[Please do no contact the news team of Inspir’Action! We’re not owners nor reseller of Brikawood. See contact details below.] … More
The Plastic Road project in the Netherlands gives new life to plastic waste, while, at the same time, avoiding millions … More
Good news, on the environment, is scarce. For the first time, a group of English and American scientists succeeded in … More
Good news, on the environment, is scarce. For the first time, a group of English and American scientists succeeded in … More
[Please do no contact the news team of Inspir’Action! We’re not owners nor reseller of Brikawood. See contact details below.] … More
The Plastic Road project in the Netherlands gives new life to plastic waste, while, at the same time, avoiding millions … More
[Please do no contact the news team of Inspir’Action! We’re not owners nor reseller of Brikawood. See contact details below.] … More
Good news, on the environment, is scarce. For the first time, a group of English and American scientists succeeded in … More
The Plastic Road project in the Netherlands gives new life to plastic waste, while, at the same time, avoiding millions … More
Good news, on the environment, is scarce. For the first time, a group of English and American scientists succeeded in … More
[Please do no contact the news team of Inspir’Action! We’re not owners nor reseller of Brikawood. See contact details below.] … More
The Plastic Road project in the Netherlands gives new life to plastic waste, while, at the same time, avoiding millions … More
Canada is experiencing a boom in renewable energy. According to the National Energy Board (NEB), in a report entitled “Panorama of renewable electricity in Canada,” the country is fourth in the world. Read more
Renewable energy has long been associated with ugliness. Colossal noisy wind turbines, visually unpleasant solar panels…certain installations are downright considered as imposing eyesores across the world. Norway, which is already a heavy producer of clean energy, is innovating and breaking this stereotype by blending green energy with an exquisite touch of aesthetics.
Deep into the mountains of Helgeland and bordering the Arctic Circle in Norway lies a hiker’s paradise. And amidst this spectacular landscape of unique mountain ranges and forests stands an unimaginably beautiful hydroelectric power station- ØvreForsland. It stands out in complete contrast to the usual notion of a typical hulking power station and blends seamlessly into the mountainous scenery. Instead of being an eyesore, ØvreForsland enhances the natural beauty of the location with its exceptional design, sitting on the riverbed.
Designed by the Norwegian architecture firm Stein Hamre Arkitektkontor, the power plant has been inspired by the Northern Lights. Kebony wood, which is wood developed through the Kebony technology in Norway, has been used as the main cladding for several reasons. First of all, its hardwearing qualities make it resistant and sustainable too. This soft wood is treated ecologically to give it high durability and a minimal need for maintenance. At ØvreForsland, one can admire the intricate engines from outside through transparent glass panels making one with the wooden structure.
By using the Norwegian Kebony wood, the architecture firm has equally wished to increase its value in regards to other trees that are much sought after for buildings. In this vein, the objective is to prevent an unnecessary exploitation of already imperiled species. The power plant is backed up by Helgelands Kraft, a large producer of hydraulic electricity in the north of Norway.
ØvreForsland is capable of supplying 1,600 homes with hydropower and equally makes provision for a surge in demand.
Apart from this, the power station wants to win over people by its innovative aesthetics. It is considered as an added value to the existing landscape, especially by drawing attention to hydropower in a larger sense. The majestic power station aims at attracting more hikers and travelers in the area, educating them about hydropower as a renewable energy in the country and explaining how it can blend harmoniously with nature, as states Ove Brattbakk, the CEO of Helgeland Kraft:
It has been important for us to show that it is possible to build hydropower plants that are both beautiful and adapt to the surrounding nature
The company has fruitfully obtained loans for the construction of more visually attractive plants designed not only to generate renewable energy but to complement the natural beauty of their respective locations. The other station designed with the same ambitious environmental and aesthetic goals is the Bjørnstokk power station equally located in the north of Norway. This power station merges mysteriously with its background made of huge rocks left by the glaciers of the last Ice Age. Similarly to ØvreForsland, it is capable of producing 1,600 homes.
Other countries are correspondingly aiming at celebrating clean energy change through design. Designers are embracing this transition as an opportunity to express their art in an environmentally-friendly manner. In France, the Wind Tree has been designed based on biomimicry while in BMW has done the extra mile to create a solar garage allowing an electric car to be charged directly from the grids of the garage.
Even Walt Disney World is planning to rally in by setting up a solar plant in the shape of Mickey Mouse in Florida. In Australia as well as in Germany, artists are being solicited to paint existing wind turbines to transform them into gigantic artworks.
In the United Kingdom, 7 million coffee cups are being thrown away a day. Even when they are disposed in recycling bins, less than 1% of these cups are recycled. Chef-turned-waste-activist Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall from environment charity Hubbub decided to take the bull by the horns and launched the #1MoreShot campaign in Manchester. Read more
It all started with the petition “Stop food waste” in Hauts de Seine in France. Gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures, it grew into a striking lobby at breakneck speed. And today, this national movement has given France the ultimate international recognizance as being the first country to ban food waste by strengthening its legal framework.
Annually, each French household throws an average of 20 to 30 kg of food, according to the report entitled “The fight against food waste: proposals for public policy” submitted by Guillaume Garot, deputy PS of Mayenne and former minister of Agro Industry and Food Security. What was pinpointed is the fact that a third of these products was never even unpacked. The new law against food waste, adopted in February 2016, came to slow down this trend.
Voted unanimously, the new legislation aims at reducing food waste in supermarkets. The latter can therefore no longer throw food or make products unfit for consumption. Bleaching unsold food and garbage bins was, in fact, a common practice adopted by supermarkets to prevent homeless people or other individuals from taking away these food products.
Under these new laws, supermarkets that extend over 400m2 are required to donate edible unsold food to charities with which they will have to sign a formal agreement. The large supermarkets have a year ahead of them to review their system, counting from the date of the enactment of the law.
They now find themselves bounded to exercise better management of food supply and to review how consumers are informed about commodities, especially those which are going to be expired soon
So that it is respected as it should be, the law also makes provision for sanctions against distributors of foodstuffs who will continue to deliberately destroy edible food. In cases where these items are not edible for humans, it is proposed that the products can be recovered and converted into animal feed or into compost.
This legislation will also ensure that “10 million French eat to their heart’s content,” according to Arash Derambarsh, Municipal Councillor of Republicans of Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine) who launched the petition “Stop food waste.” He sought the support of President Francois Hollande and his approach has proved fruitful. The petition was presented and acclaimed at the Parliament; the law itself has been promulgated on 11 February 2016.
This new legal framework is a big step in the fight against food waste. It furthermore announces the setting up of a structure targeting the integration a well-defined program on food waste in the curriculum of the country. The objective behind is to push children to learn, from an early age, to become environmentally responsible. It also aims at encouraging companies to include measures taken against food waste in their social and environmental performance.
After a successful experience in running buses on waste cooking oil from local restaurants, The Big Lemon has decided to launch United Kingdom’s first solar-powered bus fleet in Brighton. Read more
While the Rio Olympics and Paralympic Games have just ended, all eyes are now turning to Japan. The land of the rising sun, who will host the next Summer Games in 2020, is already working hard to organize this great sports festival. Among the many practical challenges, is that of the manufacture of gold, silver and bronze medals that victorious athletes will proudly wear after the events. A challenge that may seem trivial but which is no less capital.
Groups of people in various towns in France are calling for sustainable actions for organic food. We have stopped at Champagné-Saint-Hilaire, a town in the department of Vienne, Poitou-Charentes. (Article published by Helen Bannier in We Demain, September 26, 2016. Photo credit: Claire Marquis) Read more
Her hands are those of a fairy. Her heart- full of compassion for her people. And what makes the stunning strength of Nargis Latif is sheer benevolence. The Karachi-born lady leads an army of rag pickers in the country who help her gather inorganic waste and convert it into houses for the poor in Pakistan.
Every single day, Karachi the largest city of Pakistan, throws up 12,000 tons of garbage. Nargis Latif does not aim at stopping this. Full of wisdom, the grey-haired lady knows better. Conscious that the garbage mostly produced by big industries in the country is part of an inevitable chain of a well-anchored structure, she instead aims at converting the trash into profitable business to help the needy.
Having founded the social organization Gul Bahao which means “flow the flowers” in her language, she and her team of garbage pickers hunt for garbage in every crook. She equally collects unused and rejected material from industries. Deeply motivated to lift the needy people of Pakistan from poverty, she has been striving hard relentlessly over years:
I have always wanted to innovate and create something useful for humanity itself
Nargis Latif constantly has to overcome many obstacles. There are times when she has to borrow money. And there are times the fighter-spirited woman also has to beg for money that she uses to transform garbage into recycled houses, water tanks, furniture, fodder for livestock or even compost. There were other times when she admits even having stolen in view of enhancing the lives of her people.
The most famous of her inventions is the recycled house known as Chandi Ghar that was created in the wake of a horrendous earthquake destroying the lives of thousands of people in Pakistan. The Chandi Ghars were used as shelters. Today, Nargis Latif has built over 150 of these recycled houses across Pakistan. Most are the homes of poor nomads in the Tharparkar district.
Apart from her extreme sense of generosity and benevolence, Nargis Latif also has an ecological soul. The woman has witnessed how the industrialization of Pakistan has been creating a negative impact on the environment due to pollution. Burning garbage is a common practice in the country and with her idea to recycle it, the lady furthermore wishes to diminish pollution.
Nargis Latif and her team have equally been collecting other types of waste to create compost. Out of this compost she created “Gardens in the Air” which are two scaffoldings carrying a wide array of plants. She has moreover been putting other organic waste such as vegetable and fruit peels, to profit by converting them into animal feed in a hygienic and clean manner.
The far-sighted lady similarly nurtures the desire to enhance the life of housewives in Pakistan. She sees that the latter can easily use the compost and animal feed which are economically viable products to plant their own food crops, sell the excess, and breed cattle for meat and milk in an era where prices of food products are shooting up.
Nargis Latif is similarly trying to engage citizens to become ecoresponsible. She has set up stalls at markets where individuals may sell their dry trash. She is also urging city residents to sell their wet garbage to producers of agricultural products. Nargis Latif is correspondingly closely participating with environmental projects aiming at imparting responsibility in children in regards to the ecological welfare of the country. Today, the milestones being achieved by Nargis Latif are gaining worldwide recognizance.
Inspired by Mother Nature, the Wind Tree is an innovative wind turbine worthy to be referred to as a sculpture. Aesthetically impressive, surprisingly quiet and not really cumbersome, it is a wind turbine Made in France that can collect even simple wisps of air to produce electricity.
The idea of creating the Wind Tree sprung in the mind of Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, founder of the Parisian start-up NewWind, when he “saw the leaves shiver in the absence of the slightest puff of wind.” In fact, the young company feeds the ambition to reconcile technology and nature in its projects. Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, who is a former cinematographic writer, thought that it would be wise to try recover this unsuspected energy.
Go-getter, he launched himself ambitiously with his engineers in researches aimed at developing a vertical wind turbine, similar to a tree, which could capture the air 360 degrees through biomimicry.
After three years of research the Aeroleaf was born. Designed with small blades, it represents the “leaves” of the Wind Tree that generate electricity by capturing the slightest breath of air by swiveling on itself.
The Wind Tree contains on average 63 Aeroleafs that spin like micro turbines to generate approximately 2,400 kWh in total.
This amount of electricity generated can easily feed 83% of the electricity consumption of a French household (excluding heating), an electric car on 16,364 km a year, lighting of 71 seats on a parking lot or 15 lamps of 50W each
The Wind Tree thereby avoids 3.2 tons of CO2 that would be emitted by burning fossil fuels to produce the same amount of electricity. Designed to brave the elements, the turbine’s life can be extended up to 25 years.
This new generation of wind turbines goes further than its traditional counterparts by hardly emitting any noise. Before the creation of the Wind Tree, the noisy turbines were always being placed far from residential areas. The gigantic traditional models were even considered as eyesores.
The Wind Tree comes to break this stereotype. Even if it looms with its 10m height and 8m width, with a weight of 3 tons, it integrates easily and seamlessly with any landscape, be it urban or rural. The Aeroleafs are mounted on white branches which, on their turn, emerge from a steel core. Elegant, the Wind Tree can easily beautify a city landscape.
The region of Paris, Britanny or even Germany have not delayed to acquire this innovative wind turbine. The first Wind Tree was “planted” at the Parc du Radôme, Pleumeur Bodou.
The startup NewWind which was presented at COP21 in 2015, receives many requests from large companies as well as local authorities wishing to supply electricity to municipal buildings and shopping centers, as is the case in Germany.
Ecological wind energy is already taking root in several cities. The cost of the tree remains quite high though. The industrialization phase was made possible by a fundraising campaign on Wiseed platform.
NewWind does not plan to stop here. Research is under way to improve the look of the wind turbine, make it less costly and more durable. Jérôme Michaud-Larivière, on his side, is already imagining a wooden trunk to replace the steel trunk and natural fibers to make the leaves.
This is unprecedented in Africa! South Africa has just opened its first airport powered by solar energy. The George airport is an infrastructure with 3,000 solar panels on a surface of 200 m2.
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