Personal Challenge

Sustainable spirulina superfood urban farming

  • 31/10/2016 - 31/12/2016

EnerGaia Co., Ltd. is participating in Asean Impact Challenge
and is fundraising for EnerGaia Co., Ltd.

We are passionate environmentalists and social entrepreneurs. We work to make cities healthier by creating purifying urban farms that consume CO2 and produce fresh spirulina foods for the growing population.

My Story

A “superfood” form of cyanobacterium that is high in protein, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, spirulina’s natural growth in open ponds, which are often contaminated, has made its consumption unappetizing and potentially risky. Convinced that spirulina’s health benefits and resiliency outweighed its reputation as “green slime”, EnerGaia founder Saumil Shah developed a low-cost, efficient and sustainable way to grow the algae in closed containers on urban rooftops. Together with a new contract-farming program, his technology is empowering low-income rural and urban farmers to sustainably produce a nutritious source of food and income.

Why support EnerGaia?
Food should be sustainable and accessible, so EnerGaia partners with forward-thinking hotels, businesses and building owners to confront the nutritional and environmental problems plaguing cities and their most disenfranchised residents, by transforming unused rooftops into purifying urban farms. Not only are these rooftop farms making spirulina a safe and accessible part of daily diets, their consumption of greenhouse gases cleanses polluted air and helps improve overall population health outcomes.

Background:
A finalist in the ASEAN Impact Challenge 2016 (AIC), EnerGaia is more than just a food production company. It has functionalized its original mission - to improve sustainable farming methods and reduce of harmful greenhouse gases - by innovating the way we cultivate healthy and sustainable food sources. In April of 2009, EnerGaia was incorporated in Thailand, following years of research around the best methods to leverage algae to capture industrial CO2 flue gas.

Use of Funds:
The $5,000 objective of this fundraising campaign will allow EnerGaia to crowd fund a new urban rooftop spirulina farm in a major city in ASEAN. The farm would produce 10kg per week of sustainable spirulina and be a successful demonstration farm for that city, which should lead to large scale replication of the model.

About Saumil:
Saumil Shah is an American aerospace engineer, who was working for a large company in Bangkok, when he discovered his passion beyond the walls of corporate meetings and conference calls. Determined to make a difference in how we grow our food, Shah invented a low-cost, commercial system for cultivating a superior grade of the “superfood” spirulina.


If you would like to know more about who we are and what we do, please visit us here:  www.energaia.com

For updates on our activities and some great information about spirulina food products, you can visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/freshspirulina

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Recent Donors

  • Mariana Veauvy (ANTENNA FOUNDATION)

    USD 100 11/30/2016 11:32:37 AM UTC

  • Lucy Symons

    Good Luck, S!

    GBP 15 11/28/2016 03:25:59 PM UTC

  • Jake Saunders

    Strong work my friend. I hope this takes off

    USD 100 11/19/2016 09:04:08 PM UTC

  • Andrew Weber

    USD 50 11/18/2016 03:09:03 PM UTC

  • Derek Nadler

    Good luck with the Challenge!

    USD 50 11/18/2016 02:53:15 PM UTC

  • Simon Kim

    Well done dude! 👍🏽

    HKD 500 11/18/2016 02:36:50 PM UTC

  • Nevdon Jamgochian

    USD 25 11/18/2016 02:05:42 PM UTC

  • Pracharak Ittiwiboon

    This is exciting !!!

    THB 5,000 11/18/2016 02:03:13 PM UTC

  • Alg&You Babinet

    Great Initiative. I hope we can do more in the next future.

    USD 700 11/10/2016 02:37:13 PM UTC

  • Renu Shah

    USD 50 11/05/2016 05:41:17 PM UTC

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