“What can you invent to make life easier, the planet greener, and the world better?”

Fifteen year old, Javier Fernandez-Han of Houston, Texas took the above question for the 2009 Invent Your World Challenge and swam with it. Instead of creating one invention to address a certain aspect of sustainability, he designed an entire system. The VERSATILE system is a mix of new and existing technology that treats waste, produces methane and bio-oil as fuel, produces food for humans and livestock, sequesters greenhouses gases, and creates oxygen. It sounds complicated, but Javier insists there is just one key ingredient: algae.

The VERSATILE system includes an anaerobic digester that converts food scraps and sewage into clean products, a bio-gas upgrader that provides fuel and nourishment for algae, vented methane burning stoves, algae bioreactors, flush latrines, and a “PlayPump” where energy from child play can be stored to power electrical appliances. The VERSATILE system can operate on a city or family-size scale and generate a substantial amount of income. The income is created through the sale of algae biomass. Algae is used to create livestock and aquaculture feed and is a crucial component in many pharmeceuticals, making it a profitable business venture.

Javier’s VERSATILE system beat out over 300 other applicants (including those well into their twenties in age), from 30 different countries. The Invent Your World Challenge is an annual competition put on by the Ashoka GenV and the Lemelson Foundation aimed at supporting 50 young inventors who use inventions to create positive change. By providing mentorship, seed funding, networking opportunities, and one $20,000 scholarship (which Javier received), the Invent Your World Challenge fosters tomorrow’s leaders today. With the VERSATILE system now on its way to fruition – the next time you call someone pond scum, you may actually be giving them a compliment. Congratulations, Javier!

• Youth Venture inspires and invests teams of young people to design and launch their own lasting social ventures.
• Organization Type: Non-Profit
• Website: www.genv.net
• Founded: 1996
• Location: United States and Internationally
• See complete company list here

• Lemelson Foundation is dedicated to improving lives through inventions by supporting inventors and entrepreneurs that strengthen social and economic life.
• Organization Type: Non-Profit
• Website: www.lemelson.org
• Founder(s): Jerry and Dorothy Lemelson
• Founded: early 1990’s
• Location: Portland, OR
• See complete company list here

Contributor Profile: Ashley

Ashley is a friend of anyone who is fighting the good fight for social change. She currently resides in Bilbao, Spain where she is teaching English and researching the history of the Basque conflict. Personal blog
Twitter: @socialearth

You might also like

Doctors Without Quarters…Show You Care With “Street Medicine” From time to time, my mother will send me a news clipping from my hometown paper. It is usually an...

Volkswagen Speaks to the Inner Child in All of Us The Fun Theory is simple: the best way to change people's behavior for the better is to make what previously...

Road to Hyderabad: Lesson 16 The Road to Hyderabad is a series done by Ashoka's Tech4Society team as we count down the weeks to...

Shai Agassi’s World Without Oil- A Much Better Place   In only two short years, Shai Agassi has began a revolution in transportation and it is changing...