Sustainability

this-giant-dome-battery-cuts-co2-emissions-—-by-using-more-co2

This giant dome battery cuts CO2 emissions — by using more CO2

Renewable energies like wind and solar are clean, abundant, and cheap — but notoriously unpredictable. That’s why so much time and money has been pumped into scaling energy storage solutions: we need to keep the lights on even when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.

While lithium-ion batteries have received the bulk of this investment, there’s another kid on the block that could be cheaper and greener. In an ironic twist, the whole system is powered by the same molecule it is attended to fight — carbon dioxide. 

Imaginatively, it is called the CO2 battery. The way it works is relatively simple. CO2 gets stored in a gigantic dome. When charging, the system pulls the gas from the dome, compresses it into a liquid and stores it in big carbon steel tanks. The compression process also produces heat which is stored in ‘bricks’ made of steel shot and quartzite for later use.  

Then, when power is needed, the liquid carbon dioxide is heated up using the hot bricks, rapidly turning it back into a gas — which refills the dome. On its way back to the dome, however, the gas spins a turbine, producing electricity.

an image of Energy Dome's pilot plant in Sardinia, Italy
Energy Dome’s first pilot plant near Ottana on the island of Sardinia, Italy. Credit: Energy Dome

And what about all the CO2 to fill that dome, you may ask? Well, it’s a closed-loop system so you only need to inject gas into the dome once across the battery’s entire 30-year lifespan. So by using a pinch of CO2 it can support the rollout of renewable energies that can cut our emission of the gas altogether. 

‘Half the cost of lithium-ion’

The brainchild of Italian startup Energy Dome, the battery builds upon existing compressed air and liquid air energy storage technologies. Except, the use of CO2 brings a couple of distinct advantages. 

Pure carbon dioxide is a lot denser than air, which means you can store the same amount of energy in a much smaller space. Up to ten times smaller than compressed air, in fact. And while liquid air energy storage is admittedly more space efficient than either CO2 or compressed air, it must be cooled to almost -200 degrees Celcius to achieve the desired results. This requires a lot of energy, which cuts efficiency, and is why liquid air energy storage has struggled to compete with other storage technologies on cost. 

But affordability is exactly where CO2 batteries excel. They’re built using steel, carbon dioxide, and water. That’s it. The rest of the components — like pipes, compressors, and turbines — can be purchased off the shelf. According to Energy Dome, this means its system can produce electricity at half the cost of lithium-ion batteries. 

Those are some impressive figures, which have naturally caught the attention of investors. At COP28 last week, Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and the European Investment Bank jointly committed €60mn to help Energy Dome build its first commercial-scale plant on the island of Sardinia, Italy. This adds to the €80mn in funding the startup has already secured. 

‘Game-changing technology’

The CO2 battery will store some 20MW of renewable energy supplied by nearby solar and wind farms on the island. Energy Dome already built a demonstration plant on the island last year. The smaller, 2.5MW, facility is currently operating and transmitting power to the grid. 

Gelsomina Vigliotti, vice president at the EIB, called the initiave an “inspiring example of game-changing technology that we need more of in Europe and worldwide”. 

Energy Dome’s founder, Claudio Spadacini, said the Sardinia plant will be the “first of many identical full-scale CO2 batteries”. The company said that the modular, simple design of its CO2 battery means it can be scaled relatively rapidly. 

The company has already signed a deal with Norwegian wind energy giant Ørsted to install “one or more” of the CO2 batteries at its sites in Europe. If all goes well, construction on the first storage facility using Energy Dome’s CO2 battery could begin in 2024.

lithium production in Chile
Brine evaporation pools at a lithium mine in Argentina. The environmental costs of lithium mining are not always factored into the pricetag of the batteries that they are used to produce. Credit: Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg

While lithium-ion batteries will no doubt continue to play an important role in the energy transition, the negative environmental and social consequences of their production have been thrown into the spotlight in recent years. They rely on a number of rare earth metals like lithium, nickel, and cobalt, the mining of which has been linked to extensive environmental degradation and even human rights abuses the world over.

If CO2 batteries can circumvent some of these impacts and undercut lithium-ion on cost, who knows, perhaps they could become the next big thing in energy storage.

This giant dome battery cuts CO2 emissions — by using more CO2 Read More »

bluebird-inspired-material-could-boost-battery-life

Bluebird-inspired material could boost battery life

The eastern bluebird isn’t simply beautiful to look at. Its feathers also feature a unique structure that could revolutionise sustainable applications such as batteries and water filtration.

Specifically, the brilliant blue of the bird’s wings isn’t the result of colour pigmentation. Instead, it’s due to a network of channels with a diameter of a few hundred nanometres, traversing the feathers.

This network structure inspired researchers at ETH Zurich to replicate this material in the lab. They have now developed a synthetic material that exhibits the same structural design of the bluebird’s feathers — with the potential to deliver practical use cases, such as improved battery life.

The researchers experimented with a transparent silicone rubber that can be both stretched and deformed. They placed it in an oily solution, leaving it to swell for several days in an oven heated at 60 °C. They then cooled and extracted it.

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The team observed that the rubber’s nanostructure had changed during the procedure and they identified similar network structures to the ones in the bluebird’s feathers. The only essential difference was the thickness of the formed channels: the synthetic material was 800 nanometres next to the feather’s 200 nanometres.

Bluebird feather structure and synthetic material replication
The microstructure of a feather (B) of the eastern bluebird (A) and on the right the same structure from the lab (D) and the material developed (C). Credit: Fernández-​Rico, C., et al. Nature Materials, 2023

The achievement was a result of the new method based on the phase separation of a polymer matrix and an oily solution. Phase separation is a common physics phenomenon we’ve all witnessed in our everyday life. For instance, think of a salad dressing made of oil and vinegar — the substances separate unless vigorously shaken and separate again when the shaking stops.

But it’s also possible to mix the substances with heating and separate them again with cooling — and that’s exactly what the scientists did in the lab.

“We are able to control and select the conditions in such a way that channels are formed during phase separation. We have succeeded in halting the procedure before the two phases merge with each other completely again,” said Carla Fernández Rico, lead author of the study.

A notable advantage of this method is that the material remains scalable. “In principle you could use a piece of rubbery plastic of any size. However, you’d then also need correspondingly large containers and ovens,” added Rico.

The technology could prove useful in batteries by replacing liquid electrolytes, which facilitate the transfer of lithium ions between the electrodes, but often react with the ions and, this way, reduce battery capacity and health. Solid electrolytes with a network structure like the one developed by the researchers would not only eliminate the issue, but also enable good ion transport and increase battery life.

Water filters are another potential field of application thanks to the network’s transport properties and large surface area, which could enable the removal of contaminants, including bacteria and other harmful water particles.

Rico aims to further develop her research with a view to sustainability and notes that the team’s work is far from over.

“The product is still a long way from being ready for market,” she said. “While the rubbery material is cheap and easy to obtain, the oily phase is quite expensive. A less expensive pair of materials would be required here.” Perhaps DeepMind’s deep learning tool could be of service.

The full study is published in the journal Nature Materials.

Bluebird-inspired material could boost battery life Read More »

first-transatlantic-flight-with-100%-‘sustainable’-fuel-is-greenwashing,-critics-say

First transatlantic flight with 100% ‘sustainable’ fuel is greenwashing, critics say

The world’s first transatlantic flight with 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has been attacked as “greenwashing” by critics.

The Tuesday trip from London to New York on a Vrigin Atlantic 787 has been celebrated by airlines and politicians as a “milestone” in the journey to net zero. Scientists and climate campaigners, however, have poured scorn on these claims.

Opinions are divided over the potential of SAFs, which derive from various alternatives to fossil fuels. For Tuesday’s flight, the SAF was made primarily from waste fats and plant sugars, according to a Virgin Atlantic factsheet [PDF] shared with TNW. The airline expects the resulting carbon emissions to be 70% lower than those produced by petroleum-based jet fuel.

Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic’s CEO, said the Boeing 787 test flight would prove that SAF “can be used as a safe, drop-in replacement for fossil-derived jet fuel.” She added that it was “the only viable solution for decarbonising long-haul aviation.”

The reactions from the UK government — which partly funded the fight — have been even more optimistic. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the journey as “the first net zero transatlantic flight,” while the Department for Transport declared that it was “ushering in a new era of guilt-free flying.” Both claims were promptly pilloried by environmental groups.

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Cait Hewitt, policy director of the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF), said promises that the trip will take us closer to “guilt-free flying” were “a joke.” She notes that SAFs currently comprise around 0.1% of global aviation fuel — and will be extremely hard to scale sustainably.

“Trying to scale up production of alternative fuel, using the waste products of fundamentally unsustainable industries like intensive animal agriculture, or using unrecyclable plastic — as the UK government is planning to do – is hardly a sustainable solution,” Hewitt told TNW.

She added that SAFs also emit as much CO2 as kerosene at the tailpipe. This is because they’re still hydrocarbon fuels and produce the same volume of CO2 emissions as kerosene when combusted. According to the AEF, any CO2 reduction will be “net” savings made during the production phase — as with a carbon offset.

“Linking it to the idea of ‘guilt-free flying’ is deeply misleading and risks setting back a proper, honest discussion about how much we can fly while achieving climate goals,” Hewitt said. “If the public is led to believe the industry has found the solution to green flying, that could be environmentally harmful.”

The AEF’s concerns were echoed by Stay Grounded, a global network of climate crisis campaigners. The group described the flight as “greenwashing.”

Stay Grounded insists that SAF isn’t a net zero flight or even sustainable, as it relies on vast quantities of biofuels and inefficient use of renewables. The group also lambasted SAF as “wasting biomass and renewables on transport for the rich.” It said a more fitting term for the power source is “Fossil Fuel Substitutes” or “Agrofuels.”

“[The] fuel has been produced via a process which is a technological dead-end,” Finlay Asher, a former aerospace engineer at Rolls Royce and a member of Stay Grounded, said in a statement. “It can’t be sustainably scaled beyond a few percent of existing jet fuel use.”

Until truly green flying is possible, both the AEF and Stay Grounded say the only sustainable option is to dramatically reduce air travel. According to the aviation industry, that simply isn’t realistic.

The sector has also pointed to the social and economic benefits of SAF.

Like many airlines, Virgin Atlantic wants SAF to account for 10% of aviation fuel by 2030. The company predicts that this will contribute around £1.8bn (€2.1bn) in Gross Value Added to the UK, as well as more than 10,000 jobs.

Virgin Atlantic does, however, agree with the campaigners on one point: reaching SAF production at scale remains immensely challenging. To achieve this goal, the airline is calling for more government investment.

First transatlantic flight with 100% ‘sustainable’ fuel is greenwashing, critics say Read More »

‘wave-devouring’-tech-inspired-by-whales-could-propel-ships-towards-net-zero

‘Wave devouring’ tech inspired by whales could propel ships towards net zero

Scientists from Cranfield University in the UK are developing a kind of underwater wing for ships that could help decarbonise a sector responsible for more emissions than air travel.

Known as wave devouring propulsion technology, it is essentially a flapping foil system installed at the bottom of a ship’s hull that helps propel it along. Inspired by the tail fin of a whale, the system harnesses the kinetic energy of the waves to achieve propulsion without fuel.  

As the wing flows through the water, it automatically flaps up and down generating thrust — much like when a bird glides through the air or a fish cruises through the water.  

Just like a fish or a bird, however, the system won’t work unless there is an engine to provide initial power. But once a ship is cruising, the foils reduce the overall effort needed to push the boat forward.  

This graphic from Norwegian startup Wavefoil illustrates the basic concept:

Lab-scale test models of the wave-devouring propulsion system at Cranfield’s ocean laboratory found it could reduce the fuel use of ships by up to 15%. While that might not sound all that much, it is a relatively simple technology that could be retrofitted onto existing vessels. In combination with the plethora of other technologies being developed to decarbonise shipping — like giant windwings or solar sails — the foils could help set the global shipping industry on course for net zero emissions. 

The concept of using flapping foils to generate thrust from flowing water was discovered and demonstrated by German researchers over a century ago. But for a long time, the process simply wasn’t well understood enough to scale on a practical level, and the urgency to cut fuel use wasn’t as great as it is today.    

Over the last few years, however, there have been a few attempts to commercialise wave devouring propulsion and bring it to market. Two companies, Wavefoil from Norway and Liquid Robotics from the US, have shown the most promise. 

Wavefoil made headlines in 2019 when it installed retractable bow foils on a ship for the first time in history. The giant fibreglass foils are designed to fold up into the ship’s hull when not in use, the first technology of its kind to do so. This means the foils can be retracted during heavy storms (they can withstand wave heights up to 6m, not more) and when docking. 

By harnessing the up and down motion of the waves, the foils help save fuel but they also increase comfort in rough seas, said their creators. Having raised €5mn so far (the latest round being a grant in 2022 from Innovation Norway), Wavefoil has installed its technology on several ships since its founding.

autonomous-surface-vehicle-liquid-robotics
Liquid Robotics’ Waveglider robots is powered by solar panels on the surface and a wave propulsion rig below it. Credit: Liquid Robotics 

While Wavefoil is tackling bigger ships like ferries, Liquid Robotics has developed an autonomous surface vehicle called Waveglider. Fitted with solar panels and a wave propulsion system, the ocean-going robot can spend up to a year at sea collecting data for research and defence applications without any human intervention. The company was acquired by Boeing in 2016 and is currently valued at around $200mn, according to Dealroom data. 

While still a nascent field, these two companies have shown that wave-devouring technology has the potential to offer a surprisingly simple solution to cutting the energy consumption of ships great and small. Back at Cranfield, lead researcher Dr Liang Yang envisions the technology will be used for all kinds of maritime applications in the future — from waste-collecting robots to giant cargo ships. 

Check out this video to nerd-out on Wavefoil’s technology:

Push the button: Overcoming email FOMO

At the end of the hour, everyone was invited to have a drink and some snacks, while the crew behind the Digital Clean-Up crunched the numbers. I took the opportunity to chat with a few participants to see how they got along.

Jouvence Monteiro, Miele X’s Country Success Manager, enthusiastically shared that she was able to reduce the number of emails in her inbox by 20% by focusing on a few quick wins:

The automatic notifications you get when you book a desk are a great place to start. You receive one when you check in and check out and that’s a lot of notifications. Then all the newsletters that are nice to read but eventually you need to delete. And all the monthly reports. I just kept the ones from the last few months.

It definitely made Jouvence think more about her digital footprint.

One fact that was really surprising was that production of laptops and day-to-day equipment have a bigger impact than data centres! I had no idea! It’s really about being more mindful about how we use our equipment on a daily basis and focusing on buying refurbished.

Stijn de Bresser, a Compliance & Risk Manager, shared:

It surprised me how many automated emails you receive from user systems or cooperation boards you work with internally. It definitely made me more conscious about what I save.

De Bresser and one of his workmates joined as representatives from their team. “We’ll both definitely be giving a little push to the rest of the team to be more conscious about their habits as well.”

And then it was time to announce the results… (drumroll)…

In an hour of digital scrubbing, the participants were able to cut 48 kg of CO2. The equivalent of the production of two smartphones or 222 km in a car.

While the challenge was only attended by a couple of representatives from each team, the end results were really a sticking point. If just a small group could achieve this within an hour, what could be achieved if the next Digital Clean-Up is done on a company-wide scale?

It’s time that more companies started taking a deeper look at their digital carbon footprint. For those ready to follow Miele X’s lead, here are a few tips from their team:

  • Provide a checklist and guidelines

Employees will often struggle to decide where to focus on first. Give them a helping hand by providing a scope (like emails and OneDrive folders) and sharing some important dos and don’ts to keep in mind, especially when it comes to sensitive files.

  • Have everyone create a dedicated folder and report their storage starting and endpoint

Creating a benchmark and quantifying your results is an important way to motivate the team and track progress. They can then use these benchmarks in the future as they continue to keep their digital space clean.

  • Put the results into context

Much like exercising, nothing motivates new habits more than seeing the impact of your efforts. Knowing how much storage space you’ve freed up is a great start but understanding how this translates into real tangible results, in terms of CO2 emissions, is essential to motivate habit forming beyond a designated clean-up day. Make this even more tangible by putting it into context: X CO2 emissions are the equivalent of producing X smartphones or driving X kilometres.

Finally, celebrate your achievements together as a team and be sure to give a shout-out to people who are really helping to bring this change forward throughout the company.

The people who participated in Miele X’s Digital Clean-Up will now play an important role as green IT changemakers, sharing their learnings with the rest of their team. As we as a society become more aware of the impact of our digital activities, it’s internal role models rather than top-down initiatives that will help us move towards a greener digital future, and that’s what the company is counting on.

It’s time to tackle our growing digital carbon footprint Read More »

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EU pushes further for domestic production of green tech

Amid a global race for green tech sovereignty, the European Parliament on Tuesday passed the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) — a bill intended to boost the EU’s manufacturing output in the technologies needed for decarbonisation.

Initially proposed by the Commission in March, the NZIA sets a couple ambitious goals. Firstly, it seeks to ensure that at least 40% of the bloc’s net-zero technology demand is produced domestically by 2030. Secondly, it aims to capture 25% of the global market share for these technologies.

To achieve this, the act proposes several key actions to drive investment in domestic production of strategic technologies, spanning from solar and wind power to carbon capture, battery storage, and renewable hydrogen.

The measures include the acceleration of permits, a designated platform to enable the cooperation between the Commission and member states, the increase of skilled workers, and regulatory sandboxes member states can use to test innovative technologies.

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With their Tuesday vote, MEPs suggested the expansion of the draft legislation’s scope to cover the entire supply chain of net-zero technologies, including components, materials, and production machinery. They also proposed a more comprehensive list of technologies and added nuclear fission, fusion technologies, and sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs).

“Without these steps to reduce the administrative burden, speed up processes, and increase public investment in our industry and innovation, Europe would face decarbonisation by deindustrialisation. This proposal shows we can prevent this”, said lead MEP Christian Ehler.

To finance this endeavour, the union will leverage support from funding programmes such as InvestEU, the Innovation Fund, and the upcoming European Sovereignty Fund. An overall budget plan has yet to be disclosed, but the bloc will have to compete with the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — a $369bn subsidy package for North American-made green tech that has already raised fears over its potential to lure EU companies to the other side of the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, China accounts for 90% of global investments in net-zero tech manufacturing facilities, and the bloc still heavily relies on Beijing for strategic products such as photovoltaic components, EVs, and batteries.

It remains to be seen whether the NZIA — subject to approval by the Council — will manage to reverse this trend and boost the EU’s competitiveness and independence in the sector.

EU pushes further for domestic production of green tech Read More »

this-new-ev-supercharger-on-wheels-recharges-in-just-6-minutes

This new EV supercharger on wheels recharges in just 6 minutes

For UK battery startup NyoBolt, six seems to be the magic number. First, in June it showcased an EV that could be fully charged in just six minutes (a claimed record). And today it unveiled a new kind of supercharger that can also be recharged in — you guessed it — six minutes. 

Dubbed Bolt-ee, it essentially looks like a four-wheeled metal box with an interactive touchscreen for a face. Unlike fixed charging stations, this fast-charging, direct current, 300kW device is fully mobile. 

“Bolt-ee can reach a parked vehicle in any bay, delivering up to 100 miles of range in under 10 minutes, with a battery life of over 10,000 charging cycles,” the company told TNW.

Bolt-ee was designed to solve one of the biggest barriers preventing the widespread adoption of electric cars — a lack of charging infrastructure. 

Globally, 14% of all new cars in 2022 sold were electric, up from 9% in 2021. In Europe, that figure is higher, at 22%. 

However, the booming demand for EVs risks outpacing the supply of the technology needed to charge them. In 2021, the EU had an estimated 375,000 public charging stations, but experts predict it will need to build at least 3 million new ones by 2030.

Obstacles such as planning permission, lengthy construction works, and connection to the grid have all delayed progress. 

The Bolt-ee looks to sidestep these hurdles. It acts like a massive power bank — but for your car. Aside from being used in homes, car parks, and gas stations, the startup says the mobile charger could also be placed aboard recovery vehicles to help drivers stranded on the side of the road because they’re out of juice.   

“NyoBolt’s ready-to-deploy technology, which will go into production in early 2024, will help accelerate the adoption of EVs — particularly for drivers who may not be able to charge at home,” said the company’s chief scientist and co-founder Professor Clare Grey.

NyoVolt’s Lotus Elise-inspired EV is puts out 450bhp and can be fully charged in just 6 minutes. The car was built to demonstrate the company’s ultra-fast-charging battery tech. Credit: NyoBolt

Founded in 2020, NyoBolt has already secured almost $100mn in funding, according to Dealroom data. It operates an anode-manufacturing facility in Cambridge, UK, and recently opened a new battery factory in Boston, US.

Back in June, the startup unveiled an electric sports car concept based on the Lotus Elise that could be fully recharged in less than six minutes. The car was fitted with a lightweight battery pack developed by NyoBolt that provides a claimed range of about 250km on a single charge.

NyoBolt’s VP of engineering Steve Hutchins said his team have charged and discharged their battery at this incredibly fast rate over 2500 times with a total degradation in the battery’s ability to hold electricity of less than 15%.

How is that possible you may be wondering? Basically, it comes down to tinkering with lithium-ion batteries to accept more electrical charge in a smaller amount of time. 

“To put a lot of power in, you need to get a lot of current through it. To get a lot of current through, a lot of charge needs to flow in and out of the materials,” explained Nyobolt co-founder and CEO Sai Shivareddy. 

Essentially, NyoBolt has invented a new type of material to accept that level of power — but is remaining hush-hush on the details.  

In an industry where range anxiety and slow charging times still remain a significant hurdle, a battery with a six-minute charging time could be a game-changer. Whether these battery packs could be scaled up to millions of units however remains to be seen.

This new EV supercharger on wheels recharges in just 6 minutes Read More »

the-future-of-urban-mobility-in-europe,-10-years-down-the-road

The future of urban mobility in Europe, 10 years down the road

While the glittering lights of Europe’s cities hold the promise of new opportunities, ideas, and fun, they also hold smog and a growing air pollution problem. Not to mention the fact that it’s hard to live your dream city life as you’re trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic or spending your morning folding yourself into one metro after another. As the population of urban dwellers increases across cities from Stockholm to Milan, getting from point A to point B will only get that much more difficult.

“We believe it doesn’t make sense for people to spend one year of their lives commuting while sitting in queues and congestion,” says Fredrik Hanell, Director of Impact Ventures at EIT Urban Mobility, an initiative started by the European Union to address some of the biggest mobility challenges facing Europe’s cities.

Hanell’s focus is on identifying startups with viable solutions to these problems and providing them with support through matchmaking and funding opportunities. Since its inception in 2019, EIT Urban Mobility has invested in 86 startups.

With an eye on the latest innovations and tech trends in mobility, we asked Hanell: will our futures actually be filled with drones and hoverboards?

Cities are changing shape

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Perhaps one of the most apparent changes that are taking place across Europe’s cities is the reclaiming of busy central streets. From Brussels, where the once busy Place la Bourse has been repaved and designated pedestrian-only, to the more cautious “Open Streets” project in Bucharest, which shuts down central streets for vehicles over a weekend and hosts events to get people out and about.

“We don’t hate cars, but we see that the natural place for them needs to change. We need to look at initiatives that can contribute to change in the city. One of the consequences you see from this is that life expectancy increases, accidents decrease, and of course, pollution decreases,” says Hanell.

Rather than a new initiative, this can be seen more as a return to the historic plaza, piazza, or plateía that Europe’s cities have historically been built around, giving it an advantage in this new urban movement over sprawling car traffic-built cities like Los Angeles or Hong Kong.

In fact, EIT Urban Mobility is headquartered in Barcelona which was one of the first to introduce ‘superblocks,’ or small traffic-regulated groups of city blocks, in 2016. The most recent study of the project found there has been a 25% decrease in NO2 levels and a 17% decrease in PM10 particle levels. To put this into perspective, studies estimate that, if implemented more widely across the city, the initiative could prevent almost 700 premature deaths a year.

Photo of one of Barcelona's superblock pedestrian streets
Photo by Marek Lumi on Unsplash

However, while this project has been lauded by city planners in fellow EU cities, some residents in the neighbourhoods where it’s been introduced have been less than enthusiastic. The pilot superblock project in the Poblenou neighbourhood faced political and civil society resistance. Several court cases have been brought against the project with a judge ruling in September 2023 that superblocks in the Eixample district would have to be restored to their former state.

Therein lies the quintessential challenge of urban mobility. Put simply, cities are full of people with different needs, jobs, attitudes, beliefs, political leanings, and behaviours. Any change being introduced by city planners has to come with a comprehensive plan to get residents on board. While superblocks might be a great concept for a parent who has more safe space to take their kids out, it might be a bigger burden for a business owner who needs to find a new way to transport goods.

Enhanced logistics planning will be key as traffic flows change. With this in view, one startup EIT Urban Mobility has invested in is Vonzu, a SaaS delivery and logistics management platform, aimed at giving businesses a full overview of all their urban deliveries from supply chain to couriers. As urban logistics become more complex with changing streets and caps on emissions, AI-powered recommendations and automation will be a necessity.

Vonzu's dashboard
Image by Vonzu

Along with reducing pollution and congestion, city planners also hope these changes will encourage citizens to choose healthier and more sustainable transport options. Rather than taking a car or bus to work, pedestrian zones and bike lanes could encourage more walking and biking. But changing behavioural patterns is even more complex than changing cityscapes.

Another interesting startup EIT Urban Mobility has invested in is Nudged, a company that encourages sustainable choices through behavioural design. A pilot in Gotland was able to reduce car commuting by 14% simply by ‘nudging’ commuters to choose more climate-friendly options. Another in Gothenburg helped make users 76% more positive about switching to cycling.

Waterways make a comeback

Many of Europe’s historic cities flourished along rivers and canals as boats were the fastest and most efficient way to transport large cargo, before the invention of motorised vehicles. These waterways were key to the movement of both goods and people.

Now, with the evolution of sustainable, autonomous mobility, we’re seeing a revival in waterborne transportation routes. “There are a lot of cities in Europe where public transport across harbours, rivers, and lakes could contribute a lot to changing the mobility patterns and making it much more environmentally friendly,” Hanell says.

On June 8th, Stockholm launched the world’s first commercial autonomous, electric ferry providing a shortcut for passengers across the harbour between Kungsholmen and Södermalm. Solar panels on the roof allow it to charge during the day, and it can be charged via electric plug at night. The ferry, built by Zeabuz, features radar, lidar, cameras, ultrasonic sensors, AI, and GPS technology which allow it to scan and navigate the waters safely.

Design of Zeabuz's smart, autonomous, electric ferry
Image by Zeabuz

Meanwhile, the city of Paris is planning to introduce its own smart ferries, built by Norwegian startup Hyke, to provide extra transport routes across the Seine for visitors during the Summer Olympics in 2024.

Of course, cars aren’t going anywhere…

No matter how many pedestrian and cycling-friendly lanes we build in our cities, we’ll still need cars for longer haul journeys.

While the EU’s shift towards electric vehicles is a great step towards reducing both air and noise pollution, it’s also increasing its dependence on batteries. In fact, the EU predicts EV battery demand and production will increase at a rapid rate until 2030, but the bloc faces a looming shortage of raw materials to meet future demand. As Hanell explains, policymakers are already concerned about the effect this could have across the bloc:

One of the big challenges of Europe is that we’re currently very dependent on China and importing batteries. There are a lot of discussions going on about limiting the import of Chinese electric vehicles and also how we can make ourselves more independent of battery technologies.

Swedish startup Elonroad believes the solution could lay in electrifying Europe’s roads. Much like a power bank, the company has developed a conductive rail that can charge cars as they pass over them on the highway or trucks as they’re parked at a loading bay.

“If vehicles can charge while they’re driving or when they’re parked, then you don’t need as much battery capacity,” Hanell says.

The startup is already beginning a large project to electrify highways across France.

Highway with cars driving over Elonroad's charging rails
Image by Elonroad

Another interesting startup working to meet this challenge is Circu Li-ion which aims to maximise the potential of each battery through upcycling. Rather than focusing on producing new batteries, giving existing batteries a second life is a great way to save CO2 and get the most out of the valuable raw materials inside. And investors are seeing the potential here too. Circu Li-ion recently raised €8.5mn in seed funding.

The future of mobility in Europe won’t be the same

As Hanell emphasised, there is no one size fits all solution to Europe’s mobility challenges. Copenhagen, with its bicycle culture, won’t necessarily follow the same urban mobility path as Madrid. “There are local flavours of everything.”

While the future of urban mobility may not look like a sci-fi movie with flying cars dotting the horizon, Hanell posits that:

The best solutions are pretty much low tech but every once in a while we find these gems, these innovations that can help people change.

Want to learn more about the future of mobility in Europe? EIT Urban Mobility will be hosting a session at Slush 2023 on “Where to invest next in the mobility sector.” Fredrik Hanell and other experts will address topics like how investment in mobility differs from other sectors, the opportunities, traps and where the sector is heading in the coming years. Check it out on 1st of December, 11: 30 am GMT+2.

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Norway’s Otovo bags €40M to grow rent-to-own solar marketplace

Norway-headquartered Otovo has secured €40mn to expand its rent-to-buy online marketplace for solar panels, as it seeks to cash in on booming demand from homeowners looking to slash their energy bills.

Otovo rents out solar panels and inverters at a fixed monthly cost, which includes all repairs and maintenance. It also offers the option to purchase the panels outright.

The platform, currently available 13 European countries, uses satellite data and mapping information to calculate how much sunlight a section of your roof receives and the corresponding energy produced, as well as the size, shape, and specification of suitable rooftop solar products. Then it finds the best price and solar installer for the job in your area.  

Between 2010 and 2020, the price of solar electricity dropped 89% to become the cheapest energy source in history. As gas prices soar, homeowners are increasingly looking to solar panels to increase their energy security, cut costs, and boost the value of their properties. Rooftop solar added 25 GW of capacity in 2022, 8 GW more than in 2021, according to industry body SolarPower Europe.

But even though solar panels are comparatively cheap, they still present a significant upfront cost. Currently, in the EU it costs roughly € 10,000 for a photovoltaic system capable of catering to the energy needs of a 3-bedroom house. Otovo’s rent-to-buy option looks to flatten this financial barrier.

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The Oslo-based company now plans to use the fresh funding to ensure its path to reach profitability and to take the number one position in the European residential solar market, it said. 

“The equity raise allows Otovo to aggressively pursue the opportunities given by an energy market in which the cost of building new solar energy is at an all-time low, traditional energy prices are rising and consumers are looking for ways to cut their expenses,” said Otovo CEO, Andreas Thorsheim. 

The round was led by existing shareholders Å Energy, Axel Johnson Group, and Nysnø, the Norwegian government’s Climate Investment Fund.  

This latest raise brings Otovo’s total funding to €231mn, according to Crunchbase data. The company went public in 2021 after listing on the Euronext Growth stock exchange.

From the top investors in this latest round, Nordic energy utility Å Energi was allocated shares worth 22.4mn, Axel Johnson Group for €8.7m, and the state climate fund Nysnø for €2.4mn.

Norway’s Otovo bags €40M to grow rent-to-own solar marketplace Read More »

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World’s biggest tidal energy ‘kite’ could single-handedly power a small town

People have been harnessing tidal energy for milling grain for more than 1,000 years. As you’d imagine though, today’s contraptions for tapping this 24/7 power source are a little more sophisticated. 

One of the most eye-catching designs to emerge in recent years is a giant metal ‘kite’ which swims underwater against the current, turning its rotor and generating electricity. Power is then sent to the grid via a subsea cable which also acts as the kite’s tether. 

The biggest of these kites ever built, known as Dragon 12, is about to be installed off the Faroe Islands. With a wingspan of (you guessed it) 12 metres, the Dragon is expected to generate 1.2MW of clean electricity once operational — enough to power around 1,000 homes. The kite is now being shipped from Sweden to the Faroe Islands for installation.

The kite was first designed by carmaker Saab and then commercialised in 2007 by Swedish startup Minesto, which has been refining the technology ever since. With more than €40mn of funding from the European Regional Development Fund, Minesto claims to be the EU’s largest investment in marine energy to date.

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Despite offering huge potential for renewable energy generation, tidal stream technology is still largely underutilised. This is partly because harnessing the ebb and flow of the ocean has historically involved the construction of expensive barges or instream turbines (essentially wind turbines tethered to the seabed) that can have adverse impacts on ocean life.  

What differentiates Minesto’s technology, say its creators, is that it is relatively small, modular, and scalable. Similarly to how a kite travels through the air, the tidal turbine moves in a figure-of-eight motion through the water several times faster than the actual speed of the flowing water. Basically, this means it can punch far above its weight in terms of electricity generation. 

Going forward, Minesto, along with local energy utility SEV, aims to build 120MW of tidal kite capacity in the Faroe Islands. This array, which would be made up of around 100 individual kites, could supply 40% of the archipelago’s electricity consumption.

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Climate tech is set to boom. This VC explains why it’s ripe for investment

Climate tech is receiving a proportionally larger share of what is, undeniably, a muted venture capital investment environment. VC and private equity investment in the sector has, thus far in 2023, fallen by 40% — just as the evidence of the need for more money for potentially planet-saving technology is becoming increasingly insurmountable. 

However, the total amount for all venture and equity investment was down 50.2% year-over-year. So, while climate tech is far from escaping the current economic downturn unscathed, it is faring… not as horribly as other tech segments. 

Still, the news earlier this autumn that leading Dutch climate tech VC SET Ventures had raised €200mn for its fourth fund — doubling the size of its previous one — was particularly uplifting. The fund will invest in 20 to 25 European companies that are innovating the energy transition. 

TNW sat down for a conversation with SET Ventures’ Managing Partner, Anton Arts, to see what it takes to be a venture capitalist in climate tech, the enormous economic opportunities arising from our move toward net-zero, and how startups garner favour in an increasingly difficult investment landscape. 

“It’s a bit of a funnel,” Arts explains when discussing the process of selecting which companies to back among an avalanche of pitches. “The first thing we ask is: does this fit into our scope?” 

Does it move the impact needle, and is there a market opportunity? 

SET has a clear idea about what it wants to invest in — digital technologies that advance a carbon free energy system. “So a major question that we try to answer whenever a proposal comes to us is, how does this affect the energy system of the future?”

Arts adds that this is a much more narrow focus than what someone thinking about climate tech in a more generic way would have. However, as energy is linked — directly or indirectly — to 72% of global emissions, trying to address those emissions is a “more than large enough” problem: “We also ask ourselves, does this really move the needle in terms of impact?” 

“The second area that we then focus on is really some of the same questions that all VCs try to answer. Do we think this is a fantastic founder team? Is there a market opportunity that is large enough? Can you truly develop a differentiated and unique offering in that market? And, ultimately, is it going to be financially rewarding to take on that opportunity?” 

Flight to quality increases VC competition

After having found an exciting investment opportunity, the process then becomes somewhat of a two-way street. Sure, there is less capital up for grabs as the funding optimism of the past few years has waned (unless you are in generative AI, that is) — but the startups that meet the more stringent criteria can instead have their pick among suitors. 

“In the current market, there is also a flight to quality, which means that the bar for what is a great company is raised. But for those companies that meet the bar, there is intense competition between investors in order to fund that opportunity,” Arts states, adding that there is also a founder who has to make a decision which investors to go with.

Additionally, Arts says it is a healthy market dynamic, and one that is influenced to a great deal by the fact that climate tech has moved from a relative niche from an investment perspective, to much more of a mainstream market. 

Solving problems — why this, why now? 

Another question that always comes up, Arts says, is “what problem is this solving? Why this, but also, why now? Because many of these problems are not new. What has changed in the past few years that now there is a solution to an existing problem that wasn’t there before? Maybe it is the technology, maybe it is the people, etcetera.” 

And finally, Arts says, as a VC, you have to “skate to where the puck is going,” meaning you have to be willing to make a bet on something that the rest of the world hasn’t seen yet. Or, as he puts it — “what do you want me to believe that other people aren’t believing yet?” 

When thinking about investing with environmental or social impact as a criteria, the question inevitably arises as to whether there are compromises in terms of return on investment versus doing a good thing for the planet. Arts would argue, perhaps unsurprisingly, that not necessarily — and definitely not when it comes to energy. 

“We think that this transition to the energy system of the future is really a generational opportunity in magnitude,” he states.  

Clean technologies will outgrow oil in revenue

Indeed, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a new energy economy is emerging, pushed forward by policy action, technology innovation, and the increasing urgency of the need to tackle climate change. This, the IEA says, provides a “huge market opportunity” for clean technologies. 

The agency estimates that, if the world gets on track for net-zero emissions by mid-century, the annual market opportunity for wind turbines, solar panels, lithium-ion batteries, electrolysers, and fuel cells will grow tenfold to $1.2 trillion by 2050. That means that those five segments collectively would be larger than today’s oil industry and its associated revenues. 

And that’s “just” the hardware stuff. The new energy economy will also require digital tools to manage the complex interactions and relationships between things like electricity, fuels, and storage markets. Managing platforms and data will become increasingly important parts of energy efficiency and clean energy innovation. 

“What people might need to be reminded of is that you can’t always predict timelines. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to be longer. Sometimes you see changes happening very quickly. And for us as investors, we think that if you look at the past, then, of course, we’ve seen a lot of success in software businesses, and, for instance, business-to-consumer internet businesses. 

“We think the opportunity of the next decade is really shifting to climate tech as a category, and we are absolutely convinced that we will see similar types of return expectations, as we’ve seen in the tech business in the past.”

One of the reasons for that, Arts says, is that more and more talent is moving into climate tech, having perhaps previously been successful in other industries and looking to make more of a difference. And, a chain is starting to emerge all the way from early stage investment to very large growth equity funds. SET invests across Europe at the Series A stage, but with the ability to keep supporting portfolio companies through multiple rounds of financing.

From physical assets to digital solutions

Essentially, SET Ventures believes in three things: that the world is changing very fast, and that the energy transition is the biggest trend driving markets in the next decades; that there is too much emphasis on miracle technologies that exist only in the lab and not enough on the business models and applications that will scale what’s right in front of us; and, from a systems perspective, value migration will move from only physical assets, to the collection of digital solutions that together form the energy system.

Among the startups and scaleups in SET’s portfolio are Dutch companies Sensorfact and Energyworx. The former helps clients reduce industrial energy waste through plug and play hardware, smart software, and dedicated consultants. Founded in 2016, Sensorfact has already scaled to 1,300+ customers in over 40 countries and identified more than 112+ GWh of energy savings. Energyworx is a SaaS provider for energy providers to ingest and manage data across the entire energy chain. 

Another example of SET’s investment strategy is Germany’s Instagrid. The company has built a 20kg 230V portable power system for professionals to work off-grid. On a full charge (2.5 hours), an industrial vacuum cleaner can run for 105 minutes, you can brew 1,200+ cups of professional catering espressos, and high quality projectors can run on full brightness for five hours. 

SET’s latest fund is backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF), Triodos Energy Transition Europe Fund, a.s.r., and Amsterdam-based Carbon Equity

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