The only way is up!

Vertical Farming made easy

Frugal Fungi

Fungi can make diesel?, perhaps the gulf of mexico spill can be cleaned up using mushrooms

House of Hemp

Forget House of Fraser, how about Hemp instead. Industrial hemp is an overlooked and controversial plant. Regulary cultivated and prohibited in equal measure throughout history, it occupies an uneasy position in the western psyche, due to its narcotic cousins.

However, Hemp has many industrial applications, not least of which is transport fuel, which could ease the pressure on global fuel prices due to increased demand from emerging nations. We may yet see Hemp making a comeback.

Go Nano?

Nono Solar is a promising start up firm that has developed a technology that allows the production of wafer thin solar cells. Ok, the efficiency of solar is still hovering around 15-20%, but the cost of production is the key. If it currently costs 5k to implement a rooftop solar system, it could be 10 years before you get a return on your investment, at present electricity unit costs. If the cost to implement reduces to 1k, you will see a return much sooner.

For domestic households, the benefit is obvious, lower electricity bills, but for national infrastructure, it has many possibilities, such as residential homes powering local businesses during the day, while people are out at work, or assisting with local infrastructure requiremenhts, such as traffic lights, trams, electric vehicle charging points.

Lets hope we see more of this system soon.

Oy catching!

According to Paul Stamets (World renowned mushroom expert) species of mushrooms, such as the Oyster mushroom, can remove hydrocarbons from soil. This is no mean feat, and has interesting implications for sustainable business development. Consider that virtually every consumer product available today is derived from fossil fuels, and hence, hydrocarbons, do we not have a prime candidate for reclaiming contaminated land and a myriad of other services for sustainable industries?

Paul Stamets gives an eye opening talk on his Mushroom innovations below, You may never look at a toadstool the same way again!