CleanTech Innovation Showcase Day 3- General Recap

The CleanTech Alliance hosted the third day of its first-ever virtual CleanTech Innovation Showcase on Wednesday, July 8. First, CleanTech Alliance President & CEO Mel Clark introduced Eileen Quigley, the Executive Director of the Clean Energy Transition Institute.

Eileen spoke about the need to electrify and transition our energy systems and said that if we’re “doing less in one sector [to transition to clean energy], then we need to do more in other sectors.” After Eileen’s brief presentation, she introduced moderator Pat Dooris and the rest of the debate panel.

Panelists Ken Dragoon from the Renewable Hydrogen Alliance, Nicole Hughes from Renewable Northwest, Tim Zenk from Molecule, and Chris Ajemian from CTFusion debated the question “should we electrify everything?”

The debate discussed a wide range of alternative fuel sources such as fusion energy, hydrogen, biofuels, and more. The panel was largely in agreement that we need to decarbonize faster with Chris Ajemian from CTFusion saying, “if we were decarbonizing 10x faster than we’re going today, it would still be too slow.” All the debaters agreed on the end goal of complete decarbonization with only a few disagreements on timing and how best to get there.

After the debate, Huiquing Wu, a project manager from Corning’s Shanghai offices gave a presentation on their CAPS or Corning Air Purification System. Huiquing talked about its applications and the importance of air purification systems in places like underground subway tunnels.

After Corning’s presentation, attendees got to pick one of two presenting company tracks.

Track #1 featured Niall Davidson from Advanced Data Cooling Technologies (ADC), Tom Whitton from E2metrix, and Mitch Odinak from Molecule Works. Niall talked about ADC’s Thermal Rail™ technology that reduces carbon emissions by cooling waste heat from data centers. Tom discussed E2metrix’s ECOTHOR technology, an Electrolysis Technology Platform for wastewater treatment that recovers nutrients and removes hormones and other contaminants. Mitch discussed Molecule Works’ affordable microporous metal sheets that can be used to remove bacteria and algae as small as 50 nanometers from water.

Track #2 featured Nigel Sharp from Aquagga, Adam Chaffey from Liveable Cities, and Virginia Emery from Beta Hatch. Nigel talked about the dangers of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and Aquagga’s technology that can concentrate and destroy PFAS. Adam talked about Liveable Cities’ smart LED streetlight sensors that can be used to monitor traffic speed, air quality, noise level, and more. Lastly, Virginia talked about Beta Hatch’s innovative methods for rearing insects to use as animal feed and discussed the benefits of using insects as feed like reducing land use of the roughly 33% of crops that go to feeding animals.

After the two presenting company tracks concluded, attendees got broken up into small groups of 5-7 people for two rounds of virtual networking.

To learn more about the CleanTech Innovation Showcase or to register for week 4, click here.