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By Setu Pelz

Pico-solar lighting and solar home systems have proved themselves as revolutionary entry-level energy access technologies for low-income rural communities. See IDCOL’s success in Bangladesh, and recent multimillion-dollar investment in Berlin-based SHS energy access company Mobisol, active in East Africa. These technologies have kick-started a base-of-the-pyramid push toward energy independence, and it is critical to continue this forward momentum in order to deliver a real long-term solution for rural energy and water access.

Next-generation energy access solutions must expand across multiple energy sources, enable productive usage, deliver economic independence and effectively scale, in order to provide future-proof useful energy and water to rural communities and help them truly rise out of poverty. The recently released Energy Access Tier Framework from the World Bank describes this in more detail. Innovative nano- and micro-grid technology solutions are being developed at a tremendous rate. Nevertheless, practitioners active in this space of decentralized rural electrification still face the inherent financing challenges of developing sustainable business models, satisfying non-standardized risk mitigation requirements across different funding sources and securing project financing in the void between microfinance (<$10,000) and development finance (>$5 million).

These challenges can give rise to a potential trade-off situation where financiers require the project developer to demonstrate strong project cash flows and mitigate perceived risks in order to secure project financing whereas the community needs to able to afford and truly benefit from the energy and water service provided.

Generate wealth, capture revenue

The obvious question then is how to balance this potential trade-off in practice; or if we think out of the box, how to turn this trade-off into a win-win-win situation. This is where encouraging productive energy use (PEU), alongside household energy consumption, is proving itself as an ideal strategy for the community, the micro-grid developer and financiers.

In simple terms, the fundamental resources (energy and water) needed to operate local wealth-generating businesses are provided alongside access to capacity-building and low-cost PEU equipment with the goal of capturing a portion of the new wealth generated as project revenue in order to satisfy the requirements for commercial investment.

PEU comes in many forms and is driven by diverse business models depending on the local context, resources available, local capacities and traditional industry. Insightful papers by GIZ and IIED go into extensive detail on methodologies, benefits and pitfalls of a PEU-based approach, and we need to continue the learning process as new and innovative, needs-based business models are developed almost as quickly as energy becomes available. At RVE.SOL, we argue that the significant productive potential in rural cottage industries are key to the successful implementation of energy access projects, and a crucial step toward unlocking this industry is the delivery of fundamental resources and the creation of a market for clean energy PEU technologies.

Challenges

Despite encouraging results from pilot projects, further cross-sectoral communication, standardization of regional risk mitigation procedures, development of common payment collection technologies, convergence of common business models and transparent dissemination of lessons learned through PEU-driven projects are needed in order to bridge this financing gap.

Financiers need to be convinced that a detailed understanding and analysis of revenue derived through household energy consumption alongside diverse PEU activities in the decentralized rural electrification space can replace the traditional power purchasing agreement as is the norm for larger grid-connected renewable energy projects. In addition to this, an increased focus needs to be placed on the development of local and national value chains and micro-financing mechanisms that enable implementation of productive use technologies.

The United Nations' recently proposed Sustainable Development Goals set ambitious targets for energy access, financial inclusion and economic development. We believe it is critical that the energy access industry, the financial sector, policy makers and governments take PEU into consideration if we are to collectively reach these goals.

Image credit: RVE.SOL

Setu Pelz is a renewable energy engineer with RVE.SOL managing project development from pre-feasibility through to financial close. Passionate about creating positive social and environmental impact, he has consistently devoted his career to the renewable energy sector, starting in on-shore and off-shore wind energy O&M, and transitioning to wind energy consultancy while moving across Australia, Germany and the UK.

The equivalent of 66bn 1.5L PET bottles were collected and recycled in 2014, representing 57% of bottles and containers placed in the market.

This conclusion comes from a report carried out by PCI PET Packaging Resin & Recycling Ltd for Petcore Europe from a Europe-wide survey among companies involved in the collection, sorting and recycling of PET.

“PET collection and recycling continue to increase and to be a success story over the last 25 years. PET is by far the most recycled plastic material in Europe. However, we can do even better and actively contribute to the European Circular Economy, especially as PET now penetrates new applications,” said Petcore Europe executive director Patrick Peuch.

The results will be presented during the Petcore Europe Conference in Brussels on 24 November.

Looking at the 2014 collection rates in Europe shows that with 1.8m metric tons of bottles and containers, PET collection has grown by 6.8% compared to 2013. Comparing this number to an estimated 3.1m metric tons demand for bottles and containers placed in the market during this period suggests a 57% collection rate. In 2014, the growth in PET demand itself increased by 4.8%.

“Although the collection rate increased by 1.3% over the 2013 rate, it clearly illustrates the need for a two-pronged approach,” outlines Patrick Peuch. ”On one hand, our industry has to work together to align the collection processes to deliver increased recycling objectives. On the other hand, consumers have to be more engaged. Raising consumers’ awareness on the importance of collection and the value of recycling, especially in the context of the European Commission Circular Economy approach, and their own role in the process are key.”

Furthermore, the collection rates vary considerably across Europe, with a number of Member States exceeding the average 57% while several others are still lagging behind where much more can be done and should be done.

In 2014, 1.7m metric tons of PET were recycled in Europe. With an installed processing capacity estimated of circa 2.1m metric, the recycling industry operating rate reached only 79%, lower than the 83% rate of 2013. According to the survey, the decrease illustrates the challenges that the PET industry had to face in 2014, in particular the pricing throughout the RPET (recycled PET) chain and pressure from low virgin PET resin prices that occurred during the last quarter of the year.

 

Picture credit: © Lukas Gojda | Dreamstime.com

Is your indoor air quality lowering productivity and hurting your bottom line? Studies indicate that it might.

Increasingly, it is becoming evident that indoor air quality impacts the building occupants’ concentration, energy level, and even mood. The National Institutes of Health found the impact of poor indoor air quality on office work performance can be as high as 9 percent in resulting loss of productivity. A series of studies by the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory determined that the presence of carpeting and less ventilation reduced typing speed, typing accuracy, and proofreading accuracy by 4 percent for each variable. For companies with high payroll expenses, the loss of productivity can add up fast.

In schools,which are often cramped and overcrowded, poor indoor air quality impacts learning, student performance, behavior, and overall health. There is even a connection between a lack of ventilation and the amount of bacteria and viruses in indoor air, which can cause absenteeism owing toillness.

Creating an effective ventilation strategy is paramount in boosting indoor air quality. According to the American Lung Association, “Effective ventilation may also help keep bacteria, viruses and other pollutants out of the indoor air. Research shows that airflow and ventilation can affect how diseases spread indoors. The more stagnant the air is, the more likely diseases are to spread.”

It is crucial for organizations to ensure high indoor air quality for optimum productivity and well-being. The following tips are a good start.

Use balanced whole-building ventilation systems

Buildings need controlled and purposeful introduction of outdoor air into the conditioned space to ensure adequate indoor air quality. Balanced ventilation systems both supply and remove air, without pressurizing or depressurizing spaces.

Many schools across the United States have Zehnder heat recovery ventilation systems or energy recovery ventilation systems, which promote both indoor air quality and energy efficiency. These systems supply a constant streamof clean, filtered air throughout buildings, diluting or removing indoor contaminants. Finer filters can even be used to remove some common allergens and asthma triggers, such as pollen, mold, and dust.

With the Zehnder energy recovery ventilator, the air in the building is exchanged with fresh, filtered air. The ventilator preheats incoming winter air or precools incoming summer air by transferring heat and coolness from the exhaust air before it leaves the building, keeping energy costs down.

Limit excessive moisture

Dampness encourages the growth of mold and bacteria, which both compromise human health. Maintaining indoor moisture levels within an ideal range can mitigate this health risk.

Test indoor air quality

When in doubt, indoor air quality testing offers the answer. A variety of tests are available to determine indoor pollutants.

UL Environment keeps an extensive database of indoor contaminants and offers services to determine air quality. “There is a technique that we use to measure indoor air quality,” says Scott Steady, product manager for indoor air quality at UL Environment. “Air can be collected over the media and sent to our lab for analysis, and we can tell what level of [volatile organic compounds], formaldehyde and other pollutants exist.”

Image credit: Flickr/Sebastien Wiertz (upper image)

Image credit: Flickr/WoodleyWonderWorks (lower image)

With a busy week behind you and the weekend within reach, there’s no shame in taking things a bit easy on Friday afternoon. With this in mind, every Friday TriplePundit will give you a fun, easy read on a topic you care about. So, take a break from those endless email threads and spend five minutes catching up on the latest trends in sustainability and business.

The presence of large tech firms in the San Francisco Bay Area has skyrocketed in recent years. As tech titans expand their staff and bring more high-value employees to the region, increased stress is placed on the area's infrastructure, including housing and public transportation. Additionally, more highly-paid residents means more shops, restaurants and trendy coffee bars -- all staffed by employees who are quickly being priced out of the area.

The biggest names in tech generally have good reputations as corporate citizens. But many companies fail to go beyond traditional philanthropy in their corporate citizenship. Though philanthropy is all well and good, tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area are often isolated from the communities in which they operate, and in which their employees live and commute.

This constitutes a major blind spot.

These firms remain the largest value-generators in the Bay Area, but their ever-expanding footprint presents significant challenges that must be addressed. The following three issues are the most pronounced and require the most innovation and collaboration between companies and communities. Will tech titans rise to the occasion?

Housing

Along with a booming economy and demand for high-value tech employees have come massive increases in the cost of housing. In the past year alone, rent prices in San Francisco have increased by 15 percent, bringing the median rent price to a staggering $4,195. But that increase is nothing compared to the city's neighbors across the bridge: Rent prices in Berkeley shot up by 31 percent last year, while residents in Oakland and Emeryville saw prices increase by 22 percent and 26 percent respectively.

On average, rent prices in the Bay Area have increased by 15 percent since 2014, while salaries have risen by just 2 percent. In short, residents of all economic levels are feeling the pinch. While tech companies hire like crazy and pressure local municipalities for permission to build office space, there is often no one fighting at the local level for increased housing.

Can tech companies and communities collaborate to bring more affordable housing to the region? Can communities flourish without pricing longtime residents out? We'll address these questions and more in our upcoming multimedia series on tech titans as community citizens.

Transportation

The majority of tech campuses are located outside the city, but many tech employees prefer urban life to the suburbs of Silicon Valley. This leads to congested freeways and overtaxed public transportation, as thousands of tech commuters make hour-long journeys to their isolated office complexes.

The San Francisco Bay Area’s physical geography (a peninsula), and a lack of historical attention to mixed-use urban planning, have constrained affordable and desirable housing near centers of industry.

The result is long commutes that only get longer as populations boom and more workers hit the freeways. Of the staggering 3 million commuters in the Bay Area, only about 10 percent use public transportation.

While tech companies have tried to remedy the issue with solutions like the so-called Google Buses, the need for permanent and inclusive solutions remains. Can industry get there? We'll address this issue and more in our upcoming multimedia series on tech titans as community citizens.

Service economy

While tech company head-counts explode, service economy outfits like restaurants, bars, supermarkets, pharmacies, dry cleaners and coffee shops, as well as support services like landscaping, janitorial and housekeeping staff, come online to meet the daily needs of high-income employees.

While these businesses offer many new jobs, they don’t pay very well. And with the ballooning rent prices in the region, it becomes hard to imagine how minimum-wage employees can manage to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.

The numbers don't make the case much better: The living wage in the Bay Area is $13.77 for a single adult, while the minimum wage is still just $9. A service industry employee can expect to take home around $22,000 a year, while the business and financial operations employees to whom they serve lattes rake in nearly $85,000.

Where are the people who have these jobs living, and how are they faring? In our upcoming multimedia series on tech titans as community citizens, we’ll explore the lives of these low-wage workers and tell their stories.

Image credit: Flickr/Jitze Couperus

It's no secret that one of the world's most pressing problems is discarded plastic. It's everywhere: in landfills, in vast quantities in our recycling bins and in even greater quantities in our oceans.

Although companies like Levi's, the New York Institute of Technology's Home20 and public figures like will.i.am have made great strides in finding uses for things like discarded plastic bottles, we're still faced with more than 3 million tons of plastic in the Pacific Ocean alone and an unfathomable expanse of garbage across our public waterways.

While organizations like the Ocean Cleanup are doing their part to corral this debris, others are working to create ways to put plastic to work. But the sheer volume of plastic waste led some innovators to seek ways to use it in one of today's most popular and increasingly useful designs: 3-D printing.

The concept seems simple: Convert the world's various plastic bottles, containers, bags and other debris into filament that can be fed into personal and industrial 3-D printers. The 3-D technology allows companies to "print" on-the-spot models for architectural design, medical research and manufacturing prototypes. In fact, 3-D printers have become a valuable tool for many types of operations where only a single item is needed, said Dr. Bob Pfahl, a senior consultant for the nonprofit research and development consortium, the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative.

"In the electronics industry ... the primary use has been in making prototypes of products," Pfahl told TriplePundit. It's also used to construct temporary test molds of metal machinery, like injection molding. Pfahl said the test mold cuts production time, as well as reduces the cost of a prototype. "You can cut down on your production time by about 30 days, maybe more than that."

The technology has also been used by "one of the major automobile firms to make fixturing ... to hold pieces in place so people can assemble [new cars]," Pfahl continued.

Even the military has found a use for 3-D printing: to fill the need for parts that are no longer manufactured. "It is ideal for that, because the cost is not the major issue," Pfahl said. "It is getting the part [that's important]. Those are applications where volume is limited and you get the advantage of these unique and unusual shapes."

3-D printing with plastic waste: It's all in the chemistry

And in recent years, the concept of on-the-spot printing has become an advantage for home hobbyists, entrepreneurs and artists, who have a singular, limited use for a homemade prototype. The newer, transportable 3-D printers are geared for the average person who wants to print (more accurately build) his or her own reproduction in the comfort of a home or office.

So, creating filament out of the miles of plastic trash that's been scooped up from the Pacific Ocean, or dredged out of landfills, is a very tempting idea. It seems like the perfect answer to a uniquely 21st-century headache.

There's one problem, Pfahl said. Actually, there are several.

"Properties will degradate." In other words, the properties that those brightly-colored filaments are made from are critical to the outcome of the 3-D product. Consistency is often the determining factor.

Pfahl used a project that he worked on with Motorola years ago to illustrate the problem. In that case, the task was finding a way in which old compact disks (CDs) could be melted down to make cellular phone cases.

"The first thing we discovered was the weight of [the CD material] was much lower than what was needed" for the cell phone case, Pfahl explained. That meant the polymer wouldn't be strong enough for its intended use and would have to be combined  with other substances to make it work. "We could only use up to 18 percent polycarbonate, which was the material we were using, because after that point those properties degenerated."

Dr. Carol Handwerker, who serves as the Reinhardt Schuhmann Jr. professor of materials engineering for Purdue University, explained it another way. When it comes to the integrity of a polymer substance like polyethylene, chemical composition of what you are working with is critical.

"You can have very different [kinds of] polyethylene, depending upon how many repeat units there are in the polymer," Handwerker said.

"Polymers like polyethylene, which is what both flimsy plastic bags and durable detergent bottles are made out of, comprise long hydrocarbon chains. In chemistry terms, the composition and branching of that chain defines the behavior of that particular polymer. Even though the plastic bag and the laundry detergent container are both made of polyethylene, their molecular structure is totally different. So is their behavior when exposed to heat, chemicals and other stresses. Combining multiple kinds of polymers can change the performance of the filament in a 3-D printer.

And so can impurities: additives that may be used to give a product a certain look or make it perform in a special way. In the case of Pfahl's CD example, metal etching served as the frustrating component in the mix. But impurities can be plastics as well, noted Dr. John Howarter, assistant professor in materials engineering at Purdue University.

"So, that would be a mixing in of a second-grade polymer, or maybe a completely different type of polymer," Howarter told us.

And the challenge isn't always a matter of strength, or integrity, he explained. "If you are actually going to use these in electronics, the property called the dialectric constant (which in simple terms, describes the flow of energy through a material) depends on all of these kinds of impurities as well."

These challenges are often unique to polymers, Howarter said. "If we are talking about aluminum, aluminum has the same melting temperature ... Polymers and polyethylene don’t work that way."

If the printer head on the 3-D printer is calibrated to operate at 200 degrees Celsius, and the molecular structure of the recycled plastic material isn't consistent with that demand, "maybe you aren’t going to get a molten polymer that can then be integrated into that 3-D part," he continued. "Any time we are talking about recycling polymers, these are challenges that people in the industry are up against and I think have to be mindful of when they are saying, 'Okay, we’re going to recycle this.'"

Turning challenges to solutions

Pfahl noted that the cost of recycling can often be a consideration as well. "[In] the electronics industry, using recycled materials is very challenging." So is separating smaller pieces of plastics from the discarded product. "The costs of bringing them back for energy may very well outweigh the advantage of recycling those materials."

While there are a few companies that have developed filament out of recycled product, its application is anything but wide-ranging. Howarter speculated that the filament is probably very limited in its use at this point. "And it is also going to be especially formulated for that [model and brand of] machine," he said.

Still, 3-D printing has opened up all kinds of innovations, said Handwerker, who recounted a story about a grandmother who, upon reading about the process in a women's magazine, embarked upon the task of figuring out how to craft hands for her grandson, who had been born without fingers. In fact, the story has been played out multiple times in the private sector, where 3-D printers have not only inspired hopeful answers to global problems, but extraordinary gifts from strangers.

Howarter agreed. "I think where the 3-D market really is, is enabling individuals on a local scale to make products and to make parts that you couldn’t ever convince a billion-dollar industry to customize ... I think that is where you are going to start seeing the presence of 3-D printing, especially when it comes to polymers."

And if plastics scooped up from the Great Garbage Patch have a future in 3-D printing, it will probably be that kind of collective effort and open-source innovation that will make it possible.

Image credits: 1) & 2) Makerbot 3-D printer and BEETHEFIRST printer and filament: Flickr/Creative Tools; 3) Plastic debris at Ocean Beach Calif.: Flickr/Kevin Krejci

By Anum Yoon

It’s probably safe to say most Americans don’t give much thought to water, unless they live in California. We just assume whenever we want to use some, we can turn on the shower or the sink faucet without thinking twice. And if worse comes to worse, we could always head out to the nearby supermarket to grab a couple of gallons or stop by the gas station to overpay for 20 ounces of the liquid.

This is an extremely convenient thing, because water is the essence of all life. Without it, we couldn’t survive.

It’s very easy to take simple access to water for granted, however. While most Americans might not worry about where they’re going to find the water they need to survive, taking a step back and looking at the world through a wider lens paints a completely different picture.

Believe it or not, 750 million people around the globe — about 11 percent of the population — don’t have simple access to clean drinking water. And on top of that, 2.5 billion people — about 1 in 3 — don’t have access to clean sanitation.

Though a vast majority of the world — 70 percent — is covered with water, it’s not fresh water. The oceans are bigger and more expansive than many of us can imagine, but we can’t drink the water in the ocean. Only 2.5 percent of the world’s water is fresh.

As the world’s population continues to grow and water is needed for more and more applications (e.g., fracking is responsible for 135 billion gallons of water being used in the United States alone), it’s imperative we take serious steps to solve the world’s water problems before it’s too late.

Luckily, thanks to forward-thinking problem-solvers and breakthroughs in technology, we may be inching closer to a serious solution for the water problems plaguing our planet.

New Mexico to the rescue?

Galdieria sulphuraria is an algae microorganism that’s frequently found in places like the hot springs and geysers of Yellowstone National Park.

“It grows in a witches brew, can degrade over 50 organic molecules and even photosynthesize like a plant,” explains Peter Lammers, an algal bioenergy professor at Arizona State University. For those reasons, it’s “one of the most interesting microorganisms on the planet.”

Because of the way it works wonders at Yellowstone, Lammers and a team of researchers are wondering whether the microorganism can be leveraged to do something else: turn wastewater clean. To test the hypothesis, he and his colleagues are diverting wastewater from the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico’s sewer system and redirecting it into bags that are lined with Galdieria sulphuraria.

Because of the microorganisms’ filtering ability, so to speak, wastewater may be able to be purified — while also providing water treatment plants with an additional revenue stream. Currently, the electricity and technology needed to treat wastewater and remove nitrogen and phosphorous is expensive. However, the organic material within sewage creates more energy than it takes to sterilize it. If treatment plants can harness this energy and sell it, the increased revenue will cut down on the energy used by the facility.

In addition, when it’s used in water purification, Galdieria sulphuraria helps leave behind more organic sludge which can be converted to biofuel oil. So much so, Lammers believes, that sewage treatment farms may even be able to become nearly self-sufficient because they could nearly eliminate their electricity usage.

Should the research prove successful, the applications could be limitless. Wastewater is becoming a bigger and bigger problem across the globe. In addition to humanity’s utter dependence on clean water, it’s important to remember we’re not alone on the planet. All plants and wildlife depend on the liquid, too.

In any event, things need to change. As it stands now, 90 percent of the world’s wastewater is discharged into our environment without being treated. Let’s hope Galdieria sulphuraria lives up to its promise. The future of our planet may very well depend on it.

Image credit: Pixabay

It is estimated that the world consumes about 40 million tons of lubricants per year, of which about 40 to 50 percent end up in the environment. The much evidenced toxic impact of petrochemical lubricants does make a strong case for the use of bio-based lubricants, which unfortunately still constitute a very small portion of the global lubricants market. But that’s beginning to change.

The global biolubricants industry received its first major push two years ago when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brought the environmentally acceptable lubricants (EALs) regulation into force. Since then, there has been considerable interest in the development of biolubricants not just for marine vessels, but also for other industrial and automotive applications.

More importantly, the potential sources for base oil for lubricants now span a wide range. Although scientists have studied palm oil, soybean oil, cottonseed, sunflower, canola and mahua as base oil candidates for bio-based lubricants, new projects involving passion fruit seeds, thistles and even waste cooking oil could bring more variety to the global bio-based lubricant market.

Passion fruit and moringa oil

At the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil, researchers’ interest in passion fruit was whetted by the fact that about 85 percent of passion fruit seed oil is composed of unsaturated fatty acids. Similarly, moringa seeds are oil-rich, and have the same percentage of unsaturated fatty acids as passion fruit seed. Moringa has become quite the rage in the cosmetics and super foods industry, but its excellent thermo-oxidative stability and high oleic acid content (74 percent) make moringa oil a promising candidate for bio-based lubricant formulation, too.

As part of this study, researchers set out to experiment with hydraulic biolubricants using vegetable oils epoxidized via performic acid. They found that the two seed oils – modified using the epoxidation technique – displayed desirable tribological properties, which means that the two seed oils can replace commercial mineral-based lubricating fluids.

Sardinian thistles

In Europe, an estimated 3 million tons of petrol-based lubricants end up in the sea. But cardoon, a thistle-like a plant related to the artichoke, could herald a new chapter in biolubricant formulation. Italian company Matrica has been using cardoon seed oil to make bioplastics – but it says the oil can also be used for manufacturing biolubricants that perform at par with conventional lubricants. The advantages of lubricants formulated using cardoon seed oil as the base are that they dissolve in the sea, polluting neither water reserves nor the soil.

Using indigenous plants to explore their ability to serve as biolubricants seems to be the trend in the research fraternity. Just as thistles grow copiously in Europe, jatropha and neem trees are found in abundance in Southeast Asia. With industrial activity having gathered steam in the region in the last decade, several researchers have been working on formulating biolubricants using neem and jatropha seeds.

Could waste cooking oil lubricate vehicles and machines?

Producing biolubricants from scratch using plant seeds is one facet of the trend. Many research institutions are also looking at ways to convert waste cooking oil into biolubricants by subjecting it to innovative purification processes.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have explored this possibility, as has Bioprocesa Technologies, a company working in collaboration with the University of Granada’s Chemical Engineering Department. The latter’s research has shown that it is possible to convert used vegetable-based cooking oils into eco-friendly lubricants. The patent-pending technology will help extract the last bit of value from vegetable oil after it has been used in the kitchen. What remains to be seen is how commercially-viable this idea turns out to be.

They will likely not have a revolutionary environmental impact anytime soon, but biolubricants are finding takers. This can be gauged from the fact that by 2030, about 15 percent of all lubricants used worldwide will be biolubricants. Reaching this figure doesn’t seem like a herculean task – efforts are already afoot in various parts of the world to harness indigenous flora to formulate plant-based lubricants. However, they will continue to be a niche area until their price, performance and availability reach an equilibrium.

Image credits: 1) Pixabay 2) Flickr/Janaína de Oliveira

Having extensively worked as a journalist with leading national dailies in India, Anuradha Wadhwani now writes for Transparency Market Research, a market intelligence firm. Anuradha is passionate about tracking (and questioning!) market trends across areas such as sustainability, innovative materials, and chemicals.

Toyota’s dazzling red 2016 Prius twirled in the air, paused, then returned to earth. This is the spectacle that greeted the media-only audience at the 2016 Prius World Premiere in Las Vegas. It was a ritzy event, perfectly designed for people holding cameras (hint: everyone).

The first thing you’ll notice about the 2016 Prius is the sleek, sporty design. It’s the first redesign in the vehicle's history (read: the past seven years).

Prius owners are loyal like boomerangs, constantly coming back for more fun. However, they told Toyota that they wanted to buy a car that doesn’t look like the one they bought five years ago. Toyota replied, ‘you betcha,’ and delivered the 2016 Prius. The longer and sleeker design was inspired by the athletic shape of a runner poised at the starting blocks. The low front and high back evoke a sense of forward movement.

In case anyone was feeling a little cramped in prior models, the 2016 l is 2.4 inches longer, 0.60 inches wider and 0.80 inches lower that its predecessors. The look is similar to Toyota’s futuristic Mirai hydrogen fuel cell car.

"Prius set the global benchmark for hybrids, but now is breaking its own boundaries with a more engaging style,” said Bill Fay, group vice president and general manager of Toyota Division.

The redesign is also a bid for non-traditional Prius customers: those who aren’t as concerned about spewing clouds of carbon everywhere and have avoided the Prius because its wedged look wasn’t their style.

The second upgrade is improved handling. This Prius is on a new platform and has a rear double-wishbone suspension, which means your wishes for better handling just came true. Now’s the time to zip down some curvy mountain roads.

The car also has some other perks, like cutting-edge safety technology to keep you alive. Alerts will go off if your car starts to veer from the lane. The car will automatically slow down when you creep up on another car too closely because you’re on cruise control. It can also detect whether a person is walking in front of you and hit the brakes.

Environmentalists and budget-conscious buyers have primarily been the ones to drive these cars off dealer lots. The main draw has been the hybrid’s ability to trek long distances on little fuel … It’s like the camel of cars. The miles per gallon is expected to be about 10 percent better on this model. The current Prius earns 50 MPG. If that isn’t enough for you, wait for the Eco model that Toyota says it’s creating, or, just ride a horse to work – those get great gas mileage.

Word on the street is that you can buy this car early next year. Price is TBD but should be around the current price of $24,000, much less green than it takes to go green with Tesla.

Gas-guzzling cars, your days are numbered.

Image credit: Renee Farris

Tourism is among the world’s largest industries with the economy of entire nations dependent on it. But you don’t have to be an expert traveler to know that there are pluses and minuses to everything that comes along with the crowd.  Join as as we talk about how tourism impacts social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide. We’ll discuss its influence on local culture and communities, the transformative power of travel for the traveler, and the environmental impact of the travel industry – and more!

[REGISTER HERE]

Location
Impact Hub Bay Area 925 Mission Street, San Francisco, 94105 http://bayarea.impacthub.net

Not in San Francisco? Return to this page on September 24 to watch the livestream! 

 

Schedule (in Pacific Standard Time)

• 6:30 – 7:00pm – networking


• 7:00 – 8:00pm  – fireside chat and Q&A


• 8:00 – 8:30pm – networking

Speakers

Carol Smolenski

Carol Smolenski, the Executive Director and one of the founders of ECPAT-USA, has been working in the field of children’s rights for over twenty years. She is a long-time nationally recognized leader working to stop the commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. During her tenure at ECPAT-USA, it became the premier advocacy organization against child sexual exploitation. She has developed and managed projects to stop the commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children in the United States, the Riviera Maya and Cancun sections of Mexico and in Belize and in three cities in Brazil.

Malia Everette

From 1997-2012, Malía Everette was the Director of Global Exchange’s popular and rapidly expanding Reality Tours program. During her tenure at Reality Tours she oversaw the growth and development of alternative travel programs, study seminars and fact finding human rights delegations to over 45 global destinations. From the US, to Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and the Caribbean, Malía promotes in-depth experiential education and socially responsible travel as an alternative to the type of “sun and fun” tourism that often results in cultural homogenization and does little to benefit local communities and host economies.

Jeff Greenwald

Oakland-based Jeff Greenwald is the author of six books, including Shopping for Buddhas, The Size of the World (for which he created the first international blog), and most recently Snake Lake, set in Nepal during the 1990 Democracy revolution. His stories and essays have appeared in Smithsonian, Afar, Wired, National Geographic Adventure, the BBC, the Los Angeles Times and many other publications.  Jeff also serves as Executive Director of Ethical Traveler, a global alliance of travelers dedicated to human rights and environmental protection (www.ethicaltraveler.org). 

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By  Raminder Chowdhary

“ I today call on young people of all countries to demand of their elders that the processes that keep us alive on earth should be protected, and to commit themselves to protect the resources of the biosphere so that they can pass on to their descendants the World they themselves would have liked to receive.” -- Federico Mayor, secretary general of UNESCO, at the Biosphere Conference in Paris in September, 1968.

By the 1960s, it was becoming evident that the fossil fuel-driven, rapid industrialization models had caused immense damage to the 'envelope of life' around our planet -- its biodiversity.  It was time to give recognition and 'soft' protection to the remaining regions that harbored an abundance of flora and fauna. The Paris Biosphere Conference laid the foundations for the Man and Biosphere Program (MAB). This was by far the largest initiative ever to conserve aquatic, terrestrial and marine areas of high ecological and biological significance. The MAB now covers over 650 reserves in 120 countries.

The problem:  To a large extent, the program has failed to engage people, communities, local and regional governments, and most of all large economic entities in actively participating and enhancing its impact.  Sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of large corporations have rarely ventured into this space and missed out on an immense opportunity to make a meaningful difference.  It’s never too late and, as always, there are a few shining stars which deserve mention here

The Star Alliance network of airlines carries over 750 million passengers every year on its fleet of more than 5,000 aircraft and 22,000 daily flights.  Are you thinking what I'm thinking – carbon emissions and climate change.  To offset some of its impact, the company set up Biosphere Connections in partnership with UNESCO and MAB, as well as the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Ramsar, to create awareness and support communities and biodiversity around the world. The initiative offers exciting possibilities to use partner airlines websites, publications, in-flight entertainment media, travel and hospitality partners, etc. to communicate and engage.

Danone Waters Deutschland GMBH also partnered with UNESCO and initiated several initiatives to create awareness about Biosphere Reserves and their conservation.  Danone introduced information about reserves in Germany on its product labeling, organized youth activities and camps, and funded more than 10 projects . Honda Germany, Merck and Commerzbank have also entered into similar partnerships to preserve reserves.

In 2008, the Biodiversity in Good Company initiative was founded as a cross-sector collaboration of businesses committed to protecting and sustainably using our planet’s biodiversity. Audi, Mars, Tschibo and many other international companies are members.

For companies with a high level of maturity in working with environmental and ecological issues, the possibilities could be in the field of:

• Conservation of genetic resources, species and ecosystems


• Scientific research and monitoring


• Sustainable development in communities that reside around reserve

For those who are uninitiated or at the early stages of implementing environmental and ecological programs, there are a host of projects that could be considered – such as:

• Setting up of Biosphere Resource Centres (BRC) in key tourist towns/villages near biosphere reserves. The BRC’s could be modeled as tourist attractions including an audio-visual information centre, café and souvenir shop.


• Partnering with local organizations and NGOs to initiate and support projects that conserve biodiversity and positively impact other local societal and environmental issues.  Some key areas could be greenhouse gas reduction initiatives, livelihood projects, skill training, man-animal conflict resolution, or livelihoods through value addition to non-timber forest products.


• Partner with hospitality and travel operators to promote sustainable tourism in ecologically sensitive areas,


• Involve and engage children and youth from local communities in workshops and conservation initiatives.  Launch an experiential school trips initiative to connect urban youth with the natural wealth of our country.  And many more....

For the practicing sustainability managers and CSR heads, I strongly recommend that you adhere to the following guiding principles:

• Effective conservation needs collaboration -- think: government, conservation agencies, NGOs and most importantly local communities.


• Your core objectives should remain – conservation of biodiversity, its sustainable use and equitable sharing.


• Finally, think beyond GHG reduction initiatives.

Image credit: Flickr/Karen

Raminder Chowdhary:  After 20+ years in managerial roles with MNC's around the World, he founded One Earth Foundation - an NGO focusing on conservation of natural eco-systems & preservation of traditional wisdom. The Foundation is based in Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve in South India. He is a regular speaker on various regional and national forums promoting the need for higher levels of corporate social and environmental participation and responsibility. In 2014 he was awarded the Metro AG Community Silver Star (India) for his efforts. He has initiated and successfully implemented numerous projects in the sectors of traditional wisdom preservation, GHG reducation & removal. special needs groups, soil conservation, large scale forest and lakes clean up campaigns, students for environment initiatives, etc.