Projects, products and services illustrating SD

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The examples that follow provide pointers to a sustainable future. They all illustrate interesting trends and ideas that provide encouragement to everyone who is searching for ways in which to apply sustainable development. The information source is provided giving a contact name and telephone number where possible.

• Action at Home. This programme, developed by Global Action Plan is being promoted by them in partnership with WWF and has now attracted over 18,000 households in the UK. Although available in many other countries including Netherlands, Sweden and the USA it has proved more successful in the UK than elsewhere. In the UK, householders have been able to reduce waste by 30%, cut energy consumption by 9%, reduce transport fuel by 6% and cut water consumption by 16%. (Going Green No 30, Spring 1998 p9 and Green Futures May/June 1998 p16)
• AstroPower, based in the USA, has devised a new line in low-cost solar cells and power modules called APex. APex uses a continuous sheet process for producing cells similar to that used in sheet steel. This is easier and cheaper to manufacture. (Source: Tomorrow No 4, Volume VIII, July-August 1998).
• Bristol Electric Railbus, developed by Parry People Movers Ltd. (01384 569553), uses kinetic energy, is emission free and runs on easy-to-build lightweight track. It can travel on roads, across open land and enter buildings. Railbus requires only 34% of the energy of a conventional bus. The Railbus is being demonstrated at Bristol from the end of May until the end of October with a regular service along Bristol's harbourside between the Industrial Museum and the ss Great Britain. Contact Bristol Electric Railbus Ltd. by email. (Source: brochure 19 June '98)
• Britain's charcoal industry is small-scale but inspiring. Only 8% of what we consume is produced in Britain, but the total market is worth £27 million. Imported charcoal comes from the Far East and Latin America, the wood used is from threatened forests, in ways that are socially irresponsible, and the product is of poor quality. British charcoal is produced according to green principles. Geoffrey Cox, director of Bioregional, and Roy Keeler are two English producers and their charcoal can be bought from B&Q stores and BP petrol stations. Roy Keeler has been producing charcoal since 1989 and his business has grown by 20% each year. (Source: Guardian Society, Wednesday 17 June 1998 p4/5).
• Computers that have been thrown out by big business because they have been replaced by newer technology account for 30 tons of waste annually in the UK. However, at Camelford House, near Vauxhall, London, Charity Logistics, headed by George Cook, has been set up as a centre for recycling discarded computers. IBM alone will donate 100,000 in 1999. Charity Logistics provide a service which includes a computer, software, training, telephone support and insurance to charities for less than £1 per day. With landfill tax charges going up it is often more economical for firms to donate their used equipment, furniture and white goods. This new venture is the basis for regeneration in city centres in the USA and elsewhere. [Source: News from the New Economy May 1999, p3].

Another scheme for recycled computers is run by Tools for Schools (TfS) with backing from the Guardian Newspaper. Schools can apply to TfS who then assess the applications and make their awards. The computers, which have to be less than 3 years old, are donated by business are sold to the schools at prices which enable them to buy 20 computers for the cost of a single new machine. [Source: Guardian 22 July, 1999]

• The Elmwood Institute was founded in 1984 by Fritjof Capra as an educational institution dedicated to fostering ecological literacy - systems thinking, knowledge of the principles of ecology and the practice of ecological values. They came into existence to publish EcoManagement, then closed down. This is a good example of a short-term, specific project, illustrating that it is not always necessary to set up a permanent organisation.
• Free bicycles in cities have now been tried in several places with varying degrees of success. Schemes in Amsterdam and Copenhagen have proved particularly successful. Amsterdam has a pilot scheme of 150 bikes kept at 'bike stations'. These can be used by people who purchase a special swipe card. They are debited if they take a bike towards a well stocked station and reward those who re-distribute bikes by taking them to stations needing more bikes. The Copenhagen scheme works rather like supermarket trolleys, so a bike is released by inserting a coin which is recovered when the bike is left at another bike rack. Copenhagen has 2,000 bikes at 125 racks and they are in use from April until December. Urban road congestion has been reduced and bike thefts have fallen, because two-thirds of thefts are believed to be for convenience purposes. There are strict limits on where bikes can be taken, the design is distinctive so they can be readily recognised and they often use non-standard parts so bits are not stolen. Re-sprayed second-hand bikes, with no limits to where they may go, disappear - as they did in Cambridge, UK in 1993/4. [Source Green Futures No 13, Nov/Dec 1998, p32-33.
• Hospital - Carillion plc (formerly Tarmac) are building a new £140 million hospital at Swindon. The Natural Step are involved in applying their principles during the design, construction and will also be involved in applying them to the supply chain and operation of the hospital when it is completed.
• Hypercars that cause less pollution and last longer are now emerging in various forms, manufactured by Toyota, Audi, Nissan and Daimler-Benz, all of whom have vehicles that will soon be in the showrooms. The hypercar was first proposed by Amory Lovins of  the Rocky Mountain Institute in 1993. Since then the cost of fuel cells has dropped faster than he anticipated and more versions of radically different cars are now being tested as prototypes. Although they may prove to be better long term investments, maintain the second-hand value better and be less polluting it is not all good news. They could add to road traffic and make congestion even worse! [Source: Green Futures No 13, Nov/Dec 1998, p28-31]. It is reported that Nissan, Toyota, General Motors and Daimler-Benz (in partnership with Shell) will be marketing fuel cell cars by 2003. [Source: Tomorrow Magazine No 6 Vol VIII, Nov-Dec 1998, p34]
• Landmines: a remarkable worldwide coalition of  700 citizen's groups organised the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), working outside the normal United Nations channels. ICBL used the Internet to communicate and in less than 2 years, helped by the government of Canada, they generated massive publicity and persuaded all major governments (except those of China, USA and Russia) to sign the treaty. This earned ICBL and Jody Williams, the co-ordinator, the Nobel Peace Prize for 1997. [Source: Which World?, p246]
• Offshore wind. Shell International Renewables is giving serious consideration to electricity from offshore wind. This is believed to be to provide an alternative source of power to Shell's oil and gas drilling platforms. (Green Futures May/June 1998 p9)
• Organic Farming: two stories were told at the Triodos Bank AGM in London on 27 March 1999. Firstly, farmers in India using organic farming principles have been able to regenerate soil, within three years, that had been farmed with chemicals and given up as infertile. In Cuba one third of all farming is organic because the economic embargo meant they could not afford to buy chemicals!
• Organic Food - see Where to Buy Organic Food, published by the Soil Association.
• Organic supermarket: Planet Organic, set up by Renee Elliott in Westbourne Grove, London, is Britain's first one-stop organic and natural food supermarket. Two new stores are planned during 1999/2000. Patricia Bittle, who works at Planet Organic says "the organic industry has to be commercially viable to work." [Source: Guardian, 9 August 1999, p51]
• Oxford Rickshaw Co, founded in 1996 by Erica Steinhauer, provides a 'Rolls-Royce' Rickshaw service in Oxford, England, with rickshaws powered by bicycles with 21 gears. This venture brings a new dimension to tourism and transport for Oxford. For more information contact Erica Steinhauer, 40 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1HZ, Tel: 01865 251134.
• Reporting on Corporate Sustainability was the theme for a conference in London in March 1999, jointly organised by UNEP/WBCSD/ACCA and sponsored by CERES, The Stockholm Institute and Imperial College London. Among several enlightening comments was one from Jonathan Lash, President of the World Resources Institute. He described the process of the current economy as "stripping, very efficiently, resources from the earth and distributing toxins over its surface in the cause of generating added value for human society".
• The SD Gateway integrates the online information developed by a network of some of the world's leading sustainable development institutes. These organisations have formed the Spinning the Web Network in order to improve their online products and services to help you quickly learn about the policies and practices necessary for sustainable development. See their web site.
• SEDA - Sustainable Energy Development Authority, Australia (web site) is making impressive progress transforming the energy scene in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, led by Cathy Zoi, formerly deputy chief of staff in charge of greening President Clinton's White House. New South Wales generates 95% of its electricity from coal-fired stations. The energy market is being transformed using an 'Energy Smart' programme, helped by government departments being allowed to keep the money they save on energy costs for use on other projects. The programme is also reaching businesses and householders and involves energy savings as well as new renewable energy projects. (Tomorrow, Mar/Apr 1999, p24)
• Tarmac is involved in sustainability projects - given under their heading on the Company statements on SD page
• Tigray: Relief Society of Tigray (REST). Yohannes Gebresellasie is the  founder of the Canadian Chapter of Relief Society of Tigray (REST) and Tigray Development Association (TDA) working in the Northern Highlands of Ethiopia, Africa. Yohannes is an International Academic and has community experience. He conducted the International Conferences on the issue in question and wrote his masters as well as his PhD thesis on International Migration, The Refugee Issues. He is an expert on Repatriation and Development and Institutional Linkages. He speaks Tigrigna, Amharic, English and French and understands few other languages. More information from him by email.
• Timber. Radial Timber, Australia Ltd. are a small sawmill with its own machinery capable of increasing the recovery of small diameter hardwood saw logs. Current recovery starts at 60% (14inch diameter) and increases to 90% for larger saw logs which are mainly used for weatherboard cladding. Most mills, including the most advanced, cannot produce this sort of recovery due to the growth stress. See the Radial Timber web site at www.radialtimber.com
• Transport is the subject of the November/December 1999 issue of Resurgence with articles on walking, cycling, waterways, canals renaissance, roads, traffic in towns, lorries and flying.
• Water: efficient supply and use of  - see Thames Water.
• World Economic Forum, meeting in Davos Switzerland, is addressed by Amory and Hunter Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, 29-31 January 1999. They say "to attend the conference, if you are not an invited 'Fellow' as we were, you basically have to run a large company or a small country. It was an unparalleled opportunity to present our ideas on Natural Capitalism to world leaders." (Letter from Hunter Lovins to Colin Hutchinson, 11 March 1999)
• Zoo Poo. Imagine a tennis court covered in the dung from elephants, rhinos and giraffes to a depth of fifteen feet. That is what Paignton Zoo, Devon has to deal with, and the dung keeps coming! Eco-Sci, a waste disposal company removes the dung and makes it into odourless organic compost, or zoo poo. B&Q, the DIY retailers, are going to sell it from their shops and the zoo will receive royalties for each bag sold that will go towards their fund for endangered species. (Guardian  29 April 1998. p11)

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Last modified 19 November 1999