New exciting green technology companies and startups getting in business almost every day. Here are the most exciting green businesses!
10 TOP Green technology Companies & Startups
Here are some amazing green tech companies that could change the world. Some of them are brand new green tech startups that you may not have heard about. Others are already established and successful sustainable tech companies that are leading the change towards sustainable development!
1. HomeBiogas
Biogas is eco-friendly methane produced from natural and renewable sources. Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion, a process during which organic waste is decomposed by microorganisms in absence of oxygen.
Turning your household’s organic waste into clean biogas for your home is now possible thanks to a product developed by HomeBiogas.
HomeBiogas developed an innovative green technology that makes use of methanogen bacteria to “digest” your organic waste, producing gas for your hob and liquid fertilizer for your garden.
The company presented this project in 2019 on Kickstarter raising more than $350’000!
The system is made of 100% recyclable materials and in one day it can produce enough gas for about 2 hours of cooking.
For off-grid homes, the technology can also be combined with a special Bio Toilet by the same company, allowing you to recycle the waste from your toilet and produce even more biogas and liquid fertilizer, as well as using only 1.2 liters of water to flush!
This amazing green technology company is reducing the methane emissions normally generated from organic waste. Turning waste into renewable energy for your home and producing a nutrient-rich fertilizer that you could use to grow food and other plants in your backyard.
To the current date, HomeBiogas sold already over 14’000 units and avoided about 86,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, while also processing about 15,000 tons of food waste.
Recently HomeBiogas launched also an industrial version of their product aimed at serving businesses such as hotels and restaurants, helping them to become more sustainable.
2. Turbulent Hydropower
Hydropower is a fantastic renewable energy source that has been in use for quite some time. There are a number of hydropower pros and cons, however, the most notable disadvantage is that the old-fashioned hydroelectric power plants usually needed a dam.
Dams are not only very expensive to build, but also have a large impact on the landscape and can change significantly the local ecosystems.
One of the most exciting green technology developments in hydropower has been developed by Turbulent and it is based on vortex water turbines that can be installed on rivers and canals.
The Turbulent vortex turbine is an amazing green technology company:
- It doesn’t require a dam and can work even on gentle slopes
- It works 24/7 because the water doesn’t stop flowing at night! While the most common renewable energy systems such as solar panels and wind turbines are intermittent by their own nature
- It doesn’t require much space, allowing for building decentralized micro-hydroelectric power plants for on-grid and off-grid installations
- Zero CO2 emissions when operating
- Its construction is relatively simple, it doesn’t require many raw materials and has one of the lowest carbon footprints among all the renewable energy sources
- Much lower costs compared to traditional hydropower requiring a dam
- The system is flood-proof and the installation can also include flood prevention structures
- It doesn’t harm fish
- It can power up to 60 homes with a single turbine!
The Turbulent turbine is also using considerably less space per generated kW compared to solar panels. To generate the same power, the equivalent solar installation would require more than 12 times the space required by a Turbulent turbine.
The company is also applying principles of social sustainability by training the local communities and allowing technology transfers when the installation is made in countries that don’t have the necessary know-how.
3. Apeel
Nearly half of the fresh fruit and vegetable produce is wasted every year, this is a huge problem for sustainability, but thanks to new plant-based protection developed by Apeel this reality may be about to change!
This green technology developed by Apeel is a patented blend based on fruit and vegetables’ peel, and seeds to create a special protective layer that can be applied to fresh produce to at least double its natural shelf life.
The benefits of this plant-based protection for fruit and vegetables are:
- 2x the shelf life by reducing oxidation and keeping moisture in
- Made with materials that we usually eat in our diet
- Reduce wasted food: with a longer shelf life, food is less likely to go bad along the supply chain
- It’s invisible
This amazing green tech allows us to reduce food waste: one of the things that make us feel somehow guilty as soon as we learn how much of it is wasted along the supply chain (up to 45%!).
4. The Great Bubble barrier
Plastic waste ending up in our rivers and oceans is one of the greatest environmental problems of our time.
The Great Bubble Barrier® is an innovative green technology that was developed to catch and remove plastic waste from our rivers before reaching the ocean.
A bubble curtain is created by placing a perforated underwater pipeline at the bottom of the river and running diagonally along its entire width. Compressed air is then pumped inside the leaky tube creating a bubble curtain across the entire width of the river.
The suspended plastic waste flowing inside the river is lifted to the surface by the bubble barrier, then the curtain is guiding the waste diagonally towards the shore, where it is captured by a special catchment system.
The bubble barrier is capable of capturing 86% of the plastic waste flowing in our rivers. Other benefits of this green technology are:
- It’s safe for fish
- It’s safe for boat passage, no need to close the river
- It’s operating 24/7 and energy efficient
- It’s increasing the locally dissolved oxygen in the water, benefiting the aquatic ecosystem
The bubble barrier has already been successfully deployed in the Netherlands and soon it will also be used in Portugal.
5. Teak Smart Cube
Did you know that up to 10% of the electricity you consume is wasted by plugged-in devices (even when you are not using them)? That’s a big problem for both the environment and our pockets!
To solve this issue a startup that recently was among the winners of the National Earth Month initiative sponsored by WeWork is developing a device called “Teak Cube”: a smart power extender that can help you automatically save electricity on all the plugged-in devices!
The Teak Cube features also an app that allows you to monitor how much electricity is wasted across different devices, your carbon footprint, and more.
The AI (artificial intelligence) of the device will monitor your electricity consumption and usage of each of the plugged-in devices to give you a weekly recommendation.
Just accept it and your Teak Cube will automatically start reducing the electricity wasted by your unused devices!
The Teak Cube is a perfect example of how digital transformation technologies such as AI can be applied to improve sustainability.
6. Fairphone
Mobile phones are also posing an important environmental problem, especially because most people are changing their smartphones every other year.
Smartphones can contain a number of hazardous materials like mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic, and beryllium as well as rare or conflict minerals like coltan.
In recent years a number of companies developed more sustainable alternatives using recycled and fairly sourced materials as well as limiting the use of hazardous substances.
Fairphone is a green technology company offering sustainable smartphones. Their product has all the desirable features for the eco-friendly consumer:
- Electronic waste-neutral by recycling or reconditioning your old phone
- Fairtrade materials
- Easy to disassemble and repair with affordable components
- 5G and premium camera, so you are not compromising on any functionality
- Long-lasting, so much so that the company is offering a 5-year warranty
Those smartphones have a sustainable product design: easy to disassemble, repair, and built to last.
7. Tesla
Transport is one of the areas where sustainability will have a deep impact. With the transition to hybrid and electric vehicles being the preferred choice.
Tesla is by far the most successful electric car manufacturer in the world. With 4 car models available and more coming in the near future, Tesla is the perfect example of the growth potential of green technology.
Tesla managed to break through the competitive automotive market thanks to innovation, focus on green tech, and digital technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence).
Tesla is also benefiting from industry 4.0 technologies, being one of the global leaders of the fourth industrial revolution. The Tesla Gigafactories are one of the best examples of smart manufacturing in the world!
Tesla cars work by using very innovative technology, and have a futuristic design, features, and functionalities that no other car has. For example, their autopilot function allows the car to drive autonomously under your supervision.
In the near future, thanks to the advancing of technology, Tesla may also be able to release the first fully autonomous driving car in the world.
Tesla demonstrated that advanced green and digital technologies can make a company extremely successful. Contributing to changing the mindset and attitude of business leaders towards sustainability.
A few years ago, many businesses started making announcements about sustainable development. However, deep inside they were considering those commitments as just a PR opportunity to attract attention to their brand. Tesla helped to change this mindset by demonstrating that green tech can be a great investment.
The green tech company is also offering solar panels and an innovative solar roof, minimizing the visual impact of this technology while harnessing all the environmental benefits of solar energy. The solar roof is maximising the power produced by the roof of your house while also keeping a neat minimalistic design.
Tesla is without a doubt one of the best-known green technology companies in the US and one of the great examples of sustainable development.
Finally, Tesla is currently working on an electric car that could charge itself using solar panels. However, this is expected to be enough only to extend the range of the car and not to fully charge it.
8. ATYS Care
Plastic pollution is one of the greatest environmental problems of the modern era and over 1 billion plastic toothbrushes are thrown away every year just in the United States. About 99% of toothbrushes are made of plastic, a material that takes more than 400 years to decompose and is polluting our land and oceans!
In recent years, a number of eco-friendly toothbrushes have been developed: some made of wood, bamboo, and other materials. This is a great and simple green technology, however, the quality and design of many of those alternative toothbrushes are not always up to standard, limiting adoption by the consumers.
Luckily, it was just a matter of time before some high-quality and stylish options were going to become available. One of those has been developed by ATYS and promoted on kickstart. It features an aluminum handle with a replaceable head made of a plant-based biodegradable polymer.
This green technology allows to dramatically reduce waste because the replaceable head will completely dissolve after only 6 months from being thrown away. In addition, the head is smaller than the entire toothbrush, so there will also be 80% less material to dispose of. Pretty cool!
Switching to a sustainable toothbrush is a simple step that everybody can do, especially now that alternatives of great quality and design are becoming available!
9. Outlander Materials
Plastic packaging is one of the greatest contributors to plastic waste and microplastics in our oceans. Wouldn’t be nice to have a sustainable alternative?
Plant-based plastics can be used as an alternative to plastic packaging.
The main criticism towards plant-based plastics is revolving around the need of using land to grow the raw materials needed to create those plastic packaging alternatives.
The solution developed by Outlander Materials looks especially interesting because their Unplastic is biodegradable, compostable, odorless, semi-transparent, and can be made from waste, without the need to use any land to grow the raw materials!
Unplastic is made from waste from beer breweries, other food industry streams waste and byproducts.
This green technology due to be launched this year is promising to turn waste into packaging! This is certainly a very interesting green technology company that could help us to reduce waste and improve sustainability!
10. PostHarvest
Do you know that up to 1.3 billion tons of fresh food produce, mostly fruit and vegetables, is wasted every year along the supply chain?
This is a huge problem that is especially upsetting when we consider that hunger is still raging in parts of the world. On the economic side, this is about 680 billion dollars of wasted food every year.
To tackle this problem, PostHarvest patented new green technology to monitor the ripeness of fresh food kept in storage and during transport, allowing save up to 45% of food waste by making real-time checks and accurate forecasts about when food will go bad. This information can be used to improve the food supply chain by reducing waste and improving profitability for businesses.
How does this sensor work? It detects ethylene and other chemicals released in the air by fruit and vegetables while they become ripe. This allows to accurately evaluate the ripeness of the food kept in a warehouse or in a shipping container.
This is an interesting green technology company that can contribute to improving the long-term sustainability of the food industry.
What is green technology?
Green technology is the use of technology for eco-friendly purposes, like for example reducing energy consumption, reducing waste, and protecting the environment. This means any product, design, formula, algorithm, procedure, method, discovery, process, technique, idea, know-how, or software that can help us reduce our environmental footprint and ultimately achieve sustainable development.
Conclusions
I hope that you enjoyed my list of the best green technology startups and companies. In short, the 10 most exciting green technology companies:
- HomeBiogas
- Turbulent Hydropower
- Apeel
- The Great Bubble Barrier
- Teak Smart Cube
- Fairphone
- Tesla
- ATYS Care
- Outlander Materials
- PostHarvest
Those top innovative green companies in the world are certainly leading the change for new green technology and I’m sure that in the next years more and more businesses will join the ranks.
In this article, I presented the best green technology companies and their benefits. I hope you enjoyed it and let’s support those amazing green businesses and startups in achieving their green tech goals!