Issue 11

Issue 11

FEEL THE NEED: FOR E-SPEED The world awaits Formula-E - a bit like Formula 1, but much, much faster

CRASH, BANG, WALLOP Will motorists ever really trust self-driving cars?

POWERLESS TO RESIST Underground beer coolers and other cool offgrid gadgets.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS Would Jules Verne approve of a round the world race with a strict ban on fossil fuels?

Who cares? It’s happening anyway.

‘I’LL BE BACK’ Research suggests that by 2040, humans will no longer be Earth’s dominant species. Which is a little perturbing.

WELCOME If I could add a soundtrack to this bit, it would be a toss up between Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’, ‘Baby You Can Drive My Car’ by the Beatles, ‘Electric Avenue’ by Eddie Grant and ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen. On account of the imminent arrival of proper electric car racing in the form of the FIA’s Formula-E championship, which kicks off in Beijing on 14th September. Brum, brum. Or Whirr, whirr perhaps? All very exciting whichever way you do it.

Reform Club for high tea and medals (80 DAYS).

We ask the obvious questions: Exactly how fast will these babies be going? What sort of acceleration are we talking about? Will they make any noise? Does this mean their street cousins will be cooler to drive now?

While another of our co-founders, Amsterdambased Freerk Bisschop, introduces us to a few of his country’s exciting grass roots EV projects (LETTER FROM THE LOWLANDS)

Continuing the ultra modern driving theme, we wonder how long it will take people to get used to self-driving cars, the sort which, like slavish lapdogs, will one day carry us home when we’ve had a glass too many (CRASH, BANG WALLOP) put themselves away in the garage (JUST DEAL WITH IT) and plug themselves in for a recharge.

The way things are going, more 2020 than 2050.

We have news of an exciting Jules Verne style ‘Around the World’ race inspired by a challenge recently laid down at London’s Reform Club (the very same club that featured in Verne’s original ‘Around the World in 80 Days’) to circumnavigate the globe without using a single drop of fossil fuel. The race will take in 8 exciting international cities, culminating in a final dash back to the

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And talking of final dashes, we are extremely pleased to announce that one of our cofounders, Jan Willem Bode, an exceptionally green chap in many regards but a sucker for classic Citroens, has finally taken the decision to get himself some electric wheels (MAKE MINE A LEAF). The full how, why, where and when of buying an electric car.

PLUS: A power-free beer cooler (POWERLESS TO RESIST), an in-depth look at Barcelona’s admirable claim to the title of world’s greenest city (CIUDAD DEL SOL), how a Hong Kong design company is making urban farms out of stacks of disused shipping containers (FOOD IN THE SKY), the recruitment of some of the UK’s finest minds to solve the problems of energy efficiency in buildings (SHUT THAT DOOR), and finally, some perplexing news from the world of artificial intelligence about how humans won’t be the dominant Earth species as soon as 2040 (I’LL BE BACK).

Enjoy.

The 2050 Editorial Team. (Whirr, whirr.)

ABOUT US: 2050 Magazine is all about renewable energy and our journey towards the day when the whole world will have access to cheap, clean, sustainable sources of energy. Something which we think will happen by 2050.

As long as we all pull together and do our bit. This is our bit.

EDITORIAL: We are very fortunate to have constant access to an incredibly talented pool of people, some of them with decades of experience in the field of sustainability.

They tell us things and we write it down and add pretty pictures. Then we send it, all wrapped up in tinsel, to the world at large.

That’s it in a nutshell really.

DISTRIBUTION: 2050 is a free publication which is distributed around the world through a variety of ‘friend’ networks. We are currently connected to more than 1 million supporters. A number which is growing on a daily basis. Please feel free to pass us on to your own networks if you think they might be interested in keeping in touch with what’s going on in the world of renewable energy and sustainability.

PUBLISHERS: 2050 Magazine is a joint effort by Planet B Ventures and Spinning Plate Media Ltd and is partly funded by crowdfunding on impactcrowd.com.

CONTACT: Editorial: info@planetbventures.com Advertising: ads@planetbventures.com

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CONTENTS 6 Meanwhile...

8 Powerless To Resist 12 Feel The Need: For E-Speed 20 Around The World In 80 Days 24 Make Mine A Leaf 28 Letter From The Lowlands 31 Me And My Beetle 32 Crash, Bang, Wallop 38 Just Deal With It 42 In Our Humble Opinion 44 I’ll Be Back 46 Ciudad Del Sol 52 Food In The Sky 54 From Field To Farm 54 Shut That Door!

56 Aiming For The Perfect Building

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meanwhile...

WHERE THE SUN DON’T SHINE… AND A MESSAGE FROM OUTER SPACE a picture, as they say, paints a thousand words. how many then for a video?

S

ometimes a drizzling of humour can go a long way when it comes to getting your message across.

Particularly when that message is bit on the heavy side and most people, while generally agreeing with it, never really seem to have the time to do anything much about it.

A truism Greenpeace took on board when it commissioned this rather wonderful advert about how the world would maybe work if humans had evolved their own in-built torches.

We would explain it to you now, but, like we said, a thousand words...

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A

s the golfer Lee Trevino once said, “the harder I practice, the luckier I seem to get.”

Which might explain my luck in accidentally discovering another Greenpeace-commissioned gem that really had to be included too.

Entitled, ‘Alien Invasion’ it imagines a scenario in which a superior species of aliens weighs up the pros and cons of saving the Earth and its current inhabitants, from imminent selfdestruction.

“We’ve been sending them messages in their cornfields for 30 years and what have we got back? Zippity bloody doodah.”

Don’t expect a happy ending!

(Thanks to Frankie Hiller for sending us the first of those 2 YouTube links. If anyone else has any others they would like us to feature, please just send them in.)

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off-grid gadgets

POWERLESS TO RESIST!

Lots of people harbour a secret dream of living ‘off-grid’, if only to be able to tell people they live ‘off-grid’. And while going all the way down that ‘Little House on the Prarie’ road is beyond most of us (just yet) there are plenty of gadgets out there which don’t need juice. Every one a veritable gambit of conversation in itself.

The Goal Zero Lighthouse Lantern A lantern which offers dimmable LEDs while doubling up as a portable charger. Suitable for handphones or other small devices thanks to its hand crank facility or, if you’re lazy, an appropriate solar panel. http://www.goalzero.com/p/180/lighthouse-250lantern

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The Window Socket Solar Charger Okay, we’ve been going on about this one for a while, but it’s still one of the best contenders. It does fairly well what it suggests. You stick it on a sunny window and its solar panel converts that stray sunlight – there’s a lot of it at 30,000 feet in areoplanes – into a plug for your computer or phone. Genius, but mainly because you get to stick it on the window where everyone can see it and then sit back feeling really smug about yourself. http://www.yankodesign.com/2013/04/26/plug-it-on-the-window/

Voltmaker Kinetic Energy Charger An obvious choice for Bruce Lee fans and other people prone to working out by throwing those nunchuck things around and grunting a lot. A rapid kinetic energy generator that uses a ratchet system to convert the whirling motion into a steady source of energy. Enough for small USBcapable devices. Even comes with a built-in flashlight. http://www.thevoltmakers.com/en/voltmaker. htm

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off-grid gadgets

The Clay Refrigerator Based on ancient principles of cooling, the MittiCool – made entirely of clay – harnesses the cooling effects of water evaporation and can chill milk for 3 days or vegetables for up to a week. http://www.mitticool.in/product_detail. php?product_id=4

The Koostic Zero-Energy Wood Speaker It’s made of wood, it saves you having to find another spare plug in the kitchen, and it works.

One of those cheap, simple ideas that just keeps on giving.

Boosts your volume by 2 – 4 times. http://www.koostik.com/collections/ pivot/products/walnut-pivot

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The Human-Powered Laundry Pod Like a cross between a washing machine and a gym membership, the hand-powered Laundry Pod uses a fraction of the water and soap of a regular wash and zero electricity. A must for students perhaps, or those grubby people at music festivals. http://www.storebound.com/products

Pedal-Powered Washer A bit like the Laundry pod, but for cyclists.

A cheap and simple way to get your clothes washed when you can’t get to a normal washing machine. Just after the apocalypse perhaps. An easily scalable invention. http://www.dellchallenge.org/projects/ giradora-safe-agua

The Off-Grid Beer Cooler Uses the natural coolness and humidity of soil to keep a regular supply of beer naturally chilled all year round. The eCool just needs to be dug into a 3-foot hole and left to do its work as nature intended. Sort of. https://eng.ecool.dk/

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FEEL THE NEED: FOR

E -SPEED

Just in case you’re wondering what all the fuss is about in the world of motor sport, the truth is that the very first Formula E race is due to take place in Beijing on September 13th and chances are, things will never be quite the same again.

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gentlemen, stroke your batteries

T

he thing most people haven’t realised yet about electric cars, although they likely will once the Formula E races start getting beamed around the world, is that they can be very quick. Very, very quick indeed.

Indeed, they’ve always been quick. In 1875 the world’s first automobile race was won by an electric car driven by a man with an impressive moustache who’s name was probably something like Otto von Trappenstein. Although to be fair most cars in those days were electric and most of their drivers wore impressive moustaches and were called something like Otto von Trappenstein.

Indeed petrol engines didn’t displace the early electric forerunners until well into the 20th century when mass production got all popular. But that’s another story. The main story here is that the advent of the Formula E grand prix circuit is going to provide the hitherto missing ingredient in the cocktail required to herald the re-emergence of the electric car as the dominant mechanical species once

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more.

People will tell you that there are two reasons the E-car hasn’t taken over yet: a) range worry (will this thing get me to work and back?) and b) re-charge anxiety (where on Earth am I meant to plug this thing in?). Which, to address them in order, are: a) solved (most electric vehicles these days have a range of somewhere between 100 and 300 miles) and b) swiftly being dealt with (fast-charging stations, free ‘park and charge’ bays in many modern cities, and exchangeable battery schemes, to name but a few on-going solutions).

The truth is there has always been a third barrier to the mass adoption of electric cars, one which is rarely talked about in the open, and even then only in hushed whispers. We speak of course (in a hushed whisper) of the Sinclair-effect. The innocent damage done to the whole evolutionary cycle of the modern electric car, by that brilliant bearded EV pioneer of the 70s, Clive Sinclair. With his brilliant, but sadly way ahead of its time, personal

electrical transportation device, the C5.

How was he to know that the world wasn’t yet ready for such genius and that combining a top speed of 15 miles an hour with an open top sitting position just above ground level, would result in early adopters of the technology being continually harassed by gangs of sniggering schoolboys.

“Alright mister, can I have two 99s and a choc-ice please?”

And “What’s that you’re driving? A status thimble?” being two of the typical jibes we, sorry, they, would subject them to.

And it wasn’t as if the C5 drivers could retaliate even if they wanted to. They simply weren’t fast enough for a safe getaway.

How many of those brave pioneers must have regretted replying with, “Well, that as may be Sonny Jim boyo my lad, but at least I’m not an acne ridden juvenile with no prospects of a job and nothing but a life of crime ahead of him,” before slamming their

Formula E grand prix circuit is going to provide the hitherto missing ingredient in the cocktail required to herald the re-emergence of the electric car as the dominant mechanical species once more.

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gentlemen, stroke your batteries

foot down on the accelerator and pulling away from the scene of the insult at just over jogging pace.

All of that is about to disappear for ever when the world sees what modern electric cars – even their C5 ‘urban’ equivalents – are capable of.

Check if you will this YouTube video of a young boy being taken for his first ride in his dad’s Tesla Roadster: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2nxF0-HQB5I

Pure, unbridled fun.

And then watch: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=369hSEBXd8 to see an unassuming fully electric converted 1973 Datsun something or other, wiping the floor with allcomers at a drag racing event.

Corvettes, BMWs, Porches, they all end up looking like they’re standing still as the Zombie pulls away to three consecutive world records.

And then when you’ve seen them, ask yourself how fast those Formula E cars are

going to be. When the top engineers, constructors and race crews set their minds to it, the records are surely going to tumble.

Lapsing into the technical data for just a moment (with reference to theengineer. co.uk, and they should know) the season 1 cars will all use a common chassis being developed by Renault together with Spark Racing Technologies. Snappily named the Sark-Renault SRT_01E Formula E, it will feature technology from a range of different companies, many of whom are also involved in Formula One. Formula E will become an open series in its second year when teams will be free to develop their own cars, with whatever configuration of electric motors, batteries and charging systems they believe will give them the biggest advantage in the race.

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gentlemen, stroke your batteries

Qualcomm’s Halo Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) technology is expected to be made available for Formula E race cars from the second season of the event. Whatever that means.

The electric motor and control electronics have evolved from parts originally created for the McLaren P1 hybrid sportscar. The motor itself

Indeed, according to McLaren, the electric system has the highest power-to-weight ratio of any automotive motor in the world.

The energy for the electric motor comes from lithiumion batteries — the same technology is used in laptop computers — which are located behind the driver within the carbon safety

they make that lovely noise?

Because honestly that’s one of the best bits.”

The answer to which is, according to Peter van Manen, managing director of McLaren Electronic Systems, yes.

“The powertrain has its own characteristic sound, which is in fact very loud and just as exhilarating as the noise of a combustion engine.”

By far the most exciting technical fact about the Formula E (and indeed other electric cars) is that torque delivery is almost instant being much smaller than an internal combustion engine at only 26kg and yet capable of providing more than 250hp.

But by far the most exciting technical fact about the Formula E (and indeed other electric cars) is that torque delivery is almost instant, giving the powertrain extremely fast acceleration.

Which, going back to our original point, is why they’re so blinking quick.

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cell. The flow of energy between the battery pack and the electric motor being controlled by motor-control electronics with all the electrical systems operating at very high voltages, up to 800V. Which leaves us with one final question. One which always seems to crop up eventually in conversations about Formula E: “Okay, okay, okay, we get it, they’re quick. But will

We suspect he’s bigging up the noise angle just a tad there and would prefer, if only for reasons of nostalgia, all the new Formula E racing cars to be fitted with high volume recordings of all the famous internal combustion racing cars of the past.

Just in case we forget what they sounded like.

“The powertrain has its own characteristic sound, which is in fact very loud and just as exhilarating as the noise of a combustion engine.�

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one for the diary: 80DR

80

AROUND THE WORLD IN

DAYS

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Starting in April 2016, a new ‘around the world’ competition will challenge teams to race between eight of the world’s most exciting locations, without using a single drop of fossil fuel. As Jules Verne’s Passe Partout once said, “That’s an awful lot of donkey rides, unless of course we can find a …”

The competing teams will choose their own routes and means of transport.

All land-, water- and air-vehicles are allowed, as long as they run on renewable resources and don’t contain a combustion engine.

The event, literarily inspired by Jules Verne’s book ‘Around the world in 80 days’, will set out to prove that modern transportation methods are more than up to the challenge. At that time, in 1873, steam powered vehicles were about to replace horses. Today we are

facing another tipping point in history with the first mass market electric vehicles becoming available.

The teams will start in Western Europe before heading east to complete the first leg. While discussions with cities are on-going, the preferred route will include stopovers in the Middle East, India and China. After which the North Pacific Ocean will need crossing on the way to the west coast of the United States. The teams will then race through a variety of landscapes

towards South America for their final stop, before heading back to Europe.

From there, a short leg – which, let’s face it, will provide some terrific live broadcasting possibilities - will complete the epic 40,000 km journey.

All eight participating cities will host a combination of competitive challenges for the teams, alongside other ingenious forms of entertainment, in a two-day programme focused on various target audiences.

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one for the diary: 80DR

Worth Noting: The production team of Long Way Round (Claudio von Planta en Russ Malkin) are now connected with 80DR. Von Planta, together with his colleague Kevin Augello, will film and produce for 80DR. Russ Malkin will work as an executive producer.

On April 9 2014 80DR was launched during a partners and investors dinner at the Reform Club in London (the very same venue used in the original book as the starting point for Verne’s race).

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Robert Llewellyn, actor, comedian, writer, Formula E co-commentator and the UK’s premier e-mobility specialist and general EV advocate, played an active role during the Reform Club launch. (He also hosts the YouTube show Fully Charged https://www. youtube.com/user/fullychargedshow well worth a look).

On April 11, after a conference on e-mobility in the North Sea Region, the 80DR team conducted a small

80-hour rally from London to Oslo, which simply dripped with media opportunities in all 7 countries of the North-Sea Region (UK, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway).

The first team to participate in 80D has already signed up. Public announcements and details will follow after the launch on October 2, 2014.

Ambassadors: .Maarten Steinbuch: professor at the TU Eindhoven researching solutions for clean, safe and sustainable smart mobility.

powered electric vehicle.

Jan Lammers: versatile Dutch racing driver, winner of Le Mans, currently racing trucks in the Dakar rally.

Tim Coronel: Dutch racing driver who harbours an ambition to be the first man to drive the Dakar rally fully electric.

The Dutch Organisation for Electric Transport: supporting 80DR with their expertise and network.

Louis Palmer: the first man to circumnavigate the world in a solar

Hubert Auriol: entered the first Paris-Dakar when it was organised in

December 1978 and went on to win it three times, twice on a motorbike and once in a car, thereby becoming the first man to win in two different classes. After 16 years of participation he moved to the position of race director of the Dakar, a position he held for 9 years. He is now the race director and organiser of the Grand China Rally.

Race around the world in 80 days with sustainable mobility 80 Day Race | Tel: +31 6 51544946 | www.80dr.com |f.manders@80dr.com PAGE 23

make mine a leaf

MAKE MINE A

LEAF

2050 Magazine’s co-founder and Planet B Ventures director JanWillem Bode finally flicks the switch on his electric car dream. But not without checking the numbers first

A

fter years of umming and erring, talking up my own green credentials (while secretly admitting that they were actually more of a light turquoise shade if I didn’t include my day job as an environmental consultant) and generally talking the walk, I decided to do something properly green. At home, as part of my personal commitment to change.

I ordered a Nissan Leaf.

It arrived just yesterday, on the back of a truck, all shiny and red on the outside, black on the inside, and green under the hood.

It looked great. Not in quite the

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same way that a Tesla Roadster would have looked great in exactly the same position, or even the Tesla Model S, or the BMW i3, but great all the same.

Indeed it wouldn’t be pushing it too far to say that a wave of paternal pride rode over me that morning as I clinked the keys to my shiny new car.

It had taken me a long time to commit to getting an electric vehicle. It’s a big commitment, and the circumstances needed to be right.

But finally it all came together, I think.

‘But how did I come to this decision?’ I hear you heckling from the back of the room.

A question I should start to answer by explaining our previous domestic car situation (PDCS).

Most days I drive a 1973 Citroen DS21, a fantastic piece of kit but sadly as thirsty as a dive bombing pelican. On a bad day, a liter of petrol takes me 5 km (or about 14mpg).

To make matters worse, our household car is a Mercedes R Class. Also very thirsty on the fuel, albeit not as bad as the DS. It just didn’t feel right clocking up 25 to 30,000 kilometers a year in these 2 cars.

So thus armed with the hefty sword of environmental

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make mine a leaf

responsibility, I finally felt equipped to take on the numbers. For it was there I had always feared my dream of going electric would falter and with it the chance to smirk and wave as I glide past my neighbour on his silly little electric bike.

Having made many a spreadsheet in the course of my day job, I decided to make a ridiculously complex one for

I hadn’t even considered leasing, which I then quickly added to my spreadsheet in the form of a 3-year comparison between continuing to drive the DS and leasing a Nissan Leaf. Both assuming an annual mileage of 10,000 and zero road tax on account of one being an electric car and the other a classic.

For the Leaf: Lease costs per month: £250.

Even the sexy BMW i3 clocked up a coquettish £2,000 per annum saving compared to the DS. So all in all, a clear economic case for an electric vehicle.

The environmental case is clear as well. We buy 100% renewable electricity at home and that is where we will mainly be charging the Leaf, thus making

Even the sexy BMW i3 clocked up a coquettish £2,000 per annum saving compared to the DS. this situation as well. In short, I calculated everything from NPVs to IRRs, and bit by bit the case for buying an electric vehicle started to add up.

Until that is I went to work one day, and was greeted by one of my co-workers in his shiny BMW i3. One thing led to another and we started talking about electric car options, both of us absentmindedly stroking his BMW’s sleek black panels, and he told me that instead of buying it he had opted for leasing.

Electricity per month: £10.

Insurance: £300 per annum.

For the DS: Depreciation and maintenance: £165 per month.

Petrol: £340 per month, based on 1 liter of petrol for 6 km.

Insurance: £800 per annum.

Which, taking into account the appropriate reductions in VAT and corporate tax in its capacity as a company car, left me with a total saving in favour of the Nissan Leaf of £3,500.

Jan-Willem Bode (partner at Planet B Ventures) Internet, new economy and sustainability entrepreneur.

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it 100% CO2 free.

With a CO2 intensity of 2.31 kg of CO2 per liter of petrol, I will be saving a total of just over 6,000 kg of CO2 by deciding to drive electric.

And why the Leaf? Well, first of all costs. I would love to have started driving the Tesla Roadster, but a) it isn’t practical, and b) it’s expensive.

The Model S is v cool, but not available and also quite a bit

more expensive. I also loved the BMW i3, but for cost reasons, I decided against the BMW as well. (I have to admit though that I deliberately didn’t test drive it for the simple reason that the last time I test drove a more expensive car, I ended up getting it.)

I then went through the Google process. I quickly found out that the main comparison in that price class is between the Nissan Leaf, the Mitsubishi I MiEV and the Citroen C-Zero.

All tests come out in favour of the Leaf. Plus, despite my tendency to be an early adopter, the Nissan Leaf has been on the road a lot longer than the others, so I kind of figured that some of the teething problems would have been dealt with.

Next time I will write something about the pitfalls of actually getting the Leaf delivered, insured, and ready to be charged, as well as the first experiences of driving it.

Oh, and handy tips for stopping smirking while driving.

So here I am. The numbers seem to add up, I have started driving a cool 10,000 miles without any CO2 emissions, and, it has to be said, am feeling quite good about myself.

Jan-Willem’s brand new Nissan Leaf and the ignominiously deposed DS.

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letter from the lowlands

LETTER FROM THE LOWLANDS F

irstly I would like to point out that the title ‘Letter from the Lowlands’ was not my idea, but I’m willing to roll with it for the time being. Whatever they call it, this is my chance to pitch in a few ideas from the Netherlands, which, as everyone knows, once led (not any more) the world in sustainability, renewable energy development and energy efficiency. And liquorice, but that’s another story.

As you have probably noticed, our lead story this issue is the launch of the all-electric

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By Freerk Bisschop

Formula-E championship, which will be kicking off in Beijing in September. An event which seems to be drawing a similar reaction from the mainstream press as did the arrival of punk music back in the 1970s. A mixture of excitement, fear and old-fashioned reproach.

“Can this really be as exciting as ‘proper’ Formula 1 racing?” the petrol-heads on the motoring pages are asking, their sensibilities addled by decades spent in gasoline-drenched pit lanes.

Of course it can. And hopefully,

once everyone sees how exciting electric cars are to drive – all that immediate torque bubbling under the hood – we will start seeing the electrical vehicle revolution really gaining some momentum.

All we need now is to get some of those E-curious car buyers to give an electric car a whirl. To feel that torque for themselves and be amazed (as everyone is on their first electric ride) how smooth and relaxing they are to drive.

chicken and egg dilemma the EV detractors seem to love banging on about.

MI COCHE, TU COCHE A need which is currently being addressed here in the Netherlands in the form of a campaign encouraging existing electric vehicle owners to invite their neighbours for a test drive. One day only, the 20th of September.

“Are you proud of your electric car?” the campaign organised by ‘Slim Op Weg / Natuur Milieu’ asks. “Are you excited about electric cars and want others to enjoy the same experience?

Then here’s your chance.”

Followed by some crisp and witty blurb about how great and simple the idea is and details on how to ‘Zoek Een Showroom’ at your own house and start enticing those passing neighbours into your cunning web.

They already have 54 ‘new showrooms’. For more details visit http://www.instapdag.nl/ (in Dutch)

THE CHICKEN AND EGG DILEMMA Another whistle I would like to blow in and around the general theme of EVs, is that of an initiative here in my country called ‘Fastned’ which is setting about providing the extensive charging infrastructure that will be required once all those EVs start tripping off the production lines.

Leading the charge – if you’ll excuse the cheeky pun – rather than following it. Thereby avoiding that boring old

Their website http://www. fastned.nl is worth a read in its own right. They explain how they are aiming to provide a countrywide-network of fast charging points for all kinds of different EVs, with all the electricity coming from 100% renewable sources. And how most mid-journey top ups will take between 15 and 30 minutes with customers controlling the transaction via an app on their phone.

Plus lots of useful information for people in the process of choosing which type of electrical vehicle suits them best – they have varying charging requirements – and how to go about making that decision.

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letter from the lowlands

MARIJUANA POWER! And lastly, because who I am to mess with established national stereotypes, I would like to leave you with a story I recently read on NBC about an exciting new battery technology based on marijuana. Or, to be more accurate, on industrial hemp, old Johanna’s (allegedly) nonpsychoactive cousin.

Apparently a team led by David Mitlin, an engineering professor at Clarkson University, has discovered that hemp can be converted into super-powerful super capacitors for energy storage, far more cheaply than graphene.

The technology was a star performer at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting in San Francisco. (A more juvenile mind than mine might even suggest that the

crowd were ´blown’ away by the results.) Particularly the bit when the hemp-derived carbon was shown to perform “a little bit better” than graphene, but at approximately 1,000th of the cost.

As NBC reported, “Supercaps” are often characterised as the super-battery of the future, but Mitlin said the technology is

actually more complementary to next-generation batteries. He has launched a spin-off venture called Alta Supercaps to develop the idea. An early challenge for which will presumably be to get a few laws changed in America where it is currently illegal to grow hemp for anything other than ‘research’ purposes. Right on man, right on.

Freerk Bisschop (director at Planet B Ventures)

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ME AND MY

BEETLE

Like millions of other people, Jeroen Meinders loves the original VW Beetle convertible. But he also cares about the planet. So to be true to both his mistresses at the same time, he did the obvious thing and converted his beloved Beetle into a high-performance electric car. Why wouldn’t you?

“The best thing I have discovered driving my EV for the past four years, is that the only maintenance I had, was because of the age of the car: 1974. Never ever any trouble with the electric stuff.

“As for performance, the top speed of my electric Beetle is well over 160 km/h, the ‘old’ would hardly get to 120.

and avoid recycling . that’s making use of our assets the best way possible.”

“And as for CO2 efficiency convert the old into the new

The all electric Beetle convertible in the lobby of the Ajax stadium. No problem to drive in there without any polluting gases.

The sister car, the black beetle from the boys from Rebbl. We drove an electric rally through the alps, what a fun thing to do! Nothing can beat the silence.

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CRASH, BANG, WALLOP. “After you. no really, after you. okay well, oh dear, whoops. bang.”

Is the concept of driverless cars simply too scary for most people to envisage? or will we all one day be simply flopping into our vehicles, putting our feet up and saying, “home please James.”

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crash, bang, wallop

F

rom a transportation expert’s point of view, the day when we are all nipping about in self-driving cars, can’t come quickly enough. No congestion, no accidents, no road rage. Who wouldn’t want that?

And as everyone has probably heard, one of the world’s biggest tech companies, Google, is already putting prototypes through their paces.

But it seems, in the rush, that somebody might have overlooked the importance of getting the general public on board with the idea. Instead of just drooling over it from a control junkie’s perspective (I’m thinking a bald-headed man in a leather armchair, stroking a cat and whispering into a microphone, “All clear once again at the Hanger Lane gyratory

system…”).

It seems that ordinary people (formerly known presumably as ‘car drivers’) still have a few basic safety concerns. It will after all require a sizeable leap of faith to hand our steering wheels over to machines. Our experiences with satnavs being all we have to go on so far in that regard.

Indeed, a new survey carried out

The bottom line being that when push came to shove, 60% described themselves as being “concerned” or “very concerned” about travelling in self-driving cars.

Apparently the survey asked people about cars that can drive themselves either partially (“Level 3 technology”) or completely, without human input (“Level 4” technology). Roughly 54% were wary of the level 3 vehicles and 60% more than a little freaked by the idea of handing over driving responsibility completely.

60% described themselves as being “concerned” or “very concerned” about travelling in self-driving cars.

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by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute discovered that most respondents in the United States, Britain, and Australia still have concerns about purchasing and travelling in selfdriving cars, while admitting to finding the technology more than a little arousing.

But surely it’s just a case of people getting used to new technology. It’s not as if nervous crowds in shopping centres are still gathering at the foot of escalators. We’ve grown to generally trust them, although like stroking a horse, you have to be careful of that last little

jumpy off step at the end.

The point being that driverless cars (which in our vision of the future will all be electrically powered) will inevitably be subjected to far more rigorous standards than we humans, let alone the cars and trucks we are in charge of.

technology are developed, they will take these concerns on board and make sure that the compliance standards are strict and the machines we will be trusting are regularly checked.

(It’s hardly our fault we’re still affected by the way Yul Brynner turned on us in West World).

“The first accident that’s caused by a computer malfunction will freak everyone out far beyond the thousands of car accidents caused by humans,” Eno Center of Transportation Director Joshua Schank commented last year.

Scardie cats apart, the biggest single barrier to mass adoption will actually be cost.

Which will surely mean that as the laws surrounding this

For while the survey found that 42% of people would ‘consider’ buying or leasing the cars – enough perhaps for a foothold in the market - early adopters are more likely to come in the form of taxi setups

or companies like Uber. If the streets were full of easy to hail, sensibly priced taxis constantly at our beck and call, who wouldn’t be tempted to use one?

With the added bonus (hopefully?) of avoiding all that embarrassment at the end of a normal taxi journey as you’re waiting for your change and the driver’s deliberately fumbling in his wallet in the hope you’ll pick up on his ‘where’s my bleeding tip?’ body language, but you’re buggered if you’re going to tip him because he’s already just relieved you of 50 quid thanks to that snarl up in Hammersmith, which he surely could have avoided.

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crash, bang, wallop

In short, the price of this technology is likely to be higher than the 30% premium on the cost of a regular car that most people in the survey said they would ‘consider’.

“The first wave of autonomous vehicles could cost over $100,000, five times the cost of the average new vehicle,” one estimate recently said. “Even that might be an underestimate: The 3-D sensors alone on Google’s autonomous car cost about $70,000. Those costs would presumably come down over time, but no one knows how rapidly. Plus, there’s the possibility that strict regulations could drive the price up further.”

But let’s face it, the numbers men at the world’s many haulage and shipping companies must be licking their lips at the thought of all those fully automated fleets with their vastly reduced running costs.

That temptation will inevitably be too great and the age of the affordable self-driving car will be upon us.

The benefits are surely too many to ignore.

Right now, in America alone, more than 33,000 people die each year from automobile crashes. And roughly 40% of fatal accidents are caused by alcohol, distraction, drugs, or fatigue, all of which would be taken out of the equation once

humans are taken off the wheel.

Self-driving cars would also theoretically reduce congestion.

In the sense that journeys would be quicker because cars driven by robots could travel at steadier speeds and avoid traffic jams.

Then of course there’s fuel efficiency. With the scardie cat human drivers out of the way, self-driving cars and trucks will intelligently bunch close together and move at steadier speeds. A collective action which The Rocky Mountain Institute estimates would lead to a reduction in wind drag and a consequent reduction in fuel use of 20 to 30%.

Self-driving cars would also theoretically reduce congestion.

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As the fear of crashing decreases, the cars will be made out of lighter materials, again with reciprocal savings in fuel use.

And, let’s face it, commuters will be able to kick back after a couple of glasses of wine and let their designated drivers take them sensibly home while they read a book, or shout ‘Your car’s a rubbish driver mate!” out of the window when they get bored.

One reservation though. And that is the hope that when driverless cars do take over our

streets – it’s going to happen – the manufacturers will resist the temptation to equip them with voices.

Voices which will probably start out sounding like British Airways pilots. “Good Evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to this, our 10.45pm service from the restaurant to home. We’ll be cruising at an altitude of about ground level and maintaining a speed of 30 miles per hour. We thank you for choosing to buy a Toyota Boomerang, the car that always comes back.” (Toyota, 10% and you can have that.)

But which will eventually degenerate into celebrity voices.

Or worse still, in a gesture of ironic tragedy, London cab drivers.

“Evening guvna, time for home is it? Will you look at that.

Should be criminal. Was in my day. I blame the taxman. At least Dick Turpin wore a mask.

Blah, blah, blah.”

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just deal with it!

JUST DEAL WITH IT!

My Car Drives, Parks And Charges Itself For Me – How Clever Is That?

It’s the age-old futuristic vision.

You’re rushing to catch a train but must first park your electric car inside the station garage.

You risk losing precious time searching for a space (ideally one where you can charge your vehicle) and missing your train.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, in these collective visions, we could imagine being able to drop the darned car off right in front of the station and letting it do the rest?

Exactly.

And it’s not actually that way off thanks to an exciting little EU ICT research project mysteriously known as ‘V-CHARGE’. (One can only assume the person who named the project is a fan of the Iron Man movie trilogy.) A project which scored very highly in initial tests at Stuttgart airport in April 2014.

In the future, they tell us, more and more people are expected to drive electric cars for energy consumption and environmental reasons. As a result, people PAGE 38

are also likely to switch more frequently from one transport mode to another – creating the need for better parking solutions at transport hubs.

To prepare for this mobility shift, the V-CHARGE consortium – comprising six partners from four countries - is working on a fully automated parking – and charging – system, for electric cars at public car parks.

Currently they have two electric test vehicles, one in Wolfsburg, and one in Zurich, and a third one is under development.

“The idea is that we can actually use technology to give people a better mix of public and private transport,” says Dr. Paul Furgale, scientific project manager for V-CHARGE and deputy director of the autonomous systems lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). “With a fully automated park and ride, drivers can get out of the car and immediately board the train without looking for parking. This will save each driver several minutes a day.”

Another advantage of V-CHARGE is that it will lead to smoother traffic inside the garage, ensuring empty spaces are filled quickly and congestion kept to a minimum.

SMARTPHONES AND SENSORS Using V-CHARGE, drivers will be able to exit the car in front of the car park and use a smartphone app to trigger the parking process. A bit like in all those old westerns when the dust-covered ranch hands would gallop up to the saloon, desperate for a few shots of dangerously potent whisky, and then just throw their reins at the conveniently located tethering rail. Without wasting a single moment. (In reality there were probably dozens of horses wandering around on those film sets, causing mischief at nextdoor’s production of Pinocchio.)

It works like this: The vehicle first connects with the car park’s server, which receives a drop-off signal from the phone; the server then

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just deal with it!

figures out the route and communicates this to the car, which drives itself to the designated space.

With safety in mind, car speeds are limited to 10km an hour during the autonomous driving.

If another vehicle crosses its path, the electric car either stops to let it pass or manoeuvres to avoid it.

While in the garage, the car can also be programmed to drive itself to a charging station.

Upon returning, the driver uses the same app to summon the car – fully charged and ready to drive.

Since GPS satellite signals don’t work inside garages, the scientists have developed a camera-based system, which equips each car with a total of 8 cameras.

The car needs to connect to the garage’s server and download a map, which gives a description of the surroundings. By comparing the data collected by the cameras with data from the map, the vehicle can figure out exactly where it is and where it is going, and self-navigate to an appropriate spot.

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The system will work in any garage, as long as cars are fitted with sensors and cameras similar to the ones already used today in parking assistance and emergency braking systems.

SAFETY AND ACCURACY With safety in mind, car speeds are limited to 10km an hour during the autonomous driving.

After successfully demonstrating fully automated valet parking in the Bosch parking garage at Stuttgart airport, scientists are focusing now on improving the accuracy of parking manoeuvres and in perfecting navigation.

This way, the vehicles can deal reliably with any situation that arises, including changing lighting conditions or areas frequented by pedestrians.

“Parking areas can be extremely complex,” explains Dr. Furgale.

“The push in the last part of the project will be to really focus on dealing with dynamic environments and tracking dynamic objects on the scene.”

The project expects to demonstrate a proof-of-concept automated park & ride system

by September 2015.

The complete ‘valet parking and charging’ system is expected to be on the market in the next decade. Nevertheless, some of the components might be available much sooner.

Eventually, Dr. Furgale believes the same technology could be used to develop autonomous parking systems for electric cars on city streets. “That will be more of a challenge,” he says, “but once you have the maps in place the rest of the technology will come together.”

V-CHARGE is a 4 year project, funded with € 5.6 million by the European Union’s SeventhFramework Programme (FP7).

humble opinions

IN OUR HUMBLE

OPINION

UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Takes Lead From 1980s Episode of ‘Yes Prime Minister’ ‘Why re-invent the wheel?’ somebody must have muttered at the DECC in London a few days ago when a Populus opinion poll (on behalf of UK Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG)), suggested that contrary to the findings of previous polls, the UK general public are actually rather coming round to the idea of fracking for shale gas after all.

(A finding which was duly reported by several mainstream media outlets. Thereby resulting in a noticeable sense of “Oh well, I suppose if everyone else is okay with it…” type sentiment rippling through the generally apathetic underbelly of UK public opinion. Impressionable beast that it is.)

Accompanied perhaps by a quick search on YouTube for a memorable clip from the 1980s comedy ‘Yes Prime Minister’ entitled ‘Leading Questions’

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(see link above) in which cabinet secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby teaches the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary Bernard Woolley exactly how easy it is to ensure that an opinion poll produces exactly the result you want it too.

diametrically opposed opinions on the same issue from the same person.

Woolley: The party have had an opinion poll done and it seems all the voters are in favour of bringing back national service.

Hence the appearance today of a new survey from the DECC confirming that contrary to the findings of the Populus poll, the general public aren’t coming round to the idea of fracking at all actually.

Sir Bernard: Well have another opinion poll done that shows voters are against bringing back national service.

Woolley: But they can’t be for it and against it?

Sir Bernard: Oh of course they can Bernard. Have you never been surveyed?

Followed by a master class example of how leading questions can be used to illicit

Go on, treat yourself: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=G0ZZJXw4MTA

Populus: Hey, treehuggers! Says here that 57% of people are now in favour of fracking while just a measly little 16% are opposed to it.

What do you say to that?

DECC: Well, let’s see, according to our poll, fresh off the press today, not old and smelly like yours, a puny little 24% of people are in favour of environmental vandalism, sorry, fracking, while a massive

24% are definitely against it. Put that in your pipe and smoke it! (Not literally obviously because that would be irresponsible.)

It seems the only thing the two pollsters agreed on was that thanks to their combined efforts, between 50 and 75% of people now know what the word ‘fracking’ means.

or consequences, no alternative energy sources. That’s not an attempt to find out what the public think about fracking. It’s message testing.”

Of course at the root of the problem about shale gas and fracking, lies the age-old thorny dilemma of cash versus conscience. We, the general public, have always had a bit But it does seem the DECC gang of a problem when it comes to might have a teensie weensie that. point when it comes to the bit about how Populus ‘phrased’ On the one hand we are being their questions, says Leo Barasi sold a short-term solution to our on his blog Noise of the Crowd. energy problems in the form of a ‘dash’ for gas from within our “A question on fracking that’s very own shores, all wrapped up 146 words long, describes in the shiny tinsel of a distant the process with reassuring memory about gas burning 50% terms like ‘tiny fractures’ and cleaner than other fossil fuels ‘approved non-hazardous like coal and oil. Yippee! No? chemicals’, and tells us that it could meet the UK’s natural gas And then, just when we think we demand for 50 years, with no can congratulate ourselves for challenge to the data, no costs being at least 50% green, the

wind and solar ‘nutters’ start banging on about how shale gas isn’t actually all that clean once you take into account the energy required to release it and the way it causes earthquakes and contaminates our fresh water supplies.

Talk about mixed emotions!

A bit like your 9-year old child being offered a millionaire’s salary to become a chimneysweep’s apprentice.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out in the run up to the UK general elections, a time when the real politicians - the sound bite writers and the spin doctors - really come into their own. So bottom line, be on your lookout for ‘easy to manufacture’ opinion polls.

Mind you, that’s only our opinion.

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“T

oday there’s no legislation regarding how much intelligence a machine can have, how interconnected it can be.

If that continues, look at the exponential trend. We will reach the singularity in the timeframe most experts predict. From that point on you’re going to see that the top species will no longer be humans, but machines.”

These are the words of Louis Del Monte, physicist, entrepreneur, and author of

the post-singularity world, one scenario is that the machines will seek to turn humans into cyborgs. This is nearly happening now, replacing faulty limbs with artificial parts. We’ll see the machines as a useful tool. Productivity in business based on automation will be increased dramatically in various countries. In China it doubled, just based on GDP per employee due to the use of machines.”

world twice over, and makes computer viruses.” Hardly an appealing roommate.

He wrote the book as “a warning.” Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more capable, and we’re adopting it as quickly as it appears. A pacemaker operation is “quite routine,” he said, but “it uses sensors and AI to regulate your heart.”

“I’LL BE BACK” By 2045 ‘The Top Species Will No Longer Be Humans,’ Which Might Change Things A Bit “The Artificial Intelligence Revolution.” Del Monte spoke to Dylan Love of businessinsider.com about his thoughts surrounding artificial intelligence and the singularity, an indeterminate point in the future when machine intelligence will outmatch not only your own intelligence, but the world’s combined human intelligence too.

The average estimate for when this will happen is 2040, though Del Monte says it might be as late as 2045. Either way, it’s a timeframe of within three decades.

“It won’t be the ‘Terminator’ scenario, not a war,” said Del Monte. “In the early part of

“By the end of this century,” he continued, “most of the human race will have become cyborgs [part human, part tech or machine]. The allure will be immortality. Machines will make breakthroughs in medical technology, most of the human race will have more leisure time, and we’ll think we’ve never had it better. The concern I’m raising is that the machines will view us as an unpredictable and dangerous species.”

Del Monte believes machines will become self-conscious and have the capacity to protect themselves. They “might view us the same way we view harmful insects.” Humans are a species that is “unstable, creates wars, has weapons to wipe out the

A 2009 experiment showed that robots can develop the ability to lie to each other.

Run at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne, Switzerland, the experiment had robots designed to cooperate in finding beneficial resources like energy and avoiding the hazardous ones. Shockingly, the robots learned to lie to each other in an attempt to hoard the beneficial resources for themselves.

“The implication is that they’re also learning self-preservation,” Del Monte told us. “Whether or not they’re conscious is a moot point.”

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BARCELONA: SPAIN’S CIUDAD DEL SOL

By Laurie Guevara-Stone

Barcelona may be famous for Gaudí’s modernist architecture and its world-class Picasso museum, but there’s something else for which the city of 1.6 million should be known: its commitment to sustainability. In fact, Barcelona’s solar energy regulations have become a model for other municipalities, with more than 70 Spanish municipalities following the city’s example.

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SOLAR HOT WATER In 2000, Barcelona became the first European city to have a solar thermal ordinance. All new buildings and existing buildings undergoing major renovations are required to use solar panels to supply 60 percent of their hot water requirements. Swimming pool heating must be met 100 percent from solar energy.

The ordinance applies to all commercial buildings and all residential buildings with more than 16 apartments. This policy has increased the amount of solar thermal panels in the city 4,000%, from 1.1 square meters

per 1,000 people in 2000 to over 40 square meters per 1,000 people today.

The policy has been so successful that 70 other municipalities in the country replicated it, and in 2006 the Spanish government became the first in the world to enact a national building code requiring the installation of solar panels for hot water.

SOLAR PERGOLA In 2002, the city established the Barcelona Local Energy Agency, which initiated a 10-year

plan for energy conservation and sustainable energy production, the Barcelona Energy Improvement Plan.

The plan provided a set of 55 strategies ranging from energy conservation measures to education programs.

One part of the plan was to increase the use of solar energy not just for heating water but also for electricity.

In 2004, Barcelona hosted the Universal Forum of Cultures, an international event held every three years to promote peace, sustainable development, human rights, and respect PAGE 47

barcelona

for cultural diversity. The site chosen for the event was in an industrial area on an extremely polluted river, known as the “Chernobyl on the river Besòs.” As part of revamping the area, the city installed a 443-kilowatt PV array, the largest urban PV system in Europe at the time. This PV array, built as a pergola, creates shade, beautifies the area with interesting urban architecture, and feeds 554 MWh of power per year to Barcelona’s electric grid, reducing the city’s carbon emissions by 440 tonnes per year.

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Two years later, in 2006, Barcelona passed a Solar Photovoltaic Ordinance requiring all buildings of certain sizes to use PV—all commercial buildings with a roof surface area over 3,500 square meters must produce 10 percent of their electricity consumption with PV, and office buildings with a minimum surface of 1,500 square meters must produce 12 percent of their electricity consumption with PV. All hotels and hospitals with over 100 beds must also incorporate PV systems.

By the end of 2011, Spain’s Catalonia region—of which Barcelona is the capital—had a cumulative installed solar PV capacity of 234 MW.

There are also solar panels on the city hall, bus stops, schools, and libraries, bringing the total installed PV capacity in the city to 14 MW in 2008.

PUTTING WASTE TO USE

And to further reduce the City’s electric bill, Barcelona is retrofitting its streetlights with LED bulbs that run on motion sensors, with a goal of having 3,360 efficient street lamps on 160 streets by 2015.

These wireless street lamps are expected to decrease the city’s municipal power bill by a third.

Another goal of the Barcelona Energy Improvement Plan was to greatly increase the city’s use of renewable energy sources. Besides the abundant solar energy that falls on

The TMB bus network, which transports 190 million passengers per year, has one of the cleanest bus fleets in Europe Barcelona, the city also produces a lot of organic waste.

City officials decided to use that waste for some of their heating and air conditioning needs.

In 2002, Barcelona installed a district heating and cooling system that relies on urban waste. The biomass for the CHP plant, called Districlima, comes from maintenance of the city’s numerous parks and gardens (approximately 7,200 metric tons per year) and maintenance of the outlying forests (another 28,000 tons per year). It has grown each year.

A second power plant was added in 2012 to handle power peaks. There are now 15 kilometers of pipes and 80 connected public and private buildings, the largest district heating and cooling network in Spain, with 74 MW of cooling power and 52 MW of heating power. The system reduced CO2 emissions by 17,500 metric tons in 2013—the equivalent of planting 875,000 trees, six times more trees than the city currently has.

TACKLING TRANSPORTATION However, the main emitter of

greenhouse gas emissions in Barcelona was the transport sector. So part of the energy plan was developing public transport infrastructure.

Barcelona’s transport system, Transports Metropolitan de Barcelona (TMB), runs all the city’s buses and the Metro.

city. There are currently over 121,000 users generating 14 million trips per year on the city’s 181 kilometers of bike lanes. Approximately 50 percent of all trips in the city are currently made on foot or on bicycle, and only 20 percent of trips in the city are made by private vehicles.

The TMB bus network, which transports 190 million passengers per year, has one of the cleanest bus fleets in Europe, with 400 natural gas vehicles, 82 hybrids, and the rest (approximately 500) with particulate traps that reduce annual emissions of NOx (71%) and particles (85%) for each bus. TMB is also currently testing a pure electric bus with a range of 120 miles, enough to cover a full-service urban line.

Barcelona also launched the world’s first electric scooter sharing program, MOTIT. All a commuter needs is a smartphone to reserve a scooter that can be picked up and dropped off at numerous locations around the city. The bright purple scooters go 40–60 kilometers on a single charge and even come equipped with a helmet.

The city also has more than 500 hybrid taxis, 294 municipal electric vehicles (such as for trash collection and streetlight maintenance), 262 public charging stations, 130 electric motorbikes, and an estimated 400 private electric vehicles on its streets.

The City also implemented smart parking spaces to help reduce the amount of time spent searching for parking.

Sensors detect if a parking spot is vacant, and drivers can get the info on their smartphones.

The sensors also provide data about parking patterns helping improve management of urban mobility.

Bicing is Barcelona’s bike share program, inaugurated in 2007.

Bicing has 6,000 bicycles at 400 stations throughout the

In 2011 the Barcelona Energy Agency drew up a second energy plan called the Energy,

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barcelona

Barcelona has one of the lowest per capita greenhouse gas emission levels in the industrialised world.

Climate Change and Air Quality Plan of Barcelona, which includes 108 projects to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and to improve air quality and energy supply systems. The plan includes implementing more renewable energy systems, increasing efficiency, and promoting transportation alternatives.

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All of these measures have helped Barcelona become a leader in sustainability.

Barcelona has one of the lowest per capita greenhouse gas emission levels in the industrialized world, at under 4 metric tons of emissions per person per year (Houston is at 14.1 and Paris is at 5.2). And the city is still moving forward. “In 2020 Barcelona could be a more environmentally conscious city,”

according to Irma Soldevilla i Garcia of the Barcelona Energy Agency, “in which careful energy consumption will be a regular part of people’s lives.”

Laurie Guevara-Stone is a writer/ editor for the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), where she writes blogs and articles on all the issues that RMI addresses.

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FOOD IN THE SKY In our continuing effort to help bring food sources closer to where we need them, our focus in this issue is on a bold attempt by Hong Kong-based designers Ova Studio Ltd to turn old shipping containers into vertical farm structures.

Known as The Hive-Inn™ City Farm the modular structure is being built in downtown New York, the containers designed and used as farming modules acting as an ecosystem in which each unit plays a role in producing food, harvesting energy and recycling waste and water.

“The idea of this ecosystem is to bring farming downtown and grow fresh produce near their urban consumers. Containers can be owned or rented by major organic brands, local restaurants or even serve as private local gardens / kitchen gardens.

They can also serve educational purposes for the neighbouring schools. © 2014 OVA Studio Ltd.

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FROM FIELD TO FARM Some farms in Brazil lose 10 to 12% of their yield at various points along the postharvest route. That’s a lot of food falling through the cracks. But according to a study by the University of Illinois, it’s the will as much as the way that’s missing.

This was one of the findings in a study that examined how managers of large farms in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso may be negatively affecting the efficiency of their own operations.

“Clearly there are things that you can do to reduce loss—you can put bed liners in trucks, you can adjust your combine, you can harvest more slowly— but for the farmers in Mato Grosso, it’s not a high priority,” said Peter Goldsmith. “It doesn’t seem rational.

If you see soybeans bouncing off your windshield from the truck ahead of you and bands of soybeans along the berm, why wouldn’t you try to prevent it?

It appears that farm managers in Brazil actually allow loss to happen because the cost of reducing loss is greater than the

benefits.”

Goldsmith said that one of the basic research questions of the ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss, which funded this study, is about why loss occurs. He said that

between the reality of the postharvest loss and what the managers believe to be acceptable loss.

Goldsmith explained that in tropical systems where the farming season lasts much longer than in the United States the more intensive production results in two crops a year on the same plot of ground—soybeans followed by corn.

“The loss isn’t intentional but rather a level that the farm manager is willing to live with in order to get that second crop of corn.”

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although there are hundreds of articles about postharvest loss, no one is working with the farm managers to find out, from a managerial and organisational perspective, what drives this loss.

In short, there is a discrepancy

“Because they are in such a hurry to get the soybean crop harvested so they can get the maize crop planted before the rainy season, they may: harvest too fast, desiccate green soybean to advance harvest, or expose soybean to the weather during transport, all of which results in a 10 percent loss,” Goldsmith said. “The loss isn’t intentional but rather a level

that the farm manager is willing to live with in order to get that second crop of corn.”

A lack of understanding and awareness is also part of the problem. “When a farmer doesn’t think that harvest speed is important, they have more loss.

Likewise, if a farmer doesn’t think that combine adjustments are important they’ll have more loss. Those who realize that maintaining equipment is important, have less loss.

Consequently, technical training in the field with the equipment could be beneficial. But the cost of reducing loss further, using current technology, may exceed the benefits. Farmers may be unwilling to pay or invest in loss reduction.”

In addition to harvest speed, the study identified several other factors contributing to grain loss: lack of truck regular maintenance; lack of adjustment to the combine at the platform; bad weather; bad road conditions; and a lack of employee training.

For the study, an initial focus group of seven farmers was conducted to help frame the questions for an online survey. The survey respondents represent some of the largest farmers, not just in Mato Grosso, but in the world.

“This dominant class of medium- and large-tropical farm acreage operators who

are producing most of the new grains are filling the gap between where we are now and where we need to be in 2050 to feed the world,” Goldsmith said. “Sure, we can expand our crop among the developed countries of the world, but we’re only helping at the margin. The potential for new grain producers on new land is coming from farmers in the Southern Hemisphere.”

The study entitled “Managerial factors affecting post-harvest loss: the case of Mato Grosso Brazil” was co-authored by Anamaria Gaudencia Martins and Altair Moura and was published in a 2014 issue of the International Journal of Agricultural Management.

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SHUT THAT DOOR! (EVERARD)

Top Universities put thinking caps on to make UK’s non-domestic buildings totally energy efficient Southampton researchers are aiming to improve energy efficiency, cut costs and reduce carbon emissions in the country’s non-domestic buildings.

Southampton is one of six universities (along with Imperial College London, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, and Strathclyde) which will share £4m in funding*, to really stick their inquisitive little academic noses into the problem and see what fiendish plans they come up with.

The official line of course being more like, “The research will address how to use technology, data and information, mathematics and sociology to create better energy strategies and behaviours in public and private, non-domestic buildings.”

Non-domestic buildings such

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as offices, supermarkets, hospitals and factories account for approximately 18% of UK carbon emissions and 13% of final energy consumption.

A great opportunity for the owners of those buildings to lead by example and get that 18% number as close to zero as possible, as quickly as possible.

And why not?

Planning energy saving techniques and implementing change with the cooperation of building occupants is going to be essential. And who’s to say we should make those changes obligatory by law?

After all, the majority of those types of buildings are already being managed by professionals, facilities managers who look after all the planned and unplanned

maintenance programmes, agree budgets, pay the fuel bills, agree short- and long-term budgets, that sort of thing.

That plus the fact that most of the changes we already know about (let alone those that the universities might come up with) have relatively short pay back periods. Certainly in the context of the life of most of the buildings concerned.

The Southampton project, which was awarded £493,000 of funding, will examine how external digital cameras can be used to monitor the way windows, blinds and lighting are used and how occupants’ needs, such as privacy, comfort and security, can be balanced with energy management.

Project leader Professor Patrick James, a Senior Lecturer in Engineering and the

Environment at the University of Southampton, says: “In a domestic setting, a householder is directly responsible for the energy bills and would therefore not consciously leave a window open overnight in the winter. In an office environment however, there is no financial driver for people to behave in the same energy efficient manner. While there may be a strong reason to open a window in an office (stuffiness, high temperature), the driver to close the window (energy awareness) may be very weak unless there is an additional driver such as external noise, rain or a security risk.

productive users’ prefer control of the façade, which is what well designed non-domestic building environments should provide, but providing this control introduces significant energy performance risk.”

of the energy puzzle. Worldwide energy demand is rising, as are global temperatures and sea levels. We need to find smart solutions to how we use energy while improving the environment in which people have to work, rest or play. These projects will go a long way to help improve our understanding of what goes on in nondomestic buildings and add to the armoury at the disposal of those managing these facilities.”

Non-domestic buildings such as offices, supermarkets, hospitals and factories account for approximately 18% of UK carbon emissions and 13% of final energy consumption.

“This poses a real challenge to the facilities manager, ‘happy

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC’s Chief Executive and former Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton, adds: “Improving energy efficiency is an important piece

* £3m funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), on behalf of the Research Councils UK Energy Programme (RCUKEP), and £1m from the Technology Strategy Board.

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AIMING FOR THE PERFECT BUILDING CARTIF III is a new building that forms part of an applied research institute, called the CARTIF Technology Centre, based in Valladolid, Spain. This building is singular. In addition to displaying all of the characteristics of a highly energy efficient building, it has a system of data collection and monitoring used to improve the optimal use of such facilities. Ă lvaro Corredera and Roberto Sanz, electronic industrial engineers from the energy division at the CARTIF Technology Centre, talks about how energy efficiency systems work and their applicability within the context of the European-funded project DIRECTION designed to study buildings with a low energy consumption.

Why is CARTIF III a model building of energy efficiency?

Roberto Sanz (RS): Cartif III was selected as a showcase for the European project called DIRECTION and was partially built with funds from this project. Different methodologies to improve energy efficiency were implemented along the construction of this building. Ă lvaro Corredera (AC): This new building is innovative, both in

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terms of energy generation and energy management technologies. It features a 45-kilowatt photovoltaic system, a biomass boiler that caters to all areas of the building and a geothermal plant.

Furthermore, it has advanced and comprehensive control of all the systems of energy generation and distribution, such as lighting, occupancy and access control. It is also unique in that two-thirds of the building has an industrial use and the rest is devoted to office space; it therefore caters for multiple needs.

What is so innovative about the monitoring devices and databases used to optimise energy efficiency?

RS: Monitoring devices give us a comprehensive and global control. In addition, we can also collect all the data

about generation and energy distribution within the building facilities. Such monitoring allows us to control energy generation from all sources, including geothermal, solar, biomass, while also monitoring their use through lighting and even room occupation. This means that if an area is not occupied, the system can be switched off.

Through these control systems we have generated a database which contains nearly 1,300 different variables. We can now make fairly accurate simulations of how the building works. We can also optimise its installations and working system to reduce energy consumption.

How does such a monitoring approach contribute to the overall aim of this research?

AC: The aim of the project is to demonstrate that such kind of low energy buildings can become a reality.

Therefore, we are collecting and processing data from these demonstrator buildings.

We can then use this data to calculate the parameters of energy consumption, so-called key performance indicators

RS: Having an industrial warehouse combined with office space is a fairly common construction. Future buildings of this type can have an energyefficient building that allows big savings on the total energy consumption. In the case of the showcase, the expected energy consumption savings are around 84%. The objective of the

On the face of it, a building like this seems pricy to any builder. But you have to consider the return you can make with savings in terms of building with these facilities, services and the level of control systems that we are developing.

(KPI), and check whether the buildings have reached specific energy consumption targets.

Ultimately, it can help check whether the building is working as anticipated.

What are the opportunities for future low energy buildings similar to the CARTIF III showcase?

project is to make the primary energy consumption lower than 60 kWh/m2 per year. This, in turn, reduces CO2 emissions by 60%. This approach may be applicable to other climates if the algorithms are tailored adequately.

(Source: 14 July 2014 youris.com)

AC: On the face of it, a building like this seems pricy to any builder. But you have to consider the return you can make with savings in terms of building with these facilities, services and the level of control systems that we are developing.

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