'Turning impossible dreams into reality'

Protein bars from recycled plastic bottles? An indoor farm on wheels? Western prof gets innovative with green tech to solve human problems

- MARCO CHOWN OVED

Joshua Pearce prepares to conduct one of Canada's first tests of agrivoltaics, which intersperses rows of solar panels with rows of plants. Rather than forcing you to choose between a solar farm or traditional crops, the practice lets you have both.

Talking about climate change can be unsettling. Some of its challenges seem almost too big to comprehend. But there are things that can have a real impact. And climate “action” doesn’t always look like you think it might. In a limited series, the Star profiles innovators who are making grassroots contributions in their communities.

Solar panels are floating on ponds in the dead of winter, powering a heater to keep them from freezing over. Semi-transparent panels are affixed atop greenhouses, allowing light through to the plants while supplying energy to keep them warm.

This experimental farm on the outskirts of London, Ont., features an indoor farm on wheels, a solar powered hydrogen electrolyzer and a machine that makes protein bars from recycled plastic bottles — though no one wants to eat one until it passes food toxicity tests.

3D printers whir quietly as teams of students tinker in sheds and labs, collaborating with academics in dozens of countries worldwide through open-source research shared online.

There’s so much going on, it’s difficult to get professor Joshua Pearce to explain each project in depth, let alone pull back to reflect on the larger vision.

“I think of myself as the first ‘Open Source Chair’ in Canada,” he said.