Life Grid

Problem

In an ever-changing world, we are met with many challenges, from food insecurity and water pollution to energy scarcity and the devastating effects of climate change. These challenges have far-reaching consequences, impacting the everyday lives of every citizen of this planet. The consequences of such challenges are most exaggerated in vulnerable and displaced communities. These communities, often residing in regions marked by geographical, socioeconomic or environmental vulnerabilities, face a complex interplay of issues that threaten their very existence.

Solution

The "Life Grid" is a concept of a self-sustainable agrivoltaic system that has the power to provide a future for vulnerable and displaced communities. It is powered by a grid of solar panels suspended on wires above crops, providing shade for the numerous plants. Crops are nurtured by an automatic irrigation system with precision sprinklers. It connects to the local groundwater, treated in a special facility close to the grid, ensuring clean water access for irrigation and community needs. It generates renewable energy from the sun, feeding excess power into the local power grid. In assessing solar effectiveness, panel positioning is crucial, that’s why Life Grid has panels with adjustable tilt and roll angles to capture the most sunlight throughout the day. With this system we can harness 25% more sunlight than traditional fixed panels. This self-sufficient system leverages the power of European space data and satellites, notably the Copernicus program, to monitor and adapt to real-time environmental conditions. 

Space technology

By leveraging European space data from Copernicus and Galileo satellites we get access to maps and data that make our mission possible. To make our system most effective and valuable, it needs to be placed in the desertification endangered environment.  Using both Galileo and Copernicus we can get data on where to find places like those, their soil and vegetation health, sunlight availability and much more. Agroclimatic indicators, biodiversity data and renewable energy forecasts from Copernicus helps us choose the best crops and planting time, as well as predict solar energy generation for the targeted areas. This data allows us to better manage energy resources and plan for energy distribution within the community. Dry matter productivity data from Copernicus can be utilized to estimate crop yields. By monitoring changes in dry matter productivity, we can assess the effectiveness of the system in enhancing crop production.

Why we are here

Our objective for this hackathon is to develop tools that harness the wealth of data provided by Copernicus and Galileo satellites to combat desertification and promote sustainable development in vulnerable environments. By tapping into Copernicus data, we aim to identify regions at risk of desertification and with Galileo's navigation data precisely locate and plan these areas. These tools will also integrate Copernicus's insights on soil moisture, vegetation health, agroclimatic indicators and sunlight availability data.

    Life Grid is uniquely positioned to address all three challenges presented:

1. Supporting Sustainable Infrastructure Development: 

The Life Grid embodies sustainable infrastructure development. It serves as a self-sustainable agrivoltaic system, demonstrating the power of innovative and eco-friendly technology. It provides an infrastructure foundation that is both sustainable and self-sufficient.

2. Strengthening Food Security and Clean Water Access: 

Life Grid combines renewable energy generation through solar panels with advanced irrigation systems to cultivate flourishing crops, thus ensuring food security. Simultaneously, the system uses and processes local water supplies and groundwater to provide clean water for both irrigation and community needs. 

3. Understanding and Forecasting Forced Migration:

By preventing desertification in vulnerable areas through sustainable land use practices and resource management, it mitigates the driving forces behind migration. The system's data-informed approach, leveraging European space data and satellites such as Copernicus, allows for real-time monitoring and adaptation to environmental conditions. As a result, it promotes community stability and resilience, addressing the root causes of forced migration.

Who we are

Our team consists of four dedicated individuals who despite their age, already bring expertise and experience into the project. We have a history of working together as a team on past projects, like in a IoT startup called Arden, and as a team are multi time national champions in entrepreneurship and innovation competitions. Lovro Dundović is our engineer and designer. He is the creative mind behind our innovative solutions. Nirmal Karl Hadžić manages the project and has a knack for business development and writing. His words have a way of bringing clarity to complex ideas. Simon Seifert is our web developer. He builds accessible interfaces for presenting the data from our electronics solutions. Simeon Stefanović is our coding unicorn. He is a four-time national champion in mathematics and informatics. His knowledge and expertise enable us to solve even the hardest coding problems with the power of mathematics.