Drones Could Plant 1 Billion Trees a Year

A UK-based startup called BioCarbon Engineering thinks they have an answer. CEO Lauren Fletcher and his team have a plan for using fixed-wing and multiple-rotor drones to plant 1 billion trees per year. The process begins by deploying fixed wing drones to assess areas in need of replanting and create 3-D maps.Using the mapping data, multiple-rotor shoots seed pods at specific locations - much like a paintball gun shoots pellets, according to the startup's team.Later, drones will swing back around to audit the status of growth, information that will be used to assess the ecosystem and improve planting methods going forward. BioCarbon Engineering won best startup at the Hello Tomorrow Challenge and was awarded €100,000 as the Orange Grand Prize.They've recently committed to planting trees on a plantation in South Africa.