It starts with a whisper from Rachel Carson in the 60s and starting now 2021, it’s going to be an ecological thunder. Maybe it’s COVID-19 or Greta Thunberg, or a general awakening of humanity, but haven’t you noticed how brands you love are adopting eco-friendly practices, even claiming to go carbon neutral from their source, and not by just buying carbon credits?

Green Prophet has reported on eco companies over the years and normally we love a novel idea like a good solar company helping Africa. 

But companies unrelated to the just goal of saving the planet can also be part of the big idea. Here are companies doing cool things that are helping the planet in unexpected ways. 

There are plenty of digital media companies out there providing a lot of information on eco friendly products, eco friendly brands, and what you should be looking for. We recommend you take a look at some of them and one of our favorites is the team over at Puratium. They go into extensive review of many brands and eco friendly products. Check Puratium out here.

Estee Lauder shows us that when it comes to the planet they are more than skin deep. To achieve Net Zero emissions and RE100 goals by 2030, Estée Lauder reduced its carbon footprint by investing in renewable energy. The company signed a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) for 22 megawatts of wind power from the Ponderosa wind farm in Oklahoma to cover more than half of the company’s electricity footprint with renewable energy technologies. 

Next on our list is Everlane. It’s an American sustainable brand that focuses on timeless pieces, clothing, shoes and bags alike. If you visit Everlane’s website you will see that they give you a starting price point, but then you can chose to pay extra to sustain their green production process. 

Everlane has headquarters in San Francisco, California, plus offices in New York. The company has now vowed that it will stop using virgin plastic by this year, 2021. In 2018 Everlane started a new campaign called ReNew where they create outwear crafted from the materials that were created out of 3 million recycled plastic bottles.

Teva sandals, seeing a revival from the 80s, just announced TevaForever, a partnership with the international recycling leader TerraCycle, dedicated to giving well-worn Teva sandals a new life. The recycling program reinforces Teva’s commitment to reducing its environmental impact and keeping waste out of landfills.

Well-worn Teva sandals have a soul of their own, shaped by every wild adventure they’ve weathered. When they are ready to be retired, there has never been a great place to go—until now. Through the TevaForever Recycling Program, well-loved Teva sandals can be mailed to TerraCycle at no cost to the customer, diverting them from landfills so they can be recycled into something new. Teva’s long-term vision is to work towards solutions to one day fully close the loop by recycling old Teva sandals into new ones.

Another fashion brand we love is Veja. Veja was founded in 2003 by Sebastien Kopp and Francois- Ghislain Morillion. The founders met with organic cotton farmers in North Brazil and wild rubber tappers in the Amazon to establish the production chain behind Veja. In 2006 Veja started using vegetable-tanned leather to produce its now world-famous sneakers. 

The Veja trainers are made of organic cotton, wild rubber, and vegetable-tanned leather and recycled plastic bottles. These shoes don’t just look great, they are made from great things.

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Roy Barzam, Homebiogas’ US sales manager (photo), took me on a tour of their facilities, at which several bio-gas appliances were in various stages of bio waste processing and operation. “The process of converting organic wastes into bio-gas is known as anaerobic digestion  
in which bacteria and other micro-organisms breakdown the organic material without being exposed to air. This is different from composting, in which the organic material
is exposed to air” he said. This anaerobic breakdown process is what produces the mostly methane bio-gas that is then stored in the appliance for later home use.

The Homebiogas appliance, made almost entirely of PVC and polyprophane plastic materials, weighs only 23 KG “in the box” when delivered with a set of assembly and operation instructions. When completely ‘charged up’ with horse or cow manure (the best fertilizer for producing suitable bacteria for the breakdown process), water and food scraps, the appliance weighs as much as 1.5 tons. The entire bio-gas production process takes several weeks, Roy added, pointing to an appliance still in the  bio-gas production process (photo).

Once the Homebiogas appliance is delivered to a customer, the set-up and preperation process is as follows:

After unpacking assembling on a dry, flat surface, around 100 KG of horse or cow manure is fed into the appliance’s intake inlet to create the needed bacteria. After a 3-4 week time period, organic waste such as vegetable and fruit, meat and dairy scraps (including bones) are fed into it. Up to 12 liters of “kitchen wastes” per day can be added via the intake “feeding tube”. Water is also added along with food wastes (up to 1200 liters).This is done until the water volume and food waste volumes are more or less equal.

“The manure does it all to create the bacteria for breaking down the food wastes”, Roy says. He also pointed out a capped outlet pipe from which filtered liquid fertilizer, a byproduct of
the biogas production process, is removed. What remains from this process is a sludge that accumulates at the bottom of the appliance and is eventually removed.

Roy also showed a “bio-toilet” in operation ( above photo)in which human wastes are fed directly into a Homebiogas unit. The resulting fertilizer would not be suitable for fertilizing food crops, but can be used for fertilizing trees flowers, grass, etc. “Bio-toilets, which are like those used in boats and campers save water, due to their unique pumping systems” Roy adds.

Since Homebiogas was founded in 2012, some 3000 biogas appliances have been sold to customers in more than 90 countries. “We advise using our appliance in warmer climates where temperatures are at least 20 degrees Celsius during the daytime. Otherwise, a heating device must be used to keep the processing bacteria alive and functioning properly” , Roy said.

Due to the much lower gas pressure for the created bio-gas in its 700 liter storage compartment, the Homebiogas appliance is much safer to use than conventional LP gas; and has been certified safe to use by Israeli governmental authorities. The amount of daily bio-gas produced is enough to power a one burner gas unit for up to two hours. One of these gas burners is included with each  appliance.

As to the future: “We are developing larger models for use in schools and other facilities. They will be much larger than the standard home model – as much as 5 times larger”, Roy said.

More about biogas from biomass and food scraps:

Make bio-gas in your back yard from food and poop

Israel’s 4MW Biogas Plant to Clean up After 14,000 Cows

5 Brilliant Projects That Turn Poop into Power

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Saudi Arabia is a desert country with no freshwater resources. Every day the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) produces more than three million cubic meters a day of potable water, which requires a great deal of precious energy, so every drop must be conserved. Cue NOMADD.

Very similar to the robots deployed in Israel to clean solar panels efficiently without water and without manual labor (can you imagine having the job of cleaning these boiling hot panels in the middle of the desert?), the NO-water Mechanical Automated Device (NOMADD) is completely self-sufficient.

One robot is attached to a row of solar panels and proceeds to brush over it once a day. This helps to rid the panels of dust, a regular feature in Saudi thatreduces energy efficiency by up to 60 percent after a dust storm, according to Treehugger.

Equipped with a brush that causes no scratches on the surface of the solar panels, the robots are great for water conservation, and they make sense from a labor perspective as well.

Related: Saudi to spend $109 billion to power a third of the nation with solar power by 2032

“No manpower is required for the operation of the NOMADD, beyond a single operator in a remote location who can oversee the site from a distance and observe the operational characteristics of each NOMADD device in real-time through remote sensor viewing and network communications,” according to the company literature.

And like a dream come true, the robots are actually fairly rudimentary, which means they’re not complicated to build and can be easily replaced in the event that one breaks down.

“The NOMADD is constructed from simply manufactured aluminium components, requiring a minimum of machining and using sections that are standard sizes,” the company continues. “Fittings are stainless steel, and the rollers are similar to those found on heavy duty lifting equipment. This makes the NOMADD superstructure and translation structure extremely rugged and durable, with no exposed perishable parts.”

Given the Kingdom’s $109 billion plan to power a third of Saudi Arabia with solar energy by 2032, these NOMADD robots should go a long way to reduce both energy and water consumption, while boosting the performance of solar panels.

:: Treehugger

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Powermat teamed up with Duracell (under parent group Procter & Gamble) to share their wireless charging capability not only with Starbucks, but other corporate giants such as McDonalds and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, as well as dozens of airports and Madison Square Garden.

Eliminating the need for power outlets, the wireless charging technology allows users to plug into a disc that is then placed on a charging table to charge phones wirelessly.

Following the successful completion of a long pilot program, Starbucks announced that San Francisco branches will be among the first to offer the wireless charging technology to customers.

“Powermat Spots in Starbucks are the result of almost a decade of scientific research spanning material sciences, magnetic induction and mesh networking,” said Ran Poliakine, CEO of Powermat Technologies.   “The two-pronged power-plug dates back to the era of the horse drawn carriage, so that today’s announcement marks the first meaningful upgrade to the way we access power in well over a century.”

Stores in San Jose, California and Boston, Massachusetts are already using the technology, but most other stores across the nation will have to wait until 2015. Starbucks is also planning to implement the technology in Europe and Asia.

Related: Wi-Charge powers up mobile devices through the air

Since providing wireless charging does not add much value to the stores, observers speculate that the company may sell the small discs to make their investment worthwhile.

“Starbucks is transforming the way consumers get power to their phones, in much the same way it made WiFi a standard amenity in public places. This endeavor is a critical step in Duracell’s vision to make dead battery anxiety a thing of the past,” said Stassi Anastassov, President of Duracell at Procter & Gamble.

“When Starbucks introduced WiFi in their stores in 2001, 95 percent of devices didn’t have WiFi, and multiple standards hampered the industry. The rest is history.  Starbucks plans to offer Powermat nationally is likely to settle any lingering standards question, and usher wireless power into the mainstream.”

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The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design graduate originally thought he would pack a bunch of seeds into the core of his Tumbleweed ball, according to Wired. But desertification is not something that can be prevented with a few seeds dropped in random parts of the desert.

Instead, a range of factors contribute to desertification, including unsustainable agricultural practices, overgrazing, mining, global warming and subsequent climate change, overpopulation, and perhaps a few factors of which we are not yet aware.

In fact, gathering the data necessary for understanding desertification can be problematic, and it this is a shortfall that Mir hopes to bridge with his autonomous design that is capable of transforming itself according to the prevailing climatic conditions thanks to its tensioned steel frame.

(Related: Mohamed Kassas – Egypt’s prophet of desertification)

Wrapped in a box kite sail that picks up wind and propels it in random directions, the Tumbleweed is equipped with a kinetically-powered on board computer, motor and sensor that help to collect climate data, along with a GPS that maps its trajectory.

While it can’t move in a specific direction, it can move long distances at significant speed, picking up information useful to science such as wind conditions – basically information that would be either prohibitively expensive for people to obtain for themselves, difficult because of topographical obstacles, or just too time-consuming given such vast distances.

One particular application, Mir told Wired, might be to create a three dimensional map of a dune in order to better understand how the dune moves. With this information, scientists might be able to achieve the ultimate goal, which is to prevent the desert from swallowing up more arable or habitable land.

:: Shlomi Mir

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An enormous flexible canopy of photovoltaic cells will shade the pavilions at Dubai’s 2020 expo, an innovative step towards greater energy efficiency for the international event, but critics warn that the workers slated to build the necessary infrastructure stand to suffer the most.

This is the first time a country in the Middle East will host the Expo, which is a great boon for Dubai and the Gulf countries in general, which have pushed really hard to make their presence known in the international sphere.

From the Masdar-sponsored World Future Energy Summit, one of the most important energy networking events on earth, to athletic gatherings such as the World Cup coming to Qatar in 2022, these events help to shift the global perception that the Middle East’s is only populated by either rich Arabs who keep cheetahs as pets or terrorists.

Renowned architects HOK and Populous have been picked to design the pavilions, which are inspired by the souk or Arab market. Larger pavilions will be arranged on the perimeter, while smaller booths will be aligned closer to the center, and the whole facility will be organized around a central distribution core.

The theme  of the expo will be “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.”

A carefully designed human circulation system is designed to foster new connections, and a fully automated underground tube system will connect the pavilions in a way that keeps services “invisible.”

But that’s not all that will be invisible. We have walked the back streets of Dubai, just two blocks from the glittering skyscrapers and retail outfits that make up what the Expo design team call its “essence,” and we have seen the squalor in which the city’s workers are forced to live.

(Related post: Comparing Qatar Stadium to a Vagina is Ridiculous, says Zaha Hadid.)

While laws have improved, those that regulate hours and working conditions are poorly enforced, and many people die or fall seriously ill from laboring under the hot sun without proper nutrition or shade.

Sara Kamalvand, a respected designer who was deported from Dubai for being “brown,” according to her, wrote this upon hearing the announcement that Dubai has been selected to host the 2020 Expo.

“#Expo2020 will proliferate the slavery of Indians, bangladeshis, pakis, and the rest of the brown people [sic] of this planet, that are serving a white washed society, clinging to the last remains of a petrol hungry, non-spaced anaesthetic past. By placing the expo in Dubai we will only emphasize our own madness, and the deterioration of all human values.”

So the solar canopy (which will be turned into a big light show at night) and the 50 percent clean energy that will be generated on-site are all huge steps for Dubai, which up until recently has paid little more than lip service to genuine green innovation, but a truly sustainable system transcends building materials and energy generation.

The people who build these magnificent monuments to excess should at least get fair recompense.

:: World Architecture News

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SRS involves mining sewers for cellulose fibers (toilet paper) that are then converted into pellets or pulp that can be used in a  variety of industries.

Custom-packaged per the specifications of each industry, the Recyllose pellets, which look like rabbit food, can be used as an alternative to ethanol, for heat or electricity, or they can be used as an additive for pulp or paper and bioplastics.

When burned, the pellets do not emit harmful gases, according to the company, but they also boast a higher caloric value than wood.

“Using Recyllose as feedstock for manufacturing plastic will lower production costs considerably,” according to the company literature, “thereby enhancing the cost effectiveness of the entire bio-plastics industry, while increasing the use of recycled sources as an alternative to fossil fuels.”

By mining sewers, Applied CleanTech claims that it can prevent half of the sludge from being formed, thereby cutting up to 30 percent of WWTP operational costs.

The SRS will be installed for a test period in early 2014 at Aa en Maas Water Board municipal WWTP at Aarle-Rixtel; Smurfit Kappa Roermond Papier, a leading paper producer, will also trial the resulting product.

If all goes well, Applied CleanTech will be invited to distribute their system throughout the Netherlands.

“We are delighted to start our first project in the Netherlands and we hope that after a successful trial period, our sewage mining technology will be installed across the Netherlands ensuring a greener, power efficient future for generations to come,” said Applied CleanTech Chief Executive Officer Dr. Refael Aharon in a recent press statement.

The Dutch are excited as well.

“The Dutch water industry is a worldwide leader water treatment and water management,” said Job Rosenhart, Energy Advisor for Dutch Industry at Agentschap NL.

He added that the agreement between Applied CleanTech, AA enMaas water board, Stowa and Smurfit Kappa Roermond Papier is about more than just mining sewers.

“In a broader sense, this agreement is strategic as it launches a new era of cooperation between Israel and the Netherlands in water and energy. We view this cooperation as strategic due to the cultural compatibility and complimentary needs and abilities of both peoples, and hope it would be the one of many such successful ventures between our two nations.”

The comparison is not without merit. The Dutch are renowned for innovations aimed at reducing their environmental impact, Israel’s clean tech savvy has made significant gains as well.

Looks like a match made in sewers.

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Despite having some of the best solar irradiation in the world, not to mention several leading solar energy producers, Israel has been relatively slow to take up this clean, renewable energy source.

In part, this can be attributed to a legislative environment that has favored fossil fuels – at whatever environmental and social cost. But the Public Utilities Authority has stepped up its game to make it a lot easier for independent households and businesses to both produce and consume their own energy.

“Solar power has become economical in Israel, and we’re at the start of a process which will change the urban landscape over the coming years,” Renewable Energy Association of Israel CEO Eitan Parnas told Globes.

Sources told the paper that the Knesset’s flat roof is perfect for a large 1MW solar array that could potentially generate one quarter of the building’s energy needs during full session. During limited sessions, the rooftop panels will make the structure completely independent of the national grid.

The Israeli parliament building will be among the world’s first to embrace solar energy, but Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince was way ahead of the game.

The court of HH Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan – the ruler of one of the world’s most oil-rich nations – was crowned with active solar panels back in 2011, when President Obama was still prevaricating over the issue of Jimmy Carter’s White House solar plan.

Despite its Leviathan natural gas discovery, and a tenacious oil shale scheme, it’s good to know that Israel is embracing clean energy as well – where it counts the most.

Image of Knesset, Shutterstock

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Although it is Germany’s largest solar panel producer, Arabian Gazette reports, SolarWorld AG has struggled to get off its knees since Germany cut its Feed in Tariff (FiT) – a subsidy system first instituted to help renewable energy producers keep with fossil fuel.

Then China flooded the market with cheap, generic solar panels that are suited to standard weather conditions.

Although in debt, there is still a market for high quality solar panels that can withstand harsh conditions such as Qatar’s hot and dry desert territory.

A small emirate bordering Saudi Arabia and the world’s third highest producer of natural gas, Qatar has good reason to see SolarWorld AG succeed.

The small predominantly Arab nation intends to spend up to $20 billion to supply 1,800 MW of solar energy by 2014, according to Arabian Gazette. Which means its going to need a reliable supplier of high end PV panels that will survive high winds, high heat, and a lot of dust.

QatarSolar, 100 percent owned by the privately owned Qatar Foundation founded by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani in 1995, has purchased a 29 percent stake in the German firm, which has factories in both the United States and Germany.

Meanwhile, SolarWorld AG founder Frank Asbeck will pump €10 million of his own funds into the project as well.

Like Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, Qatar has recognized the importance of producing solar power as an antidote to its population’s reliance on fossil fuels. By reducing its own internal demand for natural gas and oil, the emirate can secure its most reliable export commodity.

But there’s something even more significant about this move.

While nations across the globe are struggling under the weight of recession, the Gulf countries still have a lot of capital to throw around. Increasingly, Qatar in particular has used the opportunity to invest in projects across Europe.

For example, Qatar owns 95 percent of The Shard in London – a Renzo Piano skyscraper that drew a great deal of criticism for its height, insensitive placement, and for the Gulf nation’s involvement.

:: Arabian Gazette

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During my travels throughout the Middle East and North Africa, I dreamed of having a magical bottle that could purify water without the need for any gross tasting tablets, and here it is: Puri.

Submitted to the 2013 IDEA Design Awards, this water bottle designed by designed by Younsun Kim, Kangkyung Lee, Byungsoo Kim and Minji Kim can literally separate salt from sea water in order to produce safe drinking water – even when stranded in the middle of the ocean.

While most desalination technology is complicated or takes up more space than a small water bottle can hold, the design team behind Puri devised a new system that is so system we wonder why nobody came up with it before. But isn’t that the case with all great inventions?

So how does it work?

It couldn’t be simpler, really. The water bottle, which is the same size as a standard water bottle purchased at just about any market now, is equipped with a pumping mechanism.

If enough pressure is applied, the mechanism separates the salt from the water, and pumps the fresh water into a separate chamber. It is immediately drinkable, which means it isn’t necessary to wait for any purification tablets to do their magic (and they don’t work with salt water anyway).

Just scoop in some salt water, pump, and drink. It’s just that easy.

Still in its conceptual phase, the Puri water bottle is not available for purchase. But it could be, and it should be, because it could literally save lives.

:: Yanko Design

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