From technological curiosity or scientific chance to its current performance in favor of sustainability. Both old and modern inventions that are key today to preserving biodiversity and natural resources, and promoting the energy transition. We look at five key milestones for the planet.
Sustainable innovation is not always linear. There are technologies that, in their origins, were not designed for the purpose they ended up performing. Innovations for industry, defense, aerospace engineering, and materials that have been ”recycled” for other purposes, ultimately becoming guardians of nature and drivers of the circular economy.
- 1. The electric motor: Its origin dates back to 1830, in the early 19th century. It was, in its origin, a simple scientific curiosity: a physical test of electromagnetism for which they found no use or practical application beyond an electric toy car. From Michael Faraday to Davenport and Jacobi, the ingenuity kept evolving until Nikola Tesla patented it in 1888.
This nineteenth-century invention is one of the foundations that supports the decarbonization of the economy and serves as a key piece for electric mobility.
- 2. The photovoltaic cell: Another practically accidental discovery from the mid-19th century. In 1839, the French physicist, Alexandre-Edmon Becquerel struck a silver electrode and found that light could generate electricity. A century later, in 1954, Bell Laboratories (USA) presented the first solar cell capable of converting light into electricity. Producing it was so expensive that it was conceived as material for the space race, as it could power panels and elements where electrical wiring did not reach.
Thirty years later, the first photovoltaic park was inaugurated in Madrid. It was the beginning of a solar market in which Spain has risen to become Europe's second largest generator based on the most economical and highest potential source of electricity. A chance “invention” that gave rise to solar energy as a pillar of a more sustainable economy.
- 3. Graphene: This is considered a key material for energy efficiency with great development potential. It is the result of a laboratory experiment on materials physics, and was discovered in 2004 using a surprisingly simple method: a piece of adhesive tape and graphite (the material found in a pencil).
It is 200 times more resistant than steel, only one atom of thickness, and allows for the creation of ultra-fast and durable batteries. Due to its good integration in anodes and cathodes (the two electrodes or poles of an electrochemical cell or battery), it can help to resolve the bottlenecks of mobility due to its conductive capacity, both electrical—much higher than copper—and thermal.
Another crucial application of graphene is that it operates as an atomic strainer to create low-energy desalination filters, a crucial solution to water scarcity. Their finding earned Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, from the University of Manchester, the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 4. Biodegradable plastics from fungi (Mycelium)
Its origins are found in university research on mycology, the study of the biological structures of the growth of fungi. This is currently considered a real alternative to polystyrene (white cork), which is commonly used as a protector in the packaging of items, furniture, and technological products.
It has the ability to replace a plastic product—thermoplastic polymer—with another that self-decomposes, offering a more environmentally-friendly compostable alternative. In Spain, there are already several emerging companies that use mycelium for packaging, such as Mosh, which is committed to the regenerative economy with a "compostable, customized, and no impact" product.
- 5. The "Great Bubble Barrier": air bubbles to slow down plastics
This invention does not use complex technology, but basic physics. It consists of a curtain of air bubbles placed at the bottom of rivers that has proven to block the passage of plastics into oceans without interrupting the natural course of marine organisms and fish.
It was initially conceived as an aeration system to prevent eutrophication (a lack of oxygen) in waterways such as the iconic canals that wind through Amsterdam. However, thanks to its unexpected usefulness in stopping the flow of plastic waste into the sea, it is one of the outstanding projects of the European Commission, through CORDIS, as an example of circular innovation applied to marine protection.
History proves that the inventions that have had the greatest impact on humanity were not always created with the purpose they ultimately served. Discoveries that contribute to environmental protection have been successfully recycled from their original industrial or scientific use to another use focused on protecting the environment. It is the sustainable metamorphosis of many inventions that are pillars of the circular economy and climate mitigation.