Eastern Partnership start-ups showcase cleantech innovations at ClimateLaunchpad event
Monday, March 2
On 14 and 15 November, the 2019 Global Final of the world’s largest green business ideas competition was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Known as ClimateLaunchpad, the EU-supported competition recognises companies with the greatest potential to combat the global climate crisis through their energy efficient solutions.
Diapers as fuel
This year, a record number of entrepreneurs featured, with 2 601 applying for national competitions from 53 countries. The start-ups were then whittled down to 131 with each having at least two representatives present in Amsterdam.
Kenyan clean fuel startup – Leafy Ke whose innovation converts used diapers into fuel for use in the home, was announced the overall winner of this year’s edition.
In addition, several Eastern Partnership Countries featured prominently and of the 16 finalists, one hails from Ukraine, making it one of the best cleantech start-ups worldwide.
CO2 for faster plant growth
Founded in March this year, Kiev start-up Carbominer provides a carbon dioxide capture solution to satisfy greenhouse operators’ need for cheap and climate friendly CO2.
“As a father with five children, I was worried about how rising levels of CO2 could potentially cause allergies among today’s population. Being an engineer, I told my wife about building a small carbon capture device for our children’s bedroom to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they were inhaling. The first prototype proved the concept and we soon began thinking about how our capturing technology could be used in other ways,” says Carbominer CEO Nick Oseyko.
The idea of developing a similar unit to capture CO2 to use in growing plants came next and soon after Carbominer was born.
Smart and clean
With solar panels needing regular cleaning to function properly, Georgian company Irnero has developed an inexpensive smart self-cleaning system for solar panels without any need for human involvement. The system can be installed wherever the solar panels are located and can be operated with a mobile application.
Biohydrogen from waste
Finally, a company from Armenia has developed a method of generating biohydrogen from wine, coffee and beer residues. The end product is pollution free and renewable as an energy source. Compared to other biohydrogen production processes, the technology used is 100 % waste based and there is no need for high temperatures during production.
