A few months ago I caught wind of an incredible project launched out of BC where a company is taking the manure of cattle and turning it into electricity by way of giant, artificial stomachs ("anaerobic digesters") which process the methane in cow poop on commercial farms and turn it from being something undesirable into a renewable energy resource. It's called Cow Power, it's brilliant, and you can learn more about HERE.
It was Cow Power that I immediately thought of when I heard about Urban Stream Innovations Inc, an emerging Vancouver greentech company that looks to harness not rural cow poop but the food waste of us, we herds of urbanized humans, and turn it into something much better than smelly waste in a restaurant's dumpster.
Wes Regan, who is the VP of Urban Stream and a recent graduate of one of SFU's co-op programs, joined me for coffee yesterday afternoon and gave me the rundown on this super interesting project that's in a pilot phase right now.
The meat and potatoes of Urban Stream involves a heat and nutrient bioreactor that Wes has developed with his business partner, Nick Hermes. Patents are pending on this complex piece of machinery and the one thing that my tecnhically-challenged brain understands is that it's going to help reduce the amount of food waste that ends up in our landfills. It takes food waste from restaurants and composts it in 2 cycles.
Another thing that's easy for me to understand is that this system they've developed not only processes food waste and composts it but it also produces food in a super exciting (to me and other local food nerds) process that involves aquaculture; live fish or prawns that exist in a closed system where their waste, along with the food waste/compost, gets turned into nutrients to grow leafy greens and other vegetables! Above are a portion of the blueprints for the complete system, which will be made available to local organizations and restaurants, as well as the simple composting machine on its own which will help them reduce the amount of waste that goes to the landfill. Eventually it'll be illegal for businesses to send it there, and creative entrepreneurs like Wes will hopefully be filling needs like this in places we didn't know imagined.
Over coffee, Wes told me about the SFU co-op program he graduated from - the Faculty of Environment Geography - sparked his involvement in the green tech sector, and that this company literally grew out of what he studied along with his co-op placement with B.O.B. (Building Opportunities for Business) from 2009-2011. The course examines how business development can be used as an effective instrument of sustainable community development, and Wesley is a prime example of someone who has benefitted from these programs and is now deeply involved in social entrepreneurship projects.
Wes has promised that as soon as they get one of these machines up and running in the Downtown Eastside that I'll be the first person he calls to come take a look, so stay tuned! Aquaponics await you with the ghost of blogging future.
