Spotted: Unlit, unused, dirty, and often unsafe locations are almost always easy to find in a city. Imagine, instead, how much beauty could be brought into the world if those underutilised spaces were multi-use community hubs. Mumbai architects StudioPOD, along with Dutch designers MVRDV, turned that idea into reality with the One Green Mile development directly below the Senapati Bapat Marg flyover in Mumbai.
The two studios were tasked with transforming 1,800 metres of the 11-kilometre-long space into a communal hub for recreation, meeting, reading, and performing. Now well lit, painted a bright white, and entwined with greenery, 3D shapes, and public art, the One Green Mile project provides a blueprint for making exceptional use of deserted urban areas.
Screens and archways of plants throughout the space help lower surrounding temperatures, reduce noise from traffic, and improve air quality for local residents. With bike paths, outdoor gyms, and places to gather and sit, the reinvigorated concrete barriers and roof have become a beautiful addition to the city, rather than an eyesore, bringing accessible fun into everyday urban living.
Developers are increasingly incorporating multi-use spaces into their plans, with Springwise spotting projects that range from entire neighbourhood updates to a garden footbridge that provides renewable energy and growing space for local restaurants.
Spotted: Most of the acoustic materials that can cancel out sound are made from plastic foams that aren’t easily recycled or degraded. This is a significant environmental issue, as plastic can take centuries to decompose if they enter the environment. Moreover, current alternative options are made from plant fibres that don’t effectively dampen noise in the most useful range of sound frequencies, or are too thick or unwieldy to fabricate.
Now, researchers reporting in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering have created a biodegradable seaweed-derived film that effectively absorbs sounds in the useful frequency range. The new material could provide a more sustainable way to reduce noise pollution.
The team started with agar, a gel derived from seaweed that is often used as a culture medium for bacteria or as a thickener in food. They mixed the agar with glycerine as a plasticiser and cellulose nanofibres to create a flexible film. When tested, the film was found to effectively absorb sounds in the frequency range of human speech, which is typically between 500 Hertz and 2000 Hertz.
The team is now working on optimising the film’s sound-absorbing properties, while exploring further properties such as flame resistance. They are also considering the use of other plant-based materials. Funding for the project came from the Science and Engineering Research Board, India, and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
Springwise has spotted other innovations looking at the use of seaweed. Norway’s material science company B’ZEOS is working with global corporations to replace single-use plastics with seaweed-based alternatives. And UK-based Notpla is making seaweed packaging in partnership with well-known brands such as Just Eat.
This comprehensive tool continues EEBA’s commitment to residential sustainability. Making the resource free will likely expand the market penetration of environmentally preferable building products. Supplying per-product data and automating product performance calculations will serve building professionals that specify products and help customers achieve their sustainability goals.
eeba.ecomendes.com lets you search and compare home building products by category, brand, certifications, ecolabels, and performance criteria. Users choose a product and then can calculate the materials’ environmental impacts and evaluate how they help meet different green rating system standards, including the USGBC’s LEED programs, the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge, the Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Homes program, and more. Important ecolabels, listed in the tool include Declare, GreenCircle, Life Cycle Assessment, WaterSense Certified, and Environmental Product Disclosures (EPDs).
The green-home players
For over 35 years, EEBA has advanced building science information and education in the construction industry. EEBA members and supporters build resource-efficient, healthy, and resilient homes, working together as a community of thought leaders and early adopters from all facets of the home building industry. EEBA resources, educational programs, and events engage the next generation of sustainable construction professionals, and reach thousands of key decision makers and other important industry players in the space.
Partnering with ecomedes was a key step, according to EEBA CEO and President Aaron Smith. ecomedes, Inc. connects buyers and sellers through cloud-based software, specifically serving the eco construction market. Clients include AEC firms and building owners, brands and distributors, plus some of the ecolabels and rating systems included in the EEBA database. This lends expertise in vetting critical sustainability factors including energy, water, human health, circularity, and social factors.
Whether you’re a residential design and construction pro or a homeowner seeking guidance, this free sustainable products database could save you time and money. We’re eager to see how it might propel the market share of verified sustainable building products, improving our quality of life and protecting the planet and its resources for future generations.
Spotted: Waste is probably not the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘temple’, but each year, millions of tonnes of flowers are left as offerings at Indian temples. For religious reasons, these offerings can’t be thrown into landfills, so they end up in rivers. The flowers are often covered in pesticides, toxic metals, and insecticides, and once they reach the water, the chemicals wash off, creating toxic compounds that suppress oxygen levels and threaten marine life. Sitting by the Ganges one day, watching as colourful flowers were dumped in the river, Ankit Agarwal got the idea for Phool (the Hindi for ‘flower’).
The startup employs around 1,200 women, many of whom do not have access to traditional employment, to collect more than 13 tonnes of floral waste from temples in Uttar Pradesh each day. The petals are removed from the flowers and sorted by colour, while the stems are used to create a compost that is sold as a separate product. The petals are dried, then ground and mixed with water and essential oils to create a clay, which is rolled into incense sticks. All of this work is done by hand.
In addition to reducing waste and providing much-needed jobs, the incense sticks are also charcoal-free, so they release fewer harmful chemicals than traditional incense sticks. While, at first, Phool had to convince temples to give them their flower waste, today, temple authorities want to be part of the project, realising that it helps both the environment and people. The company also makes essential oils and other fragrance products.
Phool is also working to develop methods for turning the flowers into products such as a vegan leather and a biodegradable alternative to Styrofoam. The company explains that they, “have invested ourselves heavily into our R&D to invent methods to convert temple-waste into biodegradable packaging and bio-leathers. We are also constantly trying to enhance our impact on empowering the women who are employed with us. It has been our earnest effort to turn this pious waste collection into a full-blown social enterprise which now spans three cities.”
Springwise has highlighted a number of organisations that combine innovation with job opportunities. These include a social enterprise that promotes affordable menstrual hygiene and a coffee chain that provides employment for employees with disabilities.
The project draws inspiration from imagery uniquely associated with Fuzhou: the Jinshan Temple. This is a rare example of a temple structure built in the middle of a river in China. John Thomson was one of the first photographers ever to travel to the country and provided Western audiences with some of the first glimpses into the Far East.
In the album Foochow and the River Min, which documented his legendary journey up the Min River, Thomson captured the ancient structure in its original state resting serenely above a floating rock in 1871. This would become a lasting image unmistakably identified with the city of Fuzhou. Conceived as an urban artefact and drawing from the historical roots of the city of Fuzhou, the Relic Shelter internalizes a piece of distinct heritage at a time when rapid new development has eroded traditional culture and identity.
The client’s brief posed the unique challenge of creating an enclosure for a Chinese artefact – the wooden structure of a high-ranking Qing dynasty official’s residence, replete with ornamental carvings and intricate joinery. Relocated from Anhui to its new home in Fuzhou, the Hui-style structure is enshrined as the inhabitable centrepiece of a new teahouse. Envisioned as a house atop a rock, the teahouse is elevated above a rammed concrete base, while its sweeping copper roof echoes the roofline of the enclosed architectural relic.
Its core material, rammed concrete, is a modern homage to the traditional earthen dwellings of the region, emphasizing a raw monumentality. Visitors are presented with two images of the building upon approach: the upright silhouette of the form, and its mirrored reflection duplicated in the surrounding pool of water. A series of contrasts plays out among elements that are bright and dark, light and heavy, coarse and refined, as visitors enter the grand hall where the structure of the ancient residence is situated.
Sky wells penetrate the roof, bringing natural light into the depths of the enclosure and illuminating the priceless artefact on display. Only upon reaching the mezzanine does the structural configuration of the building begin to reveal itself. The hovering metal roof is lifted 50 cm off the solid base by copper-clad trusses to introduce a sliver of continuous illumination around its periphery.
Wrapping itself around the historical wooden structure, the mezzanine space allows visitors to appreciate intricate carpentry details at eye level. The basement level includes a secondary arrival lobby housing a rotunda, a sunken courtyard and tasting rooms. At the top of the rotunda, a carved oculus capped by glass is submerged beneath the pool in the courtyard above.
Wherever I travel, I enjoy a little window shopping for homes at real estate agencies. I like to compare prices and features in different places. On a recent trip to Ireland, I was surprised to see that every home listing included a home energy score: a BER or Building Energy Rating! The BER shows the home’s energy efficiency on a clear color-coded scale of A to G.
Building Energy Ratings in Ireland
Ireland has required these ratings since 2006. They cost about €150 to €300, and real estate agents must display them on listings of homes or apartments for sale, whether new construction or existing homes.
The beauty of these ratings is that they show whether buyers are considering a home that is an energy hog and carbon polluter or a highly energy-efficient one. It gives homebuyers vital information regarding the home’s energy costs, so they can make a wise purchase. These ratings can motivate sellers to upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes themselves. While these ratings are not always consistent depending on the energy assessor or region, Ireland is working to remedy these discrepancies.
Home Energy Scores and upgrades in the US
So, where are we in the US regarding energy efficiency ratings? The US Department of Energy created a system of Home Energy Scores that cities and states can use to set up their own energy rating systems. In 2018, Portland, OR, was the first city to require these scores, mandating that every home for sale has a Home Energy Score report. This report estimates the energy use of the home, the energy costs, and the cost-effective energy upgrades proposed to improve the home’s energy efficiency and carbon footprint.
So, how is it going in Portland? Currently, close to 92% of homes for sale in Portland have Home Energy Scores. Portland has trained its real estate agents and energy assessors to provide consistent results. They also work to make the process as easy as possible for sellers. Home energy assessors are available to homeowners in need of rating services. In Oregon, the cost of an energy rating by a licensed home energy assessor ranges from $150 to $300.
The goal is to support sellers in making energy upgrades before they sell: to offer a more appealing property, and for buyers to save money on their home heating and cooling costs while reducing carbon emissions. But few cities, or states, have followed Portland’s example. To date, Oregon is a leader with Portland, Milwaukee, and Hillsboro requiring Home Energy Scores. The city of Bend is actively considering passing one by December 2022. Other cities requiring Home Energy Scores include Austin, TX; Berkeley, CA; and Minneapolis, MN. Overall, adoption of Home Energy Scores by cities and states is way too slow to impact climate change.
Thermal Image of Heat Leak thru Windows
Take Action Now!
Yes, it would be helpful to have local, state, and national governments require energy ratings and proposed upgrades as part of full disclosure on the sale of a home. But it’s happening too slowly. Instead, you can work with your local government to develop a home energy score requirement.
For your own home, you can search for a home energy rater or energy assessor to help you obtain a home energy rating and suggest the most cost-effective ways to upgrade your home’s energy efficiency. Then, you can enjoy the benefits of a more energy-efficient, more comfortable home and sell it for a higher price.
I advise homebuyers to insist on an energy rating in the closing agreement as part of the home inspection, and ask the seller to make the needed energy upgrades. If the seller does not agree, buyers can engage an experienced contractor to undertake a complete energy evaluation and immediately implement upgrades, before move-in. That way buyers can enjoy a healthier, more comfortable, energy-efficient home from day one. Lower utility costs and reduced emissions to help prevent global warming will continue for years.
Spotted: As just about everyone is aware, owning a smartphone is now a necessity. Smartphones are vital not only for communication, but for conducting business, farming, shopping, and banking. Yet new smartphones can be expensive, pushing them out of reach for many. According to some reports, the global average cost of a smartphone is around 26 per cent of the average monthly income, and in some regions, the average person would have to spend over half of their monthly income to buy a smartphone.
South African telecomms company Vodacom is hoping to make smartphones accessible to everyone with their ‘Good as New’ programme. Good as New offers used Apple iphones for sale at a fraction of the cost of a new model. The phones come complete with a standard 12-month warranty, and the devices are approved for resale. The programme involves the refurbishment and recycling of 200,000 phones by 2025, reducing e-waste as well as cost.
Vodacom also plans to expand the number and type of phones it revamps and resells, bringing in additional pre-owned products at lower price points. The company points out that the COVID-19 pandemic forced individuals to find creative ways to continue working and learning, making affordable access to smartphones even more vital. Digital access is also a particularly important issue in South Africa, which has some of the least affordable mobile phone prices in the world.
Smartphones are a lifeline for many – especially those in regions that are poorly served by land-based communications. Springwise has seen some exciting innovations in the use of mobile technology, including an app that lets micro-merchants turn their phone into a point-of-sale system, and a platform that connects smallholder farmers with the marketplace, helping them earn more.
Designers: URBA and Boldizar SenteskiProject team: Márton Lengyel, Andrea Juhász, Boldizar Senteski, Liza Natasa RakuszClient: OnyxArea: 80 sqmYear: 2021Location: Budapest, HungaryPhotography: Matti VargaText: Lidia VajdaABOUTURBA is proud to present their most recent project, the complete transformation of Hungary’s only 2 Michelin star restaurant called Onyx. HISTORYSince its opening in 2007, Onyx Restaurant has been committed to quality and progress.
Located in Gerbeaud House in the heart of Budapest, the restaurant has always stood for the reinterpretation of Hungarian cuisine with an attention to local ingredients and an innovative approach. Still, several internal changes and the shift caused by the current pandemic has made it clear that Onyx needs a severe transformation inside out.
URBA was lucky enough to be part of the beginning, including all strategic discussions, when they defined what it means to offer a fine-dining experience after COVID and how the restaurant ought to operate in the future. These aspects influenced how the restaurant should be a memory making place, something influential in someone’s life.
TRANSFORMATION, CONCEPTThe transformation itself is transparent to the public: starting with demolishing dinner event called “The Last Supper”, followed by the “Műhely” (meaning Workshop) experimental space opening in November 2021, leading to the final stage of the rebirth expected to open sometime in 2022. MŰHELY – A RESTAURANT WITHIN A RESTAURANTOne of the old guest areas has been repurposed as the hall of Onyx and given its own experimental entity.
“Műhely” operates as the creative space of the Onyx Creative Community, which opened its doors in November 2021. The glass-covered room is where the meals and presentations are being developed, guests can witness these processes and become a part of them. This personal test kitchen is the complete opposite of what Onyx represented before.
Instead of the stiff, white-glove dining experience, the small space of “Műhely” seats 16 guests at a shared table filled with the warmth of oak furniture. The other space that was previously used as a guest area is still undergoing renovations and will be the home of the reforming Onyx offering a refined menu. The two spaces will be connected physically, but each area will have a different interior, offer different experiences and have different dishes in separate price ranges.
After the opening of ONYX, “Műhely” will remain a space for research and development and innovation, where guests will see behind the scenes the work processes. However, both restaurant spaces share the vision of presenting progressive Hungarian cuisine based on the intertwining of art, science and gastronomy and that uses local ingredients and focuses on sustainability.Just to mention a few, they pay special attention to kitchen waste management, the use of environmentally friendly detergents, and water and energy-saving kitchen technologies.
The staff uniform is made from recycled fabrics, and some dishes main ingredients are cooked to perfection chosen from elements refused by other restaurants. DESIGNIn the case of architecture and interior, sustainability means locally sourced materials, well thought through spatial arrangement, multifunctional furniture, and as little surplus as possible. Instead of the old heavy curtains and baroque wallpapers, URBA used a natural stone powder to create texture on the walls similar to rammed earth, to create a more intimate space.
Furniture includes 9 tables used as singles or combined into one large community table for private dining events or internal experimentation and presentations, explicitly created in this space by URBA. When Onyx commissioned URBA to design the restaurant’s new interior, the client also asked the studio to create a bespoke chair to enrich the space.
This proved itself to be a complex and lengthy product development process: it had to feel ergonomically right, comfortable for most people, durable, fit the space but not to be too loud visually, and had to be produced in the required quality. The designed chair is characterised by its oak frame and three legs topped with an oil finish and leather back & seat.
The chairs are produced by KOMOK, a young company committed to working with fellow Hungarian designers and architects to create high-quality products made in Hungary from local materials. Following a metal staircase from Műhely, one can reach a small gastro library and a cabinet of curiosities filled with relics from Onyx’s past.
Spotted: As the world looks to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, solar roofs could enable buildings to generate, store, and release their own secure supply of electricity. This concept is called ‘Active Buildings’ and has been successfully demonstrated by two buildings on the Swansea University campus for several years.
Now, experts at the university are taking the idea further by embarking on a three-year research collaboration with Tata Steel UK. The partnership will develop solar roofing panels which are greener, lighter, cheaper, and more flexible. And the key feature? The panels can be printed directly onto the steel used in buildings.
The panels use Perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology. PSC technology is a cheaper and lighter alternative to silicon-based solar panels. PSCs are made from a class of materials called perovskites, which can be readily produced from inexpensive and readily available ingredients. PSC could play a pivotal role in making solar power more affordable and accessible, and it could also be significantly more sustainable. PSC emits less than half the carbon of a silicon cell.
One of the key characteristics of the perovskite solar cells is that they are flexible and can be applied directly to surfaces, making them ideal for use in roofing materials or printing. Using techniques such as screen printing, PSC could be applied directly to materials such as coated steel.
Springwise has spotted a number of other innovations looking at decentralised solar power. Belgian startup Octave has designed a battery energy storage system (BESS) for stationary energy applications, while a UK company is incorporating solar cells into blackout blinds.
Energy is the bedrock of civilisation, so much so that the scale scientists will use to determine the sophistication of any alien civilisations we may one day encounter is based on their energy use. For most of human history, communities have relied on the energy of human and animal muscle. But since the industrial revolution, the world has tapped a different energy source – the power of the sun stored in the remains of organisms that died millions of years ago.
Fossil fuels changed everything. They have created unprecedented prosperity, brought the four corners of the globe within a 24-hour flight of each other, and transformed the way we produce food and a whole host of other products beyond the wildest dreams of our ancestors.
And energy from fossil fuels has allowed us to generate electricity, bringing the quiet revolution of light and refrigeration to our homes – not to mention smartphones, televisions, and a whole host of other gadgets. Or at least it has to most of the world. The number of people without access to electricity has fallen steadily – by an average of nine per cent per year between 2015 and 2019. Yet today, 770 million people still lack electricity, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. The work of extending the life-changing benefits of electricity to everyone is therefore unfinished.
The issue of access to electricity and energy must be tackled alongside another existential challenge – the global energy transition. The burning of fossil fuels is heating up the planet’s climate—by at least 1.1 degrees Celsius already since pre-industrial times—causing a whole host of devastating impacts that are all too obvious to anyone following the news. The world as a whole must therefore transition away from fossil fuels towards affordable and clean energy – and fast. The role of innovation in what is arguably humanity’s greatest ever technical challenge is obvious. Yet the solutions innovators are finding are creative, and sometimes surprising.
New renewable energy sources
Today, the largest renewable energy sources are hydropower, wind, and solar. Wind and solar energy, in particular, are forecast to ramp up during the energy transition, and innovators are working to optimise these established sources incrementally. Wind turbines are becoming hardier, quieter, and more efficient, while solar panels are increasingly being integrated into the built environment in innovative ways – through walls, the facades of skyscrapers, and even blackout blinds.
But in addition to optimising solar and wind, innovators are also thinking outside the box about whole new energy sources. One company is using small turbines to turn almost any waterway into a power source, while another is seeking to harness the power of deep-sea currents. Even nuclear power, in use since the 1950s, is getting a makeover with seaborne nuclear plants that could act as mobile energy sources.
Energy storage
One of the key challenges we face as we move away from fossil fuels is how to store energy from variable sources. What do we do when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow? Much of the focus has been on batteries, but these come with their own challenges – not least the demand they create for scarce materials that are extracted in environmentally damaging processes. Undeterred, innovators are working to create safer, greener, more efficient, and more affordable batteries, such as one developed in Germany that is made using globally abundant resources.
Batteries are far from the only game in town when it comes to energy storage, however. For example, a prototype system that stores energy in the form of heat and compressed air is 30-40 per cent cheaper than lithium-ion batteries. And another system stores energy on the ocean floor using a mechanism similar to a hydroelectric dam. Hydrogen, in particular, is considered a good candidate for energy storage, and two companies are exploring how hydrogen could be stored in underground shafts.
Energy efficiency
Target 7.3 within SDG 7 sets the goal of doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency, a reminder that we must look at energy demand as well as supply. There are many inefficiencies in homes around the world that lead to wasteful energy consumption. For example, in South Africa, a country that faces particular challenges with the security of the power supply, many homes use inefficient electric water heaters, known locally as ‘geysers’. One startup has developed an innovative device that reduces the impact of these systems by tailoring heating to user habits.
Another way in which energy efficiency can be improved is through new building materials that reduce the demand for energy-intensive heating and cooling systems. For example, engineers from China and Germany have developed a wood-based cooling foam that could reduce the cooling energy needs of a building by more than a third. Roofs and windows are another source of energy inefficiency. Researchers in Singapore have developed a window coating that blocks infrared but not visible light, while a smart roof coating developed in the US could also lead to energy savings.
Off-grid energy systems
Extending affordable energy to the remaining proportion of the population who lack it is particularly challenging. Many of these communities are remote, situated a long way from traditional energy infrastructure. Innovators have been responding with modular, portable energy systems.
For example, a Swiss company has developed fully autonomous solar-powered micro-grids that can be used and scaled up by almost anyone. The system is designed to be fully autonomous, and plug-and-play – allowing users to simply plug the system together with no configuration, specific know-how, or maintenance required. Another system developed by a company founded in Tanzania has developed a standalone ‘mini grid’ that draws on multiple energy inputs and a smart storage system to provide continuous power to off-grid communities across Africa.
Back-up generation
Energy systems need to be resilient as well as green and affordable. When natural disasters knock out the main energy grid, hospitals, data centres, and other essential services need to have access to backup supplies. Today, many backup generators still run on polluting diesel. To tackle this problem, one company has developed a generator that can run on a range of fuels, including ammonia and hydrogen.
And it’s not just hospitals that need backup power, so too do households, especially if they are situated in regions prone to supply disruptions. Grassroots NGO Deciwatt has developed a muscle-powered emergency generator for such vulnerable communities.
Words: Matthew Hempstead
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