Buffalo Project: on-demand mobile electricity. A simple and unique solution

In recent years mobile phone communication has been a major contributor to economic growth in developing countries but its spread has been hindered by limited charging options for the 650 million off-grid mobile phone users who have network access.

Having an operational phone means access to services that have improved banking, health and farming in Africa and Asia. Many millions of people at the bottom of the economic pyramid are expected to acquire mobile phones, greatly benefiting their lives, business activities and access to information. However, most of these new subscribers will not have direct access to electricity.

In response to the growing problem, London-based Buffalo Grid have developed a text message activated solar-powered cellphone charging station to help cut electricity costs. The technology utilizes a 60-watt photo-voltaic panel, which charges a battery that is then taken to the village on the back of a bicycle. The portable micro generator extracts power from the harvested solar energy using a technique called maximum power point tracking (MPPT) - providing on-demand mobile electricity. The system is activated when a customer sends a text message to the device. Once the message is received, an LED above a socket on the battery lights up, indicating that it is ready to charge a phone. On average, each text message allows a phone to be charged for 1.5 hours; where a fully charged 'buffalo grid' unit can last for three days, with up to 10 charging points and charge 30 to 50 phones per day.

In addition to this, Buffalo provides environmental benefits through supplying zero CO2 power which translates into increased access to safe lighting. The system can also be used to provide off-grid power for a range of uses from medical to educational applications.

It will help in bringing a considerable amount of economic growth to hundreds of rural communities around the world.

More info

website Buffalo Grid

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Photo credit © Buffalo Grid

Buffalo entrepreneur, Bududa village, Uganda

 

 

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Indonesian students create eco-friendly deodorant from cow dung

DwiNailul Izzah and Rintya Aprianti Miki are two students who won the gold medal at the Indonesian Science Project Olympiad (ISPO), which is held every year at the end of February in Jakarta, with their original invention and respectful of environment.

The two young inventors have create an affordable air freshener made from cow dung. Yes dung, as weird as it sounds, the formulation actually has a pleasant herbal smell. This two girls overcame 1,000 other competitors with their surprising freshener, which was created by collecting unused cow manure from a cattle farm in Lamongam, East Java, and fermenting it for 3 days: "Then they extracted the water from the fermented manure and mixed it with coconut water. Finally, they distilled the liquid to eliminate all impurities. The whole process took 7 days, which is pretty long, but in the end they obtained what they were looking for – a liquid air freshener with an herbal aroma from digested cow food."

Their natural deodorant is healthier, contains no chemicals that are found in similar products available on the market, and is also cheaper. While a traditional deodorant to 275 grams costs 39,000 Indonesian rupiahs (about $ 4), a 225-gram cans of deodorant from cow dung only costs 21,000 rupees (about $ 2), which is half. Explains Dwi Nailul Izzah: "Our air freshener is not supplemented with chemicals to smell fragrant, it’s pure and smells like the natural plants fed to cows."

Dwi and Rintya are ready to show their cow poop air freshener at the International Environment Project Olympiad (INEPO) held in Istanbul, Turkey during May, and are going to file for a patent.

More info

website Indonesian Science Project Olympiad (ISPO)

website International Environment Project Olympiad (INEPO) 

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Waiting for the spring: Ecology of Colour Pavilion in Kent, UK

UK-based Studio Wave created Ecology of Colour, a colourful pavilion for holding a variety of sustainable craft workshops within Dartford Central Park’s Ecology Island. This is the third Artlands public realm commission for North Kent. Made from local materials, was designed “to act as a jolly custodian" and encourage community involvement in a neglected corner of a public park.

In response to this unique context, Studio Weave have designed a small versatile structure with a semi-outdoor space at ground level and an enclosed area on the first floor with many windows that open wide onto the landscape. As well for bird watching and art studio the building will be used as an outdoor classroom, a dyeing workshop and simply as a rain shelter, as well as sun shelter, within the Ecology Island.

The colorful cladding was conceived by graphic studio Nous Vous who have created a cohesive graphic visual language for the exterior of the building. Prior to its installation, a team of local residents and artists worked together in a painting workshop to produce each of the 144 panels, which form the external cladding.

The building opened in September 2012, now a group of designers is working with a group of horticulturists to create a garden full of native plants for extracting natural pigments (including Golden Rod for yellow, Alder for red and Bugloss for blue), celebrating nature and color in a fun, inclusive way.

More info

website Studio Weave

website Art lands North Kent

facebook page

Photo credit © Studio Weave

 

 

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The most beautiful, and green, street in the world: Rua Goncalo de Carvalho

Sustainable diary has found another amazing green tunnel, so let's go in Brasil.

RuaGoncalo de Carvalho is a street located in bairro Independência in the city of Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Flanked by trees on either side, the street became internationally known after a campaign for its preservation spread on the Internet leading it to be dubbed "the most beautiful street in the world", and today it is considered "environmental heritage" by the city.

It is a forest. Over a span of 500 meters the sidewalks are lined with more than one hundred trees of the genus Tipuana, going up to the seventh floor of the buildings in some cases. These trees were planted in the 1930s by employees of German origin who worked in a local brewery.

In 2005, the construction of a mall nearby brought the risk of changes to this beautiful street, prompting residents to mobilize. The campaign was successful, and on June 5, 2006 the then mayor José Fogaça signed a decree making the street Gonçalo de Carvalho "historical, cultural and environmental development of the city."

The writer Pedro Nuno Teixeira Santos wrote: "Goncalo de Carvalho in Porto Alegre, Brazil, is not only the most beautiful street in the world because of the stunning visual effect of its immense Tipuana green tunnel. It is the most beautiful street in the world for this, but mainly because these trees were planted cherished by its residents, over several decades, that is, the green tunnel is the result of love, the love of the trees! It was from this love and this struggle of the residents of Goncalo de Carvalho, that the political power of the city found itself forced to recognize the importance of cultural heritage, landscape and environment, classifying and protecting it with the force of law".

More info

website Rua Goncalo de Carvalho

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Photo credit © here

 

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