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5. Desalination
With parts of the planet perilously low on fresh water, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jain Irrigation Systems have come up with a method of turning brackish water into drinking water using renewable energy. This solar-powered machine is able to pull salt out of water and further disinfect the water with ultraviolet rays, making it suitable for irrigation and drinking.
The technology recently won the top $140,000 Desal Prize from the U.S. Department of Interior that recognizes innovators who create cost-effective, energy efficient and environmentally sustainable desalination technologies that can provide potable water for humans and water for crops in developing countries.
6. Ocean Plastic Cleanup
Plastic is a major threat to marine life and marine ecosystems and also causes about $13 billion in damages to marine ecosystems each year. To solve this daunting issue, Boyan Slat, a 20-year-old former aerospace engineering student, has an ambitious plan to clean half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in a decade with his Ocean Cleanup, project. The project involves a static platform that passively corrals plastics as wind and ocean currents push debris through V-shaped booms. Floating filters then catch all the plastic off the top three meters of water where the concentration of plastic is the highest, while allowing fish and other marine life to pass under without getting caught. Some have described the project as the “world’s first feasible concept to clean the oceans of plastic.”
A related honorable mention goes to sportswear company Adidas for developing shoes and clothes made from trash that is recovered from the ocean. The sportswear giant will also phase out plastic bags in its 2,900 retail stores around the world.
7. Zero-emission buildings
Did you know that 41 percent of the country’s total energy consumption comes from residential and commercial buildings? That’s why this green building movement is so brilliant—net-zero buildings produce at least as much energy as it uses (if not much more).
Archiblox, an Australian architecture firm, unveiled the world’s first carbon-positive prefabricated home. The Archi+ Carbon Positive House, is so efficient it can put energy back on the grid. Over on our shores, southern California’s North Fontana area will be home to the state’s first Zero Net Energy community consisting of at least 20 zero net energy homes.
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