We are facing the greatest challenge of our time – saving the climate. The Global Opportunity Explorer has now collected 1,000 innovative sustainable solutions that over the course of 1,000 days could create tremendous change if scaled globally.
It is said that necessity is the mother of all invention. Right now we are facing the biggest challenge of our time: saving the climate. We need to develop and scale-up innovative, climate-friendly, modern solutions with unprecedented speed.
1,000 days to upscale 1,000 solutions
“Right now we are facing a manmade disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change,” said David Attenborough on Monday at COP24. He called out to sustainable minds to take immediate action.
The Global Opportunity Explorer is a platform of the world’s most promising available, scalable and financially viable sustainable solutions. The platform now contains 1,000 solutions that if implemented and up-scaled globally over the next 1,000 days could change the course of the climate.
Here we have handpicked 5 of our favorite breakthrough solutions:
Pioneering Hydrogen-Powered Ferry
The world’s first high-speed, hydrogen-powered ferry will be built in the San Francisco Bay area and will be financed by the state’s cap-and-trade emissions reduction scheme.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and using it as a fuel to generate energy is one of the cleanest and most versatile power generation methods available. Hydrogenics works to develop the technology and implement it across the world. Working with Golden Gate Zero Emission Marine, they are creating the ‘Water-Go-Round’ – a 70 foot aluminum catamaran designed by Incat Crowther and built by Bay Ship and Yacht, with a top speed of 22-knots and capacity of 84 passengers.
Connecting Everyday Conscious Investors With Renewable Energy Projects
GoParity connects conscious everyday investors with small but innovative renewable energy projects that are looking to get off the ground.
Having come from the renewable energy industry in Portugal, the GoParity founders knew all too well the challenges of getting access to finance for small energy firms which tend to be ignored by traditional finance schemes and considered high risk. They also understand the desire for conscious consumers to invest in projects that matter, rather than financing high-street banks. By connecting these two needs, GoParity is able to bring finance to renewable energy projects, and provide a green and reliable return on investment for everyday people.
Connecting Everyday Conscious Investors with Renewable Energy Projects
Customised Wall Panels For Energy Efficient Homes
BuildSMART manufactures custom-built wall panels that can improve energy efficiency and indoor air climate in new homes.
BuildSMART supplies prefabricated wall panels that can be used to construct new homes in compliance with ‘passive house’ principles. A passive house is designed to meet specified principles for energy efficiency. These principles include proper insulation, airtight sealing to prevent heat escaping, correct orientation for maximising the use of sunlight and shading for temperature control, and more. BuildSMART wall panels are comprised of a number of layers, including air barrier sheathing to prevent the heat loss through walls, anti-termite treated insulation, and a waterproof weather layer that can prevent mould and damp. They come certified by the Passive House Institute.
Building Livelihoods Through Reforestation
Taking Root is putting a face on the smallholder farmers in Nicaragua who are reforesting their land. Through sales of carbon credits and traceable forest products, they can connect farmers who choose to reforest parts of their land access to additional income streams.
Taking Root works with smallholder farmers in northern Nicaragua to encourage them to plant trees in exchange for income from either carbon credits or traceable forest products. Taking Root uses GPS techniques and field visits to monitor the growth of trees on every plot, in order to generate carbon credits certified by international standard ‘Plan Vivo’. These carbon credits are then sold by Taking Root on behalf of the farmers who are then paid in cash. Every farm and farmer can be seen online with their digital map called Farm-Trace. The company estimates that their carbon offsets program employs over 1,200 farmers each year, and has resulted in 2.2 million trees being planted.
Solar And Salt For Heating And Cooling
By utilising the natural properties of salt, SaltX Technology’s ‘SunCool’ solar panel system is able to both heat and cool buildings using solar radiation.
The ‘SunCool’ system, developed by SaltX Technology, reduces the energy consumption used for heating and cooling systems in buildings by using salt to store energy. The customised solar panels store solar energy and can produce both heat and air-conditioning during day and night, providing high energy efficiency and reducing costs by up to €100 per square metre.
https://goexplorer.org/solar-and-salt-for-heating-and-cooling/