Author: cms2319

Video Game for Sustainable City Design

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Sustainable Problem: Climate change

Technology: Block’hood

  • Video game that involves designing and constructing smart cities so that users become more familiar with the social and ecological issues that are involved
  • The game will allow users to look at problems from different perspectives and apply them to real world applications
  • The video game takes into account the systems approach
  • Users will become a community that can strategize and propose alternatives

 

Stakeholders:

  • Architect, programmer and game designer Jose Sanchez
  • Employees
  • Users
  • Smart Cities
  • Investors

Deployment:

  • Present prototype at the Games for Change Climate Challenge for a chance to win $10,000 to support game development (Block’hood is currently one of four finalists)
  • Gain additional grant funding and sponsorship
  • Create version that could apply to real world situations

Sustainable Brands Article – June 22, 2016

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Living Walls Filter Indoor Air

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  1. Sustainability Problem: Dirty Air Inside
  2. Sustainable Technology: Biome
    • “Living” walls remove toxins from air inside homes and offices
    • Soil free green walls that sustainably bioremediate indoor air pollution without filters
    • Creates jobs for design, manufacturing, and distribution
    • Air is 3-5 times more toxic inside than outside; it increases stress and causes health risks
    • Traditional filters are undesirable to put into spaces and aren’t as effective
  3. Stakeholders
    1. Biome company employees
    2. Office builders
    3. Companies with poor indoor air quality
    4. Office workers and home owners
    5. Investors
  4. Implementation
    • Biome is currently pitching the technology to VERGE Accelerate in order to gain additional funding
    • Network, market, and sell technology to businesses
    • Track metrics and test technology in different buildings to ensure it works

http://www.biome.us ; VERGE Accelerator  ; J1 Article

 

Safer Roads with Virtual Reality Experience

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  1. Sustainability Problem: Drunk driving is unsafe for cities, as it causes accidents and fatalities.
  2.  Sustainable Technology: Immersion Virtual Reality (VR) Technology
    • Enables people to experience what it is like to be in a car driven by a drunk driver; consumer’s point of view is from the passenger seat.
    • Diageo, a large alcohol brands company is developing a platform that will be used on Facebook, YouTube, and VR headsets, as well as a sit in experience available at sporting events and concerts.
    • To reduce traffic death and promote safer roads and cities, Diageo partnered with the UN Institute for Training and Research to use this technology for training activities held in 15 countries starting this month (July 2016).
    • The VR will address issues around decisions made when drinking, with the ultimate goal to change consumer behavior to reduce harm caused by drunk driving, and to create a responsible drinking mission.
  3. Stakeholders:
    • Vayner Media – creating, producing, developing, and distributing the immersive experience technology
    • Diageo – brands include: Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan’s, Smirnoff, Cîroc, Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan
    • United Nations Institute for Training and Research
    • Participants (government officials, young people)
    • People affected by drunk driving; pedestrians, passengers
  4.  Implementation:
    1. Market technology experience to countries with the highest drunk driving incident rate
    2. Partner with organizations to hold VR experience at events. In July 2016, the training will be brought to government officials, awareness-raising road shows for young people, and high-level conferences.
    3. Track metrics on drunk driving rates over time to test if technology is making a difference.

 

 

Sustainable Brands Article – 7/7/2016

Cut Water Use and Save Money

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  1. Sustainability Problem: Droughts and risks of water scarcity are increasing. Water is getting more expensive.
  2. Sustainable Technology:
    • Apana’s technology uses sensors and water meters to measure the amount and time of buildings’ water use.
    • Algorithms in the technology send alerts when there are spikes in water use due to equipment problems or wasteful operations.
    • Costo’s water use has been cut by 22% by using Apana. The water cost savings has paid for technology installation.
    • Other technology companies such as Lagoon, Dropcountr, WaterSmart, WatrHub, and Ecolab are building similar water management systems.
  3. Stakeholders:
    • Water saving technology companies such as Apana
    • Businesses that use the technology such as Costco
    • Employees
    • Utilities
  4. Deployment:
    1. Continue to market Apana technology to large businesses to help them achieve sustainability goals and save money on water pipe maintenance issues.
    2. Apana plans to raise its first round of funding after initially being completely self funded.
    3. Potentially partner with the government to require businesses to use water saving technology.

Sustainable Brands Article; Fortune Article

Bringing Supply Chains To Life Through Mapping Technology

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  1. Sustainability Problem: There is an increase in demand for supply chain transparency. This stems from the larger issue that there are supply chain risks which include labor and manufacturing issues, geopolitical conflict, and raw material shortages.
  2. Technology:
    • Interactive online mapping technologies allow companies to gain visibility into their supply chain.
    • Companies can use underlying data that they already collect through exisiting supplier reported data and audits.
    • Marks & Spenser, a U.K. retailer used this mapping technology to identify factories. When the user zooms in on a factory, information such as the factory address, number of workers, and gender of workers is shown. The technology has the ability to incorporate detailed information regarding environmental and social issues reported at each factory.
  3. Stakeholders:
    • Businesses
    • Consumers
    • Investors
    • NGOs
    • Activists
    • Mapping technology developers
    • Individuals affected in supply chains (for example, factory workers)
  4. Deployment:
    • Developers can market supply chain technologies to businesses demonstrating that it helps companies meet internal and global sustainability goals.
    • Regulators have started implementing disclosure requirements in some industries and countries. Partner with goverments to ensure companies use supply chain mapping technology.
    • Technology developers can become involved in consumer education campaigns that promote advocacy efforts involving supply chains to promote this technology.

GreenBiz Article – June 16th, 2016

Get paid to blog with Steemit

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Sustainability Problem: Social media communities such as Facebook or Reddit do not financially reward contributors.

Technology:

  • Steemit is a new social media site that uses blockchain technology and a cryptocurrency system to reward individuals for their posts, comments, and votes.
  • People can engage with others on Steemit by posting, sharing, and voting on content, while earning money in the form of the new cryptocurrency, Steem, which can be converted into USD.
  • With the Steemit widget, bloggers can continue to blog from the sites they currently use, however, their posts would appear on Steemit, making them eligible for cryptocurrency rewards.
  • Steemit’s system has the ability to improve the quality of life for people around the world by creating income and promoting good content.
  • Based in NYC, the developers hope that the platform can be leveraged to empower opportunities and drive job creation for New Yorkers.

Stakeholders:

  • Steemit employees
  • Social media users (readers, content creators/curators)
  • Cryptocurrency community
  • Bloggers
  • New Yorkers

Deployment:

  • Market to existing blog sites to attract more content
  • Add instructions for downloading the Steemit widget, and create a Steemit badge that appears on external posts.
  • As identified in the article as a goal, developers could partner with the government to devise a specific plan for integrating this technology into PlaNYC, NYC’s sustainability mission.

Article: http://www.alleywatch.com/2016/06/nyc-startup-paying-post-facebook/

www.steemit.com

 

Printing Software Results in Less Paper Wasted

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1. Efficient Printing Technology App

PrintEco’s software automatically reformats Microsoft Office documents to reduce the amount of paper used when printing. PrintFriendly’s software is similar, but is more applicable to web-based applications as it removes advertisements when printing.

2. Problem: Paper Waste

Excess amounts of paper are printed from Microsoft office and web-based applications. This problem is directly related to paper consumption, as increased amounts of paper wasted necessitates more paper consumed. Depending on where/how the paper is sourced, this could contribute to deforestation.

3. Stakeholders:

  • The technology companies, PrintFriendly & PrintEco and their employees
  • Customers & their employees that use paper
  • Partners, such as the paper manufacturer Domtar
  • Forest landowners who provide material to paper manufacturers
  • Local communities affected by forestry
  • Waste companies disposing of or recycling paper

4. Process for technology implementation:

  • Offer both free and a pay per month (no advertisement) versions of the technology available for download on company website
  • Foster relationships with businesses and brands that promote sustainability in order to sell the printing technology
  • Analyze data used for each customer, identifying time, money, and resources saved as a result of using the technology
  • Partner with paper manufacturers such as Domtar, for additional exposure and promotion of responsible paper life-cycle
  • Collaborate with competitors to reach broader customer base (PrintEco has recently sold their company to PrintFriendly)
  • Potentially collaborate with the government to form policies that require businesses to use the technology
  • Potentially create incentives for businesses to use this technology

Article: http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/startups/arpan_shah/printeco_partnering_competitors_double_down_sustainable_printing