LEGO: Solar Power, Plastic, & Sustainability

The professional basketball player, Chris Paul, is bringing plant-based vending machines to HBCU colleges. The Phoenix Suns point guard recently invested in Koia, a plant-based drink company, and now, his vending machines would be filled with plant-based drinks and protein shakes. He will make sure that every historically black college campus gets these plant-based vending machines. Koia CEO and Co-founder Chris Hunter, said, “We are thrilled to partner with Chris Paul because he’s an exceptional human being on and off the court, embodying the power of plant-based nutrition. We are aligned with Paul around a vision of the future where everyone has access to healthy food and look forward to working together to make that a reality.”

How to create human-centric and sustainable Internet of Things solutions? The internet of things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a…

Solar is already in the vanguard of the energy transition, and can similarly lead the world’s transition to a circular economy. Decommissioned PV modules could total 1 million tons of waste in the U.S. by 2030. Yet there are virtually no incentives or regulations to promote its recycling or reuse. In fact, says NREL, most current regulations in the U.S. define it as solid waste, making it difficult to introduce it to a recycling value chain. In some instances the waste, defined as hazardous, is prohibited from reuse. Incentives are so poor that companies that do recover in bulk leave behind high-value materials such as silver, copper, and silicon. The main reason is that, at the national level, statutes or regulations that explicitly address PV module recycling simply don’t exist yet. Fortunately, state and industry models are being created.