Holly Hughes finds ingenuity among young scientists…
Image; The 60th Annual BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition in Dublin.
The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition (BTYSTE) took over Dublin’s RDS last month to showcase innovative science and technology projects from Ireland’s talented youth. Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, BTYSTE is Ireland’s largest science fair and “an incredible platform for change”, according to organiser Mari Cahalane. More than one in ten of this year’s submitted projects focused on tackling environmental issues and climate change. “We saw projects demonstrating environmentally friendly farming practices, ideas for natural fertiliser solutions and experiments to explore and harness wind energy as a tool to tackle climate emissions,” says Mari. “With the environment being one of the biggest issues facing society, it’s been great to see so many of Ireland’s bright young minds propose incredible solutions.”
In Ardscoil Rís in Limerick, Josh Hevey and Marcus McCarthy were on a caffeine buzz, investigating the potential of spent coffee grounds as a zero-waste alternative to firestarters and peat. “We got the idea when I saw a woman putting her coffee grounds into a fire to keep it going,” says Josh.
“There’s so much coffee waste,” Marcus adds. “In Ireland, 9,000 tonnes of coffee waste are generated every year, contributing to our national CO2 emissions.” (A contribution of 11,000 tonnes of CO2, according to Teagasc.) “With our firestarters, we’re hoping to be able to reduce this level of waste and consequently reduce carbon emissions at the same time.”
With base ingredients of used coffee grounds and candle wax, the boys experimented with different additives for a better firelighter, such as used vegetable oil and dryer lint. Everything they used was a waste product: coffee grounds and oil from the café Josh works at, lint from tumble dryers at home, wax from the local church, courtesy of Josh’s granddad, who collected candle stubs for the boys to repurpose. Mixing three parts of dried coffee grounds to two parts melted candle wax, Josh and Marcus created a successful firestarter that is far more sustainable than traditional alternatives, incredibly easy to make at home and that presumably could have a commercial future.
“With the environment being one of the biggest issues facing society, it’s been great to see so many of Ireland’s bright young minds propose incredible solutions.”
Carbon emissions were also on the minds of Aobh Mohally and Ellen O’Callaghan at St Aloysius’ College in Carrigtwohill, Cork. They designed and developed a filter for household chimneys composed of minerals abundantly available in Ireland, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from our winter fires.
“When we researched how much carbon dioxide was released from household chimneys every year in Ireland, we knew we had to find a way to reduce these emissions,” says Ellen. “We found a mineral called olivine which is proven to absorb its own mass in CO2. Once we’d tested this mineral and seen this absorption for ourselves, we tried using other minerals commonly found in Ireland to see if they could also help in reducing carbon emissions.”
Using limestone, quartz, granite, and marble, Aobh and Ellen created a filter that could reduce the carbon dioxide levels of chimneys by approximately 70 per cent. Composed of two layers of heat-resistant wire mesh that sandwich together a mix of all four minerals, the filter was rigorously tested by the girls to ensure both its design and components were as effective as possible. The result is an inexpensive and effective chimney filter that can slash your carbon emissions on evenings when nothing but a roaring fire will do.
In Dublin, Amelia O’Doherty and Cate Slattery from Muckross Park College, were also turning to nature-based solutions to tackle pollution. Their project, “Green filters: investigating the water filtering capabilities of plants”, was focused on the pollution of Irish waterways and the possibility of using common Irish plants to remove damaging nitrates from them.
“We wanted to see what effect plants could have on preventing the eutrophication of Irish water systems,” Amelia tells me. Eutrophication, typically due to agricultural run-off, happens when water becomes oversaturated with nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, causing organisms like algae to grow exponentially in the form of an algal bloom, and kill other lifeforms by blocking sunlight and depleting oxygen levels.
Cate and Amelia were keen to use plants easily accessible in Ireland, choosing mint, geranium, spider plants and Zebrina pendula, and planting each one in a sample of water from the River Dodder. “We just used what was readily available to us but you could definitely use plants that are more effective,” Cate added. Even so, the girls made some startling discoveries.
“Every plant we used successfully removed nitrates from the water,” Amelia tells me. “They also reduced the water’s carbon and mineral hardness which in turn decreased the pH of the water and its turbidity.” Turbidity, they explain, is the clarity of water and how easily light can penetrate it. The rate of filtration differed for each plant, with mint being the fastest of the plants tested.
Though Cate and Amelia want to conduct more research into how different plants can filter different kinds of water – and even remove various toxins – their experiment proffers much hope, both on a local and national level, for improving water quality to reduce pollution, support biodiversity, and protect valuable ecosystems.
I do not believe it is up to young people to drive and supply the innovative solutions we need to get us out of this climate debacle, but seeing their ingenuity, intelligence, and interest on full display at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition cannot help but fill me with idealistic hope. And when I hear success stories of previous participants like Fionn Ferreira, who received global acclaim for his 2018 project that demonstrated a magnet-based method for extracting microplastics from water, (and founded his own business Fionn & Co, and the Green Journey Coalition), my hope feels justified. The magic of the BTYSTE is that it gives students the opportunity to turn their thoughts into action. It’s our job to act on them. @holly_hughes_words