The Clean Tech News
Black Inventors and Startups Creating A Brighter Future

From the past to the present, we honour two Black inventors and two Black-owned startups, which have changed lives in the past and who are supporting the environment for a cleaner future.
Startups pushing for a greener planet:
Serendipitous Project
“Serendipitous”, meaning happily discovered by chance, must be how many feel when browsing through the jewellery and accessories, crafted by founder Sydney Ziems, of the Serendipitous Project.

Founded only in 2019, Sydney’s pieces range from earrings to shoes and are made from renewable items such as pearls, shells and even sea glass (not the shoes).

To reduce waste, each of the pieces in the permanent collection are made only once ordered and Sydney also up-cycles vintage finds.

Yet at the bright heart of this project, Sydney told Vogue that she is “committed to showcasing diversity” across her jewellery and accessories.

Who knows what the tide will bring in?

Ari farm
Famers in Somalia can be supported from smartphone owners around the world, with Mohamed Jimale’s Ari App.

Now based in Stockholm, Mohamed spent the first three years of his life living as a nomad in Somalia. The only material possessions he owned were the animals that travelled with his family.

Aged 11, he enrolled at school in Mogadishu and excelled academically. He was fascinated by technology and this later led him to study IT in India, then to Sweden and finally to work for the United Nations.

However, Mohamed never forgot his nomadic routes and was concerned when he saw news of droughts affecting his home: “Lack of food, starvation, I wanted to do something about it… why not enable [the nomadic farmers] to sell their animals all over the world, on the internet?”

Somalia is already the top exporter of goats and sheep in the world and many Nomads now have phones.

Mohamed built Ari App so that anyone with a smartphone can buy an animal, name them and trade them. This sustainable solution has impacted nomadic farmers and kept them out of poverty and kept the wheels of agriculture moving.

Inventors who saved the planet from further carbon emissions:
Together, engineer David Crosthwait and designer Alice H Parker have saved untold levels of greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere.

David Crosthwait
If you have ever turned up the thermostat, you have David Crosthwait to thank.

Born in Missouri, USA, 1898, David was a keen engineer from school age. He earned a scholarship to study engineering at Purdue University and graduated with Bachelors and a Masters in 1920.

He began working as a researcher at Dunham Company creating various inventions, from the vacuum pump to the thermostat control.

David gained such a reputation, he was commissioned to design the heating system for the Rockefeller Center in New York, which earned him a medal from the National Technological Association.

Without these inventions, homeowners would have less control over the temperature of their homes, which would lead to wasted energy and more unnecessarily emitted greenhouse gasses.

Alice H Parker
Each winter, Alice H Parker would burn wood or coal in a fireplace to keep warm, as did everyone else in New Jersey, USA. The heat it produced was cosy, but insufficient to even heat a whole room.

Although in the early 20th century, the atmosphere was in a better condition than it is today, it would be in a far worse state, if not for Alice’s ingenious thinking.

After studying at Howard University Academy, she came up with the concept of a natural gas heating furnace: drawing cool air into a furnace, pumping it through a heat exchanger and then running it through pipes across the home.

Her idea was that instead of concentrating heat in a fireplace (where one would have to keep adding fuel), the heat could be spread throughout the home, via pipes under the floorboards.

This removed the need for the heating to be manually sustained and also removed the risk of a fire accident happening in the home. Alice utilised natural gas in her design, which was then only used in industries.

The household-friendly invention has brought warmth and comfort to millions who endure brutal winters and helped to lower the levels of carbon dioxide emissions.

While obtaining a patent was legally available to African Americans at the time, it was an expensive process and Alice knew her design could be rejected based on her race.

Regardless, she persevered and secured a patent for her design of the gas heating furnace, in 1919.

Impossible Foods: The Future of Sustainable FoodTech

Impossible Foods Talks New Developments, Consumer Responsibility & COVID-19.
Global patterns of meat consumption continue to increase at alarming rates. The result of rampant population growth, an expanding middle-class, and greater production efficiency, average annual meat consumption now reaches well over 42kg (2011), amounting globally to 64 billion animals slaughtered every year.

Although its ethical implications are vast in term of animal cruelty, the international livestock industry’s most detrimental impact is undoubtedly on the environment. The FAO recently estimated that livestock and poultry account for a staggering 14.5% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, demonstrating the unsustainable nature of current consumption levels, and a critical need for change.

This is a change consumers and corporation alike are beginning to make, marked by the incredible uptake of emerging plant-based consumption trends. A form of ‘alternative’, ‘ethical’ lifestyle consumerism, these increases have primarily been seen in modern, Western society, with Finder reporting that in the UK alone 7% of the population follow meat-free diets, while a further 4% pescatarian, and 2% vegan.

Driving and reinforcing these trends, corporations such as Impossible Foods are using new technologies to create meat substitute products, with their Impossible Burger sitting centre stage.

In an interview with CleanTech News, VP of Communications Jessica Appelgren tells us more.

Aims & Motivations
Impossible Foods is on a mission to save the planet by reducing global meat consumption. Providing a product whose main selling point is its taste, they aim ultimately to fight the rampant environmental destruction associated with the livestock industry by encouraging consumers to swap to their delicious, and more sustainable alternatives.

“Animal agriculture already takes up 45% of land on Earth,” says Applegren. “It pollutes and consumes precious freshwater and causes vast dead zones in our oceans, and it requires more energy than the entire transportation sector… Raising, slaughtering and transporting animals—and any form of eating animals—is simply not sustainable.”

Addressing the role of Impossible Foods, Appelgren continues:

“Now we know we can make uncompromisingly delicious, nutritious meat from plants, without animals, with a tiny fraction of the land, water and energy needed for animal agriculture. And unlike those from the animal agriculture industry, our products are getting better and more diverse every year. Over the next half-decade, more and more people will demand plant-based meat, and that’s great news for your health, public health and the planet.”

The Impact of Impossible Foods
“We run a very efficient business with sustainability optimized with every decision,” Appelgren says of their efforts. “We are tracking towards a Zero Waste goal for production and although we don’t own our buildings or factories, we outfit them with cutting edge technologies driving energy efficiency.”

Unlike the ambiguity of many plant-based products, the impact of Impossible Foods’ efforts towards sustainable efficiency is easy to quantify thanks to their innovative Impact Calculator.

“Our Impact Calculator was a huge step forward for our company in creating tools to drive awareness for the environmental benefits of our plant-based burger, and making those benefits tangible, ownable, and actionable for consumers and companies,” said Appelgren.

“We hope that customers will use it to understand the marketing potential behind quantifying the positive impacts of the choice to go “Impossible”, and that consumers will use it to grow their knowledge of the power they have every time they eat to affect positive change and then share that with others to amplify that change.”

With this accessible knowledge in mind, Appelgren is clear that the “real “clean” story is the ability that we have to turn back the clock on climate change with every burger sold.

The supply chain and manufacturing impacts of an Impossible Burger are vastly lower compared to the same burger made using even the most environmentally efficient cattle-based production: 87% less water use, 96% less land use, 89% fewer GHG emissions, and 92% less dead-zone creating nutrient pollution. Those environmental savings will add up quickly as the adoption of plant-based meat increases.”

Put simply: “The product IS our sustainability strategy.”

Current Developments & Future Trajectories
Addressing industry concerns regarding the prioritization of the economic over the ecological, Impossible Foods does not fear a decrease in ethical consumerism. As Appelgren explains,

“…we believe we have created a product that people are eating purely because they love the taste and not necessarily because it’s a more sustainable option (although it is!), and for many right now cooking and great tasting food is a primary focus of daily life.”

“We have always expected to see dramatic growth in our retail operations in 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated our efforts. At the start of 2020, Impossible Burger was only in about 150 grocery stores in the USA; we anticipate at least a 50X increase in our retail network by the end of 2020.”

A clear acceleration in these trends, Impossible Burger recently announced its expansion to more than 1,700 Kroger-owned grocery stores in the US, including Kroger, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Smith’s and more, and through online ordering on Kroger.com.

“The Kroger rollout represents an 18-fold increase in the total number of grocery stores selling the Impossible Burger since the start of this year,” Appelgren explains. “The award-winning, plant-based Impossible Burger is now on shelves in about 2,700 U.S. grocery stores and select online ordering systems, also including 1,000 stores Albertsons Companies’ supermarkets in California, Nevada, and the greater Chicago area, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons and Pavilions.”

Addressing future consumptions trends, Appelgren adds “I also do think the increasing awareness of environmental issues is going to help grow demand even further.

According to New Hope Network, on April 13, 67% of US consumers say the environment is more important today than in 2019. People are also beginning to make the connections between eating animals and public health issues like COVID-19. As these truths become better understood, we think more and more people will be inclined to seek out plant-based foods.”

Looking towards a carbon net-zero future, Appelgren is certain that in implementing sustainable change, “Consumers are 100% the answer.”

“We have the opportunity every day, multiple times, to contribute to remaking the food system to correct the detrimental effects that animal agriculture has on the planet.

We can eat our way to a more delicious, biodiverse and healthy planet, just by choosing meat from plants. And while the government plays a crucial role, restrictions put on citizens in China when they asked their populace to eat less meat just did not work.

The free markets and consumer choice will be the element driving this systemic change. People will choose plants not because they are told to, but because they want to.”

To check out their products and learn more about the latest developments at Impossible Foods, please see their website here. For more about sustainable food options, please see here.

Green is the New Black: This is Not a Drill

Green is the new black – but this conference is not just about what you’re wearing. Speakers are moving towards a greener planet and want you to join them.
Green is the New Black’s Conscious Festival is an annual conference hosted in a different city each year, which invites speakers to give group talks on subjects surrounding the environment and our role in protecting it.

The event is usually enjoyed in person, with edutainment booths, workshops and live entertainment – all designed to support guests in making greener choices to change their lives and save our planet.

Of course, things had to be slightly different in 2020.

Viewers listened to the speakers in video squares on the screen, a chat box was available on the right-hand-side and offered the audience a chance to directly speak with them, with a question time at the end of each talk.

Speakers
As the conference was virtual, no nibbles were offered around as guests networked, but the subject of food did come up.

Jerome Pagnier called in from Barcelona and discussed that following the Covid-19 outbreak, many people are rethinking their eating habits and that this is an opportunity for the food revolution against the meat and dairy industry.

“We have great brands out there,” he explained, after giving his vegan testimonial.

Later, the talk turned to capitalism vs the climate and lead speaker Andrew Simms declared: “A decade on from the financial crisis, and in a health crisis, the rule book has been ripped up,” and this certainly offers room for change.

Assad Rehman quoted Nicola Sturgeon’s “Climate crisis biggest failure” speech and Geoff Lye pointed out: “Climate change has been creeping up on us for decades,” yet we have not made a satisfactory effort to move onto renewable energy. Now the Covid-19 crisis has hit, this might be the tipping point.

As Pratibha Vuppuluri said: “There’s more money in addressing climate change, than there is in not.”

The conference concluded the day before non-essential shops across the UK reopened and the fast fashion industry was held to account.

“Here I give you this tip,” said Aditi Mayer: “Think of your closet as an art gallery.”

CleanTech News asked what should customers buy when the shops reopen? The chat box exploded with “electric cars” and “bicycles” and that consumers should financially support businesses that are committed to equity and justice.

The message
The 2019 event was hosted in Singapore and attendees for this online event were all disappointed at being unable to network in person and browse the pop-up booths whilst enjoying the live music and art displays.

Yet ironically, as all attendees are supporters of lowering the levels of carbon emissions into our atmosphere, the online festival has had a positive impact on the planet.

Instead of everyone sitting four seats apart in a lecture theatre, wearing masks, the guests spoke from their bedrooms or offices, others from taxis or stairwells or gardens. No children accidentally made an appearance in the background, although one speaker was caught in a thunderstorm.

Many thanks to the organisers for adapting to the circumstances and all the speakers who joined us from their homes across the world.

This planet is at a unique point to save the environment. See you in 2021…

Why Green Beaches Might be the Answer to Climate Change

Once the lockdown is lifted, many hope to shoot off for a belated summer holiday, for much-needed sun, sea and sand. Here’s how green beaches might help.
The non-profit, Project Vesta, might alarm holiday goers in the future, or, make their Instagram posts a little more memorable.

The project has a unique plan to remove Co2 from the atmosphere, an accidental consequence of which, will turn the beaches of the world green.

From volcanic gems to clean beach sand
This is no Saint Patrick’s Day stunt.

Olivine is a magnesium-iron salt, sometimes found in volcanos, which can absorb carbon dioxide.

But if left underground, the rock has little opportunity to help the planet remove greenhouse gases from the air.

However, if it is dug up, ground into small pieces and left out in the open, a shard of olivine weighing 0.4kg, can absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide from the air, protecting our atmosphere and keeping the sea air clean.

Placing chunks of olivine on the beach offers the greatest level of absorption, because the sea will break down the mineral into shards – saving Project Vesta a step in doing it manually.

Furthermore, olivine is a mineral which causes no harm to the sea – once the shards have fulfilled their purpose, they will eventually become limestone on the ocean floor.

Other types of rock can be used for the same process, but are not nearly as efficient as olivine.

Although there is only a finite supply of olivine on the planet right now, there may be more available but will be a challenge to acquire. In 1794, a series of meteorites were discovered to be comprised of olivine.

First “negative emissions” purchase by Stripe
In May, Project Vesta made their first sale to online payment company, Stripe, who purchased 3,333 tonnes of olivine, at £75USD per tonne – a total of $250,000. “We’re excited to be Project Vesta’s first customer,” said Ryan Orbuch, at Stripe.

“We hope their work to validate coastal enhanced weathering will improve the world’s understanding of this high-potential negative emissions approach.”

Whilst there is no indication thus far that Project Vesta could have any negative impacts on the planet, the project will use this purchase as an opportunity to learn more about the capabilities of the plan, as well as any undesirable side effects.

Only last year, Stripe decided to become involved in a “Decrement carbon” commitment, meaning that they would offset their emissions. Their contract with Project Vesta is one such example, as Stripe has also put in offers with other carbon-zero initiatives, such as Climeworks and Carbon Cure, leading the way in billion-dollar businesses supporting environmental causes.

There’s still trouble at sea
There are an estimated 5.25tn pieces of rubbish in the ocean, some of which are swept up onto beaches. Project Vesta will however make discarded Sprite bottles harder to spot.

Keep an eye out in forthcoming CleanTech News articles for details about startups which are making a splash in protecting the seas.

Living and Looking Good: How These Bamboo Brands Help Sustain The World

It is no secret that the world is significantly less green than it could be, from massive deforestation to satisfy the logging industry, to oil spillage into the ocean, to growing landfills and litter tossing around on the streets. More and more fashion and lifestyle brands are doing things to minimise their environmental impact, attempting to promote sustainability by using bamboo fibres and becoming bamboo brands.
Bamboo has recently got a lot of attention as it is an incredible alternative to unsustainable materials, like plastic, and is a fast-growing, biodegradable and inexpensive resource. This plant does not need pesticides to grow and can mature in 3-5 years.

Another amazing fact is that bamboo produces 3 times more oxygen than trees. No wonder that this miraculous plant is now used in fashion as bamboo textile can have a softness of silk and be highly durable, leading to many sustainable bamboo brands.

Ettitude – where comfort meets sustainability
This bamboo brand, Ettitude, is a Los Angeles based startup, making sustainable bedding and sleepwear from the world’s first CleanBamboo™ fabric, with a vision for a better way of living.

The company designs and makes organic, vegan and 100% cruelty free products to have as little impact on the environment as possible. In addition, Ettitude not only makes sustainable designs, but it also promotes an ethical way of business by sourcing its bamboo through specially-certified forests and donating 1% of its profits to the environmental non-profit organisations.

At the start of 2020, when Australia was hit by a bushfire crisis, the startup hosted a raffle, donating all the raised money and bedding to communities that were affected the most.

Living and Looking Good: How These Bamboo Brands Help Sustain The World – CleanTech News
Image courtesy of Ettiude
Another impressive fact, is that Ettitude’s bamboo textiles are produced promoting a closed loop system meaning it recycles and reuses water up to 200 times, recycling nearly 98% of water along the process, according to the spokesperson for Ettitude.

What is more, it looks like investors believe in the potential of the startup – the company has recently raised $1.6 million in funding.

Lauren Razek – timeless and versatile dresses
Inspired by mythology and ancient civilisations, Lauren Razek (LR) creates dresses with an enchanting story focusing on the quality, ethics and sustainability. The company is based in London, yet the dressmaking process happens in Egypt – LR ensures their employees work under ethical conditions, receiving equal pay and rights.

LR garments are made of long-lasting bamboo fabric that is soft to touch and has a luxurious look. The company promotes quality and combats fast fashion as well as the damage it is causing to the environment.

In addition, the team working behind the brand promotes transparency in the industry, linking it with the latest technologies. Each of their garments has a special stamp within the label which can be scanned by smartphone and thus a customer can see the whole supply chain process that is recorded with the help of blockchain technology.

LR is also committed to donating a portion of their profits to help eliminate female genital mutilation in Egypt.

tasc Performance – no to polyester in sportswear
tasc Performance is a lifestyle apparel startup that designs and makes clothes for any activity, whether that is running, yoga, golf, tennis or just a simple work out.

Based in New Orleans, LA, the company’s mission is to “enhance the active experience through the innovation of original fabrics”.

The main fabric which is made from timber bamboo, cotton and merino wool, keeps the softness and comfort while having the performance benefits of synthetic fabric.

The most impressive fact about the fabric is that it is not only anti-odor and breathable, but it also has a UPF 50+ protection against the sun.

At tasc Performance, the power that is required to run the knitting and sewing facilities is 100% generated from solar and wind. Furthermore, the company recovers nearly 99% of its wastewater and reuses it in a circular process.

Additionally, tasc Performance do not use any synthetic materials in their garments, making 72% of their products out of natural fibers.

Kora app: creating a new economy by rewarding sustainable action

Knowing that global emissions need to be reduced by 50% before 2030 is no longer enough. Politicians, businesses and civil society have a fair share of work to do to make this pledge a reality.
How can our everyday actions reflect our individual efforts to curb the emissions and get us closer to the desired climate goals? A new app, Kora, suggests a simple, yet effective solution: users get paid for saving the planet!

What is Kora?
Kora is a free mobile app that is designed to track the individual’s sustainable behaviour by tracking their CO2 footprint to better understand their impact on the environment. With every action, the user’s carbon savings score will be impacted.

The current version of the app is focused on transportation and mobility, where users can earn “Koras” for every sustainable commute, be it for using an electrical vehicle, public transportation or simply walking. The app receives data about the user’s movement to calculate emissions from their activities.

Here, data integration is key: Kora integrates with Apple Healthkit to obtain information to track steps and walking/running distance. The data is safely stored in a pseudonymised form on the servers of AWS, and can be withdrawn at any time. Carbon emissions calculations for transportation are based on information from Lufthansa Innovation Hub, Mobitool, BMVI, UBA, Handelsblatt, and Statista.

Kora brings an example of a regular gasoline car, which emits, on average, 200g of CO2 per km driven. Therefore, your carbon footprint will increase by 200g for each km that you drive. And for every km that you walk or bike, you earn another Kora.

Kora is a points system based on reducing your carbon footprint
The points are called Koras, and 1 Kora = 1 Kg (2.2 pounds) of CO2 reduced. The reduction is measured against certain benchmarks, e.g. driving a car over 1 km (0.62 miles), or eating 200 g of meat (7.05 Oz).

Kora app: creating the new economy by rewarding people for sustainable actions – CleanTech News
Source: Kora App website
Reward system is different from the analogues: instead of taxing people for the carbon production, Kora puts a monetary value on carbon reduction. The app also adds multipliers based on the amount of effort it requires to complete the action:

Walking: x7 – you get 1 Kora for 1000 steps (around 140g CO2 reduction)
Staying at home: x3 – you get 12 Koras for 1 day stayed at home (3kg CO2 reduction)
Biking: x2.5 – you get 1 Kora for 2km ridden (around 400g CO2 reduction)
Public transport: x1 – you get 1 Kora for 7km travelled (1kg CO2 reduction)
Electric car: x1 – you get 1 Kora for 10km travelled (1kg CO2 reduction)
Train: 0.5 – you get 1 Kora for 15km travelled (2kg CO2 reduction)
Kora app: creating the new economy by rewarding people for sustainable actions – CleanTech News
Source: Apple Store
Koras earned by the user can then be redeemed in the Kora build-in marketplace, where a range of different products from Kora and its partners are featured.

Sustainable community
Kora also strives to build a community of sustainability advocates and help individuals who are collectively making an impact. The users can compare their progress not only with their own personal carbon saving goals but also with their friends and with the collective action of their respective region or country.

The future vision of the company is to also include the food and energy industry data in the app, as well to add even more sustainable action options. Kora’s mission is to create a new economy for sustainable living.

Interested in trying the app yourself and earning your first Kora’s? Download the app here!

ReBlend: “Recycling textiles will only buy us time to change our relationship with clothes”

In an interview with Anita de Wit, she discusses how the extension of clothing lifespan can reduce our carbon footprint by up to 30% and some of the challenges associated with integrating a cradle to cradle concept in fashion.
ReBlend is a company based in the Netherlands, Amsterdam, that spins new yarn out of old clothing.

The company also adopts a social employment scheme where they hire those who struggle to find work in the normal market.

Business as a campaign
Anita told CleanTech News that “I started ReBlend to create a movement and enable the transition to circular textiles.

We burn so much old textile material, and they consumed a great deal of water to produce. I wanted to extend its lifespan in hopes to reduce textile environmental footprint.”

Studies have shown that by extending the use of clothing by nine months, it reduces production carbon footprint by 30%. The fashion industry is also responsible for an alarming 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions.

“But the market is still very small today, so it’s hard to create an effective business model. With a comparatively smaller demand, we can’t produce at the same cost as virgin textiles.”

Local sourcing is beneficial, but are consumers willing to pay?
“As of now, most of our denim is made in Asia. If we create circular ones, we will want to manufacture those locally.

But that also means higher cost, and the end-consumer has to be willing to pay for that premium. Up till now, I think it’s still a trial and error market.”

Textiles have a finite lifetime
“ReBlend focuses on the blending of materials, like the combination of cotton and polyester. We use a mechanical recycling method, where we make new fibre from this combination of both materials.

But we can’t do this forever, textiles can only be recycled 2-3 times before its end of life, so essentially what we are doing is to delay that.”

Consumers may not be ready for recycled textiles
“As I mentioned, there has to be enough demand to get past the challenges of scale.

But because of the small demand, only certain colours or sizes can be produced to balance with economic interests.

It becomes a vicious cycle because the limited choices also create less demand, and it’s difficult to increase that with such inertia.

But they might be willing to pay more as long as they can’t tell the difference
Anita told CleanTech News that “Slowly, more are willing to pay. But the majority would only do so as long as it’s the same product.

For example, it’s challenging to provide the same vast variety of colour available in the mainstream market.”

“Recycling textiles will only buy us time to change our relationship with clothes”
If every person bought a single piece of second-handed clothing instead of new in a year, the carbon emissions offset would be equivalent to removing half a million cars off the road for a year.

“People like the story of having a new material with no disadvantages at all. But it is a give and take, it just depends on what businesses choose to value.

There has been a lot of innovation in better materials, but there is no easy answer because it all comes with a different set of pros and cons. In the end, recycling textiles is but a temporary solution to buy us time as we look for ways to make the industry better.”

From lockdown to touchdown – green holiday ideas post quarantine

As lockdowns are lifted and economies move back into action, here are five locations for a clean green break.
After months of short car journeys, box sets and occasional picnics, more things are starting to reopen, including airports and international borders

It is possible to plan a holiday at last.

Here are some ideas for a post-quarantine holiday, which have a carbon-neutral twist.

However, before you book, please check the latest advice from your government.

Portugal
From lockdown to touchdown – green holiday ideas post quarantine – CleanTech News
Hugging the corner of Europe, facing the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal offers the typical sun, sea, and sand – with sangria.

In 2018, the Portuguese government agreed to work towards an extraordinary target: 90% of the country’s energy demand would come from renewables, by 2040.

Strides have been made, from the Windfloat wind farm off the Portuguese coast and to building vast solar farms.

Also, following the Coronavirus crisis, many are deciding to reduce their consumption of animal products or going strictly vegan.

For those who travel to Portugal, a vegan dating app Veggly declared Lisbon to be the second most vegan-friendly city in the world.

If you’re feeling extra ambitious and want to stretch your travels far to make up for the quarantine, you could travel to Portugal via Interrail. Armed with hand sanitiser in your pockets, Interrailing has a lower carbon footprint than flying.

Bhutan
Here at CleanTech News, we are desperate to visit Bhutan. It is the only carbon negative country in the world – but it is even more appealing since the devastating Coronavirus.

Wedged in-between India and China, Bhutan, barely more than a micro-nation, has a 90% recovery rate of the Coronavirus.

But even with schools and shops back open, the government has cautioned citizens to socially distance.

Bhutan has been repeatedly ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world. One of the main factors is believed to be the Buddhist Bhutanese government’s prioritisation of happiness over profit.

Residents have returned this, by adhering to the safety measures, without the complaints seen in many Western nations.

Denmark
From lockdown to touchdown – green holiday ideas post quarantine – CleanTech News
CleanTech News has reported extensively on Denmark’s exemplary strides towards carbon-neutrality – from wind farms on “Energy Islands” to vegan leather startups.

The country has suffered from the Coronavirus, but is now out of Lockdown, with pubs and cafes back to serving Carlsberg and pastries as normal.

A holiday here can be achieved by plane, train or car (for those in Europe), but those wanting to go further afield, could even try a trip to the world’s largest island, Greenland, an autonomous territory which is a part of Denmark.

Pakistan
From lockdown to touchdown – green holiday ideas post quarantine – CleanTech News
An unlikely candidate, but one which should not be written off.

Tourism to Pakistan has tripled since 2013, with visitors enjoying sites such as the 9th century Derawar fortress or a drive through Hunza Valley (along the Old Silk Road).

A trip to the Fairy Meadows would certainly Instagram-worthy.

CleanTech News recently reported on the new Dasu hydropower plant in Pakistan and the nanotechnology used to create face masks by the Pakistani company NanoClo.

The country is stepping up its efforts to welcome the world in and march against climate change.

Pakistan will be a passport stamp to impress.

Four sustainable building lowering carbon emissions

Whilst every home on the planet emits some greenhouse gasses, these four hot, sustainable building designs have been built to absorb unpleasant emissions.
Across the world, scientists are working on innovative ways to reduce the levels of greenhouse gasses. Carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, among others, are harming our atmosphere, and sustainable buildings could be the answer to eliminating them.

Marine biologists scan the oceans for data on sea life, whilst biodiversity scientists study animals from polar bears to frogs, to understand the impact climate change has had on these creatures.

Architects have brought their knowledge, dreams and visions to build the homes of tomorrow. Making a smaller impact on our environment with innovative designs, they deserve our recognition.

Here are four designs built to fight global warming and pollution.

  1. Milan, Italy
    After Milan was labelled the most polluted city in Europe in 2008, the local government set itself the task of improving its carbon footprint.

The city has organised a driving ban at certain hours, but Italian architects decided to beautify the city in a way that would help reduce pollution.

The high rise buildings, also known as “Vertical Forests”, were built using plants to actively support the city in its fight against pollution.

25,000 carbon dioxide sucking plants have been built into the towers – reminding the rest of the city to make an effort in keeping their city air clean.

  1. Vertical farms
    As previously reported in CleanTech News, innovators have thought outside of the box – literally! There has been a move from traditional farming, to vertical farming which promises a ‘green revolution’.

From disused warehouses to shipping containers, farmers can grow leafy greens and vegetables, in the enclosed spaces.

Farmers are able to control the temperature, lighting and how much water the plants receive, meaning that none of these elements goes to waste.

Farming is ‘growing up’ – fit for the 21st century.

  1. Copenhagen, Denmark
    Although Denmark is not a European country bordering the Alps, you can still go skiing – even on your lunch break.

In what is undoubtedly the most innovative design, Copenhagen’s Amager Bakke plant is a waste-to-energy building.

Waste from residents and companies in the Danish city is delivered to the factory and burned, the heat of which is then used to heat the city.

Amager Bakke is built in such a shape that keen skiers can enjoy a warm and breezy day on the slopes.

As previously reported by CleanTech News, Copenhagen plans to be carbon-neutral by 2025 and with designs such as this, it will be hitting the target.

  1. India
    India has some of the most densely populated cities in the world and with this, high levels of pollution.

After the COVID-19 lockdown lowered these emissions, stunned locals in Delhi were able to see the Himalayas for the first time in decades.

Further south, in the city of Pune, architects and gardeners have worked together to create vertical gardening on the city-wide metro pillars. Making a beneficial and beautiful way to absorb carbon dioxide and emit more oxygen.

Plants are secured into a climbing frame against the walls in question and a drip irrigation mechanism is used to feed the plants recycled water.

Pune is two hours from Mumbai, another Indian city which is making huge strides in narrowing its carbon footprint. With their dedication to beach cleanups, community groups are pushing for reusable plastic to become mainstream.

What is clear, sustainable buildings are making a huge impact on our environment and innovative architects are making steps towards a cleaner future.