The Weekly Dive #8
Airbus is starting tests for its zero-emission hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine. Umaro Foods is turning seaweed into vegan bacon. US water spending grew 23% in 2022. Data centers consume 1% of the world's electricity. The cleanest drinking water may actually be recycled water. Pink snow may sound cute but it is a threat to our water reserves. This week, we are highlighting Didier Gogniat, a member of HydroDAO and the creator of The Weekly Dive! Learn about my background and why I am devoting my life work to water.
Your weekly Bonus - 5 billion people will face water shortages by 2050.
This week's quote:
Dive into the ocean
It’s calling your name
It’s waves rise and fall
It’s never the same
And you are a bubble
Within this vast sea
You’re rising and falling
In this Life, to Be
A bubble of Joy now
Your breath takes you home
Take hold of those bubbles
Expand them, feel them grow
For as you’re the bubble
You’re also the sea
The walls of the bubble
Dissolve and you are set Free
What's New with Water?
Airbus unveils zero-emissions hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine
The next steps will be for Airbus to start ground and flight testing this fuel cell engine architecture.
This startup turned seaweed into delicious vegan bacon
Umaro Foods may have developed the first vegan bacon that’s actually good.
Toyota is getting ready to test its hydrogen combustion engine on the streets
Toyota's hydrogen combustion engine has already made a name for itself in the Super Taikyu endurance race.
All types of plastics now recyclable thanks to two companies
This is number 22 on IE's list of 22 best innovations, a look back at recycling for all plastics.
What's New in the Industry?
Dutch blended finance fund edges closer to $1bn goal
Swedish donor Swedfund and the UN’s Green Climate Fund have committed $180 million to the Climate Investor Two (CI2) blended finance vehicle.
Investors With $8T Call For Phase-Out Of Dangerous ‘Forever Chemicals'
World’s biggest chemical companies turning blind eye to emerging global crisis.
US water spending is up 23% in 2022. Where next?
It makes 2022 one of the best years for the sector on record, but it begs the question: where do we go from here?
How Data Centers Are Guzzling up the World’s Electricity
Research shows that DCs consume close to 1% of the worlds electricity consumption!
What's New in the Science?
The cleanest drinking water is recycled
New research shows treated wastewater can be more dependable and less toxic than common tap water sources including rivers and groundwater.
Pink snow: Here's how this 'cute' phenomenon threatens water supplies in the US
Pink snow isn't as cute as it sounds. Snow algae, a group of freshwater microalgae, gives snow its pink color.
Minnesota tries new technologies to remove 'forever chemicals' from water
"The hope here is that we are able to reduce the spread of PFAS, so that we can reduce the number of necessary treatment options on wells,"
Plastic Rain Is a Now a Thing, And We've Underestimated Just How Heavy It Is
A plastic mist descends from the sky each day. You can't see it. Or feel it. It has no smell or taste.
I sit at the intersection of watertech and finance. I have been working for the past 3 years for Water Innovation Advisors (WIA), an investment and networking platform I co-founded with Stuart Rudick. I am currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Corporate Finance in Switzerland while helping to build HydroDAO. Previously, I had roles in fashion retail at Longchamp and Giorgio Armani. Of French, Swiss, and Japanese roots, my studies and work have taken me to many watery spots on the planet. I have lived in London (UK), San Francisco (US), Boston (US), Lausanne (CH), Lyon (FR), and Kobe (JP).
Why Water?
My father taught me the importance of cherishing nature as he would regularly take me on outdoor activities skiing, climbing, hiking, alpinism, and canyoning. The first time I was confronted with climate change and its impact on water was in my early teens when I climbed the Glacier Blanc in the French Alps and he would tell me how much bigger the glacier used to be in his time and how the glacier would probably not exist in a couple of generations. It seemed to me unfair that I could get the opportunity to experience such a grandiose spectacle but my children could not because of previous generations’ actions and selfish decisions, but I felt too young to act upon it at the time.
Throughout my studies, new encounters with the power of water started to make me aware of its importance. Water could have killed me when I got stuck in a heavy rainstorm on top of the Huangshan Mountain in the Anhui Province in China, but water also saved my life through ten days of chest drainage after I got a spontaneous pneumothorax in London.
While in California, I discovered environmental movements, social activism, and passionate people who ended up influencing me, particularly Stuart Rudick. Stuart made me aware of the urgency of solving climate change and of the crucial role water plays in the environment.
What's in the Future?
5 Billion People Will Face Water Shortages by 2050, U.N. Says
The World Meteorological Organization warns that climate-related shortages in water resources could affect two thirds of the world’s population by midcentury and will be felt unevenly.
