Earth Overshoot Day: 7 Ways Photonics Can Make Consumption More Sustainable

Earth Overshoot Day marks the moment each year when humanity’s consumption of ecological resources surpasses what Earth can regenerate in that year. In 2024, this critical day falls on August 1st. At B-PHOT, we are dedicated to creating a sustainable future through the innovative use of photonics and the unique properties of light.

B-PHOT's commitment to reducing Earth's ecological footprint is evident in our extensive fundamental and applied research efforts. The innovative power of photonics, demonstrated through our industry collaborations, plays a crucial role in this mission. Guided by the Sustainable Development Goals - such as Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Climate Action - we aim to reduce humanity's environmental impact on our planet significantly.

1. Addressing food waste
2. Helping to ensure clean water
3. Renewable energy
4. Sustainable infrastructure and smart cities
5. Reducing energy consumption
6. Medical and healthcare innovations
7. Improving antimicrobial testing

Photonic sensors are used to detect and sort food based on ripeness, quality, and safety, ensuring that only edible food reaches consumers and reducing the amount of food waste. For instance, multi-modal sensing approaches can identify defects and contaminants in food products, allowing for more precise sorting and higher quality standards. It can enhance the efficiency of sorting machines to increase the accuracy of the sorting.

Spectroscopic measurements of food packaging - applied in our project on Leerdammer cheese packaging with DVC Machine Vision and Bel Group - ensure the sealing of food products is clean and has no food contaminants.

Innovations like these are crucial in minimizing food waste and improving the efficiency of food production and distribution systems, contributing to a more sustainable food supply chain. Tons of food can be saved per hour.

Photonic-related techniques for water purification allow for more effective removal of pollutants and contaminants, providing communities with access to safe and affordable drinking water.

There is a growing concern about the potential health risks that micro and nanoplastics pose to us whether through ingesting the harmful bacteria they pick up when coming from wastewater plants, or just through injury and death of cells through contact, possibly through absorption of nanoplastics by cells.

Our recent Initial Training Network 'MONPLAS' aims to deliver technologies that will permit a robust, easy-to-use and low-cost in-line instrument for the monitoring of microplastics and nanoplastics. This will directly support the implementation of the 2020 EC drinking water directive.

B-PHOT researchers recently published work on an opto-fluidic chip for characterizing microplastics in water and on using 3D micro-Raman spectroscopy for the accurate analysis of blended microplastics. Our PhD researcher Maria Lopera has received a Fundamental Research Fellowship from Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) for the development of a sensor to detect both microplastics and micro-organic contaminants in fresh water, in collaboration with Universidad EAFIT (Colombia). The sensor she will develop is a lensfree holographic microscope that will combine quantitative phase imaging with polarization imaging to achieve micro-contaminants detection.

As a society, we currently face two major challenges: securing our future energy supply by transferring from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources and reducing emissions of greenhouse gas CO2. Only in this way can we achieve the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement; limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C in the 21st century and achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. The INTERREG project FOTON addresses both challenges and has the ambition to develop high-tech systems and materials for sunlight-driven sustainable processes that contribute to a climate-neutral industry. Three pilot demonstrators show that sunlight can be used as a sustainable energy source for the production of green methanol and green hydrogen in a technologically efficient, energy-efficient and financially feasible way.

More efficient solar energy solutions, such as concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems, use lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto high-efficiency solar cells, significantly boosting energy output. Indoor and outdoor equipment allows us to test optical components for the exploitation of solar energy.

The BOPTIC project (a VLAIO-ICON project) addressed the needs of the offshore industry by reducing the operating expenses for offshore wind through the development of innovative monitoring technologies for the cables and foundations using emerging optical (OPT) sensing technologies. Structural health monitoring of wind turbines and pipeline monitoring can be optimized through the use of optical fibers.

Photonics technology is integral to smart city infrastructure, enhancing energy efficiency through intelligent lighting systems and advanced traffic management. Smart street lighting, which adjusts brightness based on activity, can reduce energy consumption by up to 50%.

With our SHERLOC project in the framework of Clean Sky 2 (a joint undertaking between the European aeronautics industry and the European Commission), we aim to develop cleaner air transport technologies for the earliest possible deployment. SHERLOC tries to respond to the industrial needs regarding the structural health monitoring of real new-generation aerospace structures. The project looks for the manufacturing of innovative aerostructures and structural health monitoring techniques which allow the detection of possible issues on the structures during in-service, such as impacts or strikes.

Thermal grids play a pivotal role in enhancing energy efficiency and contributing to sustainable urban development. Their integration aligns with broader sustainability goals by optimizing the use of thermal energy resources and reducing the environmental impact of heating and cooling systems. The OPTIMESH project, funded as part of the Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship cluster Flux50, responds to the needs of the thermal grid industry. In that context, we have formulated two-dimensional and three-dimensional finite element method-based models for thermal grid water pipes situated both in the air and within a soil environment. These computational models evaluate variables such as water temperature, pressure, and flow velocity. They enable the determination of heat losses within the pipes.

In 2018, a Nature paper predicted that by the start of the 2030s, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) could account for 20% of the total electricity demand. Photonic integration aims at reducing the ICT energy consumption prediction in different ways, such as the development of advanced fiber optic communication systems, which enable faster and more energy-efficient data transmission, reducing the overall carbon footprint of our digital infrastructure.

• Providing new or improved devices or systems that allow more data (speed) with fewer resources, such as this recent work from our researchers at B-PHOT: 'Agile THz-range spectral multiplication of frequency combs using a multi-wavelength laser'.
• Replacing existing technologies (electronics such as switching, interconnects or even computing itself) with photonics to reduce power waste.

In our project COLOR'UP, we aim at developing photonic-based solutions to help overcome the limitations of electronic systems for ICT applications.

LED lighting, which consumes up to 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs, has become a standard for energy-efficient lighting. Our Madonna project with the company ETAP regarding efficient light distribution with freeform optics is a great example of industry collaboration.

Photonics in healthcare, such as advanced imaging techniques, contribute to more efficient medical treatments and diagnostics, reducing healthcare’s environmental impact. Photonic biosensors, for instance, enable early detection of diseases, potentially lowering the need for extensive medical interventions.

Within the European Innovation Council Pathfinder project VortexLC, B-PHOT is developing a sensitive optical detection system that has the potential to greatly improve how we monitor diabetes and enhance healthcare outcomes.

The project 'ORIGIN' aims to deliver more effective, photonics-enabled, brachytherapy for cancer treatment through advanced real-time radiation dose imaging and source localisation. This will be achieved by the development of a new optical fiber-based sensor system to support diagnostics-driven therapy through enhanced adaptive brachytherapy.

CHARMING researches the combination of the exceptional properties of optical fibers and nanocarbon materials, and produces a novel class of sensors and imaging systems, with the ultimate objective to detect and visualize cancer cells in an early stage with unprecedented sensitivity.

One critical area for improvement is food production, where the overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics in animal farming contributes to antibiotic-resistant diseases in humans. Addressing this requires precise antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) by targeting pathogen-specific narrow-spectrum antibiotic therapy instead of using an empirical approach where broad-spectrum antibiotics are given.

A recent study by B-PHOT researchers introduces a pioneering photonics-based method for rapid AST, capable of determining Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values within six hours. This method uses laser interactions with drug-bacterium samples. This advancement promises to improve antibiotic use efficiency, reduce resistance spread, and support more sustainable consumption practices.