When we talk about protecting the environment, there are those that presume it is about finding green variants that don’t generate as much power or are too much of a hassle to work properly. One of the keywords in going green is sustainability. In other words, finding systems, devices, and solutions that don’t just work now but can also continue to do so efficiently in the future. Here are 5 innovations and initiatives in sustainability that could change the world.
GBI
The Green Building Initiative, or GBI, is an organization with a mission to help build environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient buildings. In other words, it is working hard to develop and implement green building practices. One company that cooperated with them in the past is Picerne Real Estate Group, implementing the technology and principles in their Loreto & Palacio apartment community in Las Vegas. The community uses high-efficiency lighting, eco-friendly chemicals for cleaning, and all appliances have to pass the Energy Star certification. As a result, the project has been certified with three Green Globes.
Eco Domum
In 2013 in Mexico, a company was created to turn plastic waste into affordable housing. Carlos Daniel Gonzalez founded Eco Domum and partnered with local trash collectors to procure waste plastic. The process involves melting down the plastics into panels, from which the houses can be built. Not only can a house be built in a week, but it does not cost much – about $300 for a smaller house made from two tons of plastic waste.
Bare Foot Power
Bare Foot Power focuses on solar-powered products – specifically solar lighting. Their Barefoot Go is a portable light, like a flashlight, which uses a LED bulb and can hold power for up to 6 hours. It was designed with rural areas in mind. They also offer a home lighting system, making sure you don’t waste any electricity indoors when you turn on the light. While lighting is their specialty, there are also products like TVs and fans, as well as MP3/radio – all solar powered of course.
Bye Bye Plastic Bags
Two sisters, Isabel and Melati Wijsen, aged 10 and 12 respectively, have made it their mission to clean Bali. Their initiative started as a simple project of them cleaning up plastic bags from the beaches of Bali. What began as a minor project quickly gained the support of the local children and there are now more than 25 kids in Bali working hard under the Bye Bye Plastic Bags initiative. The sisters are hoping to ban the sales and usage of plastic bags in Bali.
B-Droid
Bees have different duties based on their life cycle. Only the oldest of the bees go out into the world to collect pollen. It is a demanding physical task with little nutritional reward. That, paired with the threat of climate change means that we might lose the bees for good in the future. B-Droid is a project dedicated to creating robo-bees which will be used in pollination and, hopefully, help the bees regain their numbers.