Pablo Vidarte: “Plant energy will be part of the energy mix”

According to World Mobile Congress de Barcelona, ​​​​which closes today, is attended by senior executives of the world’s largest technology companies, but also young people like Pablo Vidarte (Sevilla, 1996), who wants to change the world with his company Biooowhich creates energy from plants. He has created products such as the Bioo Panel, which can power up to six light points for every 49 square meters of installation, or the Bioo Switch, which turns plants into biological switches that can turn devices on or off when you touch them.

Does biotechnology have the capacity to cover the energy needs of the world as it is today?

We created Bioo precisely because we wanted a change within what is the next technological revolution, at the level of energy and cities. We want to nourish lighting points in cities and make green areas efficient. Also, in agriculture, replacing batteries and using solar panels for autonomous solutions. There will always be many other ways to create energy. For example, in urban areas we do not compete against solar panels, we install biological batteries where there are green areas. If you have a budget for a green space, do it this way, because it will produce energy, save water and reduce heat, and the investment will return to you in less than ten years. But generating energy in a massive way will be better with a solar panel. Little by little, biotechnology will advance and I am very sure that we will reach a point where we will achieve true randomness, something that we did not expect and that will change things. With our batteries, we did not even reach 0.1% of the theoretically extracted energy, in the last six months we have increased the efficiency by four. That says a lot about where it is going and that it is growing exponentially, so in the future energy from plants will be part of the energy mix.

“We take advantage of the organic matter found in natural soils and break it down with microorganisms, which we use to generate free electrons and create an electrical charge.” Has it been proven? Do you have a project in progress?

It’s proven, we actually don’t just test them in the lab, we also do it in the real field. In Ibiza, we have the first and only biotechnological botanical garden in the world. We have recreated different environments, dunes, salt water, forest… and we have installed all the technologies and they have been working without problems for years. At the same time we are working on many other projects, in Mobile we presented the first biotech building in Barcelona. We have our facilities in Cornwall (UK), we have worked with companies such as Sanitas on hospital implementations and we also have hotels, office buildings and city transformation projects.

Can a Bioo panel be installed in any building?

It can be installed in any building, but we always do the first phase of the study. First we see the most suitable spaces for installation, because it has several effects: it saves up to 50% of water and produces electricity to power the light points, but the biggest one is the reduction or increase of heat. We can reduce up to four degrees using insolation, transpiration and heat island technologies, which are more efficient than traditional digital roof systems, up to a difference of 1.9 degrees. And if you put it on a ground cover, in a park or in a garden, the impact it has varies. This initial study serves to measure in which areas it is more effective.

Does the type of plant used differ depending on the region where it will be installed?

Yes, we always apply those that are native or that adapt to the environment: if it is shaded, it is logical to put plants from the jungle; if it is completely open, we put plants from the surrounding area, if it is Mediterranean, Mediterranean plants. Never invasive plants or plants that should not be incorporated.

What is Bioo Switch?

It is a biological switch that uses living plants. What we do is use a frequency modulation facility. In other words, when a person approaches a plant, he does not even have to touch it, but there is a difference in frequencies, a wave, which is naturally transmitted by the plant, which modulates it, and we later catch it through the earth, a specific wave of human approach or contact. In the end, we achieve that when touching or approaching the plant, the system enables the activation of light, sound, screen… If it is touched by something that is not human, it will not be activated by a pencil or rain or an insect. In the end, what we want to do is domotics, experiences, within that biotechnological city.

How will biotechnology change cities, urban life?

It will change us a lot during the day. We want that from the moment you open your eyes, the first thing that lights up your day is contact with nature, that you touch a plant and it activates the lights. That you can get out of bed and go into the living room and see plants hanging from the ceiling that naturally purify the air and at the same time generate energy to power the light points. To open the window and see that your city is biotechnological, that when you walk down the street you see parks that generate energy, that you see people creating art with nature itself, for example music. And to get to the point where, like today, there are museums, libraries, theaters… you see a living library, i.e. a natural area, a park, a forest where the memory of humanity is preserved in nature itself, where you can touch a plant and listen to the messages of people who wanted to leave a legacy to current or future generations. Something like what we already see in Pandora, the world Avatarbut with technologies that are already applicable and are not theoretical or laboratory, but are being implemented.

What is your goal when you participate in the MWC in Barcelona?

Namely, this year the hall of the sustainable city of the future was created, in which there are revolutionary things. We are at the very entrance and our intention is to attract investments and realize projects that will transform the world. Get clients and be in buildings that really want to bet on this kind of transformation. The entire center of the building is a green area where we have panels that generate energy from the ground itself and that have the option of lighting; We’re going to make it so people can generate music with plants and showcase all the projects we’re doing.

In his biography, he states that he wrote his first book at the age of 14, at 16 he collaborated with NASA on improving the efficiency of external combustion engines, at 19 he founded a company (Arkyne), and among other accolades, he is on the Forbes Under 30 list. How did all this happen in so few years?

I get asked a lot and I’m super honest: it’s a well-channeled anger, because I was bored and frustrated at school, every project that came to my mind, everyone around me told me it was impossible, and in the end I started making them.. It is customary to say that only one out of ten projects succeeds in the first year, and only one out of ten in the third. But the key is to do it and learn from the last thing you do. Perseverance, coupled with ambition and making the project pay off for you. And the second thing is to create a team that is better than you and that is unique. There’s a saying that I have, which is, “I don’t sleep, but at least I have a life.” After all, it is normal to work 12-14 hours a day, but the reward is great.

He says he has experience in business, finance and engineering, but has given up. Does this mean that formal university education is overrated?

I started working for companies at the age of 16, the first was software, the second was hardware localization, and the third was Bioo. At the age of 26, I have ten work experiences. Regulated university education is good for those who want to know the steps to follow, to be taught at university, which is very useful for many. In my case, I wanted to create my own university, talk to experts in each field to create projects that interested me. It motivated me a lot more, but at the same time it costs a lot more. If you can spend x hours at university, here is x times two. You take risks from zero minute, you gain a lot of experience. If entrepreneurship was taught in school, even from elementary school, our way of looking at the university would change and the university would change with us. Is it overrated? Right now I don’t even think people appreciate it that much, because everyone sees the flaws it has. Many things have to change.