Green Options

As the auto industry as we know it continues to crumble, a new model is emerging out of the Netherlands, known currently as c,mm,n. Open source design has proven itself successful in a number of arenas from software to restaurants. But a car? Yes, one where the design will be made available to the public, with the provision that their design be likewise made open to the public to do their own revisions and modifications on it.

The Dutch organization SNV has agreed to plant approximately 10,000 acres of land near the coastal Peruvian city of Piura for a biodiesel operation that will provide new jobs for Peruvians and help reduce poverty through sustainable development.

According to one of Peru’s major news sources, El Comercio, “The coordinator of SNV, Jhony Heredia Paivo, indicates that 5000 hectares have been identified in the coast and highlands of Piura where piñón blanco can grow, an almost wild plant that actually can be contained on small farms, that produces olive seeds that can serve as raw materials for biodiesel plants.”

A new proposal to improve a 75-year-old dike, the Afsluitdijk, in The Netherlands could make it the world’s leading site for generating saltwater power— a clean, renewable energy source which is 30-40% more efficient than burning coal.

The breakthrough process, which is called reverse electrodialysis, captures the energy created when freshwater becomes saltier by mixing with seawater. Although scientists in the 1950s discovered that electricity could be generated this way, no one knew just how efficient the process could be until a recent study proved that a remarkable 80% of the energy could be recovered.

The ‘Ecovillage’ movement is not new, but, along with many other green ideas, it is growing steadily these days.
Ecovillages come in different varieties, but they hold a few basic characteristics in common. They try to combine great ecological sensibility and responsibility with innovative social environments that are supportive and fair. Different communities use or establish different systems of governance, but they tend to stand apart from the larger societies in some clear ways, whether it be their own system of rules or laws or just a very clearly defined sense of community.

Many such societies also address spirituality or religion to some degree or another, but it is not the case in all places. Ecovillages vary from one to another and it is up to the people who live there (and especially founding members) to bring different issues and ideas to the forefront of their community.

I’ve noticed an increasing trend recently of people trying to squeeze out energy from every possible nook and cranny. The latest example of this is the world’s first energy-generating revolving door located at Natuurcafe La Port in the Netherlands.

Now here’s an innovation that might make me consider moving back to New York City: air-purifying concrete. The small Dutch town of Hengelo is testing out the concrete paving stones, which contain a titanium-dioxide based additive that binds to nitrogen particles emitted by car exhaust and turns them into harmless nitrates.