Although some of us might wonder… What do solar-powered hearing aids, a subscription service for baby clothes, and mobile technology for farmers in East Africa have in common?
Actually these ecological, collaborative or educational projects, in part, they answer a simple question…. Do we have solutions that can offer opportunities to fight climate change or a rapid advance towards a green and sustainable future for all?
This is where Sustainia100 and many others of interest come in. A collaborative project where 100 new stories break every year - since 2012 - to show us the breakthroughs at the forefront of green and sustainable innovation in order to learn and inspire ourselves.
The future depends on initiatives that respect the environment and that are useful for society
The different ideas show ways to save water, reuse, waste management, eco-innovation, sustainable construction or safeguard food production among many other actions that are taking place around the world with 100 proposals for innovative projects and ecological ideas (In addition, at the end, we have added Startup Weekends Sustainable Revolution - With more than 500 Proposals around the world) .
There are many examples of ecological and interesting projects, but we are going to highlight some that seem of interest to us. Examples of innovative projects that make this world a little better …
The Archiblox project an ecological and prefabricated modular house that generate more energy than they consume. The energy efficiency of the house is achieved by taking advantage of all the possible resources of the prefabricated construction, the use of double glazed windows, solar panels, accessories for efficient use of water, use of light almost 100 as well as walls designed to improve the performance of your thermal envelope.
As in this type of project, many of us look for quality information and practical and real examples, we believe that we made two articles of interest that can help us; One is free ecological house plans that brings together a glossary of 28 types of ecological and sustainable homes to download the plans and the other is focused on wood in construction where in addition to the information, more than 50 different guides and manuals are provided in this regard .
Or the new bricks with bacteria that absorb CO2. Can you imagine large buildings that are literally environmental purifiers!
The sector of the feeding highlight solutions that are transforming food systems through urban agriculture with innovative jobs and environmental projects, addressing from the treatment of food waste or protection of the livelihoods of small farmers. Innovative ecological ideas that constantly improve our environment and health.
The projectSky Greens is about growing vegetables vertically by means of a closed water circuit hydraulic system. The project is capable of operating with less than 5% of the water in a traditional crop, reducing the use of fertilizers and pesticides necessary in a traditional field to 25%. In addition, its hydraulic technology consumes very little electricity, a tower requires around 40 watts per hour.
As I pointed out, in the IKEA hydroponic garden article we can simply have a "mini garden" at home at a very low cost to have our fresh vegetables on the table.
Examples of innovative technological projects there are many, in the sector of Ecological fashionYou will find solutions ranging from yarn for fishing nets or second-hand children's clothing to a new form of dyed fabric and even a repair service for jeans. The imagination of the businessman to be projected innovative ecological products technology-based is a good opportunity to reach a market that increasingly demands a Innovative project and that is sustainable.
From the pants brand Nudie Jeans I launched a project of free trouser repair globally for your brand. The idea comes from the "Eco-Cycle" program, which aims to extend the life cycle of jeans. In addition to offering free repairs, the Eco-Cycle program allows its customers to return a worn trousers in exchange for a 20% discount on the next pair. Remember that more than 6,800 liters of water are required to produce a pair of jeans.
The transport sector presents an approach towards non-motorized and public transport. In this sense, one of the most notable projects is the webSpinlister, a platform that allows private users to rent or lend bicycles in more than 65 countries. In cities around the world, many bicycles are unused on a daily basis, while other residents or tourists seek a more environmentally friendly transport, two wheels. The initiative fills this gap by promoting that people can access bicycles quickly and at low cost and even for free.
This is also where the concept of prevention and adaptation would enter into the design, preventing traffic jams, preventing natural disasters … etc. It is reducing possible risks and in the resilience article we can learn a lot.
In the sector of green and sustainable technology, we find various technologies of 3D printers or sensors focused on saving water, and from monitoring crops or mapping the solar potential of cities such as the Mapdwell Solar System project created by MIT with the aim of visualizing the potential rooftop solar throughout every hour of every day.
A project based on environmental ideas very interesting that currently only covers a few cities in America and Chile but whose program is focused on global scalability.
The news ideas technologies They provide substantial value on our plans or work sketches. It is highly recommended to visit the interactive map where we enter different interactive help tools.
Good ideas for innovative projects and with a technological base there are many, but this one reaches to the heart. For example, him Solar Ear project. Directly from the heart of Brazil, digital hearing aids with rechargeable batteries with the sun based on a technology that is freely shared. Rechargeable up to three years. An alternative whose technology will help thousands of people without resources to be able to hear.
One in five of the bestiecological innovations presented this year are based on circular economy models, which demonstrates the economic value of products that have the power to be recycled. Ecological projects ranging from converting food waste into biofuels, reusing air conditioning filters or recycling 100% of materials using new textile products.
It should be remembered that behind Sustainia100 are UN Global Compact, Connect4 Climate, Regions20, WWF, DNV GL, Realdania, Storebrand and the International Federation for Housing and Planning, organizations that collectively strive to highlight the potential for bottom-up transformation with plans that are economically viable and collaborative based on Innovative project.
So that we have an idea of the sectors that the report covers, I leave the following image; From health, buildings, technology, transport, food, energy, cities, education … etc
Access to the ecological guide of 100 sustainable solutions from Sustainia100 you can see them from HERE (Navigate the map to see solutions to ecological and environmental problems).
And now it's more time to see the great platforms that comprise the new green Startups …
The European Union (EU) has a program called LIFE Projects that are carried out with the prospect of improving nature, the environment and climate action.
Each year proposals are presented and the winners are awarded, but they are all gathered on a map that we can consult and from there, extract ideas. The complete portal can be consulted from HERE, at the bottom is the "Projects and results" section where we will find a map and the database of all initiatives.
At the global level, the Startup Weekends Sustainable Revolution competition (With more than 500 Proposals) is also held where ideas from all countries of the world participate, always from an environmental perspective of sustainability.
Plans are presented and voted on worldwide and the truth is, they are quite interesting and can be consulted from global-sustainable-revolution.com (Browse down and you will see the proposals - It is in English). An example of the proposals that exist would be …
Note: If we want to find more information of interest, we can always access it through google academico. Where we can find free books and many documents provided by universities on technological revolution and invention.
We want to remember a film of relevance where 35 sensations and examples of very green ideas are mixed, with a lot of original recycling and environmental purposes. Where the intention and passion around a journey of several kilometers becomes an encounter with alternative and different social movements, between agroecology or the revision of the social paradigm.
A change of mentality taking with him as a bargaining chip, a large collection of Seeds. The short is … The Voice of the Wind.
We can see it in full from HERE from Vimeo, it's worth it!
Here we find ourselves in a rather complex situation and we must consider what's your objective and many other questions like:
Due to the complexity involved in being able to plan a strategy, what type of activities it should have or a coherent plan, it will be necessary to go to more extensive sources of information to specify a methodology.
In this case, it will be necessary to search for manuals that relate examples of how to do ecological projects from simple and easy to more complex that require other external elements to fulfill their purpose. A scheme from which it can be started in all its sequences would be …
This first schematic belongs to a very interesting document HERE that represents an extensive and well-schematized guide for the elaboration of projects (very useful). We also recommend visiting the article on how to prepare an environmental impact assessment.
This second image belongs to an MBA in Environmental Project Management from the International Institute for Environmental Training which seems to us a good example of the steps to follow, from the beginning to the end.
And also, you can find other jobs from sustainable, social and sustainable development that you can see characteristics, objectives to be met or how they should be built from a social perspective.
--
Links of interest:
If you liked this article, share it!