Herbi BIOdevice, here to make your community greener
Our biodevices Herbi are cyber-physical products that enhance local carbon sequestration and air pollutants removal, quantifying and communicating to citizens the amount of captured CO2e. This value is tokenised and converted into a tradable environmental asset, benefiting local communities (1 token = 1 herbi). The whole system creates an emotional relationship between people and nature through technology, contributing to net-zero, nature-positive and healthy cities.
National
Portugal
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Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
As individual(s) in partnership with organisation(s)
First name: Patrícia Last name: Barros Gender: Female Please describe the type of organization(s) you work in partnership with: I am a student at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon and I belong to the team who has developed the ‘Herbi’ concept.
Our team works in collaboration with CEiiA, a center of engineering and development that develops new technologies, products, and services for urban mobility and sustainability to accelerate the transition to carbon neutral cities.
In fact, the creation of our concept started in an Advanced Summer Program called “SLI - Sustainable Livings Innovators” organized by CEiiA, in July-August 2022. CEiiA challenged us to contribute to answering to the problem of climate change by developing a device for carbon sequestration aligned with the NEB principles: sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics.
During the program, we had the opportunity to work with other organizations (mentors), such as the University of Minho, the University of Algarve, ESAD – College of Art and Design, Porto Business School, University of Lisboa, Armis, Digital Transformation Lab, National Innovation Agency, and INconcept – Architecture Office.
We have already some preliminary contacts with the Municipality of Matosinhos and local publics schools, to present our concept and to analyze collaboration opportunities for the development and experimentation of the biodevice.
Age: 20 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Portugal Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rua Frei Francisco Foreiro 2, 5º Dto Town: Lisbon Postal code: 1150-166 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 912 584 453 E-mail:patriciadbarros1@icloud.com
First name: Mário Last name: Miranda Gender: Male Please describe the type of organization(s) you work in partnership with: I am a student at the Falculty of Engineering in the University of Porto and I belong to the team who has developed the ‘Herbi’ concept.
Our team works in collaboration with CEiiA, a center of engineering and development that develops new technologies, products, and services for urban mobility and sustainability to accelerate the transition to carbon neutral cities.
In fact, the creation of our concept started in an Advanced Summer Program called “SLI - Sustainable Livings Innovators” organized by CEiiA, in July-August 2022. CEiiA challenged us to contribute to answering to the problem of climate change by developing a device for carbon sequestration aligned with the NEB principles: sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics.
During the program, we had the opportunity to work with other organizations (mentors), such as the University of Minho, the University of Algarve, ESAD – College of Art and Design, Porto Business School, University of Lisboa, Armis, Digital Transformation Lab, National Innovation Agency, and INconcept – Architecture Office.
We have already some preliminary contacts with the Municipality of Matosinhos and local publics schools, to present our concept and to analyze collaboration opportunities for the development and experimentation of the biodevice.
Age: 22 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Portugal Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rua Aureliano Lima 230, 2º Esq Tras Town: Vila Nova De Gaia Postal code: 4430-020 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 911 146 462 E-mail:mario.r.d.miranda@gmail.com
First name: Nuno Last name: Figueiredo Gender: Male Please describe the type of organization(s) you work in partnership with: I am a student at the Falculty of Engineering in the University of Porto and I belong to the team who has developed the ‘Herbi’ concept.
Our team works in collaboration with CEiiA, a center of engineering and development that develops new technologies, products, and services for urban mobility and sustainability to accelerate the transition to carbon neutral cities.
In fact, the creation of our concept started in an Advanced Summer Program called “SLI - Sustainable Livings Innovators” organized by CEiiA, in July-August 2022. CEiiA challenged us to contribute to answering to the problem of climate change by developing a device for carbon sequestration aligned with the NEB principles: sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics.
During the program, we had the opportunity to work with other organizations (mentors), such as the University of Minho, the University of Algarve, ESAD – College of Art and Design, Porto Business School, University of Lisboa, Armis, Digital Transformation Lab, National Innovation Agency, and INconcept – Architecture Office.
We have already some preliminary contacts with the Municipality of Matosinhos and local publics schools, to present our concept and to analyze collaboration opportunities for the development and experimentation of the biodevice.
Age: 25 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Portugal Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rua Soares de Passos 212 Town: Porto Postal code: 4150-711 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 911 744 114 E-mail:nunovmffigueiredo@gmail.com
First name: Matheus Last name: Costa Gender: Male Please describe the type of organization(s) you work in partnership with: I am a student at the School of Engineering in the University of Minho and I belong to the team who has developed the ‘Herbi’ concept.
Our team works in collaboration with CEiiA, a center of engineering and development that develops new technologies, products, and services for urban mobility and sustainability to accelerate the transition to carbon neutral cities.
In fact, the creation of our concept started in an Advanced Summer Program called “SLI - Sustainable Livings Innovators” organized by CEiiA, in July-August 2022. CEiiA challenged us to contribute to answering to the problem of climate change by developing a device for carbon sequestration aligned with the NEB principles: sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics.
During the program, we had the opportunity to work with other organizations (mentors), such as the University of Minho, the University of Algarve, ESAD – College of Art and Design, Porto Business School, University of Lisboa, Armis, Digital Transformation Lab, National Innovation Agency, and INconcept – Architecture Office.
We have already some preliminary contacts with the Municipality of Matosinhos and local publics schools, to present our concept and to analyze collaboration opportunities for the development and experimentation of the biodevice.
Age: 20 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Portugal If relevant, please select your other nationality: Brazil Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Rua Alfredo Vieira Gomes 174, 4º Esq Town: Braga Postal code: 4700-203 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 937 635 725 E-mail:matheusccosta1305@gmail.com
Our Biodevice Herbi is a cyber-physical product that enhances local carbon sequestration and air pollutants removal, quantifying and communicating to citizens the amount of captured CO2e. This value is tokenised and converted into a tradable environmental asset, benefiting local communities. They create an emotional relationship between people and nature through technology. Combining technology, biology and creativity, our solution integrates a physical (product) and a digital (data platform and connectivity) dimension. The biodevices function as living organisms that accelerate the power of nature, enhancing carbon capture. They use a combination of selected native plants with a favorable morphophysiology for CO2 sequestration and air pollutants removal (NOx, CO, O3, SO2, PM10, PM2.5). They incorporate sensors that detect pollutant alert levels according to WHO air quality guidelines, communicate with the data platform and activate a system that forces the air to pass through the plants, improving the phytoremediation of these toxic substances. The biodevices incorporate technological components which allow the real time quantification of the CO2 sequestration by vegetal biomass in a reliable way, considering the total photosynthetic surface leaf area and the net photosynthesis rate. The amount of CO2 sequestered by the biodevices is communicated to citizens, through apps, making them aware of the importance of these nature-based solutions to decarbonize cities, inducing behavior change. Taking care of these biodevices is a task of local communities. The captured CO2e is converted into tokens, making the intrinsic value of carbon sequestered tangible. As environmental tradable assets, tokens can be exchanged for local public services or can be used to offset carbon emissions. Citizens and Herbi will physically and digitally communicate and interact with each other, creating a network of humanized equipments, contributing to net-zero and nature-positive cities.
Carbon Sequestration
Air Pollution
Link Youth and Nature
Community Building
Sustainable Living
Biodevices key objectives in terms of sustainability are:
- To accelerate the transition of cities to carbon neutrality, enhancing carbon sequestration. To achieve carbon-neutral cities, emissions-reduction efforts alone are not enough. To remove CO2 from the air is also needed. Our biodevices will not only accelerate CO2 sequestration, but also quantify and communicate to the citizens the economic value of the captured CO2, inducing behavior change.
- To improve air quality, by removing air pollutants from the atmosphere. Besides their contribution for CO2 sequestration through photosynthesis, plants also can remove air pollutants absorbing them through their stomata or simply retaining them on the surface of their tissues. Biodevices will enhance air pollutants removal, making citizens aware of their impact on human health.
- To foster urban biodiversity, contributing to preserving and protecting natural ecosystems. Climate change and biodiversity loss are interconnected crisis and need to be tackled together. Our Herbis not only reduce the impact of climate change, through CO2 sequestration, but also benefit communities through ecosystem services.
Incorporating a network of into cities results in climate change adaptation, improves air quality, and fosters biodiversity, with positive impacts on people’s health and quality of life. It’s the unique biodevice in the world that quantifies in real time carbon sequestration from the atmosphere, in a credible way, converting their value into a tradable environmental asset that benefits local communities. Citizens become aware of their contribution to improve their city (the value of their sustainable behaviors), which contributes to changing the habits of all the community.
Moreover, our biodevices are created based on sustainability by design principles. They are eco-efficient and work in balance with the city, are energy autonomous, reuse water and only incorporate materials with a low carbon footprint.
Our key objective in terms of aesthetics is to transform urban spaces into beautiful environments, introducing ‘elements’ in harmony with people and nature. Our biodevices intend to be a natural element in the city, perfectly integrated into the urban environment. The equipments are open and adaptable; they have a common base, to which modules are added with complementary functionalities and design adjusted to the different urban contexts. For example, they can operate autonomously or be coupled to buildings (e.g., windows) or urban furniture, such as bus stops, mobility hubs, lighting posts, or EV charging stations.
Thus, our biodevices embrace the existent and seek to be almost invisible because they are in harmony with the surroundings. Design flexibility assumes a core value tackling different shapes and proportions and allowing its implementation in different zones/cities with different cultures and architectural concepts. We look at the natural scale of natural elements. We follow lines that are both organic and polygonal. We find a balance of tensions, pursuing the reconnection with nature.
Finally, our biodevices provide quality experiences for people, through their emotional relation with nature. Citizens will take care and protect the biodevices, communicating and interacting with them in a pleasant way, which increases their perception about the value of nature and promotes behavior change and the adoption of sustainable lifestyles. Our biodevices are community builders, creating third places where citizens build relationships, exchange ideas and share values and practices.
Our key objectives in terms of inclusion are:
- To create inclusive communities, sharing the same values and practices, thus offering a transformative approach for meeting sustainability challenges (from a ‘I economy’ to a ‘We economy’), privileging the participation of young people and intergenerational interaction. In fact, biodevices are ‘emotional products’: people become emotionally connected to the devices, behaving as their guardians and caregivers. Preservation, protection, maintenance, and surveillance of these smart nature-based solutions are a common task of small communities, such as schools, neighborhoods, or local associations, ensuring their acceptance and continued support from the public. Our biodevices are accessible for all, being available in the public space or private spaces with public access.
- To benefit local comunities, valuing their sustainable behaviors and practices. By taking care and interacting with the biodevices, local communities benefit from the value of the carbon captured. They can use tokens to offset their carbon emissions or exchange them for local public services, such as municipal services or even for paying city taxes or getting fiscal incentives. Moreover, providing information about the CO2 captured, this solution also inspires other citizens and local stakeholders to adopt sustainable values and actions.
- To bring individuals closer to nature, offering them quality of experience benefits, and promoting their health, well-being, and quality of life. Our objective goes beyond incorporating nature in cities – the biodevices quantify and communicate to their caregivers the amount and economic value of the captured CO2, making them aware of their contribution to urban decarbonization, which promotes their reconnection to nature. Our approach provides new societal models and governing systems of the relation between human, nature, and technology.
Citizens will be actively involved in the development and operation of the Herbis. They will take care and protect the biodevices, communicating and interacting with them, and obtaining information about the value of CO2 captured and level of air quality. They will establish an emotional relationship with the products (reconnecting with nature), contributing to their evolution and performance. Caregivers of the biodevices will benefit from the value of CO2e captured. This value is converted into tokens that can be exchanged for local public services or used to offset carbon emissions. We will start by involving specific communities, such as schools, because we believe that young people like us are more motivated to establish a relation with these biodevices, inspiring their families, and friends. Groups of students will take care of the Herbis located in the school environment, becoming aware of the value of the captured CO2 and its impact on urban decarbonization. They can monitor the data collected in real time, through an app, and organize gamification exercises. It is possible to report the captured CO2 in the schools’ sustainability reports, to compensate its carbon footprint.
Local companies will be involved at a later stage. They can sponsor biodevices to be installed in their facilities. The CO2 removed is quantified and tokenized and can be used to offset their carbon emissions, being reported in their sustainability reports. Other business models for the private sector can also be considered. Cafes with terraces can buy these biodevices to remove pollutants from the atmosphere and clean the air in the surroundings, with benefits for their customers. The sequestered CO2, quantified in real time, is then converted into tokens that can be used for paying city taxes.
Besides these direct impacts, our Herbis will contribute to mitigate climate change, increase air quality, foster biodiversity, and improve human health – promoting sustainable living for all.
The creation of our concept started in an Advanced Summer Program called “SLI - Sustainable Living Innovators” organized by CEiiA – Centre of Engineering and Product Development, in July-August 2022. CEiiA challenged us to contribute to answering to the problem of climate change by developing a device for carbon sequestration aligned with the NEB principles: sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics.
In this context, we are a team of fourteen students (high-school and university) with ages ranging from 17 to 28 years old with different backgrounds. Together, we constitute a baby startup stemming from the SLI summer program. This application is headed by four of us, who constitute the leaders’ board.
After several theoretical and practical sessions, we have started to develop the concept of this biodevice with the involvement of a group of mentors from CEiiA, universities and companies from different Portuguese regions, with different areas of knowledge: University of Algarve, ESAD – College of Art and Design, University of Minho, Porto Business School, University of Lisboa, Armis, Digital Transformation Lab, National Innovation Agency, INconcept – Architecture Office, Medical School of Porto, etc.
Other local stakeholders have been involved, such as the Municipality of Matosinhos and local schools, providing inputs and contributions to improve our concept. To develop and test our product we will start by involving these public schools, with the support of the City Council, because we believe that young people like us are particularly motivated to work with these biodevices, inspiring their families, friends, and neighborhoods to adopt sustainable behaviors. They will be the users of our Herbis in the future.
After SLI our team has decided to continue this adventure, going from the biodevice concept to the prototype, under a ‘start-up’ approach. This application to the NEB prizes will contribute to systematize (and potentially validate) our concept.
Several disciplines are reflected in the design of our concept. Firstly, we are a team with competences in mechanical and electronic engineering, supported by our internship colleagues with competences in the areas of industrial design, environmental engineering, and architecture/urbanism. Secondly, the mentors and institutions involved in the Advanced Summer Program SLI have also different areas of knowledge: biology, technology and engineering, design, social sciences, architecture, and urbanism. These domains have contributed to the concept as follows:
Biology: Botany and Plant Physiology for selection of plant species with the greatest potential for carbon sequestration, and Biotechnology to optimize phytoremediation of air pollutants.
Technology and engineering: Mechanical engineering, electronics, and prototyping for physical product development, and digital competences for connectivity and data platform development, such as IoT.
Design: Product and service design supporting imagining, creating, and iterating with products to be developed with a user-centred approach.
Architecture and urbanism: Urban design for the integration of biodevices into cities and understanding the relation between citizens and urban spaces giving meaning to it - how people perceive and use their environment.
Social sciences: Behavioral economics and sociology for users’ analysis and stakeholders mapping, contributing to understanding community building.
The process of interaction has been shaped by a design thinking approach, which facilitated the concept development with the contribution of people from different disciplines. In fact, this approach is helpful for dealing with open, complex, and networked problem situations, balancing tensions, and providing a collaborative environment for all. This multidisciplinary process contributed to build a distinctive solution based on different visions of the cities of tomorrow, mixing sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics values.
Our Herbis have innovative features when compared to other actions in the field of the concept, namely:
- Using a wise combination of plant species and technology, the Herbis enhance CO2e capture at local level and contribute to improve air quality, accelerating the transition to carbon neutral cities while fostering biodiversity. It’s the first worldwide solution that quantifies in real time the carbon sequestered communicating this value to citizens and communities.
- The value of sequestered CO2e is tokenized and converted into a tradable environmental asset, allowing the creation of a carbon market at local level, with benefits to local communities and stakeholders. Tokens make tangible the value of captured CO2, allowing their exchange for local public services or their use to offset carbon emissions of local stakeholders. This innovative approach makes visible the value of nature services, benefiting the ones who take care of urban vegetation and all related biodiversity.
- The Herbis promote human-nature interaction through technology. Citizens will physical and digitally communicate and interact with the Herbi, and the product will communicate and interact with individuals and communities, creating an emotional relation among them. They also contribute to create inclusive communities who take care of the Herbis, sharing the same values and practices, and benefiting from its services.
- The creation of a network of Herbis in cities, as human-friendly products, that interact with each other and with the network of citizens is a distinctive characteristic of our solution. Herbis can share resources, such as energy or information, or communicate with their caregivers and the community, providing data to support decision-making. Information about air quality, for example, allows users to choose ‘healthy areas’ for cycling, walking, or running.
As a universal concept, our Herbis could be successfully transferred to other places, but some adjustments are needed due to the different physical, social, cultural, and natural contexts. Herbis are not a turnkey solution; their design and development depend on the different contexts of implementation.
The Herbi concept assumes that in each location, we chose native species well adapted to the environmental conditions, to promote habitats protection and biodiversity. Moreover, the performance of the Herbis depends on the cultural values, practices, and spirit of community of each context. The location of the biodevices will also vary due to the different geographical and climate conditions, such as the pollution hotspots of each city. Incorporated technology is neutral and can be used in different cities.
In terms of groups of beneficiaries, the concept is also replicable. In fact, we will start by involving specific communities, such as local public schools, but our solution can be used by neighborhoods, local associations, private companies, or city councils.
The objective is to test the solution in the City of Matosinhos, but our roadmap already includes its deployment in more 10 cities in the North of Portugal, and its replication to the network of 100 European carbon-neutral cities by 2030 (Horizon Europe Program).
Our concept addresses several related global challenges that need to be tackled together:
- Climate change: Before the COP27 UN climate conference in Egypt, the UNEP report (2022) stated that no credible pathway to 1.5C is in place. A drastically reduction of carbon emissions is needed through a rapid transformation of societies, in line with the European Green Deal. But this transition won’t happen without enhancing carbon sequestration.
- Biodiversity loss: Slowing down biodiversity loss, understood as the reduction or disappearance of the variety of living beings that inhabit the planet, is one of humanity's great challenges. As stated during the 2022 UN biodiversity conference, COP15, we are failing to meet all the targets set for slowing down biodiversity destruction by 2020.
- Air Pollution: The zero pollution ambition has been stated in the EU Action Plan "Towards a Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil". In fact, 96% of European urban population was exposed to levels of air pollutants above the health-based guideline levels (EAA, 2022), endangering the cardio-respiratory health causing personal suffering, significant health-care costs, and many premature deaths, about 238,000 in the EU-27 in 2020.
Our network of Herbis is a local solution to these global problems, contributing to the transition to carbon-neutral, nature-positive, and healthy cities, balancing the relation between people, nature, and technology. It’s based on a life-centered approach, enabled by the participation of citizens and communities, promoting behavior change and the adoption of sustainable living patterns.
