Did you know that algae can generate clean energy, convert CO2 into oxygen, be used in space, and produce biomass for fertilizers?
Knowing this amazing organism’s potential, Adan Ramirez Sanchez, a 23-year-old Mexican biotechnician and winner of the Latin American Innovators under 35 Award, went to pursue it.
Hence, he constructed solar panels using algae as power rather than earth-mined minerals.
23-Year-old Biotechnician Created Algae-Powered Solar Panels
With his company Green Fluidics, he created the Intelligent Solar Biopanels.
This tech is one part microalgae and one part nanotech; they’re capable of absorbing CO2 and then transforming it into electricity and oxygen.
Potentially, it resolves the two of our biggest problems today.
Namely, if you know your biology, you’ll spot the similarity between this and photosynthesis or the method through which plants produce energy from sunlight and CO2.
Moreover, the panels are entirely biodegradable since they’re mostly algae and marine material. They produce a working biomass which can be collected and used as fertilizer.
At a 1-meter-width, these green triangle panels are edgy and quirky and can make an office or home space unique, while cleansing the indoor air in the meantime.
Unfortunately, the fuel consumption for electricity or propulsion is one of the highest emissions releaser.
GreenFluidics is the brain child of Ramirez and the first tech company in Mexico which makes biotech for outer space exploration. Upon receiving his MIT award, he said that their goal is to connect the outer space with Earth through the tech they make.
His hopes for the future are for these technologies to be carried aboard on spacecrafts or inside colonies or simply put into a window to generate electricity and oxygen for the astronauts by using the sun.
The biomass makes a great space crop fertilizer, which is yet another biotech developed by NASA and ESA.
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