Wasted potential: Giant Bananas & Thermoelectric Generators

Enset is the staple food for 20 million people, but barely anyone has ever heard of it. In this talk I’ll explain how this giant banana relative was domesticated in the Ethiopian highlands, how it has earned the name ‘the tree against hunger’ why it might just change the way we think about crops. This story is important, because of more than 7000 edible plants, over 50% of plant derived calories now come from just three species - rice, wheat and maize. If we are going to tackle the global biodiversity crisis, then we mustn’t neglect agriculture, perhaps our greatest invention.

Two thirds of the energy we produce as a society is lost as waste heat. On top of that, each of us is emitting about 80 W of body heat to the environment. Waste heat is one of the largest energy resources available to us. What if we could tap into this resource? Would it solve our energy problems? This event will explore these questions and will introduce thermoelectric generators – semiconductor devices which can convert waste heat directly into electricity. These green energy devices will be introduced along with the research and development steps to enable their widescale deployment.