'Earthshot' prize winner with Vancouver connection hopes to mitigate wildfire risk, change perceptions
Kevin Kung says the idea first surfaced when he was in Kenya nearly a decade ago.
The mechanical engineer, who grew up in Vancouver and, at the time, was studying at MIT, said he noticed that virgin wood in rural areas was being turned into cooking fuel.
And Kung knew there had to be a better way.
“When I was graduating, I realized that a lot of that technology, even though they are very state-of-the-art, it ends up sitting on the shelf,” Kung said.
Fast forward to 2020, and Kung and his co-founder were running a village-based pilot project in India, through a startup they had named Takachar.
“‘Taka’ in Swahili, which is spoken in Kenya, means ‘trash,’" Kung said. “So that name stuck.”
Over the years, they had built and rebuilt a portable chemical reactor, of sorts, refining the size, shape and design one piece at a time.
Stalks and stems, left over vegetation, and forest residues, which are collectively called biomass, go in one end.
And with heat (but no external energy), they together undergo a process that turns out a carbon rich product that can be further engineered as biofuel or fertilizer.
“Biomass is often very loose, wet and bulky,” Kung explained. “Which makes it very difficult and expensive to transport.”
The whole idea, Kung said, is for the equipment to be latched onto tractors or pickups, where it can be transported into hard-to-reach areas, including forests.
“Wildfires often are exacerbated because there’s a build up in loose vegetation in forests,” Kung said.
“Even after (forest) management operations, they’re too expensive to truck out,” he added.
On Sunday, Takachar became one of the inaugural winners of the Earthshot Prize, created by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The foundation describes the prize as “the the most prestigious global environment prize in history, designed to incentivise change and help repair our planet over the next ten years.”
Takachar took home the top spot in the “Clean Our Air” category, which means Kung and his team will receive $1.7 million in grant money.
“That will definitely go toward scaling up our initial pilot, which right now involves 5,000 farmers (in India),” Kung said, adding that the company is already testing in California.
He also wants to build a research and development centre in Vancouver, and said the startup is actively looking for local partners in forestry and agriculture to demo the technology.
Beyond scaling up, Kung said he’s witnessed a paradigm shift among those who’ve seen the process first hand.
“They start seeing this almost as a commodity that they can trade,” Kung said.
“No longer (seeing) them as trash, but as something that has more potential to it.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada Disability Benefit needs to safeguarded from clawbacks, MPs unanimously agree
The federal government needs to safeguard the incoming Canada Disability Benefit from clawbacks and do more to ensure it actually meets the stated aim of lifting people living with disabilities out of poverty, MPs from all parties agree.
BREAKING Security guard shot, seriously injured outside of Drake's Toronto mansion
A security guard working at Drake’s Bridle Path mansion in Toronto was seriously injured in a shooting outside the residence early Tuesday morning, police said.
King Charles too busy to see son Prince Harry during UK trip
Prince Harry will not be seeing his father King Charles during his current visit to Britain as the monarch will be too busy, Harry's spokesperson said on Tuesday.
opinion Tom Mulcair: Turfing Poilievre from House a clear sign of desperation by Trudeau Liberals
When Speaker Greg Fergus tossed out Pierre Poilievre from the House last week, "those of us who have experience as parliamentarians simply couldn't believe our eyes," writes former NDP leader Tom Mulcair in his column for CTVNews.ca
Your body needs these three forms of movement every week
Movement is movement, right? Not exactly. Here’s what your body is looking for in addition to your morning walk or yoga session, according to experts.
Six Canadian children repatriated from detention in Syria, Global Affairs Canada says
The Global Affairs Department says six Canadian children have been repatriated from detention in northeastern Syria.
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Quebec to limit sperm donations per donor after 3 men from same family father hundreds of children
Quebec is looking at tightening the regulations around sperm donation in the province following the release of a documentary that revealed three men from the same family fathered hundreds of children.
Canadian cadets rock mullets and place second at U.S. military competition
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.