Podcast: Design and Innovation

112: CCell – Growing Living Reefs for Coastal Protection

This summer when we visited our favorite beach in Indiana – Indiana Dunes National Park – with its immense sand dunes, we were saddened by how much of the beach had been washed away. What used to be a gradual slope from the road to the water , now required a flight of 20 steps to reach the sand. Sand and beaches have always shifted and moved, but why are these shifts different. With climate change and changing weather patterns have increased the wave force and have disrupted the delicate eco-system in our oceans, seas and waterways. Today we speak with Dr. William Bateman, Founder and CEO of CCell, whose fascinating invention helps to build reefs to combat coastal erosion by working with nature to restore a sustainable balance to coastal environments and bring lasting protection to communities around the world.

CCell does it by designing high-tech structures that dampen waves both by inducing turbulence and by causing them to break before they impact the shore. These structures protect the coastline by interrupting waves well before they can reach the shore while also providing an ideal habitat for a wide range of marine life; becoming the heart of long-term living ecosystems. Learn how they do it on our latest episode.

#mindfulbusinesses, #desipodcasthost, #worldoceansday #ccell #coastalprotection #coastalengineering

https://www.ccell.co.uk/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Design and Innovation
112: CCell - Growing Living Reefs for Coastal Protection
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96: Geoship – Regenerative Architecture

“Out beyond ideas of right angles and hard lines, there’s a bioceramic dome. A place where nature, community, and healing come full circle. We’ll meet you there.” – Morgan Bierschenk, founder and CEO of Geoship, a homebuilding cooperative, owned by the people. Bioceramic domes combine the geometry/math of Buckminster (Bucky) Fuller with the material science of Rustum (Rusty) Roy – Geoship’s Founding Fathers. Bucky was a legendary American polymath and future architect. He invented Synergetic Mathematics and introduced the geodesic dome into mass awareness. Rusty was a legendary professor of material science with a focus on crystal chemistry. Morgan is knowledgeable and visionary in how regenerative architecture can be used to build living environments that reconnect human communities with the natural world. Geoship domes are built with all-ceramic composite panels, struts, and hubs. The lightweight ceramic parts are fused together on-site with ceramic mortar. The dome is repaired and resurfaced with the same highly crystalline ceramic material. Learn more by listening to our episode.
This episode is a re-air from April 13, 2021
https://geoship.is/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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96: Geoship - Regenerative Architecture
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95: Center for Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) – Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics

We talk with Dr. George Huber, Richard Antoine Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin- Madison and the director of Center for Upcycling Waste Plastics (CUWP) about his research in recycling plastics. His technology offers a solution to filtrate the polymer from different plastics by applying solvents solvents. Though multi-layer plastics are more complicated his technology, solvent-targeted recovery and precipitation (STRAP), is able to use thermodynamics and solvents to disintegrate them into their constituent resins. It’s a fascinating process – the key is to capture 99% of the polymer and make sure nothing is release into the atmosphere. With consumption of plastics showing no signs of abating, it is crucial to recycle efficiently to reduce the consumption of new plastics. CUWP consists of six universities, over ten industrial partners, one national laboratory, and one industry association. They also share with scientists, engineers, policy makers, business leaders, and the general public to help them make informed decisions about the costs and benefits of new technologies for plastic recycling. Learn all this and more from Dr. George Huber.

https://cuwp.org/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

Art by Xin Zou, University of Wisconsin-Madison for Hochan Chang, Min Soo Kim, George W Huber, James A Dumesic, Design of closed-loop recycling production of a Diels Alder polymer from a biomass-derived difuran as a functional additive for polyurethanes, Green Chemistry (2021) 23, 9479-9488.

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95: Center for Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) - Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics
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91: The Washing Machine Project – Let’s Engineer a More Sustainable Future

70% of the world’s population lacks access to an electric washing machine.
Hand washing clothes sounds like a simple task but for many women around the world, it poses a significant obstacle to their wellbeing and livelihood.
Navjot Sawhney was a curious child always trying to figure out how things worked. He grew up to be an engineer and wanted to use his engineering and design skills for good. He quit his secure, highly respected job at Dyson to volunteer for Engineers Without Borders Uk and Prakti (an Indian NGO). He saw his friend Divya spend hours doing household chores and he promised her that he would design and make a hand-cranked washing machine for her. He returned to Uk and after a short stint with Jaguar he went to the drawing board to make good on his promise. He designed a hand-cranked washing machine that used fifty percent less water, saved time, avoided touching the detergent and completely off the grid. By providing displaced and low-income communities with an accessible, off-grid washing solution, The Washing Machine Project’s mission is to empower women with the time to take charge over their lives. They believe that when women rise, we all rise.

https://thewashingmachineproject.org/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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91: The Washing Machine Project - Let's Engineer a More Sustainable Future
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89: ECOSTP – Zero Power Zero Chemical Sewage Treatment

When Tharun Kumar saw the lake where his housing complex empties their sewage burn for 14 hours non-stop, he decided to do something about it. He started asking around and realized that the overburdened municipalities had transferred the sewage treatment responsibilities to the home owners. We chat with Tharun Kumar, founder and CEO of EcoSTP Technologies – an IT professional who wanted to be the person who not just talks about change but brings about change. He did so by starting a mission-driven company that uses existing sustainable practices and knowledge to treat sewage and delivers executable DIY kits to home owners. Using biomimicry, regenerative innovation inspired by nature, the ECOSTP utilizes functional principles and strategies of microorganisms and ecosystems found in a cow’s stomach. Using gravity and anaerobic bacteria ECOSTP it treats sewage without the use of pumps/blowers used in conventional sewage treatment plants to convert sewage water into clear water. Their system overall has lower operational and maintenance costs and its flexible design can be adapted even in existing housing complexes and in new developments.

ECOSTP addresses six UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is selected as a Best Practice case study for United Nations ESCAP SDG Sustainability Asia Pac report. Learn more in this episode.

http://www.ecostp.com/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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89: ECOSTP - Zero Power Zero Chemical Sewage Treatment
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86: Forust – 3D Printing to Rematerialize Wood Waste

Every year, 15 Billion trees are cut down to produce paper, build homes, and make furniture. From this, millions of tons of wood waste are generated annually. A portion of this waste is recovered and sold to downstream markets to make particle board or wood pellets for energy. The remaining sawdust is either burned – contributing to air pollution – or sent to landfill. Though biodegradable, sawdust can be harmful to the environment in large quantities when landfilled. As it decomposes, sawdust releases high concentrations of lignin and fatty acids, which can contaminate water supplies, potentially poisoning wildlife and micro-organisms. We speak with Andrew Jeffery, Co-founder of Forust, by Desktop Metal, uses the power of high-speed, high-resolution 3D printing to give a new life to a discarded resource – creating strong, beautiful and carbon-friendly wood products from wood waste. For each tree saved, we reduce the CO2 footprint by a metric ton over the tree’s life. Learn more in our next episode.

Mentions:
Virginia San Fratello
Ronald Rael
https://www.forust.com/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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86: Forust - 3D Printing to Rematerialize Wood Waste
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84: Praan and Carboncraft Design- Purify Ambient Air and Upcycled Carbon Tiles

Countries must meet their sustainability goals and head towards net-zero. These goals cannot be achieved in silos but need cooperation, trust, and partnerships. We bring two such sustainable start-ups which are from adjacent industries with one firm goal – to reduce the carbon emissions and air pollutants from the air. Today we speak with Angad Daryani – CEO and founder of Praan – Clean Air For all, and Tejas Sidnal – founder of Carbon Craft Design – Upcycled Carbon Tiles.

Praan captures the carbon with the world’s most advanced, low-cost, filterless, and artificially intelligent outdoor air purification system. Angad who, ranked amongst the top 3 in his class, dropped out of high school in 9th grade – though he stopped formal education, he continued learning and innovating. His passion for sustainability gave rise to the patented innovation that creates hyperlocal clean air zones within open areas on corporate campuses, schools, universities, hotels, hospitals, residential complexes, malls, industrial areas, and more!

Praan captures the CO2 and carbon particulates that they hand over to Carbon Craft Designs who then creates tiles. Each tile prevents 15 minutes of car pollution – 5 kgs of carbon – dioxide equivalents. Carbon Craft Design strives to be at the intersection of Craft, Design, and Technology with the sole aim of building scalable solutions. Tejas, a practicing architect, talks about the fact that the world builds twelve New Yorks every year. Its impact and his role as an architect and being part of the problem made him uneasy. He decided to do something about it and reduce the impact of new construction projects by developing carbon-neutral building materials. A chance meeting at a conference in 2016 and mutual respect brought Angad Daryanai and Tejas Sidnal to collaborate to bring their solutions to market. Listen to this energetic duos’ passion and story in this episode.

https://www.carboncraftdesign.com/
https://www.praan.io/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Architecture
84: Praan and Carboncraft Design- Purify Ambient Air and Upcycled Carbon Tiles
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83: Rebel Nell – One of No Other Kind

This episode has two parts – in part one, we talk with Amy Peterson, the co-founder of Rebel Nell about her inspiration and motivation to start Rebel Nell. While living next to a homeless shelter in Detroit, MI, she got to learn up-close the women who lived there and their challenges. One day out on a jog she finds a piece of graffiti that she envisioned could be repurposed into meaningful wearable art. A fusion of these two ideas gave birth to Rebel Nell. Amy with her co-founder Diana Roginson started Rebel Nell in 2013 with the mission to provide employment, equitable opportunity, and wraparound support for women with barriers to employment. They seek to embolden women, to embrace their infinite strength, and to define their own future.

They partner with local organizations to seek out women who have struggled to find and retain employment. Their goal is to help the women move from a life of dependence to one of self-reliance, overcoming barriers to employment through the fruits of their own labor. Rebel Nell’s product line starts with repurposing graffiti, after it has fallen off the walls.

These are women who when hired have no background in jewelry become creative designers who make incredibly intricate and unique piece each one more beautiful than the next. In the part two we chat with one such woman – Ethel Rucker, Production Lead at Rebel Nell.

In addition to on-the-job training and guidance on how to make jewelry, Rebel Nell also provides them with life management, financial training and business education to make sure they have the confidence and knowledge that will enable them to leave homelessness/dependence behind permanently and move forward as strong independent women. Listen to this powerful story in this episode.

https://www.rebelnell.com/
To hire Ethel Rucker for your next photoshoot contact her via her website https://harteclectic.com/

https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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83: Rebel Nell - One of No Other Kind
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79: Thermify – Smart Green – Using Energy Twice

What if there was a new kind of data center that could directly warm homes and heat hot water, instead of a gas boiler?
One that could use the energy used in cloud computing, not once but twice, and also take away the need for the additional energy used for cooling? That is exactly what Thermify’s innovation does. Using energy twice. We talk with Garry Felgate Chair & Energy Lead at Thermify. The technology was invented by Adam Pulley in 2009 and Thermify is bringing to the UK market at the price comparable to heating a home with pre-pandemic gas prices. From helping the environment to keeping senior citizens warm to offering relief for low-income families struggling to pay for their heat, to companies looking for environmentally friendly alternatives for their data centers, everyone benefits from joining this green revolution.

Thermify is committed to reducing the pressure on our environment, and on the pockets of our most vulnerable in society. Learn more about this win-win innovation in this episode.

https://thermify.cloud/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/podcast-1

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79: Thermify - Smart Green - Using Energy Twice
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78: Thaely – Don’t Just Do It – Do It Right

We talk with Ashay Bhave, founder of Thaely, who as a middle-schooler dreamt of becoming a sneaker designer. His journey begins at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, where disenchanted within the first year, he returned back to Dubai to pursue a degree in business at Amity University. As a designer Ashay wanted to solve problems – the problem of plastic grocery bag waste – we consume 3 trillion of them annually. After some near fires in his kitchen, he developed a product Thaely Tex. Thaely is made with 100% recycled raw materials. Each sneaker uses ThaelyTex that’s made using 10 upcycled waste plastic bags. ThaelyTex is made in collaboration with TrioTap Technologies in Gurugram, India. The waste plastic bags are collected from housing complexes, offices, and stores from in and around Gurugram, India. The lining is made with rPET (Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate is a fabric made from recycling waste PET Plastic Bottles) using 12 Recycled waste plastic bottles. With their partnership with The Shoe Laundry, the sneakers are either refurbished or recycled. Each pair is also packaged in a reusable rPET. Every component of the shoe and its process is looked into great detail to achieve Thaely’s sustainability goals. Come along and learn more in this episode.

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78: Thaely - Don’t Just Do It - Do It Right
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