ONLY TECHNOLOGY WILL HELP END THE CLIMATE CRISIS: Yaron Benjamin-Nun, CTO of Nostromo

Nostromo, an Israeli startup, has created a sustainable energy storage system to combat climate change.

As the threat of climate change looms large, green technology (clean–tech) have become a hot button topic in the quest for technological and innovative solutions to climate change.

This is why there are so many opinions on whether technology can slow down or reverse climate change. Technology has a downside, which can lead to serious environmental damage. Even so, the fact remains that technological innovations are helping to tackle some of the world’s most pressing climate impacts.

For example, Israel, a Middle Eastern country located on the Mediterranean Sea is currently leading the charge in the development of green-tech (technologies that are intended to mitigate or reverse global warming) in an effort to combat the growing climate catastrophe.

In November’s speech at COP26, Naftali Benjaminnet, Israeli Prime Minister, vouched for more green technology.

Prime Minister Bennet, the Israeli government, and already Nostromo, a pioneering Israeli Thermal-Energy Storage company that transforms industrial buildings into energy storage assets, have expressed interest in Nostromo. This support comes in the promise of the company’s capabilities to literally freeze the status of global warming.
In a recent interview, this writer posed some important questions to Yaron Ben-Nun (CTO, Founder) about technological solutions for climate change.

Q:There’s momentum building up for a new generation of innovative solutions to combat climate change. What are the most recent technological solutions to the climate crisis problem?

[YARON BEN-NUN]Investing in sustainable energy storage is one of the best ways to combat climate change. Because it’s only with efficient and clean energy storage solutions that we’ll be able to fully harness the power of renewables and pave the way towards a carbon-free world. While there are many energy storage solutions available, thermal energy storage technology (TES) has the greatest potential for solving many of our climate crises questions without causing more harm.

Nostromo is a solution that uses water-based storage (TES) to transform commercial or industrial buildings from grid burdens to energy storage assets. The “IceBrick”stores cold energy during off-peak or surplus solar hours and uses it to power commercial cooling. In this way, we’re able to shift up to 95 percent of a commercial building’s electricity demand for cooling which at peak hours accounts for the bulk of a building’s energy usage.

Q: Can technology help solve climate crisis?

[YARON BEN-NUN]Technology is the only way to solve the climate crisis. In many senses we find ourselves with our backs to the wall, and it’s only technology that will save us. Think about it: We’re not going to stop the world and we can’t just turn off all what’s causing harm. We have to take action. Technology is our only weapon against this enemy, and that is the reality.

Q: What makes Israel climate-innovative?

[YARON BEN-NUN]Israel is a very hot country. Every aspect of our daily lives is affected by our need to keep cool, from the construction of apartment buildings to the vibrant outdoor dining culture.
We’re also an innovative nation with the largest number of startups per capita in the world. Dan Senor, the co-author of Start-Up Nation, made the point that Israel’s aptitude for innovation: “is a story not just of talent but of tenacity, of insatiable questioning of authority, of determined informality, combined with a unique attitude toward failure, teamwork, mission, risk, and cross-disciplinary creativity.”
Combining these two factors together creates an ice storage business and other climate innovations.

How Nostromo tackles the cooling problem

Cooling is often overlooked as a major contributor in global warming. It’s a cycle of supply and demand that pushes the limits of electrical grids capacity to power cooling systems (AC, Freezer, etc). According to an EIA study, this accounts for as much as 40% of peak demand. The earth is warming rapidly, so cooling demand will only increase.

Nostromo is solving the cooling problem by installing modular ice cell (IceBricks), which transform traditional cooling system chillers. They charge cold energy during low electricity demand hours or when there is a surplus in renewable energy and then discharge the energy during peak consumption hours. This relieves the grid from cooling system electricity demands. Nostromo’sIceBrick solution is one that can handle the demand, and prevent the installation of damaging power plants. Nostromo uses water instead of lithium storage solutions. This makes it safer and more reliable to install in urban areas.

By Dela Ahiawor

—DelaAhiawor focuses on sustainability/ climate related journalism and events across the globe—-