Innovating Green Technology-IGT

I am an Electrical and Computer Engineering PhD student at AUB with a focus on automation, control, and energy. I am also the founder and CEO of Innovating Green Technology (I.G.T), Lebanese startup developing innovative green energy systems improving the efficiency and reliability of various sectors. I am passionate about revolutionizing green technologies seeking opportunities to link with likeminded pioneers to raise awareness, promote renewable energy schemes, and save our region and the world. I have been working in this field for four years and my passion is rapidly growing. Day after day, I am learning more about renewable energy and energy efficiency and its professional role in humanity enhancement and welfare. As one of the 20 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review, MENA 2019, my responsibility is to expand and accelerate the ripples of impact in Lebanon to overcome the economic and social challenges we are facing.

IGT has several products and services including:

- PRO-Shield: the first solution to the worldwide overheating problem faced by solar water heaters. PRO-Shield is a smart shield mounted on a solar water heater regardless of size, type, or brand. It is a milestone in solar water heater efficiency and operational reliability.

- Solar heated poultry houses: an innovative heating plan for poultry, where solar water heaters are used as an alternative green energy source; considering that the solar system can provide the required temperature for the various poultry growth stages.

- Solar based greywater treatment: an innovative system that transforms greywater into water safe for irrigation. This system is sustainable and relies on photovoltaic cells that use the available solar radiation to power the system and fulfill the disinfection part of the system.

The problems IGT solving includes:

1) Solar water heater devices heat water passively from sun radiation up to 95 ◦ Celsius causing the solar water heaters overheating, thus decreasing its efficiency, lifespan, and cause body damages to its evacuated tubes and valves.

2) The cost of heating a poultry house is majorly increasing the cost of food production; farmers use fuel and electrical heaters for the purpose of maintaining the appropriate temperature for the poultry house.  3) As the problem of waste water becomes more pressing on top of all the already existing environmental problems in the MENA region, we had to think out of the box in an innovative way to mitigate this threat and transform it into an opportunity. Moreover, we noticed also that we are living in an agricultural region with a heavy sun exposure all over the year and a serious need for water to be used in irrigation. 

IGT solutions includes

1) PRO-Shield is the 1st solution of the worldwide overheating problem faced by the solar water heaters. PRO-Shield is a smart shield mounted on the solar water heater regardless of its size, type and brand. It is a milestone in solar water heaters efficiency and operational reliability. Moreover, PRO-Shield is a B2B product, our target customers are the national and international solar water heaters’ dealers and manufacturers.

2) Solar Heated Poultry House is an innovative heating plan for the poultry where solar water heaters are used as an alternative green energy source, considering that the solar system can provide the required temperature for the various poultry growth stages. This plan uses solar water heaters and equips them with our innovative product (PRO-Shield) which is mounted on any solar water heater to solve the worldwide problem of overheating it faces. 

3) Solar Based Grey Water Treatment is an innovative system that treats grey water and transforms it into water safe for irrigation; this system in a sustainable system relying on photovoltaic cells which uses the available sun radiation to power the system and fulfill the needs of the disinfection part of the system.

1) According to the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) and the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC), In Lebanon alone we have more than 154000 Solar water heaters with additional 3000 every year, in Egypt we have more than 400000 solar water heaters, in the MENA region we have more than 9 Million solar water heaters, and globally we have more than 87.5 million solar water heaters. Thus this accumulates for a 27 billion dollars’ total addressable market for PRO-Shield. 

2) Our target customers are both the regional and international Poultry houses' owners. According to BlomInvest in Lebanon alone we have more than 500 Poultry house and according to Cairo University in Egypt alone we have additional 35000 Poultry Houses on top of the 250000 Poultry Houses worldwide (Statica).

3) According to UNHCR, Lebanon is the country hosting the biggest number of refugees compared to its population, considering that there are more than 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon on top of the 7 million refugees in our region; this in addition to the millions of people living in underprivileged areas allover Lebanon and the region.

The various targeted problems by IGT innovative solutions have a major role of raising the quality of life for people in most need (especially those living with between 2 and 5 $ a day) through serving and fulfilling their major needs which are food, water and energy. Moreover, the innovative solutions developed and implemented by IGT focus on creating job opportunities for the locals through a collaborative implementation scheme, in addition to proposing a suitable leasing model for their needs.

It all started with my final year project of my Electrical and Computer Engineering at the American University of Beirut (AUB), back at that time (inspired by the passion towards promoting renewable energy and solve energy efficiency problems) I decided to solve the worldwide overheating problem faced in our daily lives. This first experience was then expanded further with the collaboration with our various partners and stakeholders to solve more and more emerging problems.

Passionate about revolutionizing green technologies and this is an awesome opportunity to link with likeminded pioneers to raise awareness, promote renewable energy schemes, and save our region and the world. As one of the 20 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review, MENA 2019, working to expand and accelerate the ripples of impact in Lebanon to overcome the economic and social challenges we are facing. 

My name is Haytham Dbouk, I am an Electrical and Computer Engineering student at AUB working towards my PhD degree with a focus on automation, control, and energy. I am also the founder and CEO of Innovating Green Technology (I.G.T), a startup developing innovative green energy systems improving the efficiency and reliability of various sectors. I am passionate about revolutionizing green technologies and this is an awesome opportunity to link with like minded pioneers to raise awareness, promote renewable energy schemes, and save our region and the world. I have been working in this field for four years and my passion is rapidly growing. Day after day, I am learning more about renewable energy and energy efficiency and its professional role in the humanity enhancement and welfare. As one of the 20 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review, MENA 2019, my responsibility is to expand and accelerate the ripples of impact in Lebanon to overcome the economic and social challenges we are facing. 
Achievements: 
- One of the 20 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review 
- Top 4 in the MIT Water Innovation Prize 
- Top 4 in Harvard Startup Competition 
- SDGs Call for Proposals by UNDP 
- LIRA 13 Award 
- Kafalat ISME grant 
- Nawaya Impact Lab competition 
- Injaz Al-Arab Best Product of the Year

According to the WHO (World Health Organization) and IDAL (Investment Development Authority of Lebanon), Lebanon has an average consumption of water per person per day much higher than the global average. This water consumption is rapidly increasing due to the additional hygiene needs caused by the COVID19 challenges along with the created fear and risks. This pressing problem of increased water demands for disinfection and related needs is most present in hospitals, public areas, and streets disinfection schemes. Thus the major pressing issue is the fact that more and more fresh water resources are going towards these disinfection needs instead of being used for drinking, irrigation, and household needs.

IGT is proposing “Recyclic Water Initiative-RWI” to achieve water security, water consumption management, and water purification by recycling the water used at hospitals, municipalities, and communities. RWI includes processes of advanced eco-friendly treatments to reuse water in several purposes such as, irrigation, hygiene, and domestic-related issues. Thus this system will transform the water cycle in hospitals, and other major sites with high demand of water for disinfection, from a water sink into a closed-loop system that recycle and reuse the same water for several times.

https://www.thenational.ae/uae/centuries-old-lesson-inspires-challenging-conversations-on-ai-in-dubai-1.933201

https://www.aub.edu.lb/msfea/news/Pages/mit-technology-review-IU35.aspx

https://www.tagblatt.ch/ostschweiz/toggenburg/mit-einem-eventhaus-das-alle-zwoelf-toggenburger-gemeinden-besuchte-feierte-das-energietal-2019-sein-10-jahr-jubilaeum-ld.1188110?mktcid=smsh&mktcval=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1oBhdInw5Nu34KQsNEHeZqdRmdZKzJUHm7E8dEJ1DuhVEQciVM95HB3wM

https://www.aub.edu.lb/fafs/news/Pages/2018_LiraAward.aspx

https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1080812/lecologie-et-le-travail-communautaire-des-priorites-pour-les-jeunes-entrepreneurs.html

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12ImVf8ohQ8fzOFcOsiUbVOQFuuLVW1n_/view

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sZwiDa4W-z57S1E_kJ2kWcgmsR2p7ynJ

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IkiB-jQ838mengUjP-w7KVD7ArS_ofUB/view

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GzWHh5b0veR1DwQCqqe2I7rBNBJ_dyPR

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N1_1S2E3-jzMgjalR3Bd1GbU3vsOi2i7/view

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1) Currently people tend to deal with this problem by covering their solar water heaters manually using certain fabric or construction materials, yet this solution is not safe and not efficient.

PRO-Shield is the 1st solution of the worldwide overheating problem faced by the solar water heaters. PRO-Shield is simple and economically efficient device that doesn’t require any design changes for the solar water heater.

2) The cost of heating a poultry house is majorly increasing the cost of food production, farmers tend to use fuel and electrical heaters for the purpose of maintaining the appropriate temperature for the poultry house.

What makes Solar Heated Poultry House different, is that it has

- Longer life span, it is solar powered without any usage of batteries or scarce resources

- Higher efficiency, considering the fact that the conducted product will depend on high end solar water heaters and a circulation for the hot water in the poultry house as needed

- PRO-Shield which prevents the overheating of the solar water heater, thus reflecting higher reliability and lower required maintenance

3) The pressing quantity of daily resulting grey water is causing a series environmental dilemma and thus causing a huge cost for this water treatment using either Chlorination Technology or UV disinfection.

This innovative system is designed for the farmers in the camps neighborhood to benefit from this great source of water suitable for their crops irrigation, in a way to increase their productivity and reduce their corresponding costs.

1) We installed already 40 PRO-Shield units in Lebanon and we are preparing another 82 units in addition to our expansion in Egypt accordingly, through contacting the appropriate partners there and executing the required market validation.

2) Solar Heated Poultry House: we implemented 2 systems in Lebanon and we are preparing for our first system in Egypt in collaboration with our partners BENAA Habitat.

3) Grey water treatment system: we are implementing this innovative system in Baaloul camp in BEKAA in Lebanon in collaboration with our partners for this project UNICEF; this camp that has around 400 individuals and gives between 10000 liters of waste water per day. The system treats the resulting waste water and transform it into a water safe for irrigation; this system in a sustainable system relaying on photovoltaic cells which uses the available sun radiation to power the system and fulfill the heating need for the disinfection part of the system.  Moreover, below is the link for the concept note of the system:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Zji_eQDRZwXpTqCft2-8JBjZC_WCz0At

1) The 40 PRO-Shield units serves around 200 individuals.

2) The 3 Solar Heated Poultry Houses systems surves around 600

3) The implemented Grey water treatment system serves around 400 individuals

We will be following the below expansion plan for our operations: 

By 2017: we started targeting the market in Lebanon

By 2019: we started targeting the market in Egypt

By 2021: we will be targeting the market in GCC

By 2023: we will be targeting the market in the rest of the MENA region

By 2027: we will be targeting the market in Europe

Thus in the upcoming year IGT will be serving around 6,000 individuals and within 5 years IGT will be serving around 75,000 individuals.

1) We will be establishing more partnerships and agreements with the national and international solar water heaters’ dealers and manufacturers to adopt this technology to increase their competitive advantage compared to other solar water heaters' dealers through increasing their systems efficiency.

2) We will be establishing further partnerships and agreements with the poultry house owners to adopt this technology as one of their revolutionizing tools to increase the return on investment they have for each poultry house.

3) We will be expanding our partnership with the UNICEF so that to integrate our innovative system within the WASH program; this in addition to establishing further partnerships with other players which can open new markets for our product, such as our partnership we are developing with CEWAS in the Swiss market.

We will be following the below expansion plan for our operations: 

By 2017: we started targeting the market in Lebanon

By 2019: we started targeting the market in Egypt

By 2021: we will be targeting the market in GCC

By 2023: we will be targeting the market in the rest of the MENA region

By 2027: we will be targeting the market in Europe

IGT currently is facing the financial challenges in Lebanon which are due to the undergoing tough economic crisis that is affecting all aspects of life in the country, including the industrial, water and agricultural sectors. This crisis is expected to exist and extend in the next years to come as described in this article in the NY Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/world/middleeast/lebanon-economic-crisis.html

This makes it very difficult for entrepreneurs and start-ups to expand their work and further develop their products and services.

Another major barrier that is of IGT current concern is building strategic partnerships knowing the tough situation faced by companies and NGOs worldwide due to the health and financial crisis.

IGT is targeting several decentralized and local collaborations with different communities to serve their needs while establishing and implementing a co-financing scheme to overcome the current financial challenges.

IGT is targeting the current partnerships challenge through maximizing the impact creating in each and any partnership in a way to maximize the value for each partner.

IGT developed recently a strategic partnership with the Lebanese ministry of industry as well as the Lebanese ministry of agriculture to rehabilitate BEKAA valley to build the bright Lebanese future for both sectors. 

Moreover, IGT is working currently on very recent partnership with the American University of Beirut (AUB) to rehabilitate AREC (the AUB farm in BEKAA) to serve the agriculture inefficiencies as well as the water shortage; this will be a major building block to assure the sustainability of AUB role as a leading educational center in the region.

Furthermore, IGT have a continuous partnership with CEWAS both in Lebanon and Switzerland, and this partnership lead to various innovative implementations for NEXUS related solution. On top of the partnership with CESVI in Lebanon as well over IGT's capacity building delivery through a set of sustainability curriculums (Green electricity, glazing, insulation...) 

In addition, IGT has a unique partnership with BENAA in Egypt over various projects and implementations, as well as a new developing partnership with BORDA in Jordan.

IGT generate revenue through the following streams:

- Installing our various systems

- Maintenance contracts

- Monetize the collected data for corresponding R&D institutions

IGT's main costs are as follows:

- Marketing/sales plan

- Salaries

- R & D costs

- Tools costs associated with our expansion plan

- Raw materials costs for our pilots’ systems

IGT path to financial sustainability depends mainly on:
- Revenue increasing through evolving the IGT's sales channels
- Impact grants securing through fulfilling various SDGs and meeting several funding organizations goals such as UNIDO, UNDP, USAID, EU, World Bank...
- Collaborative co-funding for shared solutions by locals 

IGT raised around 70 K USD from grants and awards in addition to around 45 K USD revenue; please check below:

https://drive.google.com/file/u/4/d/1aYhzN7cIJBy9rGx2zDUY5Sjy-co2V7Cq/view?usp=sharing

The key investments currently needed are:

- 250 k USD to cover our upcoming two-years plan

- Appropriate connections to serve the Lebanese pressing challenges for people in most need

IGT prefer grants that are impact centered or impact equity investors. 

IGT's estimated costs for 2020 are around 100 K USD divided as follows:

- Raw material purchasing: 25 K USD
- Workshop upgrade and tools purchasing: 25 K USD
- Wages and allowances: 40 K USD
- Marketing and branding: 10 K USD

I am most proud of the fact that we are enhancing people’s lives; it is an amazing feeling to integrate my technical and logistic knowledge toward people welfare. People’s feedback is the major boosting power to innovate further and create this continuous and endless ripples of impacts.

Thus today I am applying for Elevate prize to overcome both the funding and partnerships challenges for the sake of securing better life for the biggest possible number of individuals as well as raising their quality of life by securing their major needs of food, water and energy. 

Both IGT and myself needs all the possible support to spread the created impact further and increase majorly the number of beneficiaries through building the necessary partnerships and securing the required funding on top of the heavily needed media and exposure. IGT mainly targets impact centered partnerships with other MSMEs as well as grant givers and NGOs in the region and the world!!

Please check the lists of potential partners below:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kmSbCiTaDPsBoMNPIC_mgNtRgVDWNvgx

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_JliWsVP2j0mc5PqP8lrWE7pfdMS8u1L60TBaL0Dt20/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=116288984439109446183

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kmSbCiTaDPsBoMNPIC_mgNtRgVDWNvgx

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kmSbCiTaDPsBoMNPIC_mgNtRgVDWNvgx

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kmSbCiTaDPsBoMNPIC_mgNtRgVDWNvgx