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Making waves with floating offshore solar panels
CategoriesSustainable News

Making waves with floating offshore solar panels

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: According to the International Energy Agency’s Renewables 2023 report, last year saw a ‘step change’ in renewable capacity additions, driven in large part by solar power, particularly in China. And, in the year ahead, it is expected that the world will pass an important milestone with the combination of solar and wind forecast to generate more renewable electricity than hydropower for the first time.

Despite this heartening progress, there is still scope for innovation in renewable generation, and not every problem is solved. For example, offshore wind had a difficult year in 2023, and Netherlands-based energy company SolarDuck believes that another offshore technology will become an important part of the energy mix.

The startup believes that offshore solar power will be a key component in the push to meet net-zero emissions goals. The company’s founders all have experience in the energy and maritime sectors, expertise that lent itself to the creation of low-maintenance, offshore, floating solar panels designed specifically to withstand high-velocity winds and waves for up to 30 years.  

The patented design includes built-in safety aspects, along with improved means of access for maintenance teams. The solar panels are arranged in a triangle shape with a 10-degree tilt to help maximise self-cleaning capabilities and are placed on a floating foundation several feet above the water. Being slightly raised helps minimise corrosion and marine growth, and each structure is designed to be easily connected to another for quick scalability of energy supply.  

Sea water provides an important cooling factor that helps the panels maintain higher levels of conversion efficiency. SolarDuck plans to generate at least one gigawatt of energy from its solution annually by 2030.  

From a solar-powered cooker to new means of rejuvenating aging PV panels, solar power is such as important source of renewable energy that Springwise’s library contains a range of examples of innovations working to reduce the world’s dependence on oil and gas.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Natura Futura and Juan Carlos Bamba create floating house in Ecuador
CategoriesInterior Design

Natura Futura and Juan Carlos Bamba create floating house in Ecuador

By Zarkon Group,

Architecture studio Natura Futura Arquitectura and architect Juan Carlos Bamba have created a floating house along the Babahoyo River in Ecuador.

Situated within a centuries-old floating village at risk of disappearing, La Balsanera is designed as a model for the preservation and sustainable redevelopment of the river’s depleting community.

Aerial view of the La Balsanera
La Balsanera is a floating house along the Babahoyo River

Following the river’s current closure as a commercial fluvial route, the community saw the number of floating structures decrease from 200 to 25.

La Balsanera is hoped to help revive “the tradition of living on the river”, according to Natura Futura Arquitectura and Bamba.

Terraces wrap around the house located along the Babahoyo River
It has a terrace with a colourful hammock

Built for a family of three, whose livelihoods include selling food to the local community and repairing wooden boats, the 70-square-metre design highlights the river as a vital socio-economic resource.

A two-metre-wide extension to an existing platform provides terraces for them to use as “productive environments”, such as a cafe seating area or anchor point for tourist boats.

Kitchen area of house by Natura Futura and Juan Carlos Bamba
Slatted openings provide ventilation

“La Balsanera explores possible floating solutions that recover local artisan techniques while promoting the active and productive participation of the occupants in vulnerable communities,” Bamba told Dezeen.

The home is built from wooden porticos constructed every two metres to form a gabled truss structure. This is topped by a corrugated roof that shelters the outdoor terraces and a colourful hammock.

A central space hosts a shared living room, dining area and kitchen along with two bedrooms, while two external strips at either end provide a toilet, shower, laundry space and boat workshop.

Slatted openings, known locally as “chazas”, have been made from recycled wood and help naturally ventilate and cool the interior.

View of bedroom spaces in floating house in Ecuador
A bridge made from bamboo and wood connect the home to the mainland

A bridge made from bamboo and planks of wood provides a walkway between the floating home and the mainland.

Meanwhile, shutter doors used throughout the design link the living spaces to the surrounding terraces.

Seating is provided on the terrace of La Balsanera
A seating area is provided on the river-facing terrace

Natura Futura Arquitectura and Bamba are based in Ecuador and Spain respectively.

Other projects completed by Natura Futura Arquitectura include a fitness centre featuring giant shutters and a mirrored viewing platform in the Ecuadorean countryside.

The photography is by Francesco Russo.

Reference

Floating solar power plants on the coast
CategoriesSustainable News

Floating solar power plants on the coast

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) analysis of the solar photovoltaic industry found that “more than [a] threefold increase in annual capacity deployment [is needed] until 2030” in order to meet the global net-zero emissions goal for 2050. That is a huge increase in capacity and is a volume most agencies and governments struggle to meet. Solar farms in general require a significant amount of ground space, making it difficult to find locations that are large enough and close enough to the communities they serve to minimise transport costs. 

France’s HelioRec is looking to coastal waters as a potential solution to this challenge. Many densely populated urban areas lack the land needed to build renewable energy sources at a usable scale. Many of those cities are, however, located on the coast. By looking to the surface of the nearby bodies of water as a potential foundation for a renewable energy plant, an entirely new space of opportunity is created.   

HelioRec’s floating solar systems are customisable, made from recycled plastics, and designed to minimise maintenance costs and time. The floating solar farms use water for balance and stability, rather than costly and environmentally damaging concrete or metal. The company’s bespoke, flexible connectors make a range of configurations and sizes possible, with output ranging from 10 kilowatts (kW) of energy up to 100 megawatts (MW).  

The company uses algorithms to help predict energy generation, making it easier for users to plan for a volume of power to sell and to project how much should be available for times of peak demand. The solar farms can also be used as a dock and charging station for electric boats.   

Innovators are increasingly looking to the world’s waterways for solutions to global challenges. Recent developments spotted by Springwise include a nanogenerator that harnesses the energy of the ocean to power sensors and a floating platform for generating continuous electricity from rivers.

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

Floating home concept made from recycled materials
CategoriesSustainable News

Floating home concept made from recycled materials

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Floating homes are increasingly seen as a viable housing option. Copenhagen-based MAST architecture studio’s concept of modular structures makes the idea sustainable by building with recycled materials and incorporating marine-friendly shapes into the design.

Called Land on Water, the studio’s concept uses flat-packed modules made from recycled plastic to create the floating base. Designed to be easy to ship and assemble, the system is customisable. Once the bases are built, they can be connected in a variety of configurations, providing everything from a floating pool to homes and recreation space. More or less support can be added as needed as a community develops and changes.

MAST uses gabion construction for the bases, which is a series of mesh cages filled with flotation supports. In this case, the studio recommends locally sourced, recycled materials. Sea creatures can live safely in, on, and around the cages, and the studio explicitly eliminates harmful chemicals and other materials from the design in order to better support and live in partnership with marine life.

Currently working on a prototype, the studio seeks partners interested in developing the concept for a range of projects.

As well as floating homes, Springwise has spotted floating work pods and floating solar farms taking advantage of the flexibility of working with water, rather than against it.  

Written By: Keely Khoury

Reference

A floating barrier stops rubbish from flowing into the ocean
CategoriesSustainable News

A floating barrier stops rubbish from flowing into the ocean

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: Around 8 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into the oceans every year. And roughly 80 per cent of this plastic waste actually started out in rivers. Complicating cleanup was a finding in which researchers concluded that more than 1,000 rivers are responsible for most of the plastic that ends up in the ocean. The researchers also found that most of that waste is carried by small rivers that flow through densely populated urban areas, not the largest rivers.

To tackle this plastic scourge, Germany-based enterprise Plastic Fischer has developed a floating barrier, called TrashBoom, designed to prevent plastic waste from reaching the ocean. The startup was founded by three students, who realised during a trip to Vietnam that the river view from their balcony was actually a stream of plastic waste floating on the surface. The TrashBoom is a floating fence constructed from locally available materials that traps the plastic. The waste is then manually gathered and transported to sorting facilities.

All recyclables are reintroduced into the supply chain and unrecyclable materials are sent to certified Thermal Recovery Plants. All of the TrashBooms are built locally, with locally sourced, low-tech materials. The projects are managed by locally hired staff and project managers, with only two full-time employees working in Europe. The entire process is verified through plastic recycling platform Empower.

TrashBoom is working in collaboration with a number of oganisations, including Allianz and ‘Make A Change World’ in Bali, and has inspired a number of others. The company says that they, “are very proud that we have managed to motivate other companies like e.g. Sungai Watch, Pangea Movement and other NGOs to copy our approach and stop plastic in rivers with simple technology.”

As the tide of plastic sweeping into rivers, oceans, and every other corner of the globe continues unabated, we are also seeing a growth of innovations aimed at stemming it. These include other types of river barrier projects, ocean barrier projects and the use of ships scrubbers and autonomous robots to remove plastic.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Digital technology and a floating museum bring contemporary art and culture to the people
CategoriesSustainable News

Digital technology and a floating museum bring contemporary art and culture to the people

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: The impact of digital technologies on the world of art has been nothing short of transformative. From online platforms that make it easier for amateur artists to connect with their audience, to virtual tours that allow us to experience historical works up close, technology has completely redefined how we interact with, understand, and appreciate art in all its forms.

Perhaps no organisation embodies this shift better than Art Explora, a cutting-edge initiative that is shaking up the art world by making contemporary art accessible to everyone. The French foundation was created in November 2019 by entrepreneur Frédéric Jousset. Its mission is to reduce the cultural divide by bringing works of art to new, large, and diverse audiences.

Art Explora has developed a groundbreaking digital art history platform in collaboration with Sorbonne Université. This cutting-edge platform is designed to be accessible to users around the globe and offers intuitive interfaces that make it easy for anyone to explore art from all periods and styles. Through its unique journeys of discovery—which range from ancient Egyptian art to contemporary works—users of Art Explora are able to explore a wide variety of artistic styles and techniques in an engaging and interactive way. And by testing their knowledge through a series of quizzes and challenges, users can earn a valuable certificate that shows their level of expertise.

Another recent initiative from Art Explora is a new mobile museum, which has been christened the ‘MuMo’ and is a joint effort between Art Explora, the Centre Pompidou, and the MuMo Foundation. The truck will tour France in 2022 and Europe in 2023, bringing two themed annual exhibitions to each location. The exhibitions will be curated from the collections of the Centre Pompidou, as well as from other major European institutions. The MuMo will also host educational programs and workshops for children and adults alike. This unique opportunity to experience art from around the world will be an invaluable addition to the cultural landscape.

Art Explora also plans to bring art to the waves by converting one of the world’s largest catamarans into a mobile digital art museum. The floating museum is due to set sail from Marseille for various locations in the Mediterranean basin in September 2023.

Other Art Explora initiatives include the installation of ‘short story dispensers’ at the Armand Trousseau Children’s Hospital, and a residency programme enabling artists and researchers to carry out research and creation work in the heart of one of the most iconic and vibrant districts of Paris.

Other recent art and culture innovations spotted by Springwise include an online storytelling platform for female and under-represented filmmakers, an AR art exhibition embedded in the London landscape, and remote art tours via robots.

Written By: Katrina Lane

11th May 2022

Website: artexplora.org

Contact: artexplora.org/en/contact

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