always does, by assembling a crack team of scientists. Panel and Switch are now full-blown products. Sensor is planned for a 2024 launch.

How will it make an impact?

Laying a smooth surface over the slow and bumpy road to sustainability doesn’t have to mean reinventing the wheel. Right now, Bioo’s starting point of known science combined with low profile tech seems to be exactly what’s needed. Summoning energy from …

FUELING INDUSTRIES

CLEANING IT UP

Where does 5% of global carbon emissions come from? If you guessed garbage, you’re correct. But there’s no prize, because even if you’re recycling, odds are where you live, only a percentage of what you toss in that special bin is actually repurposed. In the US, for instance, it's shockingly less than 10%.

On the other side of the world, Australia can claim nearly half. Still not good enough. Despite our efforts, emissions from rotting garbage are predicted to grow to more than 8% by 2050.

In densely populated areas around the world, the massive amounts of what many call municipal solid waste, or MSW, are typically incinerated. Across suburban and rural areas, where smaller scales make that technology unsuitable, the real problem is festering, in open landfills or hauled away by truck after truck to regional burn facilities.

If only there was a machine where all the recyclables and garbage went in one end and clean energy came out the other...and it was carbon negative.

That’s no exaggeration of the MIHG process – Moving Injection Horizontal Gasification - developed and patented by Wildfire Energy.

Learning from non-renewables

Based in Brisbane, the startup has its genesis in the fossil fuel industry, where its founders realized they could leverage their expertise into a solution to help supply the massive flow of clean energy needed for the net zero transition.

CEO Greg Perkins is quick to credit Denis Doucet, now CTO, with coming up with the idea. Grant Bollaert is leading engineering, bringing his experience in project startups in oil and gas and petrochemicals. All three are engineers who worked in energy production that involves gasification, the basis of the MIHG process.

Perkins was CTO of a company that developed a novel gasification technology, and got a PhD in that process of converting biomass into an energy-rich gas. While later working for Shell in Europe and Malaysia, his job included commercializing …

NUPONIX IN THE LOOP

IS HYDROPONICS A FORGOTTEN TECHNOLOGY?

Not at all, Kevin Wright is quick to say. The technique of growing plants in a water-based nutrient solution has been thriving quietly in the realm of niche applications, such as in-home projects and in laboratories to grow things like bacteria and algae.

But what we’re really talking about here is hydroponics combined with aquaculture, the raising of fish and aquatic plants, to become aquaponics.

Wright is taking the hybrid in new, and intentionally controversial directions.

“In terms of growing vegetables or other food, it’s never taken off because it’s hard to do at a large scale and requires a lot of labor-intensive, daily testing to keep the system healthy. And until now, a lot of the tech was not available to automate the work that goes into it.”

An investment advisor by trade, Wright saw the immense potential in innovatively tweaking a proven, organic process to level it up to a profitable business model.

Gathering experts as consultants, he launched Nuponix in 2019 to move aquaponics into the realm of scalability. These aren’t just any experts. One of his chief science officers is Dr. James Rakocy, who pioneered aquaponics in the late 1970s while working on his PhD at Auburn University. He created a symbiotic ecosystem where waste excreted by fish was absorbed by nitrogen- and phosphorus-loving plants, which resulted in filtered water to send back to tanks, keeping the fish healthy.

Separately, either process is much more intense. Fish farms need to filter water to avoid toxicity. In hydroponic systems, plant roots sit in water, which needs to be supplemented with nutrients they would normally take from soil. Combining them simulates what happens in a healthy ocean or freshwater ecosystem. A controlled environment adds the benefits of higher quality and easy harvesting.

For the past 30 years, Dr. Rakocy has been working with a team to perfect a commercially viable system, and now heads a consultancy, The Aquaponics Doctor.

The goal of data-driven laboratories at Nuponix is to advance aquaponic plant and food production. An ongoing collaboration with Cornell University, which has the largest agricultural program in the U.S., provides solid research on which to base its work in its 40,000-square-foot grow facility in nearby Romulus, New York, and at a 12,000-square foot test lab in Valliant, Oklahoma.

Wright is doing his own pioneering, entering the commercial aquaponics landscape with the most high-profile product he can think of - cannabis.

And not just for medical use.

Across the U.S., a majority of states have legalized medical THC, and about half have added recreational use. Budget crunches have prompted a scramble for the tax income the industry generates and federal legalization is predicted within a couple of years. New York State, for instance, added …

NIKOLA TESLA’S

GAMBIT AT WARDENCLIFFE TOWER

Nikola Tesla’s fortunes may have been built on Niagara Falls, but they were fleeting. When it comes to genius inventors, big dreams require a big bankroll.

Tesla gambled his entire life savings on a new venture. Even though his next great experiment was situated on Long Island Sound, his vision was no longer focused upon the water. Instead, he was intent on harnessing the power of the earth.

Not the power of the entire planetary system, but specifically the power of the soil, stone, and magma that makes up our rocky planet.

What could the Earth’s crust, mantle, and core possibly have to do with electrical power? You’re about to find out!

Wardenclyffe Tower

Bordering upon the Atlantic ocean itself, Long Island Sound is a tidal estuary, and a critical part of New England and New York’s water tables. More importantly: It was isolated and had acce möss to a massive amount of power in the form of a coal fired 200 kW Westinghouse generator.

That was what powered Wardenclyffe Tower in the short term. But if Tesla’s dreams became a reality, there would be no need for coal to be delivered to Long Island ever again. You see, Tesla’s newest invention was meant to facilitate the wireless transmission of energy, with a range that would span the entire globe. Built where the water meets the land, it would be a monument to his genius… if he could get it off the ground, so to speak.

To say that his plans were ‘aggressive’ was an understatement. J. P. Morgan, a former rival during the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project, backed the initial building of the tower. It was a deal with the devil that wouldn’t pay off in the long run, for anyone involved. Still, he used that initial funding to build a massive prototype, breaking ground in 1901.

But the tower was based on unproven theories from the mid and late 1800s. They didn’t work on a small scale.

They’d never even been attempted on a large scale. In short, Wardenclyffe was a giant gamble based on nothing but Tesla’s intuition. How could it possibly pay off?

Using The Earth As A Live Wire

Tesla’s plan was to discover the exact resonant energy of the planet Earth, and send pulses of electricity through the core. The theory was that as long as the pulses of electricity were in sync with the planet’s native frequency, the energy could be transported anywhere on the globe using the planet itself as a conduit.

He believed that …

BABYLONIANS

THE TOWER OF BABYLON

As long as 6,000 years ago, people living in Mesopotamia, what is now  Iraq, were the first to master a new type of technology - writing.

That meant thoughts and ideas that people could only tell each other could be documented and expanded upon. Writing gave birth to the study of mathematics and astronomy, the first calendar and contracts, stories and religious texts. It unleashed a torrent of innovation that the growth enjoyed in one ancient culture, Babylon, is still evident today. 

The writing system devised by the Sumarians who came before was called Cuneiform. Its characters were wedge-shaped impressions  made in wet clay tablets using a reed. It is poetic that the same clay the Babylonians later used to advance their intellect also comprised the bricks that built their empire. 

A traveler approaching Babylon, a great city by the 6th century BCE, would have seen an enormous, 97-meter high wall guarding the city - 24 meters thick and 90 meters long. Behind that wall, a giant manmade mountain rose 92 meters into the sky, shining bright white in the desert sun.

These structures were possible thanks to the invention of baked clay bricks that could carry a far heavier load than the mud bricks that were common at the time. The Babylonians used sun-dried clay in almost everything they built, from roads and homes to entire temple complexes, including that soaring structure, known as a ziggurat.

Their architectural feats are …

EVERY FORK IN THE TRAIL

JAMES EKLUND - with greater awareness comes opportunity.

Climate change has not exactly snuck up on us, but it can no longer be denied. With greater awareness comes opportunity.

Where do we go from here?

Policymakers, stakeholders, innovators and advocates in the battle against climate changes impacts are working all the angles. James Eklund brings all those perspectives. He describes himself as a “ranching water lawyer,” and there is no better way to put it. His defining moments came as a little kid, riding horseback on the Norse Sky Ranch with his grandfather, learning a basic of successful ranching; water management. Five generations ago, in 1888, intrepid Norwegians Ole and Mary Gunderson, immigrated to that Rocky Mountains homestead in Plateau Valley in western Colorado. While their descendants grew it to more than 8,000 acres, its legacy of grass-fed beef and land stewardship endured.

Remaining true to those roots, a Stetson-wearing Eklund is still riding the range, and is not surprised to find himself at the Epicenter one of the world’s biggest water crises. He spent years working in the public sector, as legal counsel to former Governor John Hickenlooper and assistant attorney general, specializing in interstate and international water issues. Appointed director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, he oversaw writing of the Colorado Water Plan, a framework to provide resources for a collaboration of projects around water development and conservation.

It has been hailed as the “gold standard” for others to follow.

Colorado is in a tricky position. Its namesake river’s headwaters are just north of Denver in the Continental Divide, but the demand for its water and the power produced from it increases dramatically in the massive watershed to the southwest and into Mexico. It feeds Lake Powell in Arizona and Lake Mead in Nevada, and sustains 40 million people in seven states and 50 Native American tribes……

SCIENCE FAIRE DE LA VOILE

INNOVATION DOES NOT OFTEN GO ON A JOURNEY, OR BECOME A MOVEMENT UNTO ITSELF.

When a floating laboratory pulls into port, its cloak of gleaming solar panels, soaring wind towers and twin hulls making it appear to float, it commands attention. And that is as much the point as the experimentation.

Energy Observer is a laboratory for ecological transformation, with an overall mission to push back the limits of zero-emission technologies. Its directives are to accelerate the transition of cutting-edge,resilient,zero-carbon energy systems and raise awareness at the same, and do it all in an unrelentingly hostile environment, on a remarkable and historic seven-year, around the world ocean voyage.

At every major port-of-call, an exhibition village pops-up dockside. EO’s crew of engineers and researchers connects with locals by showcasing their own work alongside that of local innovators, and engaging with those pioneering climate solutions in their own regions. Visitors are also offered a look at major organizations that specialize in hydrogen technology development and environmental protection, like the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and UNESCO.

Now, six years in, with lots of data, experiences, success stories and identified room for improvement, it’s the optimum time to look back at where it’s been, and consider all that has happened in the world since it set out in spring 2017.

Less than a year prior, climate change was just getting real, global attention with the signing of the Paris Agreement at the UN’s COP21…..

PLUG AND PLAY

SILENT RUNNINGS

Imagine powering across a sparkling blue lake, hearing only the whoosh of the water and the smell of fresh air. Or always being in “stealth mode,” sneaking up on the fish.

A second electric daycruiser from X Shore carries through strikingly clean lines that are the definition of Scandinavian design and lend it maximum hull efficiency, with a combination of glass and carbon fiber that strikes a balance for environmental impact, and balances weight and performance. It comes in muted colors that blend in with the environment.

Boating, from the standpoint of even small recreational craft, is in the realm of luxury. The X Shore 1 starts at €99,000/$139,000, value added tax excluded, with delivery beginning this year. What matters here is not about a lifestyle judgement, but offering options for a broad spectrum of the Environmentally conscious. A nod to human nature is required when moving forward with sustainability options that will be embraced.

“In order to bring electric boating to the largest possible audience, it is essential we bring to market a range of models and options to satisfy the different needs and desires of the global boating community,” CEO Jenny Keisu stated in a press release.

Her background as a lawyer, entrepreneur, investor and advisor to companies on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals means….

A BIG PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

PUZZLING IT OUT

Pushing back against climate change takes global solutions. That translates to a giant planetary puzzle of people and industries not necessarily changing what they do, but how they do it.

All of those pieces connect on a plane that rises beyond winning the battle to discovering sustainable lives that make us happier and healthier.

Around the world, small boats, typically outfitted with outboard motors, are at the heart of numerous industries, from fishing to tourism; embedded in cultures and often a main method of transportation. Think multi-island nations, like Tigre,Argentina,only 20 miles from bustling Buenos Aires, but a transportation world away with boats plying the waters around its hundreds of tiny islands in the Paraná Delta. And cities like Venice, Stockholm and St. Petersburg, with their massive canal engineering feats.

In Amsterdam, 165 canals, totaling more than 100 kilometers (about 62 miles), far surpass its 330km (205m) of roads. But you’d have to go to Cape Coral, Florida to find a record 400 miles of fresh and saltwater canals; a small boater’s paradise.

Dense use of fuel-powered motors, especially in slow-moving water bodies,causes discernable impacts to the environment, residents and industries like tourism. Boat operators may not be diligent about maintenance. Even tiny oil and fuel leaks….

POWER IN THE WAVES

FINDING THE RHYTHM

“In the silence between whisper and shout. The space between wonder and doubt.” – Rush,

‘Between The Sun And Moon’

If we were in a position to tap into the celestial mechanics of our solar system, power generation wouldn’t ever be an issue. The incredible amount of potential energy stored in the Earth’s orbit alone would power an untold number of civilizations until our Sun becomes a red giant in a few billion years.

We can’t do that, of course. But our unique placement in the solar system allows us to do the next best thing:

Tap the artifact of celestial mechanics: The tide.

It’s this side effect of celestial mechanics that we can draw upon to produce an incredible amount of power. We just need to find the right rhythm, as a species.

ADVANTAGES TO TIDAL POWER

The tides produce about 3,000 gigawatts (GW) of power. Much of that is dispersed throughout the deep, open ocean of course. Along the coast, conservatively looking at only the most promising sites, around 200 GW of power can be produced if we build out a full tidal power network.

That’s about 8% of all the energy used globally every day……

STAY IN THE LOOP

USE WATER TWICE

Water is everything. So why do we treat it like it’s nothing? We use drinking water for everything, including washing cars and flushing toilets. But we have no choice about our water source.

Or do we? Clean water solutions are taking an unexpected approach; scaling down to smaller loops in circular water use, and making the sustainable self-sustaining.

THINKING GLOBAL, ACTING LOCAL

For self-described “serial entrepreneurs,” Sabine Stuiver and her husband, Arthur Valkieser, it took the slower pace of retirement for a head-smacker of an issue to become apparent.

“We had made a successful exit, until one day, Arthur said to me, why are we still flushing our toilets with tap water?”

And just like that, retirement was over. Their vision is straightforward. Every building produces lots of slightly contaminated water, mainly from soap from washing dishes, clothes and ourselves. All that graywater is mixed with heavily contaminated toilet and kitchen wastewater, requiring an unnecessarily massive amount of energy and money to be cleaned, and allowing nature’s circular to be overcome by humankind’s linear water use.

Stuiver sums it up, “You don’t need to flush your toilet with drinking water, do you?”

Their approach to business was always about contributing to the world, but never with….

NIKOLA TESLA AND GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE

TAKING THE PLUNGE

In the final years of the 19th century, a battle that would determine the future of humanity was being waged.

This war had no battlelines, no soldiers and no treaties. This fight was being perpetrated by the most powerful inventors and business magnates of the time. The papers called it ‘The War Of the Currents.’ 

The leader of the ‘DC’ army was Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph and holder of countless patents for electric light and power. Heading up the ‘AC’ army was Nikola Tesla, inventor of a new type of polyphase induction motor and transformer, and holder of a myriad of patents across several engineering disciplines. 

This was not the first, nor would it be the last tech-based battle with high stakes. In the end, the winner was usually whatever technology served the populace most efficiently at the time. The War of the Currents was no exception. 

By the time 1892 rolled around, and despite smear campaigns from the DC side that included electrocuting animals and pushing for the AC electric chair to become a state-backed form of execution, the AC army was taking over. Edison’s company had been wrested from his control and forcibly merged, and J.P. Morgan engineered a deal that would strip his name from the new company, General Electric. It was determined that G.E. would mainly deal with AC generation and the creation of AC-powered devices. 

But there was one final battleground……..

ROMANS

WATER INNOVATIONS

The Roman Empire began as a small city-state in the 8th century BCE. By the 2nd century CE, it had grown into the most expansive and influential civilization in European history.

Though the empire collapsed 300 years later, we can still find evidence of Roman technological innovation throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. And when you do, it's usually something to do with water. 

When they developed the Roman arch - a structure used to bridge gaps without building a solid wall - they inadvertently created the world's first dependable bridges. That incredibly sturdy, arched bridge was used throughout the empire. There’s a good chance that when you cross a bridge in a Mediterranean city today, it’s held up by a Roman foundation. 

Water was so important to the Roman Empire that they developed a wide range of innovative solutions to carry it where it was needed most. Innovations included earthen ditches to irrigate farmland and terracotta pipelines that carried water from rivers to villas and bathhouses.

The bathhouse is an iconic example of Roman water-related innovation. They were usually built over hot springs and provided a sheltered and warm place to bathe.

They were huge, but more importantly, they were useful. Which is why…..

VIKINGS

THE OPEN OCEAN

Halfway through the 8th century CE, terror landed on the shores of Northern Europe: Pagan Vikings looted monasteries, plundering villages, killing and enslaving the rest.

What terrified the Christians was not the Viking's warrior prowess, instead, it was that these Northmen seemed to appear out of nowhere, from across the open sea.

Navigating the open ocean is a tremendous feat and in 8th-century Europe, it was considered impossible. Though these Vikings appeared illiterate and uncivilized, they had mastered water as a means of transportation. That's because these Viking innovators had advanced knowledge of shipbuilding, night and daytime navigation, mapping and toolmaking.

Things start to make sense when we look at their background. The Vikings came from the Scandinavian fjords and islands. With only water to connect them to other communities, traveling by water became second nature to them.

Their vehicle of choice; the Viking longship, that could be sailed or rowed. Made from overlapping wooden slats that were riveted together,  these ships could take the brutal beating of ocean seas, and were shallow enough to travel up estuaries and rivers.

Like all new technologies, the longship needed…..

Product Block

This is an example product. Double-click here to search for one of your own products to display. Learn more

Aenean eu leo Quam

$180.00