He cleaned a lagoon… with bubbles

Meet Marino Morikawa, a Peruvian nanoscientist.

When his father called to say the lagoon of his childhood—El Cascajo—had become a dump, Marino left his lab in Japan and flew home.

Using ultra-fine nanobubbles (≈50–100 nm) made with hardware-store parts, he built a natural, chemical-free system that traps pollutants and bacteria:

Inject nanobubbles into the water

As they rise slowly, their ionic charge attracts contaminants

Biofilters with native microorganisms trap and break them down—no chemicals, no disruption to the ecosystem

Results:

✔️ In 13 months, the water was drinkable again

✔️ In 3 years, migratory birds returned

Today, Marino’s mission:

💧 Ultra-effective, low-cost decontamination with zero chemicals

🌍 Active projects at Lake Titicaca and desert oases affected by wastewater from 1.5M+ people

🌱 100 ecosystems restored by 2030, in partnership with local communities

This is deep climate tech in action: simple physics, local biology, real impact.

Would you deploy this in your city?

Credit Ecomedy for the story

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This city ski slope heats and powers 150,000 people—by burning their trash.
It sits on top of Copenhagen’s waste-to-energy plant, CopenHill.

In the late 2000s, the city wanted to shut down coal but still had 440,000 tons of non-recyclable waste to deal with every year.
Instead of burying or exporting it, they turned it into energy.

The challenge: build an incinerator that’s clean, efficient, and embraced by locals.
Danish architects BIG—Bjarke Ingels Group proposed something radical: make it visible, fun, educational, and a true public place.

Enter CopenHill (opened 2017): a sharp, industrial building with high-performance filters to limit emissions.
On the roof: a 400 m ski slope, an 85 m climbing wall, hiking trails, and a 10,000 m² green roof.

It reflects Copenhagen’s ambition to lead on urban sustainability.
CopenHill doesn’t hide waste. It shows it, treats it, and transforms it.

Today, CopenHill =
♻️ 440,000 tons of waste transformed each year
🏠 Heat & power for 150,000 residents
🌱 A green roof, sports, and public space on top of an industrial plant

Would you ski on a power plant?

#climatetech #wastetoenergy #urbaninnovation #CopenHill #Copenhagen #BIG #architecture #sustainability #deeptech #Reactor

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In Georgetown (USA), a full 3D-printed neighborhood is coming online—fast. Not a concept render: real homes, printed on-site, then finished with solar + smart energy controls.

• Speed: printed in about 3 weeks for the shell phase
• Less waste: additive construction = minimal material offcuts
• Energy positive potential: solar panels + smart thermostats to shrink bills and emissions
• Repeatable: scalable playbook for resilient, affordable housing

3D printing cuts concrete use via optimized forms, reduces truck rolls, and accelerates near-zero waste builds. Pair with low-carbon mixes and rooftop PV to push toward net-positive neighborhoods.

• What’s the embodied carbon vs. traditional builds?
• Can we swap to low-carbon cement or geopolymer mixes at scale?
• How do we finance community-level storage to bank daytime solar?

🔔 Subscribe to Reactor for deeptech that scales climate impact.

💬 Would you live in a printed home? Tell us why—or what would make you say yes.

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