Spotted: In the last 10,000 years, the world has lost one-third of its tree cover, with the last 100 years seeing as much deforestation as the previous 9,000. As well as depleting essential carbon sinks, this tree-felling has also proven detrimental to the Earth’s natural biodiversity. New ways of mapping and interacting with our forests are necessary to keep track of, and hopefully begin to reverse, this environmental disaster.
This is where ArborMeta comes in – using a proprietary combination of LiDAR, algorithmic analysis, and software to analyse our world’s forests in unprecedented detail.
With this technology, the company can view the above-ground biomass of an area and in turn, quantify the sequestered carbon that is stored there – our forests being the largest store of living carbon in the world. LiDAR (light detecting and ranging) is a technology that relies on lasers to measure distances and then create high-resolution models of the area it has been used on, in this case, a forest.
The idea is relatively simple. The LiDAR sends out a laser and measures the amount of time it takes to return and then works out the distance through this time versus the speed of light. This process, carried out with many thousands of beams of light and over many different positions in a forest, produces a 3D map that is unmatched in its accuracy.
ArborMeta’s three-step process of terrestrial LiDAR collection, aerial and satellite data calibration, and then machine learning generation allows for essential environmental data to be collected and understood more easily and efficiently.
MRV (monitoring, reporting, and verification) is a process by which the success of environmental projects is recorded and ArborMeta’s technology helps to reduce the labour and cost of this without compromising accuracy – whether that’s for carbon stock assessments or tracking conservation efforts.
Our forests are precious, so it’s no surprise that innovators are developing creative ways to protect them. Springwise has also spotted these microforests that are returning degraded land to productivity as well as this new approach of valuing forests as ESG assets.
Environmental charity A Plastic Planet has launched an online platform to help architects and designers source plastic-free materials for their projects and avoid the “minefield of misinformation” around more sustainable alternatives.
Called PlasticFree, the subscription-based service provides users with in-depth reports on more than 100 plastic alternatives, offering key insights into their properties, production and sourcing.
A Plastic Planet has launched the PlasticFree materials database
Part material library, part design tool, the platform also highlights case studies on how these materials are already being turned into products across five different continents and allows users to collate them into Pinterest-style mood boards for their projects.
The ultimate aim, according to A Plastic Planet, is to “help designers and business leaders eradicate one trillion pieces of plastic waste from the global economy by 2025”.
The platform features in-depth reports on over 100 plastic-free materials
“No designer on the planet wants to make branded trash,” the charity’s co-founder Sian Sutherland told Dezeen. “They did not go to design school and care about everything that they produce every single day for it to end up in a bin.”
“But I don’t think designers have been trained for what is expected of them today,” she added. “So we wanted to create an absolutely authoritative, unbiased, material-agnostic platform that designers can use to learn about materials and their systems.”
PlasticFree is the result of more than two years of research and development in collaboration with a 40-strong council of scientists, business leaders and industry figureheads including Stirling Prize-winner David Chipperfield, designer Tom Dixon and curator Aric Chen.
The website also highlights case studies of how they are being used across the world
In a bid to offer a reliable, trustworthy source of information, each material was carefully vetted by an “army” of scientific advisors based on an extensive data collection form and A Plastic Planet’s Plastic Free Standard, Sutherland explained.
“Designers want to be part of the solution but there is a minefield of misinformation out there,” she said. “It’s taken us two years to do all the research on these materials, to drill down and ask all the questions so that our audience doesn’t need to ask them.”
All this information is condensed into individual reports, summarising each material’s key traits, its stage of development and sustainable credentials such as water savings.
The reports highlight key facts such as the material’s price and sustainable credentials
Each profile also includes a list of key questions that designers will have to consider if they want to work with the material, such as whether it will be on the market in time or whether it needs to be integrated into a reusable product to offer emissions reductions.
“It’s about how we can empower designers by telling them what questions they should ask of a materials manufacturer,” Sutherland said.
“How can you push back against that brief that says: just use a recycled polymer or a bioplastic? How can you challenge a lifecycle analysis? Because I sit on those calls and I hear the complete bullshit that is spewed out all the time.”
PlasticFree’s database, which will be constantly updated, focuses on the sectors that currently use the most plastic – namely packaging and textiles, with buildings and construction set to be added later this year.
It features raw materials such as bamboo and cork, alongside more specific innovations such as Great Wrap’s potato-based cling film and Living Ink’s algae ink.
Some of these materials – like bioplastics and recycled plastics – are merely “transitional” and, according to Sutherland, represent “a foot on a better path” rather than a viable solution to plastic pollution.
Cork is among the raw materials featured
The real promise, she argues, lies in fossil-free “nutrient-based” materials such as Notpla’s edible seaweed packaging or Mirum plant leather, which are able to go back to the earth as nutrients.
“That is going to be the future of materials,” Sutherland said, “for everything from the houses we live in and the fabric we wear, to the products we buy and the packaging in which they’re sold.”
The Stories section houses educational editorial content
PlaticFree’s Stories section also houses more educational content on everything from clothing dyes to the “forever chemicals” in our plastics, in the hopes of pushing the wider systems-level changes that need to go along with this material transition.
“Above all, our focus is on system change, not just better materials,” Sutherland said.
“How can we have permanent packaging? How can we make things that are durable, that feel beautiful in your hand, that make you feel even fonder of them as they age? How can we get off this ever-moving conveyor belt of new?”
New materials will be added to the site regularly
Sutherland founded A Plastic Planet together with Frederikke Magnussen in 2017, with the aim of inspiring the world to “turn off the plastic tap”.
Since then, the charity has rallied both industry and policymakers behind its cause, creating the “world’s first” plastic-free supermarket aisle as well as working with the UN to realise a historic global treaty to end plastic waste.
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.
