Four Green Tech Ideas to Save Our Soils

December 5, 2019

To mark World Soil Day 2019, WIPO GREEN features four sustainable technologies to preserve healthy soil listed in the WIPO GREEN database.

Established in 2014, annual World Soil Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of healthy soils to human wellbeing and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.

Soil degradation and infertility pose both environmental and food security risks that can affect populations at large. Sustainable soil management systems are critical to unlocking the full potential of soils to support food production, store and supply clean water, preserve biodiversity, store carbon, and increase resilience to a changing climate.

That is why the WIPO GREEN database – one of the key tools WIPO GREEN uses to address climate change and related global challenges – contains multiple technologies focused on sustainable soil management and soil improvement.

What is the WIPO GREEN database?

The WIPO GREEN database of innovative technologies and needs is a catalogue of sustainable solutions and needs across the world. It offers technologies from prototypes to marketable products, available for license, collaboration, joint ventures, and sale. It also contains needs defined by companies, institutions, and non-governmental organizations looking for technologies to address specific environmental or related problems.

Four technologies to save our soil

Remote sensing of subsurface soil moisture

Researchers at Purdue University, USA, developed a technology that allows monitoring levels of subsurface soil moisture remotely, providing an effective and quick way to manage irrigation on large scale. The method involves an airborne instrument using reflective electromagnetic radiation, which can provide much higher resolution and more targeted measurements than satellites

Increasing water retention in soil to mitigate drought

Researchers at the University of Delaware, USA, have developed an innovative process to increase water retention and moisture content in soil and decrease evaporation. They propose using bacteria Bacillus subtilis UD1022 that can change the structure of soil matrix and soil surface properties.

Heavy metal remediation via modified bio-oils

Agricultural Research Center, USA, offers a novel method to extract toxic metals from soil by applying a fatty acid to it for a period of time and then removing it safely together with the metals extracted.

NAPL Calculator: software application

An environmental engineer at Savannah River National Laboratory, USA, developed a software application to determine whether non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) contaminants are present in soil or other substances. The NAPL Calculator is designed to make this calculation method accessible, understandable and self-explanatory. The user selects the chemical(s) detected in the soil analyses, enters their concentrations, and provides information on soil porosity. The software then generates a robust body of information that can be used by environmental engineers to assess the level of contamination.

About WIPO GREEN

WIPO GREEN is a global marketplace for sustainable technology, supporting global efforts to address climate change. Through its online database and regional activities, WIPO GREEN connects green tech seekers and providers in order to catalyze green innovation and accelerate green tech transfer and diffusion.