At ARTÉMIA, we believe that the future is bright when it comes to cleantech startups. These innovative companies are taking on some of the world’s biggest environmental challenges by developing groundbreaking technologies that help us reduce our carbon footprint and create a more sustainable future. As we celebrate Earth Month, we wanted to share a few of the solutions we’re keeping an eye on.
Earthshot Labs
Founders: Troy Carter & Patrick Leung
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
A couple of years ago, our CEO Barbara Wichmann had the opportunity to chat with co-founder Troy Carter about this Bay Area clreantech venture and our team has enjoyed watching its evolution in the time since. The company is working to “restore nature at the planetary scale,” by using technology to reconnect people and nature.
EarthShot’s LandOs software, for example, uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Models to create the world’s most accurate future projections of carbon sequestration.
Another program, BIOME, empowers humans to easily collect data at the ground level to create more accurate tree inventories – something a remote sensor isn’t capable of. The data can then be used for biomass estimates, monitoring and ecology research.
Nium
Founders: Lewis Jenkins, Yubiao Niu & Phil Hunter
Headquarters: Harwell, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Ammonia plays a crucial role in food production, but it is also responsible for 500 million tons of C02 emissions annually. Nium is using nanotechnology to redefine the industrial process and reduce the negative impact ammonia production has on our planet.
Historically, the Haber-Bosch process has been the primary way to produce the chemical, but Nium’s patent-pending technology is capable of synthesizing ammonia using less heat, lower pressure and fewer emissions. The company says its process is also more cost-effective.
The company is currently testing small-scale reactors, which they have dubbed Minions at local production facilities and the results are promising. Since a Minion can be placed on-site at a hydrogen-producing facility, it streamlines storage and transport. Founded in 2022, Nium is in its infancy as a company and we believe have a cleantech solution worth watching.
SPAN
Founder: Arch Rao
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Span offers innovative products, most notably the SPAN Smart Electrical Panel, which gives users more control over their power consumption. The panel provides actionable insights into your energy usage patterns as well as circuit-level control on a mobile device or tablet, allowing you to manage your energy use regardless of where you are.
It integrates with energy banks like the Tesla Powerwall and offers the ability to prioritize must-have circuits to make backup power last longer. In fact, research by the company determined that the SPAN Panel extends the average battery duration by 40% from 28 hours to 39 hours. We’ve been headquartered in San Francisco from the beginning, so we are all too familiar with the need to use backup power as efficiently as possible and having 11 extra hours never hurts.
Vortex Bladeless Wind Power
Founders: David J. Yáñez Villarreal, David Suriol Puigvert, & Raúl Martín
Headquarters: Madrid, Spain
The Vortex Bladeless is a light, cylindrical machine that leverages the Vortex shedding phenomenon to oscillate perpendicular to the wind stream. This creates an aeroelastic resonance in which energy can be harnessed from the wind.
According to the cleantech company, the hope is not for the Bladeless to replace regular turbines but to serve as an alternative that will make wind energy more accessible, particularly in urban/residential spaces. It requires very little maintenance, and the design allows for quieter and safer operation and it is harmless to wildlife.
The Vortex Bladeless isn’t available for purchase, but the company is performing mid-to-large scale pilot installations throughout Spain to generate power and further the team’s research. You can check out their “green paper” here to learn more about how it works.
