Rachel’s Blogs

While the feat of turning water into wine may remain the stuff of dreams …

In this weeks Eco Ventures I spoke with a company which holds the technology to turn waste in to water.

At first I have to admit I was quite skeptical of the technology.

I mean – you put the food in and it’s just water that comes out… really?? Oh I see… bugs gobble it….Come on..????

Basic biology failed me here I suppose – one of the companies spokespeople reminded me most food stuffs consist of about 80% water. The mico organisms (which live inside the bin speed up simple decomposition) are simply returning food waste to liquid base.

Now while the water that comes out the other end of the machine which looks a little like a washing machine may not be drinkable on first release. The company did assure me that the water does meet PUB’s standard as I watched it slowly being pumped back into a drain. And perhaps eventually this waste water could be converted into NEW water.

Actually the thing that surprised me the most about the technology was the lack of smell.

When it comes to food waste :

Singapore’s humidity + restaurant bins left for a few hours = smell and attention from eagerly awaiting pests.

The interesting thing about this technology was after getting my head right down there for a good sniff, not something I would willingly do with a regular bin – but to be honest there was no strong odor – just a slight scent of vegetable.

Now, there is a domestic version available – but I wonder…… how many of you would be willing to bring home some new microbes pets to quickly gobble your food waste???

No more plastic bags…

Below is an example of the microbes habitat within the machine:

Today’s Eco ventures looked at SMART grids – which go along side the concept, I suppose, of intelligent homes.

By monitoring household energy usage – a smart grid lets you know how much energy you use – so you can monitor and avoid wasteful consumption.

Over in the US my interviewee told me that on average you can shave around 20% off your electricity bill.. which just goes to show how much unnecessary energy we waste now.

In fact Dr RAHMAN from IEEE Power and Energy Society also cited an example of some consumers in the America with electric vehicles – some are using their car to run their homes during the day – and then – charging their car battery at night when energy prices are cheapest.

I think when implementing something like energy consumption monitoring, with similar changes it will probably depend on regulation to give most consumers a push in the right direction.

Just look at the hybrid car industry.

With policy intervention or government initiatives for companies to make the switch – monitoring what you use and when you use it becomes a bigger issue and a must. As opposed to simply taking the energy that’s pumped out of our sockets for granted.

Another advantage of using smart grids is that they also bring in energy from a number of sources – benefits can be seen most greatly from sustainable energies such as wind and solar.

One of the reasons for this is when you think about using solar or wind energy – they tend to be intermittent – the sun does not shine all the time and the wind is not always blowing. However, from my understanding the smart grid is able to alter the source and leverage on energy saved that is yet to be consumed.

An article recently highlighted that smart grids could also help the US increase its power capacity by 13%!

I came across the fun gadget above the other day.

A solar reading light.

I thought I would share it with you it was around the same price as a regular light – and no additional electricity cost

Though I have to say – the bulb really wasn’t as bright.

I remember venturing off on camping trips with my buddies when I was much younger – eco impact… well apart from excess marshmallow eating… not much.

But when it comes to larger hotels and resorts going green.. the trend is there. Next time you go to a hotel or resort, I am sure it will have some type of environmentally-friendly initiative – the industry is changing. And I think more players are realizing that going green even when it comes to smaller initiatives such as encouraging guests to choose whether or not to wash towels – also helps to cut costs.

From my perspective there are a number of ways in which hospitality providers are going green.

The first is technology.

Take the Grand Hyatt in Singapore for example. About 10 years ago the hotel launched a GEM project – which stands for Green Energy Management. The firm invested close to $3 million dollars into the project with a projection for return on investment of about a million dollars in terms of saving in energy and cost. But to the hotel’s pleasant surprise the saving was more about the lines of $1.5 million dollars. And since then it has continued to implement technologies to cut costs and carbon emissions.

Just over a year ago I interviewed the hotel on its next big green project. The hotel was planning to implement tri-gen technology to replace its old boiler. (Trigeneration systems combine heat and cooling from a single power source.) Today I got some fresh updates from the hotel. It looks set to have the technology kick in early next year – and will be the FIRST hotel in the region to do so. The hotel will be investing some $1 million Sing dollars into the project – but is expecting to see a return on investment of $600,000 dollars in terms of operating cost savings per year!! Not to mention cutting carbon emissions by the equivalent of taking 200 cars off the road every year!!

The company is also implementing smaller initiatives such as using LED light bulbs in parts of the hotel. The light bulbs save the hotel energy and costs.

Now the second way hotel providers are going green – Working with the community.

One resort group that has been pretty big on this is Banyan Tree. In 2007 the Banyan Tree started an initiative called greening communities. It issues a challenge to each of its resorts to plant 2000 trees per year for the 10 years from 2007 to 2016. Now the aim here, the interviewee from the firm told me, was not the tree planting in itself. But rather the message and education that is given to the communities which are planting the trees.

The resort group has also set up a Banyan Tree Global Foundation. It’s basically turned its corporate social responsibility department into a separate company – to protect its initiatives such as the green imperative fund. (When you stay at a Banyan resort – an additional $2 will be added to your bill – you can choose to keep this on or take it off. The money will go to the fund. The hotel will match your amount.) Banyan Tree says 80% of the fund goes to creating benefits for the communities which its resorts are based around and the environment.

I’ve actually had a visit to the Angsana Bintan where the Banyan Tree’s conservation lab is based. While there I was lucky enough to see a small forest box turtle which had just been caught to be tagged for a monitoring project. And had a look at the labs attempts to re-grow the coral reef. The resort also has a nature walk which I took part in – it shows you round the local environment and community, as well as make you feel that little bit more adventurous.

Now last but by no means not least ..(and yes there are many more ways hotels and resorts are going green.)

For this week’s Eco Ventures I not only spoke to the more well known hospitality providers – but also to an agricultural events company called Garden Asia.

Garden Asia is actually part of the oldest plant nursery in Singapore. From growing and selling plants and fauna, the company changed direction in a bid to entice consumers out to Singapore’s forgotten farmlands in Krangi. This led to the firm launching an events company – and soon some villas to give you a real taste of the countryside! Quite an amazing evolution!

I rediscovered a whole part of Singapore I had forgotten about… from fish farms.. to goat farms.. to mushroom farms..to bollywood veggies. All sharing the resources of the Krangi Reservoir, the farming community of Krangi has teamed together to create cross farm challenges – now who said all there was to do in Singapore is shop!:)

Why not check out Eco Ventures on Facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/ECO-VENTURES/104855928773?ref=sgm

This weeks Eco Ventures was actually supposed to take a different turn… but as the global auto industry moved in a different direction – the pick up and the contribution from environmentally related technologies and initiatives could not be ignored…

So down the auto track we drove….

Cash for clunkers was one of the big movers for the week – helping to boost industry players sales. The scheme basically means that consumers receive up to $4,500 US dollars to trade in their old vehicle… providing they are going to buy a more fuel efficient model.

I wonder if similar initiatives would have similar success in Europe?

Other auto players have also been boosted by energy efficient models such as Toyota’s hybrid. Toyota’s Prius is also the first car in Japan to outsell ALL OTHER VEHICLES IN JAPAN!

More industry players are working on developing terminals for charging electric vehicles. I wonder how long it will take before we see electric car charging points on the streets of Singapore??

In other eco news this week… the Lettuce Ladies strike again… hitting the streets of Tokyo earlier this week scantily clad in just lettuce leaves in efforts to convince more people to go green by going vegetarian…

Also…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!!

Yes.. The National Day Parade this year is going green… not only is it fueled with the help of Alpha Biofuels – cutting 3.5 Olympic swimming pools worth of carbon emissions… but also will be launching – but for those of you attending this years NDP – the fun packs will also be going green with recyclable aspects