Power to the Planet!

A blog about whatever I find on the topic of People, Planet and Profit. Doing business by doing good. Combining the idea of extending services or products to people who previously had no access to them, and environmental concerns, with actually making money to make the business sustainable. And if this doesn't cover it, then go on, read it. It will speak for itself...

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Barcelona based social enterprise gives women a chance through sowing

Enfilant l'Agulla

This is an innovative project based in Barcelona, that intends to offer immigrant women working in prostitutions a different way of earning a living through sowing.

They train women to make beautiful products using colourful African fabrics. Products that appeal to a young European audience, while showing African spirit.

Barcelona based NGO Lloc de la Dona, together with the help of social entrepreneur Danielle Pellikaan, is working to setup a social enterprise around this concept. An enterprise that will employ immigrant women to produce these authentic products and that will be responsible for selling the products under a social brand. Naturally, all profit will be reinvested into the enterprise to be able to train and employ more women, and to ensure sustainability of the project.

See their facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Enfilant-lAgulla/157492391024075?sk=info

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Solar Forest cools cars and charges them at the same time. And it looks great!

It is nice to see how design can help make renewable energy more acceptable in our landscape. This designer has thought of a way for solar panels to have multiple uses. Cars remain cool under the shade of these enormous leaves, and the trees themselves serve as charging stations for electric cars. Plus, it looks great!

My only concern is that because of the 'natural' look of the trees, part of the leaves are shaded. Anyone working in renewable energy knows that for PV panels that is far from optimal. In fact, depending on the engineering of the panels, even just a small corner of shade can render the entire panel useless.

But seeing that this project is still in design phase, I am hoping those flaws will still be ironed out before it will actually be built. I for one am all for using innovative and nice looking design to make otherwise ugly looking PV panels better integrated with the landscape!

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Inspiring video on effective climate change mitigation: 'Hope in a changing climate'

This video on climate change is quite unique in that it focuses on successful efforts to mitigate climate change. Reshaping and re-fertilising an entire plateau that has lost all of it's agricultural potential due to decade long over-usage is possible!

It is inspiring to see that these concentrated efforts of climate change mitigation are actually successful. To see that through centralized action, extreme damage to eco-systems can really be reversed. To see plants grow and water flow through areas that were previously barren and dry. Hope in a time of global alarm!

In their own words: This documentary demonstrates that it is possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems, to restore ecosystem functions in areas where they have been lost, to fundamentally improve the lives of people who have been trapped in poverty for generations and to sequester carbon naturally. This approach has been dramatically proven on the Loess Plateau in China, the highland area spanning some 640,000 square km in north central China. It is the birthplace of the Han Chinese, headwaters of The Yellow River and home to a new environmental and economic paradigm: A degraded ecosystem of more than 35,000 square km of land now teems with life and supports the sustainable economic, social and agricultural activities of its people.

Download the video here: https://www.yousendit.com/download/dkJxQk0wMVgrV3l4dnc9PQ

Presented by John D. Liu and funded by the World Bank, Rockefeller Foundation, Syngenta Foundation and more.

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This is a cool concept that I have seen pop up more frequently these days: urban greenhouses. This post below talks about putting them on unused rooftops, but there are also initiatives who build them underground. The Urban Greenhouse Initiative calls on people to join their movement by using their unused spaces for harvesting crops.

In Eindhoven, the Netherlands, they take this one step further. They build underground farms where temperature, humidity and light are controlled to the extreme. They use only red and purple parts of light, which are most beneficial for photosynthesis. There is no night, so plants keep growing 24/7. Although it may sounds artificial, they assure us the veggies and fruits are of the best quality you've ever tasted. See the amazing red and purple pictures from their lab here: http://www.plantlab.nl/4.0/

So why all this fuss about urban greenhouses or farms? Because we are facing an impeding food crisis. And when that hits, cities will be hit first. Without their own food production, food is expensive in cities and of lesser quality because it needs to travel far. That also does not help the carbon footprint!

So, I am very curious to see where this movement will take us. Can you imagine a future where you go shop at the 24th floor veggie farm? Or does the -4 greenhouse store have better quality? :)

smarterplanet:

Building Greenhouse Farms on Urban Roofs

“New York has 14,000 acres of unused rooftop space, according to Laurie Schoeman, director of New York Sun Works, a nonprofit group that promotes the use of rooftop greenhouses. … Ms. Schoeman said that if all of these unshaded rooftops installed greenhouses, the resulting produce could feed as many as 20 million people in the New York metropolitan area.” Hydroponic farming will help make our urban centers sustainable through the 21st century. With easy access to rapid prototyping equipment in Ithaca, I may start tinkering with different layouts in my free time.

via euphues:

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Micro consignment according to Community Enterprise Solutions.

This is a very interesting CNN interview with Greg van Kirk, founder of Community Enterprise Solutions. He describes their micro consignment model, where they encourage local entrepreneurs in developing countries to start selling products.

The funny part is that many products are essential, but people do not know they need them, because they are not familiar with them. For example solar lights (Barefoot Power's firefly can be seen in the video) or water purification systems.

This distribution network is supposed to be complimentary to donations. Donations usually come on a one-off basis and in times of emergency. Distribution setup by Community Enterprise Solutions will make the products available on a continuous basis.

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Great panel interview on 'Green Innovation within Telecom' at the Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona! Featuring Arc Finance, Digicel and Intivation, who speak about the benefits and challenges of bringing renewable energy solutions to Telecom networks and consumer devices.

Digicel sees the need for renewable energy solutions in both their networks, due to the fact that they operate Islands and remote communities as well as dus to weather circumstances, and for powering consumer devices, becuase many of their customers do not have access to the electricity grid.

Intivation makes those renewable energy consumer devices: solar powered phones and solar chargers. For developing markets they have low end, cheap phones that can be powered entirely by the integrated solar panel. For developed markets the approach is that of a 'hybrid' phone: smartphones use so much energy that the solar panel provides extended battery life, a 'top-up' so to say.

Arc Finance focuses on making these renewable energy devices more affordable for the bottom of the pyramid. The barrier is the high upfront cost of these devices, which makes them unaccessible for many of the world's poor rural masses who would need them most. Arc Finance uses innovative financing models to make sure more people can actually own a renewable energy device.

Arc Finance is piloting the use of international remittances (the money migrants send home to their families) for the purchase of renewable energy devices in Haiti. Through their platform migrants can choose and send home renewable energy products such as solar chargers, lanterns and even solar home systems. Arc Finance is currently exploring this same model with Mobile Network Operator Roshan in Afghanistan, who want to provide access to renewable energy to their electricity bereft customers (Afghanistan has a electrification rate of only 7 %).

Watch the video on Mobile World Live: http://www.mobileworldlive.com/tv.asp?id=438 (you have to register to be able to see it)

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This interview from CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) talks about a large scale, super quick, disbursement of government payments to flood victims in Pakistan, via branchless banking.

How did they do it? With Visa debit cards! Produced in China, Thailand and Dubai, the personalised cards were distributed with pin codes to the flood victims in the camps. The recipient could then cash in the money at an ATM or via an agent.

Not an easy task for United Bank Limited (UBL) who was in charge of production, distribution and cashing out of the cards. They disbursed between 20 - 40.000 cards a day and 75% of the cards were cashed out the same day. One can imagine the challenges that brings.

Now what I am very interested in hearing is how the card recipients have experienced this form of aid distribution. Was it as quick and efficient as UBL claim, or were there many unforeseen problems with the introduction of a new technology?

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By 2050, we could get all the energy we need from renewable sources. WWF - The Energy Report (2011)

WWF -The Energy Report (2011)

WWF has just released their 2011 'The Energy Report', which claims that the whole world could be powered solely from renewable sources by 2050.

Optimistic? Perhaps.

The goal of the report is to show the world's administrations that is it possible, but only through very hard work and extreme changes. It encourages administrations to make those changes and shows that the outcome is also cost-effective:

'This will solve most of the problems of climate change and dwindling fossil fuel resources.' 'Paramount will be the substantive increase in measures to conserve energy in all sectors.' 'We can show that such a transition is not only possible but also cost-effective, providing energy that is affordable for all and producing it in ways that can be sustained by the global economy and the planet.'

I for one think it is a great initiative and I hope the report will help raise awareness and give the world an extra push towards renewables. Especially in a time where nuclear power seems to be losing support and alternatives need to be found.

Download the report here

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About a year ago I had the honor of speaking to Rose Goslinga, the Syngenta Foundation’s coordinator of the 'Kisimo Alama' microinsurance for agriculture program.

The program sell insurance to farmers in Kenya in, yes you got it, micro bits. Literally over the counter, with every bag of seeds and every bag of fertilizer you buy, you can opt to add a micro insurance to it.

When someone does buy a microinsurance for their products, the sales person scans the product code with his/her smartphone and the buyer receives an sms confirmation with their insurance details.

When I spoke to Rose and her team members, thy had only just started their project. Their luck was back then, that the first year brought drought and therefore a failed crop in the area. Not so nice for the farmers, but effective in proving that Kisimo Alama really does pay out and therefore constructing the much needed trust basis with the local farmers.

Now, one year later, Rose has many more experiences to share with us. So please do follow the link and find out why they stopped giving things away for free.

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Nokia unveils Bicycle mobile charger in India

This post from One India shows a bright Indian opinion on Nokia's plans to launch a bicycle mobile phone charger kit, including a dynamo, phone holder and plastic cover to protect the phone.

Highlights in the article are that a very important feature is the option to blast out music from your phone while cycling, and that although the price is steep, the fact that this comes from 'India's most trusted brand' may help overcome that.

http://news.oneindia.in/2011/02/03/tech-nokia-bicycle-mobile-charger-price-india-aid0102.html

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Magenn Power Inc. has created a highly efficient flying turbine that floats like a balloon at altitudes of 600 - 1000 foot. The generated electricity can either be use for direct consumption, be stored in batteries or can even be fed into the grid.

Because the 'MARS' floats, it can be placed virtually anywhere to capture wind speeds present at high altitudes. This eliminates placing difficulties so often seen with conventional turbines. It does not need to be placed along a coast line or on an off-shore location and can be installed and dismounted easily. Plus it is bird and bat friendly.

Other than price (which the site obviously does not list) and perhaps maintenance issues I cannot see many other negative sides of this innovation and look forward to it bringing many kilowatts of renewable energy to our planet!