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Lars Beller Fjetland designs “100 per cent recyclable” aluminium bench
CategoriesSustainable News

Lars Beller Fjetland designs “100 per cent recyclable” aluminium bench

By Zarkon Group,

Norwegian designer Lars Beller Fjetland explains how his fully recyclable Bello! bench created for Hydro aims to showcase the possibilities of extruded aluminium in this exclusive video produced by Dezeen.

Designed in collaboration with Shapes by Hydro – a knowledge hub created by aluminium producer Hydro – the bench is made from nearly 90 per cent recycled and 100 per cent recyclable aluminium, according to the designer.

“I wanted to make something that was extremely robust, and for me, aluminium was the answer,” Beller Fjetland told Dezeen. “It has all these amazing properties that make it a super durable material, especially when you introduce it in an anodised finish.”

Bello! bench by Lars Beller Fjetland in the new forest green colour situated in a forest
Beller Fjetland and Hydro have introduced a new forest green colour for the bench

Beller Fjetland and Hydro recently presented the latest colourway of the bench in forest green during the Material Matters Fair during London Design Festival, where Beller Fjetland spoke to Dezeen about the collaboration.

He cited forest landscapes as a source of inspiration when creating the vibrant green seat.

“I was just walking in the forest and contemplating aluminium as a material, and I was thinking about having a light impact or a low footprint in nature,” Beller Fjetland said.

“Green just felt really fitting. It can also be a cliche, in a way, to think about green, but I think for us it really works.”

Close of the ridged finish of the Bello! bench by Lars Beller Fjetland
The bench can be modified to integrate tables, lamps or chargers for use in public places

The bench is characterised by its ridged surface, which Beller Fjetland explained was informed by the shape of penne rigate pasta.

“One of the things we discussed was how can we make the concept of extrusions accessible for as many people as possible,” Beller Fjetland explained in the video.

“That’s where I started to think about the analogy with the pasta, because the manufacturing technique is surprisingly similar.”

The bench is manufactured using a similar extrusion process to how dried pasta shapes are formed. For the Bello! bench, molten metal is poured through a moulded opening to create a ridged surface.

“You’re pushing the material through a die, which creates a form and, visually, it looks like a penne rigate or a rigatoni pasta,” Beller Fjetland explained.

Close up of the ridged finish of the Bello! bench by Lars Beller Fjetland in the new forest green colour
The bench’s texture is informed by the shape of penne rigate pasta

The bench, which was designed for both inside and outdoor use, features a hard-wearing finish making it suitable for high-traffic settings such as public transportation hubs.

“What is interesting with aluminium is that it is a material that has an inherent value in itself, which kind of makes circularity way easier,” Beller Fjetland said. “There’s an incentive there to actually recycle the material, because it has a monetary value.”

“The beautiful thing is that the energy needed to recycle aluminium to make new material is very low. It makes me believe that recycled material doesn’t have to be a compromise,” he continued.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen for Shapes by Hydro as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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A vertical take-off and landing aircraft that is 40 per cent cheaper to run than a helicopter 
CategoriesSustainable News

A vertical take-off and landing aircraft that is 40 per cent cheaper to run than a helicopter 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: For city-to-city travel, going by air is notoriously bad for our planet. Planes pump an array of greenhouse gases high up in the atmosphere, producing potent warming effects. Thankfully, UK startup ARC Aerosystems is set to be a player in mitigating the aviation sector’s emissions with its new, uniquely designed passenger aircraft. The ARC Linx P9 has been called the “world’s most advanced nine-seater aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capability.” 

The revolutionary aircraft provides the flexibility of a helicopter with the performance of a fixed-wing utility aircraft, cutting costs by using a more simplistic drivetrain than a chopper. Moreover, this single-rotor aircraft is low-carbon, too, as it has been crafted to run on sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), or even, in the future, hydrogen. 

Of the innovation, ARC’s CEO Seyed Mohseni said, “it’s a very exciting design concept that is the ultimate solution for the market, that is affordable, safe and practical, whilst providing the right answer to the current environmental concerns.” 

While the new ARC Linx P9 is not yet commercially available, the company claims it could be airborne as soon as 2028.  

Springwise has previously spotted other advancements set to make the aviation sector more sustainable, including a flight powered entirely by sustainable aviation fuel, and a zero-emission electric plane.

Written By: Georgia King

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Eco-friendly sneakers are 97 per cent natural 
CategoriesSustainable News

Eco-friendly sneakers are 97 per cent natural 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Having inherited their family shoe business, and after learning the ins and outs of the industry, a pair of Croatian brothers, the Boljars, decided to step away from the literal toxicity of footwear. They created Miret, an eco-friendly sneaker made from 97 per cent natural materials. The upper is wool, the insole is hemp, and the outer is natural rubber and cork.

The remaining three per cent of the shoe consists of synthetic glue and polyester thread. The brand emphasises that although its footwear is low impact, it is by no means ‘sustainable’. Production still affects the Earth, and most of the company’s products, including the sneakers, are not easily compostable. Making shoes from bio-based materials is a huge improvement, though, and something the company wants to continually improve.

Replacing the glue and thread with natural materials is a priority, as is continuing to raise the profile of the threat of plastic pollution to the natural environment. Assembling the shoes in the same country that the brand is based in helps reduce emissions. And the Life Cycle Assessment of the full emissions footprint of a single pair of Miret sneakers is 3.7 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide. That compares to the 14 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide typically created during the production of a pair of sneakers.

Environmentally friendly sneakers are becoming more common and are an exciting area of development. Springwise has spotted materials innovations that include plant-based oils and eucalyptus used in a biodegradable shoe and a brand that offers a vegan, fully traceable sneaker. 

Written By: Keely Khoury

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Electrification of heating processes could eliminate up to 30 per cent of industrial emissions
CategoriesSustainable News

Electrification of heating processes could eliminate up to 30 per cent of industrial emissions

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The bulk of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions from industry are caused by just three sectors: petrochemicals and chemicals, iron and steel, and cement production. The reason these industries are so emissions-intensive is that they involve processes that require extremely high temperatures. Until recently, burning fossil fuels was the only way to achieve such levels of heat. But this is set to change.

Finnish engineering company Colbrook has developed ‘Roto Dynamic Heater’ (RDH) technology that uses electricity generated from renewable sources in place of fossil fuels in the highest-emitting industrial processes. The new technology can achieve process temperatures of up to 1700 degrees Celsius thanks to its high levels of energy efficiency. Such temperatures are sufficient to replace fossil fuel burning in processes where electrification was previously impossible.

The RDH technology is extremely compact, which means it can be retrofitted into existing facilities. And Colbrook estimates that if the technology was widely adopted, it could cut up to 30 per cent of industrial CO2 emissions.

“Today marks the beginning of a new industrial era,” Ilpo Kuokkanen, Executive Chairman of Coolbrook said when the RDH Technology was launched earlier this month. “We can roll out this revolutionary technology and achieve significant emission reductions in the most energy and CO2 intensive industrial processes,” he added.

The RDH technology Coolbrook is leveraging was developed over a decade by aerospace engineering and turbomachinery academics at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, and the University of Ghent in Belgium. The technology recently completed a successful pilot project, and global building materials company CEMEX has announced that it aims to be the first commercial enterprise to incorporate it into its processes.

Other recent industrial emissions innovations spotted by Springwise include a nanonfiltration technology that reduces emissions from industrial chemical separation, solar-powered cement production, and the world’s first fossil-fuel-free steel.

Written by Matthew Hempstead

1st June 2022

Email: harri@coolbrook.com

Website: coolbrook.com

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