Spotted: There is a now a new way to stay hydrated when visiting Venice’s historic streets and waterways. Visitors to the island can use a map and an app to find a fountain of fresh water near their location. Each fountain is unique and provides a glorious mix of design and location. The map encourages people to carry their own personal water bottles and forego the disposable plastic versions whenever possible.
The Venice Tap Water website lists all currently available fountains within the city and on the surrounding islands. There are nearly 200 listed, making it often only a matter of a few steps to find safe drinking water. Water distribution company Veritas provides detailed water quality information for the area, alongside a map of public restrooms in the city.
As one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, Venice, like many other top sites, is struggling to find the right balance between preservation of the city and showcasing the beauty that makes it famous. From January 2023, the city will impose a tourist tax that requires visitors to book entry to the island and pay a fee ranging from €3 to €10.
Other innovations spotted by Springwise that are helping to improve the sustainability of global tourism include a satellite-powered platform that lists local ecosystem information and an eco-luxury hotel focused on minimising its carbon footprint.
Spotted: Most farms use fertiliser. However, not only is fertiliser a major expense for farmers, its use can also be harmful to the environment. Ammonia, a main ingredient in commercial fertilisers takes a lot of energy to manufacture, most of which comes from burning fossil fuels. Fertilisers also release the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide into the atmospherewhen they are broken down by microbes. Biofertilisers are a more sustainable option. These contain living microorganisms that fix atmospheric nitrogen directly.
To help farmers make greater use of biofertilisers, Nitroterra technology has developed a system that allows farmers to make their own biofertilisers on site, tailoring the microorganisms to suit their precise needs. By continuously monitoring a farm’s soil properties, Nitroterra can also adjust the blends for different seasons, crop resiliency, nutrient density, and yield improvement goals.
Nitroterra first analyses each farms’ soil and uses the data to develop a customised biofertiliser recipe. This biofertiliser is then produced on-site using the company’s proprietary production unit. The modular design of the production unit allows multiple strains of microbes to be produced simultaneously. A single unit can also produce customised biofertilisers for different farms from a single site.
According to the company, biofertilisers are an important step in reversing the damage caused by the use of synthetic fertilisers. “A dramatic and urgent change in farming is needed to protect our soil system. Systematic overuse of synthetic fertilisers driven by the decades-long race for constant yield improvements pollutes soil, waterways, and air with toxic compounds and greenhouse gases, and intensifies effects of droughts and other adverse weather-driven hazards. Soil is losing its natural ability to recuperate and transfer nutrients to plants.”
Nitroterra is not the only company concerned about the environmental cost of synthetic fertiliser use. At Springwise, we have covered a number of innovations aimed at farming more sustainably. These include planting in a grid pattern to improve yields while using less herbicide, and using aquatic plants for food additives to reduce the need for plants that require fertiliser.
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: Modular housebuilder TopHat, which claims to be the UK’s first zero-embodied-carbon home builder, recently announced that it will be opening a hi-tech home building facility in Corby, Northampton next year. The new factory will be 650,000 square feet in size and will incorporate the latest in robotic technology.
TopHat was founded in 2016 and began production in early 2018 at its manufacturing facility in South Derbyshire. The company builds modular, zero-carbon homes with a sustainable core. The company claims their homes have less than one-twenty-seventh the embodied carbon of a traditionally built home. To achieve this, the company uses low-carbon materials, such as timber, while reducing waste and travel at every stage.
One way that TopHat achieves its low-carbon usage is through the streamlined logistics and lean manufacturing techniques that are made possible by building modular homes in a factory using robotics. The company is also able to tailor solutions to clients, acting as either a supplier, contractor, or developer. The first residential site to use TopHat’s product was the historic Kitchener Barracks in Chatham, Kent, which opened in 2019. The company has also seen a £75 million (around €89 million) capital investment from Goldman Sachs, which has helped to finance the new factory.
There is no end of creative proposals for developing housing that is both more affordable and more sustainable. Springwise has often covered innovations in this space. Some of the most recent have included carbon-neutral tiny homes, all-timber buildings and the use of tech to maximise efficiency and sustainability.
Spotted: Is the way we cook just as important to the future of our planet as the food we eat? Swedish appliance company Electrolux thinks so, as it has just launched GRO, a reimagining of the traditional kitchen that encourages sustainable and healthy cooking, following the EAT-Lancet planetary diet.
GRO, which means ‘to sprout’ in Swedish, is a new smart kitchen range composed of modular compartments that can be adapted to any home, creating infinite personalised combinations. In addition, there’s also a grain and pulse library designed to showcase the visual diversity of protein sources; a Nordic smoker that infuses food with flavour; and GRO Coach, a smart cooking companion that tracks eating habits and helps make more sustainable choices.
“By challenging conventional thinking of what a kitchen is, we have rethought everything from the start – aiming to help change behaviours by making planet-friendly eating effortless and enjoyable through groundbreaking design,” explains Tove Chevalley, Director CX Innovation Hub Electrolux.
GRO has launched on the Electrolux website, however, there is no set date for the appliances to be released to the general public.
While companies such as Miele and Samsung have created smart appliances, kitchen robots, and sustainable storage solutions, few have created an all-encompassing kitchen like GRO.
Other kitchen innovations recently spotted by Springwise include a new way to dispose of used cooking oil, a kitchen designed for zero-waste production, and an AI system that helps professional kitchens avoid food waste.
Spotted: Through the improvement of road construction materials, startup Ecopals has set an annual goal to take 1.5 million tonnes of plastic out of circulation and reduce carbon emissions by 1.8 million tonnes in Europe alone. Using non-recyclable plastics that would otherwise be burned, Ecopals created EcoFlakes, an asphalt additive made from a mix of waste materials and streams. Using EcoFlakes in asphalt improves road longevity and reduces the need for virgin materials and petroleum-based products such as bitumen.
A pilot site at Fraunhofer ICT has been in-situ since 2011, providing the partnership of Ecopals, Fraunhofer ICT, and the University of Kassel with 10 years of performance data. The team has found that adding EcoFlakes to roads improves overall resistance to cracking and increases strength at high temperatures, while also maintaining the expected flexibility of the road at cold temperatures.
And for each tonne of asphalt with EcoFlakes added, 6.6 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide emissions are prevented. Ecopals currently seeks feedback from users on the optimum time for mixing materials in the dry and wet stages, and the company is working with local partners in the global south to spread the use of the technology.
From a carbon-negative road repair process to the addition of plastic milk bottles to repaving materials, communities worldwide are seeking to improve the sustainability of millions of kilometres of road.
A leading manufacturer of surfaces, Cosentino’s products are invariably beautiful, resilient, and suited to a wide range of purposes. Whether you are looking for a kitchen countertop or a unique flooring or cladding system, you will find a reliable solution in one of Cosentino’s lines of synthetic or natural surfaces.
Among architects and builders, Cosentino surfaces are known to be innovative and high-quality, but one should also add visionary and socially conscious to the list of descriptors. Their newly developed HybriQ+ Technology, used for their versatile Silestone surfaces, blends premium minerals, quartz, and recycled materials with a sustainable manufacturing process that uses 99% recycled water, 100% renewable electric energy and a minimum of 20% recycled materials in its composition. Cosentino uses the term “Circular Economy” to describe their sustainable approach to resources.
All said and done, this process produces ZERO water waste. That’s right, zero with a Z. In 2022, this is welcome news indeed. The past few years have seen new attention given to the issue of water conservation as global water shortages have become a mounting problem.
The World Wildlife Federation summarizes the situation bluntly, writing that “Many of the water systems that keep ecosystems thriving and feed a growing human population have become stressed. Rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or becoming too polluted to use. More than half the world’s wetlands have disappeared.” They add that global climate change has put even more stress on the world’s water supply, and that “By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. And ecosystems around the world will suffer even more.”
The need for sustainable manufacturing practices is, to put it simply, an imperative. Cosentino illustrates this point quite vividly in their new campaign to promote HybriQ+. Early on in the clip, a sobering montage plays showing plastic bottles washed onto beaches, clear cut forests, and other examples of the destructive impact humanity has had on the globe. The message is poignant: alternatives must be found, and fast, if our species will be able to secure a high quality of life in the coming decades.
The rest of the video provides insight into the HybriQ+ manufacturing process, cross-cutting images of the raw materials Cosentino recycles with scenes of the laboratories in which the company’s research and development team discover new ways to conserve resources in their manufacturing process. This video is a testament to the power of technology and human ingenuity to overcome even dire obstacles.
The video closes with a simple slogan flashing on the scene: “Welcome to our revolution.” And it’s true – such an approach to manufacturing is revolutionary, especially in an era when it is easy to save money by pushing costs onto the planet. As the company notes, “We take care of the present to secure the future.”
Cosentino believes that consumers need not compromise quality in the name of sustainability. In fact, those Silestone surfaces that have been produced with HybriQ+ technology are among the most beautiful the company has ever produced. The company explains that “the new mineral composition enables never before-seen effects in color depth, texture and tone.” Indeed, Cosentino has long proven that synthetic materials can be just as elegant and intricate as natural materials.
Moreover, Silestone is engineered to withstand the harsh daily use that kitchen countertops are subject to, including stains, acid and everyday nicks and scratches. Silestone also comes with a 25 year warranty. This alone is cause for celebration for the eco-conscious among us. Materials that are built to last will not find their way to a landfill anytime soon.
We recommend spending time on the Cosentino website to explore the myriad patterns and colors that are available. The website also includes great photos of their surfaces in action in real spaces for inspiration. There really is something for any design aesthetic, to warm Mediterranean hues to the industrial gray that has proven so popular in modern homes. Silestone also comes in three textures: polished, suede (or matte), and volcano. The latter is really cool, featuring a rustic, rough texture that would add warmth to a kitchen.
As Cosentino points out in their promotional material for HybriQ+, “the kitchen has become the heart and soul of our homes. It is where we cook, work, study, and share memories. It is only natural that the next world-changing idea will come from the kitchen.” So next time you need a sustainable surface for a kitchen redesign, Cosentino Silestone with HybriQ+ should be top of mind.
To learn more about Cosentino’s HybriQ+ Technology and request a quote, click here.
Spotted: Aviation accounts for around 2.5 per cent of global carbon dioxide, but its actual contribution to climate change is much higher. This is because air travel not only emits CO2, but also a number of other pollutants—such as nitrogen oxides and particulates—along with water vapour, which triggers cloud formation. These emissions are also released higher up in the atmosphere than with other forms of transportation, resulting in a greater warming effect. For this reason, replacing aviation fuel with more sustainable options has become something of a holy grail in the sustainability sector.
Now, Airbus has made new progress, with an A380 flight powered entirely with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The flight used an A380 test aircraft MSN 1 and lasted around three hours – taking off from Blagnac Airport in Toulouse. The 27 tonnes of SAF fuel used in the flight was provided by TotalEnergies, and was produced locally, in Normandy.
Like other brands of SAF, the TotalEnergies fuel is made from hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA). These are free of aromatics and sulphur, and were made primarily using used cooking oil and other waste fats, such as animal waste fat as feedstock. These fats are then refined to produce a fuel that has a very similar chemistry to traditional jet fuel. However, in addition to being produced from waste, rather than fossil fuels, SAF also contains fewer impurities (such as sulphur), which means fewer emissions.
According to Airbus, this is the third Airbus aircraft type to fly on 100 per cent SAF in the past year. Earlier flights included an Airbus A350 in March 2021, and an A319neo single-aisle aircraft in October 2021. However, the A380 is the largest of the three to fly entirely on SAF. The company claims that, “Increasing the use of SAF remains a key pathway to achieving the industry’s ambition of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
At the moment, each passenger on a round-trip flight between New York and London requires more emissions than used by an average person in Paraguay during an entire year. So it’s no wonder that SAF is increasingly in the spotlight. Springwise has seen this with innovations such as an SAF made using captured CO2. And in 2021, United Airlines completed the world’s first commercial flight powered entirely by SAF.
Spotted: To date, the East and Southern African croton tree has mostly been used as firewood or charcoal. However, the tree has the potential to provide a number of other products. EcoFix Kenya is a company that is working to harness such potential. The company’s CEO, Cosmas Ochieng, is on a mission to find new ways of using native Kenyan plant-resources. He has developed a process to extract biofuel from the nuts of the croton tree. This biofuel can be used for a variety of purposes, including powering vehicles and generators. In addition, the byproducts of the process can be used as fertiliser, animal feed, and even cosmetics.
EcoFix is also providing a sustainable business model that encourages local farmers to plant and harvest croton trees rather than other crops. EcoFix processes over 3,000 tonnes of croton nuts each year, working with over 6,000 farmers. This business model not only helps to improve the environment by encouraging the growth of croton trees, but it also provides a reliable source of income for local farmers.
The company started out as a small startup focused on biofuel. They have since worked with large-scale corporations like multinational food producer Del Monte – powering their diesel generators through croton oil. However, it became clear that reliance solely on fuel contracts would not sustain long term business growth. With 90 per cent of the nut being wasted in the biofuel production process alone, the company has been growing and diversifying.
Croton nuts now form the basis of several products, such as high-protein supplements that are sold to poultry farmers as well as Ochieng’s latest innovation: a cosmetic brand based on croton oil called NEA by Nature. Ochieng said that he found croton nuts have unique physical elements including high moisturising properties to make them ideal for use in soap and face masks. The Ochieng Company is looking to target a niche market of conscious consumers with their palm-free products.
Ochieng is eager to take his cosmetics company global. In order for that goal, he’s building another factory alongside the original processing plant in Nanyuki – a town around 200 kilometres north from Kenya’s capital city Nairobi. This new production facility will increase capacity and start exporting items such as cosmetics towards lucrative markets like America or England. The expansion will also allow for more employment opportunities in the local area as well as continued growth for the company. Ochieng is committed to providing quality products and good jobs for the community and this next phase of development will help to achieve those aims.
Other recent biofuel innovations spotted by Springwise include pellets made from agricultural and food waste, a biofuel startup expanding into consumer goods, and a shipping company using biofuel to reduce maritime emissions.
Spotted: Each year, 3 million farm workers experience extreme pesticide poisoning, and 600 million people get sick from eating foods contaminated with agrochemicals. This is a particularly pertinent problem in Costa Rica – a leading global exporter of pineapples, bananas, and coffee.
The damage caused by agrochemicals—not just to human health, but also to the wider environment—is feeding calls from stakeholders and regulators for environmentally friendly alternatives. But finding viable substitutes that meet the performance characteristics required by agricultural producers and their demanding customers is hard.
Costa Rican startup ClearLeaf is rising to this challenge with a range of innovative solutions to replace harmful toxic pesticides. These are based on emulsions – mixtures of sticky non-toxic liquids that coat living and post-harvest crops that are vulnerable to pests. This coating protects the plant and promotes healing of damaged tissue. Crucially, the company’s antimicrobial agents are highly toxic for single celled organisms, such as bacteria and fungi, but harmless to humans, plants, insects, and wildlife.
ClearLeaf’s solutions offer several important benefits compared to alternatives. First, ClearLeaf offers one of the only non-toxic fungi-bactericides available anywhere in the world. Moreover, the company’s solutions do not cause microbial resistance and enhance rather than impede plant growth. Second, the fungi-bactericides can be applied at any time in the growing cycle and can even be used to protect produce post-harvest – keeping it fresh between farm and fork. Finally, ClearLeaf’s technology does not harm biodiversity on the farm – something that is particularly important in a country home to 5 per cent of the world’s biodiversity.
ClearLeaf is not the only innovator spotted by Springwise that is seeking to reduce the impact of traditional pesticides. One company has developed a sensor that gives farmers the ability to identify insect pests in real time. Another is employing bees to deliver organic fungicide.
All said and done, this process produces ZERO water waste. That’s right, zero with a Z. In 2022, this is welcome news indeed. The past few years have seen new attention given to the issue of water conservation as global water shortages have become a mounting problem.
Cosentino believes that consumers need not compromise quality in the name of sustainability. In fact, those Silestone surfaces that have been produced with HybriQ+ technology are among the most beautiful the company has ever produced. The company explains that “the new mineral composition enables never before-seen effects in color depth, texture and tone.” Indeed, Cosentino has long proven that synthetic materials can be just as elegant and intricate as natural materials.
We recommend spending time on the 
