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Opportunities For Innovations
By Claus Schafhalter | March 17, 2010
Talking to start-up consultants and Angel investors in the Valley I got the impression that lots of money is looking for investments into green technologies. Of course this is nothing new as fuel cell technologies, bio-fuels from algae, and solar investments have been a staple of Silicon Valley over the last few years. But it looks like there are many more plays that are considered for funding.
This is great news because green innovations are good for the environment and good for the economy.
But there are other innovations from traditional companies that – taken together – can have a huge positive sustainability impact.
For instance, British Sugar burns natural gas in turbines to generate factory power. They collects the waste heat to make sugar. And they drive the carbon dioxide exhaust gas into huge greenhouses to grow millions of extra tomatoes a year!
Or a BMW engine plant that reuses water cleaned by nano-filtration over and over again. They save about 30 Mio l water a year. This water is not taken away from human use and saves money for the manufacturer.
So, while new technologies will bring breakthroughs in sustainability, applying existing technologies in an innovative way has big impacts now!
Claus Schafhalter, Sunogos
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