Start-ups: good ideas to combat extreme weather
How moss is used to cool air and AI to combat flooding - innovations by German start-ups are providing protection against extreme weather events.
Anja Leuschner ,
30.09.2024 
Initiative for clean and cool air
Liang Wu, having lived in Shanghai as a child, is only too familiar with the problem of heat and pollution. Since 2014, he has been working on solutions with a team in Germany. The result: Green City Solutions. Based in the German state of Brandenburg, the start-up has developed a method of purifying and cooling air – with the aid of moss. The moss is used in regenerative bio filters that filter up to 82 percent of the fine dust from ambient air and cool the air by up to four degrees Celsius. The moss modules are used for example in “City Trees” - three metre-high wooden towers that contain not only the moss modules but also fans, sensors and an irrigation system. The innovation was supported by the Eurostars Programme run by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Using artificial intelligence to combat flooding
The start-up Okeanos wants to make early flood warnings more efficient with artificial intelligence, for example by providing precise street-by-street predictions of heavy rainfall. The idea is to use AI to combine the huge amount of available data and draw up precise maps and identify critical sites more quickly. In 2023, the company won the QUBO Innovation Award of Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) for its “Floodlight” municipal early flood warning project. During its establishment phase, Okeanos received support from RUB’s Worldfactory Start-up Center and the EFRE START-UP transfer programme of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The fight against forest fires: help from space
Heatwaves and droughts around the world are also increasing the frequency of devastating forest fires. The Munich-based firm Orora Technologies has come up with a method by which to more rapidly identify risks. It involves setting up a network of satellites equipped with thermal imaging cameras. The images allow even the smallest fires to be spotted. The idea is to discover and fight fires before they get out of control. The firm’s technology is now being deployed on six continents.
