Snapshot: Make the Future Live
Great morning exploring some bright ideas for a lower-carbon energy future
Since this is my third time in London, I wanted to bypass the usual tourist destinations and start exploring more obscure nooks and crannies of this great city. Little did I realise that my visit aligned perfectly with Make the Future Live, which is on at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from May 25 – 28, 2017.
This (free) event was packed with young school kids today, which lent the place a great vibe and energy (pun intended!). The teacher in me was pretty excited to see their worlds being lit up as they learnt how to start designing a more energy-efficient future.
The event was set up to explore the following key areas:
Our Energy Future - where you could explore where the world's energy comes from and neat new ideas that could take us towards a lower-carbon world.
Live, Work, Play - where you could experience new inventions that allow you to well, live, work, and play in a more energy efficient way.
On the Move - where you can discover the latest technology helping us travel further on less fuel.
There was also a main stage with some live science and lots of great food trucks to re-fuel.
In this post I quickly just wanted to highlight some amazing new ideas that were being showcased.
The system is based on simple technology, were two kites are tethered to a spool. As they soar at speeds of around 100 miles per hour in figures of eight, they pull cables which turn the drum, rather like an unrolling spool of thread. This generates electricity. As one kite descends, the other rises, so electricity is generated continually.
Carbon capture and storage:
22 large-scale global projects that are exploring reducing the impact of CO2 by trapping it before release.
A low-cost solution for generating electric power for more than a billion people living off the grid, with the use of gravity and a bag of rocks. This initiative has already been launched in Kenya.
This innovative idea uses special tiles to capture kinetic energy from footsteps and convert it into electrical power. It's currently being installed at various high-footfall locations, such as transport hubs, shopping centres, and stadiums. Imagine a world where citizen help power the city they live in!
Breathboard:
Building materials that are designed to become compost instead of landfill.
One of the coolest aspects of the event was getting to see the vehicles being built for the Shell Eco-Marathon. This competition has three main events in Asia, Americas and Europe, and attracts thousands of young engineers and students who want to push the boundaries of energy efficiency on the road. They have a year to design, build and test their vehicle before competing on a purpose-built track. The current record stands at 3,771km/l – that’s from London to Helsinki and back again on just one litre of fuel!
Had you heard of these initiatives before? Which other bright ideas can you share?
