In 2020, Carvey Ehren Maigue, a 27-year-old Filipino student at the Mapua University Manila, won the James Dyson Award for Global Sustainability, beating over 1,800 applicants.

Drawing inspiration from the Northern Lights, Maigue imagined a method to suspend rotting fruits and vegetables mixed in a resin so that when hit by sunlight, the particles would absorb and emit light at the edges. From there, the light could be captured and converted to electricity. He calls this technology AuREUS which stands for Aurora Renewable Energy and UV Sequestration.

Because AuREUS can harvest UV light regardless of weather, it opens the door for walls and windows to become new energy sources. Research is ongoing to get the right luminescent particles to allow sourcing of the dyes from fruits and vegetables to 100 percent rather than being supplemented by chemicals.

Source: JamesDysonAward.org