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View Glass at the Community Medical Center, Clovis,

CA (Credit: View)

Sprint's AirCarbon-based iPhone case (Credit: Sprint)

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9 sustainable solutions you will see in the futureBy Matthias KrausePublished June 17, 2014

Tags: Design, Desktops & Laptops, More...

For the third year now the international think tank

Sustainia has released its “Sustainia100” guide.

The idea behind the competition is to identify the

100 most promising sustainability solutions from

around the world. With a focus on advocating

readily available, financially viable and scalable

innovations, Sustainia's mission is to mature

markets for sustainable products and services.

Honorary Chair of Sustainia, former California

governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, heads the

selection committee that also includes former

Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem

Brundtland, E.U. Commissioner of Climate Action

Connie Hedegaard and Chair of the U.N. climate panel, IPCC, Rajendra K. Pachauri.

We hereby present nine of the most interesting projects:

1. Smart windows: Dynamic Glass saves energy and emissions

There is a reason most modern office buildings feature an abundance of glass: Natural light and expansive

views enhance both creativity and productivity. But there is a downside: Conventional glass at times tends to

let too much sun into a building which heats it up. At other times, valuable heating energy literally goes out

the window. The U.S. Green Building Council estimates that buildings in the U.S. account for 70 percent of

the country's electricity load and emit more carbon dioxide than cars or the industrial sector.

This is where smart glass can have a big impact. “Dynamic

Glass,” as the Milpitas, Calif.-based manufacturer View Inc.

calls its product, automatically adjusts to the amount of

light and heat it lets pass into building. That's made

possible by an electrochromic coating between two layers

of glass that can be dimmed by applying a small current.

Albeit expensive, smart glass saves heating, ventilation, air

conditioning and lighting costs. “Dynamic Glass” can

reduce energy consumption by up to 20 percent in a typical

commercial installation, View states.

2. Promising plastic: AirCarbon eats greenhouse gases

What if your new plastic garden chairs not only were not made from oil but actually captured greenhouse

gases in the production process? While that might sound too good to be true, it's exactly what Newlight

Technologes in Irvine, Calif., does. The company produces AirCarbon, a carbon-negative plastic that uses

carbon from methane and other greenhouse gases from the air. AirCarbon is being produced on a

commercial scale at two production sites in California, and is used to make chairs, bags and cell phone

cases. Costumers include Sprint, Dell and giants in the furniture and packaging industries.

According to Sustainia100, both the research firm Trucost and the National Science Foundation,

independently have verified that the products made from AirCarbon are actually carbon-negative, even after

calculating the emissions from the energy used in the production process.

“Climate change can be solved with market-driven solutions like AirCarbon to reverse the flow of carbon,”

said Newlight Technologies Co-Founder and CEO Mark Herrema.

His company estimates that if 63 percent of global fossil fuel-based plastics were replaced with carbon-

negative plastic, it would capture enough carbon on an annual basis to stabilize climate change by 2050.

3. Old phone for cash: automated e-Waste recycling kiosk

We have to admit: The lifespan even of our most

beloved electronic gadgets is short. As a result,

outdated cellphones, tablets and MP3 players

either pile up somewhere in a garage or, worse

yet, end up as e-waste in a landfill. Unless, of

course, we can bring ourselves to hunt down one

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Rendering of an EcoATM kiosk (Credit: EcoATM)

An il lustration of the LightCatcher mirror-in-a-dome system

(Credit: EcoNation)

of the recycling centers that accept electronics

(and might charge us for it). The Bellevue, Wash.-

based Outerwall Inc. offers a new solution for the

common problem: EcoATM, the first automated e-

waste recycling station. The 900 recycling kiosks

that have been set up in the U.S. so far not only

accept old phones, tablets and MP3 players, they

even offer cash in exchange.

Here is how it works: When a device is deposited

into an EcoATM kiosk, it is scanned for type, serial

number and condition. The EcoATM will then

search for the highest price among a network of

buyers, and ask if you agree to sell your device. If

so, money is exchanged on the spot after proof of identity is provided. Outerwall makes sure that the phones

are reused and recycled, keeping tons of potentially toxic waste out of landfills. According to Sustainia100,

EcoATM already has found a second life for 75 percent of the more than 2 million collected devices, and has

recycled the rest.

4. Stop the leak: PowWow Energy detects damaged irrigation systems

Not only in times of severe droughts like the one plaguing California for four years in a row, leaking irrigation

systems are an expensive problem for farmers and ranchers and a serious issue for the environment. The

California start-up PowWow Energy tackles the problem in a smart and unique way.

By analyzing the data from the smart meters for the electrical pumps, a sophisticated software detects

electric signatures that are characteristic of a leak and alters farmers and ranchers by sending them a text

message.

Using the data from already installed smart meters makes investments in expensive water meters

unnecessary. PowWow Energy estimates that the first leak it detected in a pilot trial would have wasted

about 12,000 gallons of water and 800 kWh of energy. For its idea the company won last year's Clean Tech

Open Grand Prize.

5. Realizing the potential: BEI software combats energy

inefficient buildings

Enhancing the energy efficiency of commercial buildings

drives down their maintenance costs and is good for the

environment. But the up-front investment can be high. So

it's smart to strictly prioritize such investments in order to

get the most bang for the buck. This is where the Boston

start-up Retroficiency shines with its Building Efficiency

Intelligence (BEI) platform. BEI analyzes either interval

consumption data or building asset data to create a living

energy model of each building. Utilities and energy service

providers can then leverage those data to convert them into

energy savings projects that maximize the return of investment.

“Buildings offer a huge opportunity for energy savings that hasn't been fully realized,” says Bennet Fisher,

Retroficieny's co-founder and CEO. The company estimates that energy efficiency retrofits for buildings have

the potential to yield as much as $1 trillion in energy savings over the coming decade.

6. Hello, sunshine: LightCatchers switch off the light bulb

The sight is all but too common: While the sun shines bright outside, the insides of warehouses and other

commercial spaces are lit artificially, consuming electricity and creating an unpleasant work environment.

Belgium company EcoNation has a better solution. It offers to install LightCatchers, smart skylights with a

sensor that tracks the sun, and a mirror system that optimizes the amount of daylight entering a building.

The skylights are also able to diffuse the light and reflect heat, avoiding high temperatures and blinding sun

spots on bright days. As a result, electric lights can be switched off that otherwise would have burned the

whole day.

EcoNation estimates that customers can expect to reduce their electricity consumption by 20 percent to 50

percent after switching to LightCatcher. Per 1,000 square meters of industrial floor surface, the technology

can save up to 50,000 kWh and reduce up to 40 tons of CO2 per year, the company claims. EcoNation offers

a package with on upfront costs where the consumer repays the investment with monthly payments that are

supposed to be lower than the old electricity bill.

7. Fairphone: make your smartphone ethical

No later than 2010, when the news about riots

and suicides at Apple's Chinese suppler Foxconn

broke, we know that our smart phones might have

some ethical baggage coming with them. For

those looking for a socially responsible solution,

the Dutch non-profit Fairphone offers an

alternative. Driving sustainability through the

supply chain, the social enterprise focuses on the

full lifespan of a smartphone — from responsible

mining to reuse and recycling.

The initial product run of 25,000 smartphones in

November sold out in Europe. A second

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The Waterboxx (Credit: PDQuesnell via Flickr)

Matthias B. Krause is a Berkeley, Calif.-based journalist covering energy, technology,

business and the environment. Previously he served as executive editor for the solar powermagazine PHOTON USA. His work also has appeared in a wide variety of publications in

the U.S. and in Germany such as Green Tech Media, Vanity Fair Germany and FrankfurterAllgemeine Zeitung.

Read more from Matthias Krause.

All Posts Next Post »

Tesla is opening up its patents.What are you waiting for?

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production run is on its way with about 14,000 of

35,000 Fairphones per-ordered. Delivery is

scheduled to begin in July. The second

generation device costs $310, with each dollar

accounted for in a cost breakdown. Fairphone

also reserves $3 from every sold phone to set up

new business models for safer e-waste recycling.

8. Hold the textile industry accountable: Labor

Link empowers workers

Every now and again the fashion industry faces

scrutiny for unhealthy and unethical working

conditions in its factories in developing countries

as well as polluting the environment in the

process of production. The U.S. non-profit Good

World Solutions tries to use the power of mobile

phones to empower the textile industry workers.

“Our vision is that one day any worker globally can anonymously report on their environment and working

conditions,” said Heather Franzese, Good World Solutions' executive director.

The system called Labor Link is voice-based, does not require literacy and operates in any language.

Workers answer short, multiple-choice surveys and receive educational messages about their rights and

local services. Surveys cover every aspect of working conditions and sustainability. Labor Link reports that its

data has helped address sexual harassment, workers being denied legally mandated health benefits and

child labor violations. Cell phone company Vodafone estimates that by 2020 Labor Link has the potential to

benefit 18 million workers globally.

9. Trees in the desert: the Waterboxx that just

needs to be filled once

Planting trees in desert areas is very

maintenance-intensive, costly or simply seems

impossible. But the Dutch company Groasis says

it can be done — with a one-time dose of 15 liters

of water, no less. The secret to success is the

Waterboxx, a planting technology for eroded, rocky,

dry and deserted areas. The design makes sure

that the water is only slowly released into the soil

surrounding the seeds. At the same time rain and

condensation are collected in the box. This way, a

heavy rain shower of just 10 minutes once a year

can be sufficient for the long-term survival of the

plant.

According to the company, the average survival rate for the trees is over 90 percent, no matter how difficult

the circumstances. From the second year onwards, water savings become 100 percent compared to other

methods as no artificially added water is used.

“If the 2 billion hectares of man-made deserts was small enough to cut, it is certainly small enough to

replant,” said Groasis founder Pieter Hoff.

Top image of Fairphone via Fairphone

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Marty Mizera · Top Commenter

Only #9 is worthwhile, the rest are like putting a lipstick on a pig.

Reply · Like · · June 17 at 8:32am3

Jim Corcoran · Top Commenter · 129 followers

"A 1% reduction in world-wide meat intake has the same benefit as a three trillion-dollarinvestment in solar energy." ~ Chris Mentzel, CEO of Clean Energy

"As environmental science has advanced, it has become apparent that the humanappetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category ofenvironmental damage now threatening the human future: deforestation, erosion, freshwater scarcity, air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice,the destabilization of communities, and the spread of disease." Worldwatch Institute, "IsMeat Sustainable?"

“If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetables andgrains... the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a millioncars off of U.S. roads.” Environmental Defense Fund

If Al Gore can do it, you can too! Step by Step Guide: How to Transition to a Vegan Diethttp://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/step-by-step-guide-how-to-transition-to-vegan-diet/

Reply · Like · · June 17 at 3:12pm

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Marty Mizera · Top Commenter

The numbers sounds farfetched - what assumptions ?

Reply · Like · June 18 at 7:13am

Jim Corcoran · Top Commenter · 129 followers

Marty Mizera Not farfetched at all. Watch Cowspiracy when it comes out nextmonth to find out more about this issue.

Reply · Like · June 18 at 7:19am

Marty Mizera · Top Commenter

Jim Corcoran I'd rather do my own calculations, but at the replacement cost ofroughly 1200 eu/kWh(e), renewables are rather cost-effective. I'm just afraid theabove statement is some journalist's sloppy idea of a comparison.

Reply · Like · June 18 at 7:24am