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Urban Farming – Singapore Style

Singapore is one of the richest countries in the world, complete with a thriving urban center of commerce and development. But for all the riches the country possesses, they lack in farmable land - unable to produce large quantities of locally farmed vegetables.

Sky Greens has come up with an innovative solution to fit Singapore’s needs: a tropical vertical urban farming system that uses minimal land, water and energy resources. The low-carbon, hydraulic water-driven green technology was developed by Mr. Jack Ng, whose goal was to produce higher yields of edible veggies per unit of land. The patented green technology allows tropical vegetables to be grown all year round, as the harvests are housed in protected outdoor greenhouses, safe from pests and temperamental weather conditions. To that end, the production yield of Sky Greens is impressively five to ten times more per unit area compared to other Singaporean farms growing vegetables by conventional methods.
Considering that only 7% of vegetables in Singapore are locally grown, Sky Greens is a great solution to increase the production and delicious consumption of fresh local vegetables.        
[Source: Sky Greens]

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Printing a Green Future

KG SINGH AND Sidhartha Bhimania set up EnNatura. By outsourcing the manufacturing to small companies, they got by without making major capital investments. But getting companies to use the ink was another matter. They paid companies to use the product. The gamble paid off.

The Challenge

THE OFFSET printing business — think media, publishing, advertising and packaging, to name a few industries — consumes more than 3 million tonnes of hydrocarbon-based printing ink and chemicals, and emits over 5 lakh tonnes of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) annually. Apart from posing a serious threat to workers in the printing industry, VOCs are massive contributors to global warming. The key health and environmental challenge is posed by the petroleum component of ink, released as emissions during the drying and washing process. The resulting photochemical smog not only depletes the ozone layer, it can be linked to respiratory ailments in workers, including tuberculosis and an increased risk of cancer.

The Idea

KRISHNA GOPAL SINGH, a chemical engineer from IIT Delhi, and his friend Sidhartha Bhimania were brainstorming ideas for a start-up when they discussed it with their professor, who, it turned out, was working on ink. The solution seemed obvious: develop an ink that had negligible emissions. The challenge wasn’t just in developing eco-friendly ink though; it was in ensuring that this ink gave the same spectacular printing results and vivid colours as the conventional variety.

The real issue? Resin. The duo realised that they needed to develop their own resin to control emissions. Soon, they created a pH-sensitive resin from renewable feedstock, enabling them to create a biodegradable ink that causes zero emissions.

The next step? To do away with the use of hydrocarbon solvents. The unique chemical formulation of the ink also makes washing easier when recycling waste paper; the pH-sensitivity of the resin means the ink can be washed off with a mildly alkaline, aqueous wash solution, doing away with the need for hydrocarbon-based solutions that use kerosene. Not only does this dramatically reduce the environmental and energy footprint, it can be a game-changer in altering the economics of recycling. Singh estimates that washing costs are cut by as much as 85-90 percent compared with traditional methods.

The result? A fundamentally different printing process that has taken VOC emissions down to zero and makes recycling less expensive.

The Innovator

KG SINGH AND Sidhartha Bhimania set up EnNatura. By outsourcing the manufacturing to small companies, they got by without making major capital investments. But getting companies to use the ink was another matter. They paid companies to use the product. The gamble paid off. But they didn’t have enough money to produce quantities to meet the demand. They switched strategies by going to publishers and NGOs who were interested in green issues rather than printers themselves. With funding from the government and a venture capitalist, they have been able to get their dream off the ground.

The Impact

IT’S EARLY DAYS yet but having ironed out chemical issues, they have 10 printers now using their ink in varying quantities. “It’s a slow process,” says Singh. “Ink is a small cost vis-à-vis the cost of paper but its impact is very high; the wrong ink can lay waste very expensive paper. So adoption is slow and printers wait a long time, often months, to check how the ink deals with fading and other post-printing issues. But the fact that we have got 10 printers who now work with us is, in many ways, the end of stage 1 of the project. It’s time now for scale.”

The Way Forward

CHALLENGES OF SCALE are almost invariably linked to funding: no different for EnNatura. To meet the large-scale demand, they need to invest in manufacturing and marketing. “There’s actually been no barrier to trials,” says Singh. “People try the product easily enough. But to switch to using this in serious quantities requires commitment from printers. We have got the product right after trials and reformulations for around 18 months with printers. Now we need to look at the business and operations end of it.”

Source: http://rise.mahindra.com/printing-a-green-future/

Transporting Change- How Coir Atlas is changing the way India Moves

In late 1997 Himanshu Sheth found himself waiting anxiously for the first batch of 100 wagons using Coir Atlas products – Cost - Effective and Eco - Friendly replacements for wooden scantlings and pallets – to arrive with their cargo safely unscathed on the other side of India. 

Sheth had begun conceptualizing Coir Atlas earlier in the year, as a response to a call-to-action from India’s industry giant Tata Steel for a ‘green’ alternative to conventional timber packaging products – like wood separators or runners.  The issue was (and remains) simple; wooden logs are used to support the steel during transportation, which directly contributes to the destruction of over 400,000 trees every year in India and beyond.

A marketing consultant with a Bachelor’s Degree in Science from Ranchi University, Sheth knew he had sufficient technical know-how and passion, to respond to Tata’s challenge.

Sheth began experimenting with several synthetic options that simulated wooden logs, only to wonder if perhaps bamboo was a more innovative and sustainable approach. After significant research Sheth learned that in addition to its strength, because bamboo grows up to six times faster than trees, it can be grown in higher concentrations with limited effects of deforestation when harvested.

With this breakthrough, Sheth combined the tensile strength of bamboo with coir – a natural fibre extracted from the husk of coconuts – and launched the first field test to identify if 100 wagons could cross India’s unpredictable landscape to deliver undamaged product. And arrive safely, they did – all 100 in fact.

His field test exceeded expectations. However, the coir, which was being sourced from Kerala, was expensive and financially unsustainable. Ever the responsive entrepreneur, Sheth modified the product by replacing coir with jute – a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. The jute was not only locally available but also reduced time and labor costs.

Over the next several years Sheth worked to further test and refine his breakthrough product. In 2002 Coir Atlas was further validated with 400 + wagon loads successfully arriving at their destination, in 2005 Kharagpur and Indian Value Engineering Society tested and certified the strength of the product and later in the year he was granted a patent for his innovation.

But more than just preserving India’s forests, Sheth saw the chance to integrate employment opportunities for rural women into his business model as Coir Atlas grew. He partnered with the All Indian Women’s Conference (AIWC) to employ women from the low-income rural areas to work on a daily basis supporting field tests – compensating them between Rs. 200 – Rs. 300 per day. This was three times what the women would normally make – the additional income, Sheth noted, would often be funnelled into school for their children.

Recognizing the continued potential of the business, Sheth wants Coir Atlas to expand across India, so the environmentally-friendly nature of his products can have a positive impact both on tropical forests and also the livelihoods of rural women. He is aiming to build business opportunities with most of India’s steel companies, so he can transition the country to a fully sustainable model of transportation.

Yet, despite the environmental and social benefits Sheth had integrated – by design – into the Coir Atlas business model, he requires the financial resources and capacity building opportunities to scale up his model and generate a more widespread impact.

This is why Sheth has recently joined Ennovent’s Global Network. While the directory provides him with access to investors, he is also able to collaborate with like-minded individuals and experts in technology and marketing to move his venture forward.

Now instead of looking back on how far Coir Atlas has come since that first testing day in 1997, Sheth is focused on the future.  “The added visibility may help me persuade more and more companies to adopt the Coir Atlas product and make it an industry norm – saving several thousands of trees every year,” highlights Sheth
Content Source : http://rise.mahindra.com/transporting-change-how-coir-atlas-is-changing-the-way-india-moves/