Pioneering clean tech at the Rushlight Show 2017

Last week Greenhouse attended the Rushlight Show 2017 which brought together some of the most innovative sustainable energy and clean tech initiatives, seeking to address some of our biggest sustainability challenges including waste, emissions, energy storage, and renewable energy. Pioneering companies were given the opportunity to present their ideas and new technologies to delegates and investors. We wanted to share some of the exciting developments we heard about at Rushlight:

Pioneering clean tech solutions

Technology can impact one of the biggest polluters in global transportation. Green Sea Guard are one of the first initiatives to install emissions monitoring devices into shipping exhausts. With shipping accounting for 2.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions globally, Green Sea Guard are making huge strides towards affecting change in this sector. Combining the worlds of clean tech and sustainable energy, Gravitricity is developing a way of harnessing the power of gravity to store energy during low demand periods and release it during peak times to help balance the grid and reduce energy bills for consumers. [caption id="attachment_2246250" align="aligncenter" width="698"] Gravitricity's vision of gravity powered energy storage[/caption] We heard about an interesting organisation called Solar Polar who are using the sun to cool the earth. It has developed the lowest cost and lowest carbon solar cooling system in the world. They hope to use the technology for refrigeration for vaccines in developing countries that otherwise don’t have access to conventional cooling methods, as well as to address the increasing demand for air conditioning in some of the warmest climates where rising middle classes are driving demand for this hitherto energy intensive technology. [caption id="attachment_2246264" align="aligncenter" width="691"] Solar cooling system developed by Solar Polar[/caption]

Pioneering food waste solution

There were also three different companies who are pioneering means of reducing the impact of waste on the environment through recycling and addressing the root cause of the problem. Enval work to recycle plastic aluminum laminates found in packaging to give them a second lease of life. Black Bear Carbon showed us how they can extract and recycle the carbon black from old tires and other waste products and sell on for profit. Tipa-Corp demonstrated how its technology negates the need for recycling altogether – it is pioneering packaging that doesn’t need to be recycled. Its packaging will completely biodegrade within 24 weeks of being disposed. [caption id="attachment_2246253" align="aligncenter" width="717"] Tip-Corp think packaging should decompose like orange peel[/caption] These are just a selection of some of the fantastic, pioneering initiatives that we came across at Rushlight 2017. Be sure to keep an eye out on the blog for some of these innovators featuring in our pioneer series. We’re always on the look out for sustainable energy, clean tech pioneers. If you work in these areas, we would love to hear from you.