The Living City

The Living City — 21 microbial electrochemical systems in 8 districts

• Living Tower (BUILT ENVIRONMENT): Architecture that generates power, eats CO₂ and cools itself. Systems: The Living Facade — Cladding that powers and cools a building while eating its CO₂. (TRL 4–5, Lab-validated); The Photosynthetic Sync — Treats wastewater and grows algae on sunlight — no aeration pumps. (TRL 5–6, Lab-validated).
• Brewery Row (FOOD & DRINK): Spent brew becomes hydrogen the district can burn or store. Systems: The Hydrogen Engine — Turns brewery wastewater into storable hydrogen fuel. (TRL 5–6, Lab-validated).
• Wastewater Works (THE HUB OF THE LOOP): Eight systems in series — clean the water, harvest gas, power and fertilizer. Systems: The Urban Scavenger — Cleans factory and city effluent and pays for itself in current. (TRL 6–7, Pilot-demonstrated); The Industry Workhorse — The standard municipal sewage treatment every city already runs. (TRL 9, Commercial); The Biogas Engine — Digests sludge and food waste into biogas and fertilizer. (TRL 8–9, Commercial); The Bio-Battery Train — Squeezes extra electricity out of already-digested waste. (TRL 4–5, Lab-validated); The Hydrogen Train — Converts leftover organics into clean, storable hydrogen. (TRL 3–4, Early research); The Color Eater — Strips dye and fine solids out of textile wastewater. (TRL 7–8, Pilot-demonstrated); The Phosphorus Mine — Mines slow-release fertilizer from nutrient-rich effluent. (TRL 8–9, Commercial); The Ammonia Stripper — Recovers saleable ammonia from high-nitrogen wastewater. (TRL 8–9, Commercial).
• Rooftop Skyworks (SKY & BEYOND): Turning CO₂ into chemicals — and taking the reactor off-planet. Systems: The Carbon Fixer — Turns renewable power and CO₂ into useful platform chemicals. (TRL 5–6, Lab-validated); The Space Farer — Closed-loop power and waste recycling for long space missions. (TRL 4, Lab-validated).
• Grid & Recovery Yard (STORE & RECOVER): Dispatchable bio-storage beside a cell that mines salt for water, ions and power. Systems: The Redox Flow-Hybrid — A bio-battery that stores waste energy for on-demand release. (TRL 4, Lab-validated); The Circular Miner — One cell yields freshwater, recovered ions and power from brine. (TRL 4–5, Lab-validated).
• Harbour & Deep Water (WATER'S EDGE): Power drawn from sea-floor chemistry — sensors that run for years, unattended. Systems: The Deep-Sea Pulse — Powers ocean sensors from seabed chemistry for years, no battery. (TRL 6, Pilot-demonstrated); The Ghost Power — Aggregates wetland microcurrents into a remote-site microgrid. (TRL 5–6, Lab-validated).
• Riverside Lab (RESEARCH BENCH): Where microscale systems get invented — chips, screeners and wearables. Systems: The Laminar Shield — A membrane-free microbial fuel cell shrunk onto a chip. (TRL 4–5, Lab-validated); The Channel Screener — Screens electrogenic and photosynthetic strains in minutes. (TRL 2–3, Early research); The Skin-Link — A self-powered wearable that runs on the wearer’s sweat. (TRL 3–4, Early research).
• Meadow & Farmland (LIVING SOIL): The ground itself as a sensor — roots feed microbes that report on the field. Systems: The Soil Health Guard — A buried sensor whose current reports soil health, no battery. (TRL 7, Pilot-demonstrated).