These animals are environmental engineers without a degree

And it shows that nature has all the solutions

Apr 14, 2023

African forest elephants live in the Congolian rainforest, next to the Congo River on the west coast of Africa.

They move through the forest in an effort to find food- seeds, fruits and leaves. And in this effort, they crush the fast-growing bushes.

This allows the slower-growing trees to establish themselves. These slower-growing trees sequester more carbon than the fast-growing bushes.

It is estimated that each elephant aids in capturing over 9,000 tons of carbon in its lifetime.

During its recent update of at-risk plants and animals to be included on the “Red List,” the IUCN decided to recognize two species of African elephants

Economist Ralph Chami found that, in total, African forest elephants are providing $150 billion worth of carbon capture services every year.

So instead of building machines that suck CO2 out of the air, we should focus on improving and saving the lives of these elephants.

Nature has the solutions to clean itself up. Humans need to give it the space to do so.

On that note, what’s your favourite nature-based solution?

Moving onto this week’s content. So today, we have👇🏽

A startup that’s changing the way we get hot water in our homes
Another startup that’s replacing fossil fuel-based substances with plant-based ones
Some good news
I write for planet-friendly brands

🚰 Changing the way we get hot water in our homes

Mixergy_Logotype_Navy_Mixergy_Logotype_Navy

Incredibly inefficient…Conventional hot water tanks take hours to heat up as they heat the entire volume of water inside them. Most of the time, we don’t use this entire volume. So energy and money get wasted in heating the unused water.

Smart water heating…UK-based Mixergy wants to change that. It has developed a cloud-connected smart tank which only heats what you need. It works on a patent-protected technology that is based on the concept of thermal stratification. It is something that we see in lakes or swimming pools where the water at the surface is warm but as you go deeper, the water is cooler. Mixergy’s technology leverages that.

Instead of heating the entire volume of water in the tank, it starts heating the tank from the top down.
This ensures that only the water we need is heated. This is typically just 40-50% of the tank volume.
This saves energy, emissions and money and heats the water faster.

Cut Energy Bills…Mixergy estimates the water heating bills to go down by up to 40% and energy consumption by up to 21%. They offer a mobile app to the residents. This allows homeowners to control their water heating. Landlords and building owners can also install these in their buildings which would help them bring down their energy consumption and costs.

Check out Mixergy

🌱 Replacing fossil fuel-based substances with plant-based ones

Omnipresent…Our footwear, apparel, furniture, bedding, automobiles- everything uses foam. The most common one is Polyurethane foam, which is also known as PU Foam. Traditionally, PU is made from fossil fuels. So it has a high impact on the environment and contains toxic materials.

A plant-based alternative…Toronto-based Evoco creating sustainable plant-based alternatives to foam, by using plants and biomass. Their first product is FATES, which is an eco foam. It is a great replacement for carbon-intensive materials and processes.

It’s made from up to 80% plants, reducing greenhouse gases by up to 70% in comparison to conventional oil-based PU foam
It can be adapted to a wide range of applications and it degrades back into the earth, creating a circular material.
Evoco has partnered with brands such as Vans, Keen, and Timberland for the initial use of Evoco.

Fresh, Clean, Non-Toxic…They have another product called Cleansport NXT that uses non-toxic probiotic technology to provide odour control in athletic products, footwear, and home surfaces. Brands like Puma and CAT have been using this technology, which is non-toxic and not harmful to the planet.

Check out Evoco