Kickstart: AquaFence vs. Hurricane Helene

As Hurricane Helene bore down on Florida last week, Tampa General Hospital built a protective wall made of reinforced PVC, laminate and steel to keep out rising flood waters.

The hospital, located right on Tampa Bay, is the city's only Level 1 trauma center. When a storm surge threatens the region, it cannot simply move patients. Enter AquaFence.

The Oslo-based company makes temporary protective barriers that can be installed quickly in emergency situations such as hurricanes, then stored and reused as needed. Unlike sandbags, which are typically single-use and can be dislodged easily by waves and water, the AquaFence is engineered so that once in place, the water's pressure only increases its strength, the company says.

The 1,000-foot TGH fence stands up to 9 feet high.

The hospital posted a video of the AquaFence standing strong against the storm surge during Helene.

Dustin Pasteur, vice president of facilities at the hospital, told local news station Fox13 that it takes a team of 60 people three full days to set up the fence. The hospital spent $1 million on the system and first deployed it during the 2021 hurricane season.

Michelin's Tweel, a non-pneumatic tire that uses structural urethane ribs rather than air to hold its shape, went into production 10 years ago and is continuing to redefine its potential.

As our sister paper Rubber News writes in an overview of the product's decade on the market, the Tweel — the name comes from a combination of the words tire and wheel — first was intended for the auto industry. It was first introduced as a concept at the 2005 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. But it simply didn't find traction there.

Instead, it has been picked up for use in construction equipment, riding lawn mowers, forklifts and off-road vehicles. Its next potential market? Wheelchairs.

"We think that Tweels can bring value to folks that are in wheelchairs, we think in a couple of ways," Tony Marconi, vice president of Michelin Tweel Technologies, told RN. "... And we think that Tweels can bring some better compliance and damping to lessen those vibrations and impacts over rough terrain."

Forget about "rich corinthian leather." Hemp may be the auto interior material of the future.

Volkswagen AG is working with German startup Revoltech GmbH to research and develop cover skin for seats and interior trim made from industrial hemp grown in Germany.

Revoltech brands its material LOVR — the letters stand for leather-free, oil-free, vegan and residue-based.

"This truly circular material is sourced from regional hemp field and is fully recyclable or compostable once it has reached the end of its service life," VW said in a news release.

The carmaker says if its research pans out, then hemp material could be used as soon as the 2028 model year.