The evolving social entrepreneurship field has given a major boost to another massive trend on the scene – green entrepreneurship. Startups aimed at solving the world’s greatest environmental problems are blossoming worldwide with the active support from consumers and investors. While green ventures do face some unique challenges posed by the inherent “triple bottom line” – the line measuring the company’s economic value and degree of social and environmental responsibility – most founders are driven by passion and the commitment to rise above challenges. Here’s what trending in the green niche right now.
Food Waste and Improving Food Quality
It’s time to admit it – the quality of our foods and our eating habits are far from ideal. In the USA alone, 30%-40% of food supply is wasted annually. On a global scale, the amount of food wasted every year equals to more than a half of the world’s annual cereal crops.
The quality of produce has decreased significantly as well in the past few years with more preservatives, flavor boosters and other chemicals being added to our food to reduce its cost. Here are there innovative companies on a mission to solve this problem:
- Fruitcycle – uses the “ugly” apple produce gathered at local farms to create healthy snacks.
- Spoiler Alert – a B2B app to manage food waste more efficiently. It connects companies with a surplus of food or valuable organic waste with organizations, which can do something with it quickly.
- Impossible Foods offers sustainable vegetarian produce, which imitates cheese and meats.
- Leftoverswap is an app that lets you share your leftovers with people nearby.
- WISErg – a revolutionary hybrid technology company, which combines bio, clean, and high-tech systems to create a new solution for managing urban-generated organics through re-using leftovers and food waste.
Energy Waste and Clean Energy Sources
Finding alternatives to non-renewable energy sources and promoting more sustainable energy sources has been on top of the governmental agendas worldwide. US currently ranks as number 4 worldwide among the countries getting the max out of solar trackers and panels, which already resulted into 56% decrease in energy consumption. Yet, there’s still plenty of room for other innovations in the field. Here are some of the most intriguing energy enthusiasts to check out:
Paranas – a solar lightening system, which brings natural lights to the darkest corners of your compound e.g. basement.
Solarkiosk – provides remote communities with solar-powered autonomous business hubs. So far, they have established six subsidiaries across Africa and Asia.
Choose Energy – a consumer-oriented marketplace to simplify shopping for electricity and natural gas rates, plan terms and discover renewable energy options.
Arctic Sand – an ambitious project launched out of MIT with the goal to reduce 80% of all energy loss that occurs in the form of heat worldwide.
Spares in Motion is an online marketplace connecting wind turbine buyers and manufacturers. Buyers can shop around for spare parts or discover brand new sourcing options.
Tvilight is a smart device, which could be plugged-into the city’s light network and managed remotely for ultimate performance.
Air Quality
Air pollution is another “slow” killer of our generation and a massive threat to global welfare due to the greenhouse effect and expanding holes in the ozone layer. The next companies are offering smarter solutions for controlling and improving air quality on personal and global scale:
ChemiSense is a wearable device, which measures the concentration of air pollutants in your environment, sends a report to your phone and encourages taking respective action.
Smart Air Filters is an Indian startups on a mission to battle exorbitant pollution in Delhi. The company provides indoor air purifiers that are highly effective against PM 2.5 – the most common air pollutant in the city.
Foobot – a smart devices, packed up with various sensors to control and monitor the air quality indoors.