In Western Asia, the United Arab Emirates has high expectations for the 3D printing construction industry. Dubai wants to 3D print a quarter of every new building by 2025 to cut down on costly building waste that harms the environment. “Clearly 3D printing is something that is going to impact construction massively in the future. The idea is to set a target for the country to slowly grow into the 3D printing technology.” In Tabasco, Mexico, housing non-profit New Story, together with construction technology company ICON, and Mexican social housing organization Échale, has created the world’s first 3D printed community as a means to combat homelessness. The homes are granted to local families currently living in extreme poverty and unsafe shelters. Created for families currently living on less than $3 per day. Completed in about 24 hours of print time across several days; 500 square feet two bedrooms, one bathroom. 3D printing is not only used for office buildings and houses. The world's first 3D-printed steel bridge opened in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, earlier this summer. The 12-meter long 4.9-ton bridge was installed over one of the oldest canals in the city. Philippe Block, a Professor at ETH Zurich, head of the Institute of Technology in Architecture, and co-director of the Block Research Group (BRG) says, “This precise method of 3D concrete printing allows us to combine the principles of traditional vaulted construction with digital concrete fabrication to use material only where it is structurally necessary without producing waste.” Inspired by many new 3D printed structures, France also wants to build its first 3D printed bridge in Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games. The company awarded this project is XTreeE, a Paris-based large-scale additive manufacturing firm that specializes in concrete construction. The 40-meter-long footbridge load-bearing structure, or deck, will be entirely 3D printed with concrete.

With the world facing a housing shortage, 3D printing is not only speeding up the automation of construction, but also reducing costs. In our two-part series we’ll learn how companies are using this technology to build functional, affordable homes.Sam Ruben, the co-founder and chief sustainability officer of Mighty Buildings, says, “With 3D printing, we're able to print exactly what we need; it’s effectively zero-waste construction, meaning we're eliminating the three to five pounds per square foot that goes to landfills in a traditional build, which adds up to about two to three tons of carbon per unit.”14Trees is also behind a 3D-printed school project in Salima, central Malawi. Children in this area have started their education at the new 3D-printed school which was built in just 15 hours using a computer-controlled nozzle that layered the concrete; the school can accommodate 50 students. According to UNICEF’s estimate, Malawi is short of 36,000 primary school classrooms. Mr. Perrot estimates that by using 3D-printing technology Malawi could close this gap in ten years, which otherwise would take 70 years using conventional methods. Earlier this year, Mario Cucinella Architects and 3D-printing specialists of WASP (World’s Advanced Saving Project) collaborated to build the first eco-sustainable 3D-printed house using clay. The house is named Tecla and is located in Massa Lombarda, Italy. With an area of about 60 square meters, it is comprised of a living zone with a kitchen, a night zone that includes services, and a circular skylight on its roof. The Italian architects have combined ancient building techniques with modern technologies to form recyclable, low-carbon, climate-adaptable housing. 3D-printed houses made of recycled materials are not only an affordable housing solution but also a great way to protect our environment. We hope that 3D-printed buildings will soon be developed in many more areas of the world.

Vertical farming is a method of growing and harvesting crops on vertical shelves or towers rather than on land, as in traditional horizontal farming. Vegetables and other foods are produced indoors using controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technology. Vertical hydroponic technology is favored by many agritech companies and home growers, as it requires 90% less water to grow food, and no pesticides or herbicides. Currently, six main types of hydroponic systems are in use around the world. We’ll examine the most common methods. Next is one of the most popular hydroponic methods, the nutrient film technique (or NFT). “We’re definitely creating a new generation of farmers. Local Roots uses 97% less water than outdoor agriculture. We have a main reservoir in the middle of the farm. These are our NFT channels and the water will run through, the plants will absorb what they need, and then it’ll get back in our sump tank, get cleaned out, and then go back into the reservoir to repeat.” AeroFarms, located in Newark, New Jersey, USA, is one of the world's largest vertical farms using aeroponic technology. “On one hand we are a farming company; on the other hand we’re a technology company. We grow a plant typically from seed to harvest in about 15 days versus what’s 30 to 45 days in a greenhouse or in a field. The benefit of vertical farming is our productivity is extremely high in a small footprint.” Farmers in the Netherlands are also growing more food using fewer resources through the hydroponic system. “We have only 14-and-a-half hectares and we are producing around 100 million tomatoes a year. The idea about this greenhouse is we even use less water; we use 50% less energy. Our tomato plants grow in a hydroponic system so we know for sure that everything is clean and we can steer everything very precisely. We use all the new techniques and all the innovations with the minimum impact on the environment.”

Fashions featuring faux or vegan fur designs are rapidly on the rise. This movement is occurring due to the growing global concern about animal welfare. According to the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), “85% of the fur industry’s skins come from animals living in captivity.” Apart from being made in a manner that prioritizes the welfare of animals, these animal-free designs are also good for the environment. This makes faux fur a more ecological choice for both workers at textile factories and for customers. With modern technology, innovative ways to make gorgeous, eco-friendly faux fur from sustainable materials are growing rapidly. A new generation of companies producing animal-free jackets and various “fur” coats in an array of bright colors is flourishing in the fashion industry. One remarkable example is Ecopel, a Franco-Chinese company that's revolutionizing the faux fur marketplace by providing options that are kinder to both animals and the planet. Ecopel’s innovative method of producing and supplying fashionable faux fur is highly commendable. By employing a closed-loop technology, the water and chemicals used in production are recycled. In this way, a circular approach to manufacturing in the fashion industry is prioritized and waste is minimized. In Kyiv, Ukraine, design company DevoHome specializes in various types of fabrics made from hemp fibers. The company’s plant-based ‘fur’ is able to mimic the warming properties of real animal fur. The hemp used to make the “fur” is grown free from pesticides and herbicides and is 100 percent organic. It’s also completely biodegradable and has natural antimicrobial properties. In addition to its thermal qualities, the hemp is breathable, making it more comfortable than most synthetic fabrics. Even as the fashion industry begins making the positive change to being completely fur-free, so too are governments around the world. We’re delighted to report that just recently Israel became the first country in the world to completely ban all sales and purchasing of fur clothing! The ban, which will go into effect at the end of 2021, was first proposed in October 2020 by Israel’s Minister of Environment Protection, the Honorable Gila Gamliel, who says, “There is no need and no justification for the use of fur in the garment industry,” adding, “I call on all countries to join us, and together we will show benevolence and act kindly towards animals.”

As we progress in the Golden Age of Technology, many prototypes of solar-powered cars are already available. One remarkable example, a new sleek-looking, three-wheeled solar car, was launched by Aptera Motors in San Diego, California, a company that manufactures solar electric vehicles. The Aptera solar car is powered by a specially designed system that combines solar and electric energy. Sono Motors, a company based in Munich, recently presented the next-generation prototype of its revolutionary Solar EV – the Sion – at the international tech event CES 2021. The Sion features 248 polymer-based photovoltaic cells integrated into body panels across the car, including the bonnet, roof, and doors. “With the Sion we enable people to do much more than just drive from A to B.” “With the Sion you can easily share its energy with other EVs [electric vehicles], power tools, even your own home, making it a mobile power plant.” However, poor weather conditions have been among the obstacles faced by solar cars until now. Fortunately, Lightweight, a company in the Netherlands, seems to have come up with a way to overcome this challenge. Lex Hoefsloot says, “This moment represents a new era of driving. Two years of dreaming, thinking, and working hard have led to this milestone, which is a giant leap towards achieving our mission of making clean mobility available to everyone.” “Even [when] faced with zero sunlight, heavy winds, and below-freezing temperatures that require heating the entire time, Lightyear One still guarantees around 250 miles (402 km) of [driving] range.” Last of all, we’re extremely proud to present a truly amazing creation by a 24-year-old self-taught engineer and inventor from Freetown, Sierra Leone. Emmanuel Alieu Mansaray, a student at the University of Sierra Leone, came up with the clever idea of building a solar-powered car made from trash and scrap materials. After three years of work on its solar-powered engine and features, the car is now up and running.

At the University of Toronto, Professor Edward Sargent and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Yi Hou, together with Professor Stefaan De Wolf from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), have developed a unique, highly efficient and stable tandem solar cell. Another exciting solar advancement was reported in October 2020. The new innovation involves designing solar panels in checkerboard lines to increase their ability to absorb light by as much as 125%. The new design, led by researchers from the University of York and conducted in partnership with NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal has the potential to produce thinner, lighter, and more flexible solar panels that can be used to power homes and in other applications as well. Now let’s make a visit to Hungary for the next piece of inspiring news. A forward-thinking company in Budapest called Platio is using plastic waste to make solar panels, which are then used as pavements. Platio’s solar technology utilizes 400 waste plastic bottles to produce one square meter of the solar pavement. “Due to increasing environmental consciousness, electric cars are spreading rapidly; however, charging them is often an issue. By turning outdoor surfaces into resources of clean energy, Platio Solar Pavers provide an alternative for adopting renewable energy technologies at urban environments. It’s a smart space-saving and attractive solution for design-minded and environmentally conscious users to feed outdoor devices, such as electric car chargers.” Singapore recently installed a floating solar farm off the coast of the vibrant island city-state to provide clean energy. The solar farm is equipped with electrical panels, control systems, and a 22-kilovolt transformer. The farm involves a total of 13,312 panels, 40 inverters, and more than 30,000 floats, spread over an area about the size of seven football fields. With the capacity to produce five megawatts of electricity, the floating system is designed to power almost 1,500 apartments for an entire year.

On today’s program, we’ll explore zero-carbon hydrogen energy, how it works, and the technologies used to produce it. So, what exactly is hydrogen energy? Hydrogen energy is the process of using hydrogen, a clean fuel, to generate electrical power. It’s called a clean fuel because if the energy used to produce that hydrogen is from renewable sources, such as wind or solar power, then using that hydrogen doesn’t directly contribute to climate change or increase our carbon footprint. Hydrogen is also derived from a process called electrolysis, that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen using an electrical current. Electrolysis technology has been adopted by many companies around the world. In addition, seven of the world’s green hydrogen leaders, ACWA Power, CWP Renewables, Envision, Iberdrola, Orsted, Snam, and Yara announced a global coalition that will accelerate the scale and production of green hydrogen 50-fold in the next six years, helping to transform the world’s most carbon-intensive industries, including power generation, chemical manufacturing, steel making and shipping.Hydrogen can be produced from the Sun’s energy. There are currently two methods used for this. In the first, solar energy is converted into electricity using a photovoltaic cell and then hydrogen is generated through the electrolysis of water, as explained already. A team from Australian National University (ANU) has successfully developed a way to split water to create energy using this technology. In an alternative method, photo-electrochemical cells are used to directly produce hydrogen. Besides all these methods, hydrogen can also be produced by biological water splitting and by burning sustainably produced fuels, including alcohol from fermenting food or food wastes, and biomass, such as wood chips. It can also be produced using wind energy. Thank you, researchers, scientists and engineers, for working diligently to develop green hydrogen energy technology. Our Beloved Supreme Master Ching Hai recommends people to go vegan first so that we have enough time to develop green hydrogen and other sustainable forms of energy that can replace fossil fuels.

The development of a high-tech mask was announced by the mask manufacturing company AirPop during the CES 2021 consumer electronics trade show. AirPop’s new product and companion app track the breath, the air quality, and the mask filter's effectiveness. The AirPop company’s reusable mask comes with replaceable filters. In mid-2020 another innovation was reported - a new self-sanitizing medical face mask that deactivates viruses on contact. The project that developed the mask, which aims to reduce the number and activity of viruses, is led by Professor Jiaxing Huang of Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering. Professor Huang’s research team will investigate anti-viral chemicals that can be safely built into masks to self-sanitize passing respiratory droplets. Environmental activist and entrepreneur Mr. Jai Dhar Gupta believes in the importance of nanotech and nano-fibers in designing masks for the future. His company, Nirvana Being, has come up with the Airific Anti-Viral Mask, which offers extra protection with an electro-spun nano-fiber filter. The French industrial company Geochanvre produces masks made of hemp as a way to reduce plastic waste. Regarding the masks, President of Geochanvre Mr. Frédéric Roure, says, "This is a natural product and will go back into the soil." We’ll next make a trip to Singapore where local scientists have developed an integrated monitoring system that can be attached to face masks to monitor the wearer for health indicators associated with COVID-19. Also at CES 2021, a company called Razer revealed what they call “the world’s smartest and most socially friendly face mask” called Project Hazel. This smart mask not only uses an N95 filter capable of filtering out 95 percent of airborne particles, but it also has some cool features. We thank all the innovative designers, engineers, and scientists for their idealistic desire to make the world a safer place for everyone.

Why not produce your own electricity from wind energy? Wind power is one of the world’s most widely used renewable energy sources, and according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, it’s the top source of sustainable electricity generation in the United States. It is 100% renewable, eco-friendly, and free to generate. A group from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has developed a new generator to harness the power of even the softest breeze. This great invention was inspired by the way Venetian blinds flutter in the gentle breeze of an open window. The device uses low-velocity winds that can be less than 15 km per hour. Next is a cool invention called the “Wind Tree” developed by French innovator Jérôme Michaud-Larivière and his company New World Wind. The tree-shaped wind turbine, a steel structure that stands 9.8 meters high and is 7.2 meters wide, is small enough to fit in your backyard. The device has 36 leaves called Aeroleaves that rotate in the wind in almost total silence, operating as mini vertical turbines that can harness winds as low as 7 km per hour and generate 3.5 KW of energy, enough to power a house for a family of four. Another great invention, a portable device that’s 2.5 cm, by 7.6 cm, by 1.9 cm comes from researchers at the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems. The device, which is designed to harness the power of a slight breeze, is not technically a turbine, being comprised of two thin strips of plastic that flap together inside a tube. This flapping action generates an electrical charge through the so-called “triboelectric effect.” Mr. Daniel Connell, a renewable energy and open-source technology designer and inventor from New Zealand, shows us how to make one almost entirely from scrap materials. Let’s check out this wonderful design…

In today’s program, we’ll learn about wave power and how it could be the future source of clean energy for our planet. Wave power, also known as marine or ocean energy, captures the energy of tides, currents, and wind waves from the world's oceans, to generate renewable power. Unlike wind and solar conditions, the status of waves or swells can be easily forecast for periods of 48 to 72 hours in advance, making the availability of wave energy easy to predict. Various methods for harnessing ocean energy currently exist. We’ll next cover some of the most common approaches. “Let’s start with the tides. It is estimated that together, tidal currents and tidal turbines can produce as much as 0.9 terawatts, which would be quite a significant fraction of the global energy production. The other methods that we can use to generate electricity from the ocean come from a different system. And here we are harnessing the waves. So, the ocean has a lot of surface waves that go up and down. And what we can devise is different systems that take advantage of being thrown up and down with the ocean currents and release that kinetic energy and turn it into electricity. The third way you can induce energy from the ocean is you can harness the power of the great ocean currents.”Many scientists and energy companies are working on and testing devices to harness wave energy from the oceans. Let’s look at some of the advances that have taken place in this field. Together with his team at the University’s Theoretical and Applied Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Dr. Alam has developed a “wave carpet” that extracts energy from ocean waves and transforms it into electricity that can be used in households and cities, and can boost local supplies of freshwater. One of the most promising technologies to emerge recently for harnessing wave energy comes from “down under,” from the Australian Wave Swell Company. Another company planning to follow their lead is CorPower, a Swedish wave-energy developer founded in 2009. CorPower Ocean is bringing a new class of high-efficiency wave energy converter to market, enabling robust, cost-effective harvesting of electricity from ocean waves. The company hopes to have wave-energy technology up and running by 2024.

Traditionally, waste disposal has simply involved throwing solid waste material into landfills. However, these sites emit harmful by-products such as methane, dioxins, and leachate, which are harmful to the health of humans, animals, and the natural environment. In an effort to reduce the environmental and health damage caused by waste disposal, scientists and engineers along with the waste management industry have been developing technologies to recycle or convert our garbage into clean reusable energy, a process known as “waste to energy.” A number of techniques exist to produce energy from waste, the most common being waste incineration, also known as solid recovered fuel combustion. The incineration process, often described in the industry as thermal treatment, uses special furnaces that burn waste material. Another thermal treatment process is gasification, which is effective in minimizing air pollution. A third process is pyrolysis, a rapidly developing waste-to-energy technology that has been garnering much attention worldwide due to its high efficiency and eco-friendly performance characteristics. Let’s next explore another common waste-to-energy technology called anaerobic digestion, also known as biomethanation. CERES, an Australian environmental education center, urban farm, and social enterprise hub, describes a virtual model of a series biogas digester as follows. “The biogas digester is the future of waste processing. 40% of waste in the average rubbish bin is food waste, and it’s all going to tips (landfills), which pollutes soils, water resources and creates methane which contributes to climate change. The biogas digester not only diverts this waste away from tips but also creates useful output from this otherwise wasted food. Those outputs could form the cornerstone of our future energy needs and return valuable nutrients to the soil.” Bravo to the governments, waste-management companies, scientists, and engineers for encouraging and advancing waste –to-energy technologies. We sincerely wish that more and more countries will soon adopt these renewable ways to turn trash into a treasured clean energy resource that will further help protect our precious planet.

Flying is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to travel, especially for long-distance trips. However, conventional airplane flights are energy-intensive and depend on fossil fuels for power. Because aircraft emissions are released high in the atmosphere, they have a potent impact on Earth’s climate, triggering chemical reactions and atmospheric effects that add greatly to planetary warming. Currently, approximately 170 electric aircraft projects are underway around the globe – up by 50% since April 2018. Many of these efforts involve futuristic designs for urban air taxis, private planes or package-delivery aircraft. But major firms have also announced plans to electrify their commercial aircraft. Inspired by Elon Musk and the Tesla electric car, Harbour Air, the largest seaplane airline in North America has built and tested the first electric seaplane. In an effort to reduce emissions from its aircraft, Harbour partnered with magniX, a research and development firm with operations in the US and Australia, to develop the first fully electric commercial aircraft. In December 2019, the modest Canadian airline got its “e-plane” off the ground, pulling ahead of other electric-flight projects, including those by big-name companies Airbus, Boeing, and Rolls-Royce. Located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, the Israeli company Eviation hopes to market the world’s first all-electric plane, called the Eviation Alice, by 2022. In 2023, Eviation may bring out an extended-range aircraft capable of traveling a distance of 745mi (1200 km). Mr. Engler added that electric planes will provide lower emissions, reduced fuel costs, and lower noise levels for passengers and communities living under flight paths. We thank all the scientists, engineers, and aviation companies currently searching for alternative ways to reduce CO2 emissions and protect our beautiful planet. May your goals soon be reached.

3D-printing is an emerging revolutionary technology that could completely change the current approach to design and manufacturing, with profound geopolitical, economic, social, demographic, environmental, and security implications. 3D-printing technology is not only altering human life but is also significantly impacting the lives of animals. On today’s program, we happily share some of these great technological advances with our noble viewers. We’ll start off with a group of English scientists who have figured out a way to 3D-print cells grown in a laboratory to create living structures. This approach could revolutionize regenerative medicine, enabling the production of complex tissues and cartilage that could potentially support, repair or augment diseased and damaged areas of the body. “We were aiming to fabricate three-dimensional living tissues that could display the basic behaviors and physiology found in natural organisms.” In the United States, Harvard University researchers have also developed 3D-printed organs as an alternative to animal experimentation, having successfully made the first 3D- printed organs-on-chips. This new technology should help to reduce the rate of drug testing on animals by pharmaceutical companies and academic labs, as the organs-on-chips provide a groundbreaking substitute for traditional ways of testing. Supporting the use of technology to replace animal testing, Dr. Warren Casey, director of the U.S. National Toxicology Program’s Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods, which studies alternatives to animal use in chemical-safety testing, says, “In theory, non-animal tests could be much cheaper and much faster.” Testing on these simplified, miniaturized versions of our physiology could deliver more human-relevant results than animal experiments.

As we progress through the Golden Age, we’re seeing more and more advances in the area of green building technology. For example, the traditional machinery used for construction is now being replaced by 3D-printing or additive manufacturing, the process of making three-dimensional objects from a computer-assisted design (CAD) or digital 3D model. Carbon Asset Storage Technology(CAST) is among the range of innovative techniques developed by MIRRECO. The Perth-based company’s houses are made mainly from hemp, an eco-friendly building material. MIRRECO is involved in a collaborative venture with architectural firm Arcforms to showcase the 3D-printing of hemp biomass in the environmentally friendly construction. This amazing all-natural building material is made only of hemp pulp, lime binder, and water. Mr. Yves Béhar, founder of the award-winning design firm Fuseproject, claims, “Increased density in cities, rising housing costs, and homelessness present challenges that architects and urban planners must respond to.” Mr. Béhar proceeds with a brilliant plan to tackle the issues of those in need of homes. Fuseproject has combined forces with the homebuilding-technology company ICON and the non-profit group, New Story in a joint venture to build 3D-printed houses for an impoverished Latin American farming community. ICON’s large-scale portable 3D-printer, the Vulcan II, is designed to produce nearly zero waste and to function under difficult circumstances, such as limited water and power. The three companies revealed their plans to use the latest technology to form "the world's first 3D-printed community." The work is being done in close interaction with local residents to learn about their culture and surrounding environment. The first TERA accepts limited pre-bookings on the US crowdfunding website Indiegogo, and starting March 2020 will be available for habitation for one year before it’s recycled and reprinted elsewhere. Every stay in TERA contributes to the habitat's scientific mission: emphasizing the need for renewable technologies to save our planet, while researching what’s needed to enable life to exist on a new one. Many thanks to the inventors and architects who are advancing the sustainable lifestyle and presenting eco-friendly housing technologies. May your loving kindness benefit other beings, including our precious animal friends.

The ecocapsule is a smart, self-sustainable micro-house that uses solar and wind energy for power. The energy-efficient egg-shaped dome designed by Slovakian firm Nice & Wise which allows its inhabitants to live off-grid and enjoy the scenic beauty of nature. In a second example, a group of students constructed the “Waste House” at the University of Brighton, UK, from a variety of waste materials obtained from domestic and construction sites. The frame and floors of Waste House are made of recycled wood, and ten tons of chalk waste from another construction site were collected, pounded rammed-earth style to form a wall. In September 2015, Waste House was nominated for the Royal Institute of British Architects' Stephen Lawrence Prize. KODA is a sustainable and portable two-story mini house with built-in IT that enables the structure to learn from and adjust to its surroundings. According to Mr. Ülar Mark, a co-founder and system architect of Kodasema, 31 KODA modules have been built and installed in several European locations for different uses. He further explains, “There is a great advantage in using KODA modules for public buildings; the modules can be easily relocated and repurposed once they are no longer needed at the original location.” Essentially, Earthship homes are built with recycled materials, such as rubber tires, glass bottles, aluminum cans, and other re-purposed waste. The old tires were made into a powerful thermal mass by filling them with soil, hence making the room created from these materials cool in summer and warm in winter. The Sukup Safe T Home is a highly modified grain bin that is resistant to earthquakes, termites and moisture. Apart from security and comfort from the effects of weather provided to disaster-stricken inhabitants, T Homes can be purchased at a highly affordable price. In Oct 2016, the Sukup T Homes built in Haiti which protected the country’s residents from Hurricane Matthew, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in recent history.

As new housing concepts emerge, housing designs focus resources and technologies with less carbon footprints and environmentally friendly. One of the world’s most ingenious eco-friendly dwellings has been designed by the Dutch company Wikkelhouse, was created by a team from the Fiction Factory in Amsterdam. The Wikkelhouse is a completely reusable modular home made almost entirely of recycled cardboard, making it three times more eco-friendly than traditional housing, and giving it a life expectancy of up to 100 years. In another example of environmentally friendly housing, the Los Angeles-based company kitHAUS offers a range of prefab houses made with its patented lightweight construction system. KitHAUS houses consist of many green components to maximize energy efficiency and use of space. An Italian architect, Beatrice Bonzanigo of the IB Studio unveiled her patented design named Casa Ojalá, a circular house prototype that is transportable, adaptable, and off-grid. Yet another remarkable eco-friendly house is the Blooming Bamboo home, made mainly from natural resources and produced in Âu Lạc (Vietnam). Hanoi-based H&P Architects has developed this low-cost green building system to withstand the annual typhoons and floods that damage the country’s physical assets. Now we’ll take a look at the concept of building eco homes from shipping containers, here’s the first example, an off-grid oceanfront cabin on a gorgeous beach in Portugal, north of Lisbon. For its sustainability, rainwater is collected from the roof of a small shed and stored in an underground water cistern. In the next example, Brazilian architect Marilia Pellegrini has created Casa Container. In 2019, Casacor Miami exhibition held in Florida, USA, the 12-meter-long container house was exhibited as an example of the union of sustainability and contemporary design. In our final example, a group of students from the German University of Technology (GUtech) in Oman brilliantly tackled the challenge of sustainable urban development in an eco-house research project. A unique radical eco-house which built inside the university campus in Halban, provides comfortable indoor cooling by minimizing heat during hot and humid weather. The GUtech team won the first prize for Oman Eco-Friendly House Competition organized by the Research Council of Oman. We offer our sincere congratulations to all the wonderful people who have come up with these awesome, innovative designs, and made their knowledge available to all who wish to adopt a sustainable lifestyle.

Today we will learn Incredible technology applied to clothing industry to achieve the “wasteless” target in a circular fashion movement. Well, Swiss-based Dimpora has developed a membrane which can integrate with any outdoor clothes through painting, spraying, coating, or printing. Different from other traditional types of membrane, Dimpora membrane is mineral-based, biodegradable, fluorine-free, waterproof, winterproof, breathable, and seamless. That means you will enjoy nature comfortably without causing any harm to the surroundings. With a zero-waste philosophy in mind, Hallotex – based in Barcelona, Spain, with a production station in Morocco – creates clothes from recycled raw materials. One of the company’s special projects is The Loop, a fascinating way of reusing fabric to recreate new garments. In Asia, Japan-based Synflux has developed a wonderful innovation to help clothing makers reduce waste in the cut procedure. Algorithm Couture allows the production of garments with minimal waste of material and energy. When it comes to a cruelty-free and sustainable way to produce stylish clothes, perhaps the first person who comes to mind is the award-winning and world-famous fashion designer Stella McCartney. A vegetarian and animal rights activist, Ms. McCartney does not use animal fur or skin in her creations, while she is also concerned with the final destination of what we wear as she knows the fashion industry is currently one of the most polluting industries globally. Bolt Threads is a state-of-the-art technological material company located in California, USA, and makes renewable and biodegradable fabrics in laboratories. One of their innovations is Microsilk, a vegan silk inspired by spider silk, but made by humans without harming any spiders. With Bolt Threads, Stella has designed incredibly modern and nature-respecting dresses using Microsilk. Those were just a few of many examples on how clothing manufacturing can go on without damaging nature and innocent creatures, while adopting concepts of “zero-waste” and “from cradle to cradle” with cooperation of consumers and material sorters. We would like to convey our sincere gratitude to all involved in the circular, planet-friendly, and animal life-sparing fashion industry.

A lot of what is produced globally in terms of clothing will not end up being recycled. That means a massive amount of fabric waste goes to landfills every years, polluting our soils and oceans. In order to tackle this issue, companies and start-ups have been working hard to offer technological solutions for a circular approach to fashion. Ryan Mario Yasin, Arabella Turek, Fanny Lefebvre-Nare, and Alicia Martinez-Rodriguez from UK-based Petit Pli have come up with an ingenious idea by combining Japanese origami folding techniques with space engineering. “Clothes That Grow” can accompany the growing size of a baby from 9 months up to 4 years of age. Apart from that, the outfits produced by this wearable technology company are windproof and waterproof, and all are made from recycled fabrics. German-based Circular. Fashion has invented a way to tag a circular identification, or circularity. ID on any piece of garment, making it easier for customers to trace the whole life cycle of their products. We give heartfelt thanks to all the wonderful tech innovators for making the fashion industry circular and eco-friendly for the benefit of all beings on this precious, life-giving planet.

In November 2019, the new California-based company Heliogen reported an exciting breakthrough in solar-concentration technology. The startup focuses on using clean energy to eliminate the need for fossil fuels. The breakthrough at Heliogen offers carbon-free, cost-effective solar technology to replace fossil fuels, thus bringing about the hope of decarbonizing these large emitters of greenhouse gasses. It was the potential of transforming heavy industry through renewable energy and mitigating climate change that motivated Bill Gates to invest in Heliogen. Using CO2 obtained from the atmosphere, solar fuels produced by concentrated solar thermal energy will be completely carbon neutral. “Our HelioHeat can be used by customers to replace their use of harmful fossil fuels. The world's first technology that can commercially replace fossil fuels with carbon-free ultra-high temperature heat from the Sun, taking a major step towards solving climate change.”

On today’s program, we’ll meet Mr. Artjoms Kurbanovs, the SkyWay Group of Companies investor from Latvia. He tells us about the Unifly, a vehicle designed to replace the family car. “We're now at our high-speed ‘Unifly,’ the transport that moves at 500 km/h. And to drive it, to operate it, will cost much less, because to build all this we need less resources, less time plus it’s total eco-friendliness: no pollution of either air or Earth.” In addition to its unique aerodynamic design, the Unifly has many other advantages over our traditional means of transportation. “It’s amazing: the weight is very low. So, we have great energy-saving for driving. This vehicle moves on solar batteries, on wind energy - this is transport that uses renewable kinds of energy.” One of the greatest benefits is that the entire system is elevated, which substantially improves its operational safety. One of the most exciting features of SkyWay’s system is that it will leave a minimal footprint on Earth. SkyWay believes that their unique system will make it much easier and faster for people to travel to work.