What Green Tech Will Define 2025?
Green tech is now firmly established in many of our lives. Solar panels, wind and wave power, and, of course, AI are all making an impact on our drive to a greener and cleaner future.
However, green tech is not just about more climate-friendly ways of obtaining energy or AI helping office workers with their reports and emails! Many exciting and cutting-edge developments are going to make our lives interesting. These include the following green tech initiatives:
Green Fuels
Hydrogen has been talked about for many years as a fuel of the future. It certainly can provide the continuous power required for transporting loads via lorries or through aviation. Its downsides have been storage and the cost of producing hydrogen. There are actually several categories of hydrogen; however, the one that is of most interest in transport is green hydrogen, which is hydrogen produced through electrolysis using renewable energy. In addition, some of the largest energy suppliers have agreed to the UN’s Green Hydrogen initiative, which aims to half the cost of hydrogen.
Electric Aviation
The aviation industry is keen to use sustainable fuels, one of which includes battery technology. Unfortunately, battery technology produces much less energy per kilogram of plane compared to other aviation fuels. However, there is a great deal of research into improved batteries using graphene and other materials, which should enable electric aviation to deliver much higher loads than they are currently capable of doing. There has been a lot of excitement about the development of electric aircraft.
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At the beginning of 2024, there was significant interest in a futuristic-looking electric plane from the German manufacturer Lilium. The company was forced into receivership but has been rescued, and the first planes are currently being constructed. A better-known manufacturer that is putting its toe in the electric market is Airbus.
Airbus and its partners, Daher and Safran, developed a hybrid-electric propulsion demonstrator (the EcoPulse), which completed its flight testing in December 2024. The consortium is currently evaluating its findings but has said that there are obstacles to bringing out new green aircraft, including factors such as pilot roles, airworthiness certifications, weight optimisation, noise levels, and complex technical issues. However, Eviation, an electric plane manufacturer, has a bulging $4 billion order book for its all-electric aeroplane, Alice. However, Alice is firmly aimed at the commuter market, as it seats nine passengers and has a range of around 250 miles.
AI-driven recycling
We all do our bit to separate our waste into different bins. However, human error means that waste can be categorised wrongly and then has to be disposed of in landfill. AI-driven recycling has been a major green tech success story as it learns to identify thousands of items of waste and learns what to do with them. This enables it to sort waste effectively and without human error.
A London company, Greyparrot, has put AI into 50 sites where it identifies plastics, papers and metals so that waste is properly recycled without contamination and miscategorisation is reduced. Therefore, waste being sent to landfill is also reduced, and a higher percentage of the waste is recycled.
Green tech has the potential to change our world, and these three categories highlight the gains we all get from embracing it. So, what green tech do you believe will have a massive impact this year?