Set off at sunset! The mini seeding robot wants the desert to grow green
This group of designers want to make solar products more "beautiful"
Goodyear creates new sustainable tires
Adidas has teamed up with Prada to create a sustainable collection
Graze: Even snacks have to be customized?
Desert Wall-E?
This mini seeding robot wants the desert to grow green
A'seedbot is a graduate project of Mazyar Etehadi, a student at the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, who can sow seeds independently in the desert.
A'seedbot is equipped with a solar-powered device, so it charges during the day and then uses the stored energy to start sowing seeds at night. The robot analyzes the soil and uses the feedback data to determine where it is suitable for sowing.
In addition, after planting seeds, the robot will also track the detection every few days, and by the way, the solar mechanism used to make energy can also help A'seedbot detect the illuminance of a specific location.
Solar: I refuse to be defined, I want to be more interesting
A lamp that seems like it couldn't be easier became the winner of the 2021 Wallpaper Life-Enhancer of the Year and Dezeen Awards.
What's so special about it?
Designed by Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel, this solar lamp, called "Sunne", has a rounded body made of aluminum and looks like a horizon.
Hanging on the glass, Sunne absorbs sunlight during the day, and it automatically lights up when the sun goes down, and the lighting is presented in a way that mimics the color and light of the sun at three different times.
On the back of the lamp is Sunne's solar module, featuring the SunPower Solar Cell developed by van Aube and the Netherlands Energy Research Centre.
In van Aube's view, good design can help people culturally connect with solar products.
Van Aube is one of those people who positions themselves as "solar designers" who don't just want to take advantage of solar energy itself, but also design these products to make them better and better integrate into people's lives.
This year, the inaugural Solar Biennale in the Netherlands will also be held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, bringing together a large number of designers interested in solar energy.
Before that, many designers have demonstrated unexpected innovations.
For example, Asoleyo "weaves" different patterns on solar panels;
The Dutch company Solar Visuals created a façade design made of 825 solar panels for the Parisian building;
The van Aube mentioned at the beginning also designed a colorful top for the Dutch Pavilion at Expo Dubai.
By incorporating transparent solar cells into glass panels, solar installations are not only less stereotyped, but can even bring fun and daylight to the interior.
To write his new book, Freeing Energy, Bill Nussey interviewed more than three hundred solar experts, and in his opinion, good-looking products are also important to promote this new energy source:
If you want to deal with climate issues, you need to make good-looking products, and you have to let the community play and control itself.
Drive to a more sustainable future
Goodyear Tire has released a new sustainable tire that claims to use 70% sustainable materials, including soybean oil, rice husk ash and polyester made from plastic waste.
Soybean oil, among them, allows tires to remain flexible when heated or cooled, and because it is bio-based, the need for petroleum-based materials is reduced.
Rice husk ash, on the other hand, is used to replace silica, which is mainly used to improve the grip of tires.
Previously, Goodyear had set a goal of creating 100% tires made from sustainable materials by 2030.
Sustainable new materials should also have a style
Recently, Adidas announced that it will join hands with Prada to create a sustainable Re-Nylon series, which will be officially released on January 13.
Designed by Adidas and manufactured by Prada, the collection will feature Prada's Re-Nylon fabric – made from marine plastic waste and fishing nets – and officially launched in 2019.
Prada said the Re-Nylon series marks a milestone in Prada's official transition from virgin nylon production to Re-Nylon at the end of 2021.
Graze is a snack subscription DTC company.
In simple terms, once the user registers on the app, they can inform Graze of their dietary preferences, and then send a "snack box" every week/two weeks/month, which contains a combination of snacks to match according to their preferences.
After receiving a snack, the user can report satisfaction or adjustments on the app, and Graze will continue to adjust the box contents.
As a snack company, good food and health are naturally the most basic.
Graze claims not to add coloring, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives to snacks, using only nuts, fruits and vegetables.
There is also a limit to the total calories of a single snack. Among them, 50% of snack calories are below 150 kcal, and no snack has a calorie higher than 250 kcal, and claims to lose 30% sugar compared to the same type of traditional snack.
In addition, Graze has many suppliers due to the variety of ingredients. On the one hand, companies will choose to work with local suppliers (UK) as much as possible, and only in the case of inability to meet them will they cooperate with foreign suppliers. But both inside and outside, Graze will ensure that supplier employees have a good working environment and support a fairer trade mechanism based on its own supplier requirements.
As a direct-to-consumer brand, packaging is naturally a part of delivering value. Graze uses plastic packaging because "that's currently the best option to keep food fresh and safe.". The box is made of 50% recycled plastic and consumers are advised to put it into the recycling chain after use.
Graze also plans to become carbon neutral by 2030. Currently, the company's factories and baking facilities have adopted 100% clean energy.
Just being a "snack company" has so much to pay attention to.
Maybe the next time we come across other snack brands that claim to be sustainable, we can at least understand how much work these companies have done in terms of food raw materials, health collocations, supplier management, and packaging design.
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