Certain green solutions such as renewable generation, are regularly featured in the news. It is, therefore, interesting from time to time to look at some innovative breakthroughs that have the potential to make a significant contribution to the sustainable transition. We have noticed four such examples this month:
Electric from waste lorries
Veolia has announced that it is to fully operate two electric rubbish lorries that will be charged with power derived from non-recyclable household waste. The vehicles will be converted from diesel to electric and will be charged with power generated at Veolia’s Energy Recovery Facility in Sheffield that already generates electricity for the National Grid and heat for the city’s district heating network. If a two-year trial is successful, the company will look at retrofitting more of its fleet to operate as decarbonised vehicles.
Recycled plastic road surfacing
Heathrow Airport has announced the winners of two innovation competitions this month. One winning idea is for the airport to use its plastics waste for surfacing its roads, an idea that Heathrow intends to fund research for and possibly trial. The road building industry already uses recycled materials in road surfaces, for example by adding plastic waste to the asphalt mix. Recycling allows for the efficient use of resources and can often mean a reduction in energy use because the product being recycled requires less processing than a raw material. Another example of
road innovation is the Power Road, developed by the Vinci Group, which captures energy from the sun to be stored and redistributed to nearby buildings through a heat-pump system. The energy can also be used to remove snow and ice from the road.
Heathrow green corridor
The winner of Heathrow Sustainability Innovation Prize, Energy Crops Solutions, will trial a green corridor at the airport. This entails planting different varieties of willow trees across its estate. The trees will then be monitored to see how each plant variety improves air quality, acoustics, and aesthetics. The sustainability competitions were launched by Heathrow’s Centre of Excellence that seeks to advance sustainability in the sector.
Vertical forests
It has been announced that vertical forests are arriving to Toronto, Canada, where a planning application has been
submitted for a 27-storey building to be covered in trees. Vertical forests are a model for the reforestation of cities, which increases biodiversity, addresses heat stress, absorbs emissions, and produces oxygen. The concept was pioneered in Italy and is now being replicated in other cities across the globe.
