Tag Archives: carbon dioxide

The world’s largest algae growth pond uses nature-based technology to capture CO2 emissions

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Brilliant Planet, a renewable energy semiconductor manufacturing company, operates a 30,000-square-meter production facility where they capture CO2 emissions via the largest algae growth pond in the world.

Algae is like magic. Consumed by humans as a superfood, algae promotes healthy skin, produces essential amino acids, and contains Omega-3 fatty acids. Then, on a larger scale, when algae are grown in the sunlight, the plants absorb carbon dioxide, like any other plant, and release oxygen into the atmosphere.

Designer: Brilliant Planet

For higher productivity rates, algae can be grown in controlled areas to absorb large amounts of CO2 and convert it to biomass and oxygen via photosynthesis. Brilliant Planet, a UK-based renewable energy semiconductor manufacturing company, is tapping into the magic of algae to create an affordable means of “permanently and quantifiably sequestering carbon at the gigaton scale,” as the company describes.

In 2013, Brilliant Planet began as a three-square-meter experiment on the shores of St Helena, South Africa. Today, they’ve grown into a 30,000-square-meter production facility based in the coastal desert of Morocco, where the world’s largest algae growth pond can be found. While algae systems, a full service that converts algae to energy, exist in high numbers around the world, Brilliant Planet stands apart from the rest by being entirely nature-based.

Speaking about their nature-based operation, Brilliant Planet notes, “We’re different from conventional algae systems. We don’t scale up an artificial test tube with artificial seawater and pumped in carbon dioxide. Our nature-based system scales down the ocean to use natural seawater, nutrients, and CO2. This natural process deacidifies seawater, enhances local ecosystems, and also enables paradigm-shifting levels of affordability.”

In the ocean, algae blooms take place seasonally, but Brilliant Planet developed a natural process that essentially “downscales” the ocean to grow algae quickly all year-round. Through this process, the algae system can sequester CO2 at far less cost and at a much quicker rate than direct air capture plants that are meant to capture airborne CO2 particles. For nearly five years, Brilliant Planet has been running its test site in Morocco to much avail, leading to plans for larger demonstration facilities and ultimately a commercial facility by 2024.

The post The world’s largest algae growth pond uses nature-based technology to capture CO2 emissions first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Polestar-inspired aircraft mobility design features a built-in greenhouse to resolve deforestation issues!

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The Polestar Forest Air Mobility concept is an aircraft concept from Pan Ziheng that has its own greenhouse to work in an environmental solution for modern deforestation issues while bridging a human need for mobility with today’s COVID-19 health and safety concerns.

Social distancing is one of the many ‘new normals’ we’ve incorporated into our daily lives as a result of the pandemic. But while coffee lines enforce the six-foot rule, aircraft and public transportation services are now back to programmed scheduling, stuffing each vehicle wall-to-wall with passengers. To strike a balance between the natural need for mobility and travel with today’s health and social distancing concerns, Pan Ziheng developed a futuristic Forest Air Mobility concept that also attempts to tie in environmental solutions for modern deforestation issues.

Pan Ziheng’s Forest Air Mobility concept envisions separate capsules for two individual passengers aboard the aircraft. Each personal cabin is stationed far enough away from one another so that the aircraft’s passengers do not cross paths. Pan Ziheng felt inspired to conceptualize their Forest Air Mobility concept design after recognizing the parallels between humans comprising a society and trees forming a forest. Describing their concept design in their own words, Pan Ziheng says, “Just like trees, human beings need to live together to be a functional society just like forests. However, at the same time, we need our personal space. [My] forest concept wants to provide a solution to this problem: public air transportation where we can travel together yet can still have a personal space.”

Conceptualized around a forest called Polestar Forest, Pan Ziheng ideated that their aircraft would host a greenhouse that grows saplings to be planted in the Polestar Forest, enlarging its forested acreage and providing timber resources for the larger Polestar community. The carbon dioxide captured by the aircraft’s battery would filter through a carbon transfer tube to feed the plants inside the aircraft’s built-in greenhouse and store any excess. In time, the Polestar Forest would stand as an emblem for the Polestar community, representing core sustainable values.

Designer: Pan Ziheng

Each passenger’s vessel is kept at a safe distance from one another to ensure responsible social distancing between aircraft personnel.

A carbon dioxide transfer tube stores and converts carbon dioxide to feed the plant life inside the greenhouse. The vertical rise of the Polestar Forest Air Mobility Concept is futuristic in and of itself.

This floating bubble visualization by Carlo Ratti emphasizes forestry by showing how much carbon dioxide each tree absorbs

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Escaping city sidewalks and standstill traffic for a botanical garden’s grassy lawn lined with rows of trees, butterfly gardens, and flower bushes seems like a deal most of us would be willing to make. While they offer a nice respite from the bustle of city life, trips to the botanical garden also make for insightful learning experiences. In the Brera Botanical Garden, in Milan, energy company Eni and international design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati have introduced Natural Capital, one of the largest data visualizations ever produced to showcase the importance of trees for a sustainable world.

With sights set on being one of the largest data visualizations in the world, Natural Capital demonstrates how trees store carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, driving home the importance of forest protection. Extending over Milan’s 500-square-meter garden, Natural Capital showcases plots of floating bubbles that project the amount of carbon dioxide their corresponding trees can capture and store during their life cycle. Walking through Brera Botanical Garden, guests will be met with three-dimensional graphics that showcase the key role that forests play in providing living things with healthy air to breathe, hinting at the symbiotic relationship between trees and humans. Bringing the point full circle, guests will be greeted at Brera Botanical Garden’s entrance by a stationary, giant sphere that illustrates the average amount of carbon dioxide produced by the human body per year.

Speaking on the contrast between the trees’ floating bubbles and the park’s giant stationary sphere, the designers say that it “illuminates the fundamental role that plants play in guaranteeing the planet’s health and limiting global warming. The comparison allows visitors to understand the symbiosis between humans and nature: the former produces carbon dioxide, the latter stores it.” Continuing their collaboration in exploring new circular economy and sustainability paradigms, CRA and Eni remain committed to protecting and conserving forests through decarbonization projects that aim for a more sustainable world.

Designer: Eni x Carlo Ratti Associati

Floating near their corresponding tree or shrub, each bubble will display the plant’s scientific name, age, and amount of carbon dioxide it will store during its lifetime.

Walking through Brera Botanical Garden, guests will learn about the symbiotic relationship between humans’ need for oxygen and trees’ ability to produce it through storing carbon dioxide.

Designers behind Natural Capital note that “Natural Capital aims to experiment with a new design medium, turning data visualization into a tangible, spatial experience, bringing the natural and the artificial worlds a little bit closer together.”

Adidas and Allbirds team up to make environmentally friendly shoes

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Sneaker brands collaborate all the time, but they usually do so with companies outside of the footwear industry. Adidas’ latest joint effort, though, involves sustainable shoe maker Allbirds, and the two hope to create a high performance sneaker whil...

EPA will roll back rules on methane emissions

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Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to announce plans to roll back regulations on methane emissions, a major contributor to climate change. The Trump Administration is seeking to do away with Obama-era requirements, which man...

Current CO2 emissions will heat up the Earth by more than 1.5˚C

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Even if we stop building power plants, factories, vehicles and home appliances immediately, we're on track to increase the global temperature by more than 1.5˚C -- the goal limit proposed by the Paris Agreement. Those existing, CO2-spewing offenders...

EPA finalizes Trump administration’s coal-friendly climate plan

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Today, the EPA finalized the Trump administration's Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) plan, effectively rolling back Obama-era policies to address climate change. The Obama administration's Clean Power Plan (CPP) set national goals for reducing carbon di...

Meal kits might be better for the planet than a trip to the store

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It turns out the meal kits you can have delivered to your door by services like Blue Apron, HelloFresh and even Walmart might be more than convenient. They could be better for the environment, too. It's a bit counter intuitive given all the packaging...