A scientist is using food waste to turn ultraviolet radiation into electricity with his AuREUS solar panels, making clean energy more accessible and giving farms a way to mitigate losses — while also turning a contributor to warming global temperatures into a practical product.
In an interview with Dyson, Carvey Ehren Maigue — inventor of AuREUS — explained that conventional solar panels can't effectively transform UV radiation into energy. However, his organic luminescent compounds derived from waste crops can turn UV into visible light.
"I would like to help people access clean, renewable energy here in the Philippines," Ehren Maigue said. "... I focused on solar energy because it's a resource that's all around us."
Food waste is another abundant resource. The World Resources Institute estimated that up to 40% of food globally is lost or wasted. In the Philippines and around the world, food costs are also rising as farmers suffer losses attributable to adverse weather conditions.
AuREUS technology helps farmers upcycle crop waste, mitigating their losses, while solar gives them an energy source that can reduce daily living expenses without producing toxic pollution. Reusing the food waste also reduces another source of harmful carbon pollution that traps heat in the atmosphere and acts as fuel for crop-destroying extreme weather events.
"With AuREUS, we upcycle the crops of the farmers that were hit by natural disasters, such as typhoons, which also happen to be an effect of climate change. By doing this, we can be both future-looking and solve the problems that we are currently experiencing now," Ehren Maigue told Dyson after winning the inaugural Sustainability Award of the James Dyson Award 2020.
Jimmy Nguyen of The Borgen Project, an organization focused on ending poverty and hunger, lauded AuREUS solar panels as a "breakthrough in sustainable energy and waste reduction."
As for Ehren Maigue, he believes his technology could transform other industries as well, taking the world ever closer to a more prosperous and sustainable future.
"I want to create threads and fabric so that even your clothes would be able to harvest ultraviolet light and convert it into electricity. We are also looking to create curved plates for use on electric cars, aeroplanes, and even boats," he told Dyson.
"... In the same way computers were only used by the government or the military and now the same technology is in our smartphones, I want solar energy harvesting to be more accessible."
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