A newspaper should not only think but also show what can be built. These are the working or near-ready technologies in which I am involved. Each emerges from the same framework: understanding flows, recognising scales, finding solutions outside the beaten path.
SeaSkin and SeaSkin++
Antifouling coatings for ships, based on silicones and zwitterions, without biocides. A ship that glides more cleanly through the water uses 5 to 15 per cent less fuel — which for a container ship amounts to hundreds of tonnes of CO₂ per year. SeaSkin++ is the next generation: harder, longer-lasting, and with a biomimetic micro-structure that actively stays clean.
Status: SeaSkin on the market, SeaSkin++ in tests with shipping partners.
GuardSkin Film
A biomimetic film inspired by shark skin, applicable to ship hulls, wind turbine blades and aircraft. The film is built from microscopic riblets that stabilise the boundary layer, reducing drag and inhibiting fouling. The key step forward: it is a film that you apply by adhesion, not a paint that you brush on. Simpler, thinner, replaceable.
Status: prototypes in production with selected European integrators (DACH region and Southern Europe).
AeroSkin / HLFC (Hybrid Laminar Flow Control)
A family of five patents for aviation application — vortex pump, lateral shear, fuselage cascade, acoustics and spray-cleaning. Together they form a system that keeps the airflow around an aircraft fuselage laminar (smooth) over a far greater portion than is currently possible. Fuel saving: up to 10 per cent on long-haul flights.
Status: patents filed; discussions with several aircraft manufacturers under way.
SolarSkin
Coatings that selectively reflect solar heat to reduce cooling loads. Applied to flat roofs in warm regions, this can cut the air-conditioning burden of a building by 30 per cent or more. The trick: not reflecting all radiation (as white paint does), but specifically the infrared — so that visible light still enters.
Status: laboratory formulation complete, scale-up in preparation.
Carbon Alert and TerraClean
Biomass injection into former mining ground to sequester CO₂ over long timescales. The idea: instead of allowing biomass to decompose above ground (whereby most carbon returns to the atmosphere within ten years), inject it deep underground, into old mine shafts or purpose-built sites. There the carbon is held for centuries.
Status: pilot project in preparation in Spain (Alquife mine) and discussions under way in Senegal. TerraClean.earth is the broader platform.
Tyre patents
Tyres with micro-ventilation for lower rolling resistance and less wear. The tyre body receives micro-channels that allow air pressure to vary at specific points in the tread blocks — making contact pressure more even, reducing wear and lowering rolling resistance. For electric vehicles this matters doubly: less energy consumption, longer tyre life, fewer rubber particles in the air.
Status: patents filed and a CIP (continuation-in-part) extension.
Conical vortex fusion reactor
The design discussed in [the article on nuclear fusion](fusion.html). Early stage, conceptual, seeking academic partners for a first experiment.
The common thread
Placed side by side, these technologies share one principle: work with nature, not against it. A ship that glides more cleanly, an aircraft that moves more gently through the air, a building that selects solar heat, a mine shaft that gathers carbon again, a tyre that breathes. All examples of what engineers call biomimicry — learning from what has worked for billions of years.
The companies bringing these products to market — GuardSkin Ltd, Carbon Alert, and their sister structures — are organised to translate innovation into product quickly, without the usual decades between idea and application. There, I think, lies a second lesson: technology often does not stall at the technology itself, but at the organisation around it.
In coming editions I will go deeper into each of the projects individually — one per edition — so that readers can think along, ask questions, or choose to become involved.