An App Made in Heaven

05.08.2020

patrick-fore-miAcjhLaWPQ-unsplash — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Patrick Fore)

Fresh Agriculture Technologies is developing software solutions to assist in fruit production. A team of seven people of different professions, from agronomists through developers to economists, contributed to the digitisation of agriculture by designing the MapMyApple application, which even Delta Agrar has included in its production.

One of the members of Fresh Agriculture Technologies, Jovana Djordjic, announced that she and her colleagues would not stop at apples, but would also help those who cultivate peaches, cherries and pears, Coming from their computers to the Android and Apple app stores and then our gadgets, in the future we can also expect MapMyPeach, MapMyCherry and MapMyPear to arrive. But let’s first get to the core of their “firstborn”!

“Since the founding of the company, we want to implement the agronomic knowledge of apple growing experts into one simple application. We live in an era when every person has a phone at hand at all times, so our starting idea was to provide every fruit grower with the information they need to do the orchard work as effectively and accurately as possible with just one click on a mobile device”, she explained. She added that MapMyApple creates daily recommendations for the implementation of basic agricultural measures such as irrigation, nutrition and protection. An additional feature it offers to its users is the early identification of disease and the presence of pests based on photography.

Their first “virtual agronomist” was intended for apple growers because it is by far the most popular fruit in the world. As many as 5 million hectares planted, an average yield of 30 tonnes per hectare and about 2.5 million people
involved in apple cultivation – those are just some of the figures that pushed them to make MapMyApple their initial step in linking agriculture and information technology.

“From the discussions with the fruit growers we have concluded that the knowledge of agronomists and environmental protection experts is expensive for many them, and at the same time, it is important if they are striving for responsible and serious business. For this reason, our application is affordable for small and medium-sized agricultural holdings and monitors the situation in the orchard 24/7. MappMyApple takes into account parameters that people without the help of computers are unable to simultaneously follow and coordinate, such as apple variety, planting year, weather, orchard location, satellite plot monitoring, soil analysis, chemical and mechanical characteristics of soil and so on. After processing all of the above, the application defines a plan for optimal production, which ultimately aims to increase yields and reduce the consumption of fertilisers, water, chemicals, as well as human power, in parts where the biological potential of the soil and plants is weaker,” the interviewee revealed, adding that the app is available for download on the Google Play Store and the App Store. The trial period is 30 days after registration, and after that, the usage is charged monthly.

In focus:

Why should a fruit grower trust this network of algorithms instead of the word of an expert in real life?

“The advantage to the virtual agronomist is that the machine based application simultaneously collects and processes alarge amount of information from orchards and their environment that affect the agricultural activities. The next important point is accessibility, both when it comes to its affordable price and the continuous support – a MapMyApple user can ask questions or report a problem through an app and receive an agronomist’s response immediately, without waiting. However, not all farmers are ready to switch to using the application completely and lose contact with the person who will tell them on the phone what, when and how to do in the orchard. That’s what the real agronomists benefit from! The trend of technology adoption is on the rise, and I believe that every farmer will transition to using it in the very near future because of the speed, precision and timeliness of the data”, Jovana said.

She also outlined the differences that she noticed between local and other markets. “The cult of precision agriculture is being cultivated much more abroad, and people can educate themselves in many more places, such as international fairs, webinars and conferences. With that in mind, we strive to provide our users with education and to convey to them the atmosphere and novelties from the events we participate in, as well as to organise meetings with them and to enrich their knowledge through blog texts and other marketing channels”, she emphasised and stated that their breakthrough into the “digital” world, despite the partial backlash of Serbian farmers, still started in our country. “So far, we have targeted Serbia the most. The reason is, first of all, the closeness of the users. The whole team is here, so it’s easy to get around. We also had a lot of users from North Macedonia, more precisely the Resen region, where a lot of apples, are grown”, Jovana concluded, pointing out that the next targets of Fresh Agriculture Technologies are America and Turkey.

Prepared by: Jelena Kozbasic

This article was published in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine NATURAL RESOURCES, march – may, 2020

BP to Cut Oil Production 40% by 2030, and Invest Billions Into Green Energy

05.08.2020

oil_platform_nafta — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

bp today introduces a new strategy that will reshape its business as it pivots from being an international oil company focused on producing resources to an integrated energy company focused on delivering solutions for customers.

Within 10 years, bp aims to have increased its annual low carbon investment 10-fold to around $5 billion a year, building out an integrated portfolio of low carbon technologies, including renewables, bioenergy and early positions in hydrogen and CCUS. By 2030, bp aims to have developed around 50GW of net renewable generating capacity – a 20-fold increase from 2019 – and to have doubled its consumer interactions to 20 million a day.

Over the same period, bp’s oil and gas production is expected to reduce by at least one million barrels of oil equivalent a day, or 40%, from 2019 levels. Its remaining hydrocarbon portfolio is expected to be more cost and carbon resilient.

By 2030, bp aims for emissions from its operations and those associated with the carbon in its upstream oil and gas production to be lower by 30-35% and 35-40% respectively.

bp also today sets out a new financial frame to support a fundamental shift in how it allocates capital, towards low carbon and other energy transition activities. The combination of strategy and financial frame is designed to provide a coherent and compelling investor proposition – introducing a balance between committed distributions, profitable growth and sustainable value – and create long-term value for bp’s stakeholders.

As part of the investor proposition, bp’s board has introduced a new distribution policy, with two elements:

the dividend reset to a resilient level of 5.25 cents per share per quarter, and intended to remain fixed at this level, subject to the board’s decision each quarter, supplemented by
a commitment to return at least 60% of surplus cash to shareholders through share buybacks, once bp’s balance sheet has been deleveraged and subject to maintaining a strong investment grade credit rating.

The strategy is built around three focus areas of activity and three distinctive sources of differentiation, underpinned by a new sustainability frame and advocacy for policies that support net zero.

The focus areas are:

Low carbon electricity and energy: building scale in renewables and bioenergy, seeking early positions in hydrogen and CCUS, and building out a customer gas portfolio to complement these low carbon energies.
Convenience and mobility: putting customers at the heart of what bp does, helping accelerate the global revolution in mobility, redefining the experience of convenience retail, and scaling bp’s presence and fuel sales in growth markets.
Resilient and focused hydrocarbons: maintaining an absolute focus on safety and operational reliability, bp intends to drive capital and cost productivity up and emissions down. bp intends to complete the ongoing wave of major projects, decreasing capital intensity, and to continue to high-grade the portfolio, resulting in significantly lower and more competitive production and refining throughput. bp will not seek to explore in countries where it does not already have upstream activities. Rosneft is a fundamental part of bp’s broader portfolio and provides bp with a strong position in Russia.

The three sources of differentiation to amplify value are:

Integrated energy systems: along and across value chains, pulling together all bp’s capabilities to optimise energy systems and create comprehensive offers for customers.
Partnering with countries, cities, and industries: as they shape their own paths to net zero.
Digital and innovation: to enable new ways to engage with customers, create efficiencies, and support new businesses.

Delivering the strategy will see bp become a very different company by 2030. By then, bp aims for:

– investment in low carbon energy to have increased from around $500 million to around $5 billion a year;
– developed renewable generating capacity to have grown from 2.5GW in 2019 to around 50GW;
– bioenergy production to have risen from 22,000 b/d to more than 100,000 b/d;
– hydrogen business to have grown to have 10% share of core markets;
– global customer interactions to have risen from 10 million to 20 million a day;
– electric vehicle charging points to have increased from 7,500 to over 70,000; and
– energy partnerships with 10-15 major cities around the world and three core industries.

Over the same time:

– Upstream oil and gas production is expected to reduce from 2.6 million barrels of oil equivalent a day (mmboe/d) in 2019 to around 1.5mmboe/d; and
– refining throughput is expected to fall from 1.7 million barrels a day (mmb/d) in 2019 to around 1.2mmb/d.

Through this change, bp will continue its commitment to performing as it transforms – maintaining its focus on safety, operational excellence and financial discipline.

The introduction of the new strategy and transformation of bp are expected to deliver material progress towards its ambition to become net zero by 2050 or sooner and its supporting aims. By 2030, bp aims to have delivered significant progress against its first five Aims:

1. Aim 1 – emissions from operations, 30-35% lower than in 2019;
2. Aim 2 – emissions associated with the carbon in bp’s upstream oil and gas production, 35-40% lower than in 2019;
3. Aim 3 – carbon intensity of marketed products, more than 15% lower than in 2019;
4. Aim 4 – measurement of methane in place by 2023, and progress underway to halve its intensity;
5. Aim 5 – investment in low carbon increased from $0.5 billion to around $5 billion a year – and to $3-4 billion by 2025.

bp will give more detail on its strategy, business plans and investor proposition in its capital markets day presentations on 14-16 September.

Source: BP

This App Plants Trees When People Make Lower-Carbon Choices

03.08.2020

tree_drvo_seed_seme — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Ant Forest is a mobile game that has become China’s largest private sector tree-planting scheme.
The game has funded the planting of more than 120 million trees, covering more than 100,000 hectares.
The project has contributed to China becoming the world’s leading tree-planting nation. Ant Forest was awarded the UN’s Champions of the Earth award, its top environmental honour.

What if you could turn a good deed into a new tree?

An award-winning mobile app game from China does just that, and is responsible for more than 120 million trees being planted in some of the country’s most arid regions.

Since its launch in 2016, over half a billion people have used Ant Forest to convert lower-carbon activities such as using public transport into real trees.

The game is helping China lead the way in re-greening the planet and is serving as a model for tree-planting schemes elsewhere.

It’s the kind of innovation the World Economic Forum is seeking through UpLink, a platform for crowdsourcing sustainable development solutions to challenges including how to plant a trillion trees.

The Ant Forest model

“Ant Forest taps into the best of human ingenuity and innovation to create a better world,” says Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme – which in 2019 gave the project the UN’s top environmental award.

So how does it work?

To start with, Ant Forest has plenty of potential players, being part of China’s Alipay mobile payments app, which is used by more than a billion people.

Each time a user performs a lower-carbon activity, such as paying a utility bill online or cycling to work, they are rewarded with “green energy points”.

However, rather than immediately spending those points on a real tree, Ant Forest turns its users into game players. The green energy points “grow” into a virtual tree on the user’s app. And users can share green energy with friends and see how their virtual forests compare with others.

For every virtual tree grown, Ant Forest donates – and plants – a real one. And this gamification has had real-world impacts.

A greening China

According to a study in Nature Sustainability, NASA satellites have revealed a 5% increase in global green leaf cover since the early 2000s – with China leading that growth.

While a third of Chinese greening is due to the expansion of agriculture, 42% comes from projects to plant forests. According to the UN, Ant Forest has become the country’s largest private sector tree-planting scheme – so the game is a big part of China’s greening.

And the locations for planting are ambitious: arid areas of Northern China like parts of Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Shanxi. Many of the 122 million Ant Forest trees have been planted in areas that have become deserts.

There has been some criticism. In 2019, the journal, Nature, reported concerns that holding back deserts with trees could put pressure on water supplies. Scientists in China respond that local conditions are taken into account. Drought-resistant varieties, such as the “saxaul” shrub, are used by Ant Forest.

The project is certainly ambitious. In 2019, Alipay’s parent company, Ant Financial Group, said the trees covered some 112,000 hectares. And there are sizeable spillover benefits too.

Environment and people

The young trees maintain and repair eroded soils, as well as reduce global CO2 levels.

Another major gain from the project has been employment. Ant Financial Group says 400,000 job opportunities have been created through Ant Forest, many for local farmers.

But if the trees are donated by Ant Financial, why not simply plant the trees and cut out the virtual ones?

The reason, as the UN puts it, is “significant behavioural change”; gamification has encouraged millions of people to adopt lower-carbon lifestyles.

The success of the project has now led to a similar initiative in the Philippines, launched by the mobile payments provider, GCash.

The project is an encouraging step, according to the UN’s Andersen.

“Although the environmental challenges we face are daunting,” she says, “we have the technology and the knowledge to overcome them and fundamentally redesign how we interact with the planet.”

Source: UNEP

Is It Possible to Grow Berries Under Solar Panels?

03.08.2020

berries_bobičasto_voće — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Together with its Dutch subsidiary, GroenLeven, BayWa r.e. has now built one of Europe’s largest AgriPV projects at the Piet Albers fruit farm in Babberich, as well as four new test projects across the Netherlands.

These four new pilot projects will investigate how solar panels can be combined with a variety of different berry crops.

Stephan Schindele, Product Manager AgriPV at BayWa r.e., said. “Following the success of our pilot project last year, we have now expanded the project to increase its size to 2.7MWp, this latest extension to the project involves the installation of 10,250 solar panels across 3.2 hectares of raspberry crops, generating enough clean energy to power close to 1,250 households.

“Careful monitoring throughout the pilot study showed that the climate under the panels is in fact more stable than under traditional plastic arches. The panels created a more favorable lower temperature and better protected the crops from the weather.”

The successful AgriPV project, had to overcome a number of challenges in its development.

This included the fair distribution of scarce photons from the light spectrum for raspberry growing and solar power generation on the same area. BayWa r.e. designed a unique semi-transparent solar module allowing sufficient sunlight for the plants to pass through while at the same time protecting the crop from hail, heavy rain, and direct sunlight.

Dr. Benedikt Ortmann, Global Director of Solar Projects at BayWa r.e. commented “AgriPV is a form of renewable energy that sits closest to our hearts. BayWa AG has been supporting farmers and rural regions with agricultural services for close to 100 years. AgriPV can bring a social, environmental, and economic benefit to farmers. No land-use conflict, better landscape integration if foil systems are replaced, less waste, less labor and investment cost.”

Piet Albers, the berry producer, confirms: “The solar panels are a more sustainable form of protection for the crops. Whereas previously we used traditional plastic arches, these had to be removed yearly, tore in strong winds and were thrown away every six years. Hail and extreme heat also remained a risk, but with the solar panels we are no longer affected by this and at the same time we also generate green energy.”

Alongside to the AgriPV project at the Piet Albers fruit farm, GroenLeven has teamed up with Wageningen University (WUR) to investigate four additional test projects which involve other berry crops including red currant, blueberries, blackberries and strawberries.

“Our new study will investigate the effect of the solar panels on these soft fruits and sensors will monitor the climate under the panels. In addition, we will monitor the plants health and fruit growth”, explains Stephan Schindele.

AgriPV is currently not suitable for every country but finding space for solar parks without converting agricultural land is a key challenge for the renewables sector and one that BayWa r.e. is committed to solve. Land-neutral photovoltaic implementation like AgriPV and floating PV show huge market potential for the near future, which BayWa r.e. is eager to untap.

Together with apple and pear producers the company is developing further pilots demonstrating that AgriPV is supporting farmers to adapt to climate change, while at the same time contributing to de-carbonization and global warming mitigation.

The ultimate goal is that through research and monitoring, the BayWa r.e. AgriPV projects will not only promote the use of solar panels with crops, but show that they actually improve the quality of the fruit and reduce the cost of its production. A win-win for the agricultural and renewable sector – together against global warming.

Source: BayWa r.e

Beyond Tourism – Investing in Local Communities to Protect Africa’s Wild Spaces

02.08.2020

For ten years, Dixon Parmuya has guided tourists on bush walks around Amboseli National Park in Southern Kenya. But since COVID-19 swept through Kenya in mid-March, the country’s tourism industry has dwindled, leaving many locals without jobs and animals without protection.

The coronavirus pandemic is creating what experts are calling a brewing conservation crisis in Kenya, a country home to some of Africa’s most iconic animals. Most of Kenya’s programs to protect wildlife are funded directly by tourist dollars and with visitor numbers down, money for conservation is drying up, say experts. There are also fears that poaching will rise, leaving wildlife protection hanging in the balance.

“If there is no tourism, there is no conservation,” says Parmuya.

But the pandemic is encouraging countries to change that.

“Tourism can be fickle,” says Doreen Robinson, Chief of Wildlife at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “We have to be more creative to expand revenue streams that can directly support local communities and protect natural assets.”

In Africa, UNEP is working closely with governments and partners to encourage wildlife-based economies – where local communities are central to protecting the wildlife areas they inhabit, for mutual benefit of both. This includes going beyond tourism to attract other kinds of green investment in wildlife areas, like using natural resources to produce consumer goods in a sustainable way.

“We have to ensure that money gets reinvested into locally protected areas, and benefits are shared with the communities protecting biodiversity and wildlife, because these communities are creating the conditions for long-term, sustainable conservation in Kenya,” says Robinson.

That is something Purity Amleset agrees with. She is part of a team of all-female rangers with the International Fund for Animal Welfare that is working to raise awareness about the importance of wildlife to Kenya’s economy and its identity.

“As a ranger, I’m creating that conducive environment between the wild animals and my community. I come from that community, so they understand me well when I tell them the importance of wildlife,” she says.

Source: UNEP

Verkor, Europe’s New Battery Cell Producer, Begins Its Industrial Journey

31.07.2020

idec_group_verkor_aerienne_low — Photo: IDEC GROUPE, via InnoEnergy

Verkor, a French industrial company, is set to amplify battery cell production in Europe, with the support of EIT InnoEnergy, Schneider Electric and the GROUPE IDEC. The new venture will accelerate the production capacity of low-carbon batteries in southern Europe to meet growing demand for electric vehicles and stationary storage.

Production in Verkor’s first Gigafactory is scheduled to begin in 2023, with a capacity of 16 GWh of battery cells which will increase to 50 GWh in line with market dynamics. The facility will require an initial investment of €1.6bn and will create more than 2,000 direct jobs while supporting thousands more in its supply chain and ecosystem. The search for 200+ hectares of land is already underway.

Verkor was founded in response to the growing gap between the expected demand for batteries and the committed and planned European supply. Indeed, the expected growth in demand this decade will require two to three Gigafactories in France alone. The European industrial ecosystem is therefore compelled to establish a sustainable and indigenous European battery supply chain, which in turn will reduce reliance on imports.

France’s affordable and low-carbon electricity, prominent automotive manufacturers, leading energy providers, and its demonstrated industrial prowess make it the ideal location for Gigafactories in southern Europe, a region which falls short of such projects when compared to northern and central Europe.

Benoit Lemaignan, the CEO of Verkor, is passionate: “Our team is made up of industrial entrepreneurs who have accumulated vast experience in the field, especially in battery-cell manufacturing. We are multinational and growing fast with the addition of new talent from all over the world. We are working in an agile, fast-follower mode to bring locally manufactured, low-CO2 battery cells to the market.

“Combined with the expertise of our strategic partners, I am confident that we are aligning the winning conditions to start the construction of a highly efficient manufacturing Gigafactory in 2022, deliver our first cells in 2023, and stepping up of industrial activities, key to accelerating low carbon mobility in Europe.”

Source: InnoEnergy

Resalta Begins Third Energy Retrofit Project of the City of Ljubljana

30.07.2020

ljubljana_slovenia_slovenija — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Resalta, Petrol and the City of Ljubljana signed the agreement for the third energy retrofit project of the City of Ljubljana. The project includes 27 municipal buildings, of which 17 will undergo a complete energy retrofit and 10 a partial retrofit. The aim of the public-private partnership is to optimize energy efficiency, lowering consumption and CO2 emissions, through a variety of measures that will also improve user and employee comfort.

The retrofitted buildings include schools, kindergartens, sports centres and an indoor arena. Measures that will be implemented include the renovation of HVAC systems, the replacement of interior lighting with more energy-efficient equipment, the replacement of existing heating systems with systems that will exploit renewable energy sources, the replacement of windows and doors, the renovation of facades, the insulation of roofs. 9,700 new LED lights will replace inefficient lighting systems and 29,000m2 of façade and roof insulation will be renovated.

The implemented measures will result in 4,465 MWh of energy savings annually, the equivalent of energy consumption of 274 households. This optimization of energy will reduce CO2 emissions will be by 968 tons annually. For reference, it takes 46,000 trees to absorb this amount of CO2 from the atmosphere in a year.

Combined with the results from the first energy retrofit project, completed in 2018, and the second project completed in 2019, the City of Ljubljana will save a total of 14,970 MWh of energy each year thanks to the implemented measures, enjoying an annual CO2 emissions reduction of 4,383 tons. This series of projects are a benchmark for improving energy efficiency in municipalities throughout Europe and are in line with Ljubljana’s reputation of European Green Capital (2016).

The energy retrofit is implemented as part of a public-private partnership between the City of Ljubljana and the consortium od Resalta and Petrol. Under this model, the project generates financial savings for the public partner, which then help pay for the project. An advantage of the public-private partnership model is that the City will benefit immediately from the savings and use them to repay the private partners over the 15-year contract period. Once the contract expires, the City of Ljubljana will enjoy the full benefits from the energy savings achieved. Resalta and Petrol will also provide management and maintenance of the equipment and systems installed as part of the energy retrofitting for the duration of the contract. The total value of the project is €16.9 million, with the consortium providing 51% of the funding. The EU Cohesion Fund, the Republic of Slovenia and the City of Ljubljana will provide the rest of the investment.

Luka Komazec, CEO of Resalta, said: “The third energy retrofit of the City of Ljubljana is proof that sustainability is an ongoing commitment, not a one-off investment. Energy efficiency in its various applications always offers room for improvement and immense potential for savings and better working and living conditions – it is immensely reassuring that the City of Ljubljana recognizes this, and we are honoured to have once again been chosen to accompany the City of Ljubljana in its transition to a carbon neutral city.”

Source: Resalta

ABB Breaks Ground on $30 Million Facility for EV Chargers to Meet Global Demand

29.07.2020

ABB has marked the start of construction at its new facility in San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy, which will serve as a global Center of Excellence and production site for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The 16,000 square meter facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2021.

As a global market leader in e-mobility solutions, the $30 million investment in this new facility is further evidence of ABB’s continued commitment to driving innovation in this fast-growing sector. It follows a $10 million investment in a new fully sustainable, global e-mobility headquarters and Research and Development (R&D) center built on the TU Delft Campus, Heertjeslaan, Netherlands which is set to officially launch later this year.

The new plant will produce ABB’s entire portfolio of direct current (DC) electric vehicle battery chargers, from domestic systems to systems for installation in public areas and those dedicated to urban public transport. It will also help to further support ABB’s growth and innovation in the e-mobility sector.

Giampiero Frisio, head of ABB’s Smart Power Division comments: “Today represents a significant milestone in our e-mobility business. At ABB we have been driving progress in the sector for more than a decade and this new state of the art facility will contribute significantly to further advancing the global move towards zero-emission electric mobility.”

The new facility will be characterized by the integration of ABB Ability digital solutions. They will allow complete visibility and optimization of the production of every individual product and interconnect automated warehouse management systems with factory departments. Automated equipment for the assembly of printed circuit boards and monitoring and testing systems will be connected to the factory information system.

R&D activities will take place in a dedicated 3,200 square meter space for development and prototyping. They will focus on the implementation of innovative solutions, new software and product life cycle management tools to fully integrate R&D activities with manufacturing activities, both internally and with external electronic manufacturing services.

Meanwhile, the integration of renewable energy sources such as solar panels on the roof, an optimized heating and cooling system and the introduction of an electric fleet of vehicles for employees, logistics, sales and service teams will help to reduce the environmental impact of the facility.

Frank Muehlon, Head of ABB’s global business for E-mobility Infrastructure Solutions concludes: “As global demand for sustainable transport continues to increase this new facility will ensure that ABB can meet that demand and remains the go to provider for our end to end e-mobility solutions.”

ABB has unrivaled expertise in developing sustainable transport solutions. Since entering the EV-charging market a decade ago, ABB has sold more than 14,000 ABB DC fast chargers across more than 80 countries. ABB recently received the Global E-mobility Leader 2019 award for its role in supporting the international adoption of sustainable transport solutions.

ABB recently announced that it will provide the charging technology for the Gen3 cars in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship – the first all-electric global race series.

Source: ABB

From Farm to Street – Animal Health and Welfare at the Heart of the European Union Policies

29.07.2020

krave_poljana — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Matteo Di Iorio)

We are still getting used to the absence of the purple cow from the packaging of popular chocolates and the faces of Gerda, Muccha and Marisa, wondering if their predecessor went on vacation to Hawaii, hiked the Himalayas, or is being trained for space travel. As part of a campaign to move from Milka to the real deal – Milka cows, alpine farms are presented as pretty idyllic places, so much that the negative connotation of “milking someone for something” is erased from my mind. However, the health and well-being of animals on many farms are not in a great state. All the more…

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Anton Malanin)

The European Union is financing the project “Reinforcement of Animal Health and Welfare” in Serbia with the aim of “recasting” our legislation based on the rules and standards of the European Union. The positive impact of its implementation will not only be felt by chickens, sheep and other farm animals, but also by the economy and the environment. “Economy will benefit from the fact that the consumption of AW friendly products is generally growing all over the world, even though they cost more than the standard products. Yet again, this is just one of the confrontations of intensive versus extensive farming. Raising animals humanely can reduce the use of feed, fuel and water compared to intensive farming, therefore reducing costs and pollution. So, the benefits are both economic and environmental,” project leader Petras Maciulskis explained at the beginning of our conversation.

Animal welfare is a complex area that, in addition to the those mentioned above economic and environmental, includes a scientific, ethical, cultural, social, religious and political dimension, based on the belief that animals are sentient beings. Caring for them involves considering the conditions that they are kept in – whether on a farm, as a pet, in zoos or circuses, slaughtered and used in research, and how people’s activities affect species’ well-being and survival.

Animal welfare involves the physical and mental state of an individual animal concerning the conditions in which it lives and dies. Animal welfare in our country is legally defined as providing the conditions in which an animal can fullfil its physiological and other needs inherent in its species, such as feeding and drinking water, accommodation, physical, psychological and thermal comfort, safety, the manifestation of behaviour patterns, social contact with animals of the same species and the absence of unpleasant experiences, such as pain, suffering, fear, stress, illness and injury.

In focus:

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Evan Clark)

In order to get scientific knowledge on whether the situation on the ground meets the prescribed ideal – but also how to bring the Serbian prescribed ideal closer to the European one – the plan is to involve all stakeholders. If there is any need for corrective action, they will be implemented if resources are sufficient, announced Maciulskis.

The European Union project will not neglect those animals that we, as a society, but also as individuals have neglected – stray dogs. Many countries have successfully solved this problem, and a particularly glaring example comes from the Netherlands, which has homed all of its street dogs. The moment you step out of the house you hear barking and that will infallibly tell you that you are far away from Amsterdam, and I asked my interlocutor if we will ever be closer to it and how. “In general, we could say that southern Europe and countries in the Balkans have more problems than northern European countries and Scandinavia. Stray, or more correctly free-roaming dogs, is then, above all, a matter of cultural habits and to change them it takes time and investments. The key elements are responsible ownership of dogs and the promotion of adoption from kennels,” he said, emphasising the importance of a comprehensive approach.

Prepared by: Jelena Kozbasic

This article was published in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine NATURAL RESOURCES, march – may, 2020

How Cities Are Using Nature to Keep Heatwaves at Bay

28.07.2020

ezgif-7-fdc00d55d87c — Photo: UNEP/Irene Fagotto

The more the planet warms, the more cities are finding they need new ways to keep urban temperatures down and protect their residents. Heatwaves are already by far the deadliest weather-related disasters in Europe; 140,000 deaths associated with 83 heatwaves have been recorded since the beginning of this century. Today, only 8 per cent of the 2.8 billion people living in places with average daily temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius have an air conditioner.

Cooling is particularly important in cities facing rising temperatures, worsened by the urban heat island effect—concrete and tarmac absorbing the sun’s power, radiating it out as heat and keeping the city warm long after the sun has gone down. Waste heat from engines and other energy-consuming equipment in transportation, industry and space cooling make cities even hotter.

Often, poorer neighborhoods are more affected as residents have less access to air conditioners and breezy green spaces, putting vulnerable people at greater risk of heat-related health complications.

The standard solution to cooling in cities is to add more air conditioning, but this brings its own set of problems. Energy-hungry cooling further drives global warming. The number of cooling appliances in use is expected to grow from 3.6 billion today to 9.5 billion by 2050. If air conditioners were provided to all those who need them, not just those who can afford them, there would 14 billion cooling appliances in use by 2050. Emissions would go through the roof.

Many cities, however, are taking bold steps to show that they can keep cool in a sustainable manner, with the Indian city of Ahmedabad chief among them. The city implemented its Heat Action Plan after an extremely hot and deadly pre-monsoon season in 2010. The plan not only set up an early-warning system for the vulnerable. It included water supplies to the public, plants and trees and a “cool roof” initiative to reflect heat. Some 7,000 low-income households have had their roofs painted white, a simple measure that dramatically reduces inside temperatures by reflecting sunlight.

The Heat Action Plan saves an estimated 1,100 lives each year. Its innovative multi-step approach won the 2020 Ashden Award for Cool Cities, which recognizes pioneers in the fight against climate change.

There is a huge body of evidence showing that city-level interventions can greatly mitigate the effects of heat stress. On a typical sunny summer afternoon, a clean white roof that reflects 80 per cent of sunlight will stay about 30 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit) cooler than a gray roof that reflects only 20 per cent of sunlight. The International Energy Agency estimates that well-designed cities could save 25 per cent of the energy they use for heating and cooling.

“In UNEP we look at city planning and design that makes most of passive solutions, bringing nature back into the city,” said Martina Otto, who leads UNEP’s work on cities. “Through a system of well-articulated green spaces, and by greening building facades and roofs and promoting passive building design, cities can modernize traditional construction and help reduce urban temperatures.”

Such city-level plans are increasing across the globe. Cities like Melbourne, Australia, are planning to massively increase their urban forests to increase air quality, provide more shade and reduce the need for mechanical cooling. Milan’s ForestaMi project, meanwhile, aims to plant 3 million new trees in the Italian city by 2030 to reduce urban temperatures by 2 degrees Celsius. And Sierra Leone’s capital city, Freetown, has committed to planting 1 million trees and increasing vegetation cover by 50 per cent by the end of this year, part of an effort to fight climate change and halt deforestation.

In Frankfurt, “green living rooms” have been placed around the city to provide natural cooling from plants. Cities ranging from Stockholm to Tokyo are turning to modern district cooling to save energy and money.

Hosted by UNEP, the Cool Coalition –a network of major global players with a common purpose of accelerating the transition to sustainable cooling – is supporting countries to integrate cooling in their national plans to combat climate change.

“Nature-based solutions are a key part of the Cool Coalition’s approach to minimize emissions from the cooling sector,” said Dan Hamza-Goodacre from the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program. “Cities are leading the way in implementing nature-based solutions to fight climate change. The solutions are reducing the costs of cooling, slowing greenhouse gas emissions, helping cities to adapt to climate impacts, addressing biodiversity loss and protecting human health – an amazing set of benefits.”

Source: UNEP

IUCN Standard to Boost Impact of Nature-Based Solutions to Global Challenges

27.07.2020

nature_priroda — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

IUCN recently unveiled a Global Standard providing the first-ever set of benchmarks for nature-based solutions to global challenges. The new IUCN Global Standard will help governments, business and civil society ensure the effectiveness of nature-based solutions and maximise their potential to help address climate change, biodiversity loss and other societal challenges on a global scale.

“The world is looking for durable and effective options to tackle global challenges such as climate change, food and water security, and now, economic recovery from the global pandemic. To this end, the new IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions is ideally placed to harness and accelerate the sustainable use of nature,” said IUCN’s Global Director for the Nature-based Solutions Group Stewart Maginnis. “For nature-based solutions to fulfil their potential, we must ensure that the actions put in place today bring about the desired benefits for society and biodiversity. This Global Standard offers a rigorous, consistent and accountable framework that will help avoid any misuse and take nature-based solutions from the local to global scale.”

The concept of nature-based solutions (NbS) – actions addressing key societal challenges through the protection, sustainable management and restoration of ecosystems, benefiting both biodiversity and human well-being – is increasingly being applied around the world. More than 130 countries have already included NbS actions – such as reforestation, green infrastructure, sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, or coastal protection – in their national climate plans under the Paris Agreement.

However, not all actions labelled as “nature-based solutions” provide the anticipated benefits to both society and biodiversity, and the global potential of NbS is far from being fully realised.

“Until now, there has been neither consensus nor coherent guidance on how to design and implement nature-based solution interventions that are capable of consistent delivery of benefits for people and nature,” said Angela Andrade, Chair of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management, which helped lead the development of the Global Standard. “The contribution of the Commission, in addition to input from over 800 experts and practitioners from 100 countries, has been to guide the IUCN Global Standard, ensuring that it is scientifically robust and applicable across a wide range of regions and scenarios.”

The IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions has eight criteria and associated indicators that allow the user to assess the aptness, scale, economic, environmental and social viability of an intervention; consider its possible trade-offs; ensure transparency and adaptive project management; and explore possible linkages to international targets and commitments. It consists of a user guide and self-assessment tool, which identifies areas for improving and learning.

The IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions can be accessed here.

In order to address the emerging environmental and societal challenges in the Western Balkans, IUCN has launched a regional initiative with the long-term goal to increase the climate-resilience of societies in the Western Balkans. The ADAPT project: Nature-based Solutions for resilient societies in the Western Balkans places Nature-based Solutions at the centre of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), and aims to apply innovative solutions to increase community resilience, reduce environmental degradation, increase social and gender equality, and thus adapt to longer-term changes over an extended period of time. The initiative is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and led by the IUCN Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECARO). This regional umbrella initiative works with the six Western Balkan countries, regional and local partners.

Source: IUCN

Polar Bears Could Be Nearly Gone by 2100, Study Finds

26.07.2020

polar_bears_polarni_medvedi — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Hans Jurgen Mager)

A new study has found that polar bears could be gone by 2100 unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.
Rising global temperatures, due to carbon emissions, have caused large amounts of Arctic sea ice to melt, leaving polar bears with smaller habitats to sustain themselves on.
The study is the first to predict when and where Arctic warming will threaten the bears’ survival.

If world governments don’t act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, most polar bear populations will not survive the century, a new study has found.

Polar bears, who rely on Arctic sea ice to hunt for seals, have long been a symbol of the impacts of the climate crisis. As the ice melts, they lose the ability to sustain themselves.

“Polar bears are already sitting at the top of the world; if the ice goes, they have no place to go,” lead study author and University of Toronto Scarborough biologist Péter Molnár told BBC News.

But the study, published in Nature Climate Change on the 20th July, 2020, is the first to predict when and where Arctic warming will threaten the bears’ survival, The Guardian reported.

“It’s been clear for some time that polar bears are going to suffer under climate change,” Molnár told The Guardian. “But what was not fully clear was when we would expect major declines in the survival and reproduction of polar bears that could ultimately lead to their extirpation.”

To answer this question, scientists looked at two emissions scenarios: business as usual and a more moderate option in which emissions peak in 2040 before starting to fall, according to The New York Times. Under the business-as-usual model, all populations of polar bears would be wiped out by 2100, except for the bears living in Canada’s northernmost Queen Elizabeth Islands, The Guardian reported. But even under the moderate scenario, most populations were likely to suffer reproductive failure by 2080, the study found.

“The study shows clearly that polar bears are going to do better with less warming,” University of Alberta polar bear expert Andrew Derocher, who was not involved with the study, told The New York Times. “But no matter which scenario you look at, there are serious concerns about conservation of the species.”

Polar bears can fast for months at a time when sea ice melts in the spring and summer. The researchers made their predictions based on how long male bears could reasonably fast and survive and how long females could reasonably fast and raise their young compared with how long different parts of the Arctic are projected to be ice free through 2100.

They assessed 13 of 19 polar bear populations, or around 80 percent of the roughly 25,000 bears remaining. Bears in Canada’s Archipelago ecoregion were not assessed because it is hard to estimate future sea ice in the area’s islands and channels, according to The Guardian.

If nothing is done to reduce emissions, bears in Canada’s southern Hudson Bay and Davis Strait could fail to reproduce by 2040 while most bears in Alaska and Russia could be at risk by 2080. The polar bear population in western Hudson Bay has already shrunk around 30 percent since 1987.

“Showing how imminent the threat is for different polar bear populations is another reminder that we must act now to head off the worst of future problems faced by us all,” study coauthor and chief scientist of Polar Bears International Dr. Steven Amstrup told BBC News. “The trajectory we’re on now is not a good one, but if society gets its act together, we have time to save polar bears. And if we do, we will benefit the rest of life on Earth, including ourselves.”

Source: WEF

Which Country Dominates Offshore Wind Market?

24.07.2020

renewables_obnovljivi_izvori_energije_wind_energy_energija_vetra_wind_park_vetropark — Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Grahame Jenkins)

New research published by RenewableUK shows the global pipeline of offshore wind energy projects which are operational, under construction, consented or being planned has soared by 30% in the last twelve months from 122GW to 159GW.

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Nicholas Doherty)

The statistics are revealed on the first day of RenewableUK’s Global Offshore Wind V-Fest (virtual festival), which is focussing on the major role that offshore wind is set to play in the green economic recovery worldwide.

Our latest Offshore Wind Project Intelligence report shows that the UK has retained its top spot, dominating the market with a pipeline of 38.9GW – a quarter of the global total. China has moved up from 4th to 2nd place with 19.3GW – an increase of 7.3GW, up 60%.

The USA stays in 3rd place, up from 15.7GW to 17.8GW, an increase of 13%, while Germany has dropped from 2nd to 4th place as its total of 16.5GW has remained almost the same over the last 12 months, adding just 68MW. Taiwan stays fifth with its project pipeline growing by 28% from 8.9GW to 11.4GW.

In 6^th place, the Netherlands has soared from 6.5GW last year to 11.3GW, an increase of 74%. Ireland has witnessed an extraordinary growth from 3.2GW last year to 8.2GW this year, rocketing to number 7 with an increase of 156%. Poland is 8th with 6.2GW, Denmark 9th at 4.7GW and Vietnam is 10^th with 3.6GW.

RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Melanie Onn said: “In the current economic crisis, these new figures show that offshore wind is one of the major growth opportunities worldwide. In the UK alone, we estimate that next year’s auction for renewable power could secure over £20bn of new investment. Our latest Offshore Wind Project Intelligence report highlights the global potential for offshore wind to drive a green economic recovery.

“It’s great to see the UK’s world-leading offshore wind industry remains in pole position – other countries are following our lead and catching up fast, but we remain by far the biggest market for offshore wind in the world.

“This is a global industry and the UK’s offshore wind supply chain has increasing opportunities to sell our goods and expertise overseas, as we take on a new role on the global stage after Brexit. We’re already exporting to Europe, Asia, North America and Australia, and the value of our offshore wind exports is set to increase fivefold to £2.6bn by 2030 for UK companies”.

The top 5 countries represent 65% of the total global pipeline, with 104GW of capacity between them. Europe has 60% of the pipeline with 96GW.

In terms of operational capacity, the UK still leads the world with 9.7GW, Germany is 2nd at 7.5GW, China 3rd with 3.3GW, Belgium 4th at 1.8GW, Denmark 5th with 1.7GW.

Source: RenewableUK

Electric Dreams: Green Vehicles Cheaper Than Petrol in the UK

23.07.2020

electric_car_električni_auto — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Research shows that over the lifetime of a car electric vehicles work out at around £107 cheaper per year than petrol or diesel equivalents;
On average an electric car costs £52,133 over its lifetime, compared to £53,625 for a petrol fuelled model;
A year-old electric vehicle sold second hand only loses 12 per cent of its value, compared to a 24 per cent loss for petrol cars.

New analysis1 from Direct Line car insurance reveals the lifetime cost of an electric powered car is cheaper than a comparable petrol model. Purchasing a new electric car in 2020 and running it over its lifetime would cost £52,133, compared to £53,625 for an equivalent petrol fuelled model. On average an electric vehicle would cost the owner £3,752 a year over the course of its life, compared to £3,858 for a petrol car, resulting in an annual saving of £107.

In spite of the higher purchase price of electric cars, which accounting for government grants is currently around £5,000 (22 per cent) higher than comparable petrol models, these vehicles are significantly cheaper to run. Annual running costs average £1,742, or £33.50 per week for an electric car, which is 21 per cent cheaper than the running costs of a comparable petrol fuelled car at £2,205 per year or £42.40 per week.

Annual tax and maintenance costs (including MOTs and servicing) for electric vehicles are 49 per cent lower than for petrol models, while refuelling costs 58 per cent less. However, insurance costs are on average 25 per cent higher for electric vehicles, due to current production costs and complexities involved in the calibration of computers used in these cars.

With the anticipated lifetime of a vehicle currently estimated to be around 13.9 years any car bought today would likely need to be replaced by the end of 2034, just before the ban on petrol, diesel and hybrid cars comes into force.

The research also revealed that electric vehicles hold their value better than petrol equivalents, with analysis of second-hand car data revealing that a year-old electric vehicle only loses 12 per cent of its value, compared to a 24 per cent write down for petrol models.

Neil Ingram, head of motor product at Direct Line, commented: “It is an exciting time for electric vehicles, with a record number of these licenced cars on Britain’s roads last year. Our analysis also shows that with the ban on new non-electric cars set to come into force in less than 15 years’ time, Britons could already be saving money by switching from a traditional petrol or diesel car to an equivalent electric model.

“We expect prices to come down in future, thanks partly to the Government’s commitment to making greener vehicles more accessible but also to advances in technology ensuring that purchasing, refuelling, maintaining and insuring an electric car becomes easier, cheaper and better for the environment.”

As well as benefitting from cheaper running costs, motorists are also able to take advantage of a range of grants designed to encourage people to switch to greener modes of transport. These include subsidies to have home charging ports installed, with the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) contributing £350 to the cost of installation, while an additional saving of £300 could be made by having the installation carried out by an Energy Saving Trust-approved engineer.

There are also incentives that slash the sale price of an electric car, with motorists already able to save up to £3,000 off the cost of a new electric vehicle thanks to the Plug-in Car Grant (PICG). In June it was also suggested that the Government could re-launch a scrappage scheme that would see motorists save as much as £6,000 on the price of a new electric car if they were to scrap their existing petrol or diesel model.

These findings come as a survey4 conducted by Direct Line revealed that almost two-thirds (61 per cent) would make the switch to an electric car if the technology and green car market continues to improve. The biggest issues with the current selection of electric vehicles are the limited charging network (35 per cent), the high up-front cost (34 per cent) and the limited battery range (16 per cent). With significant improvements expected to be made in charging availability, cost and range over the coming years, if all of these motorists were to convert to an electric car it could result in a combined saving of 24.3 million fewer tons of carbon emissions annually.

However, the research also revealed that some people are still reluctant to make the switch, with over a quarter of motorists (27 per cent, or 11.4 million UK adults) stating that they would only ever buy a petrol or diesel vehicle if given the choice.

Anca Young, insight and intelligence manager, Thatcham Research, commented: “Electrification is growing in popularity and availability, backed by Government incentives, especially for fleet buyers who benefit from 0% electric vehicle company car tax. The driving range and charging infrastructure has also improved dramatically in the last few years and will continue to do so. As demand for EVs increases, there is a corresponding reduction in production costs per unit, which encourages further take up. Although the cost of Lithium-ion batteries used in EVs is reducing, they remain more expensive than conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) powertrains and are therefore generally more expensive to purchase.

“There’s movement towards greater collaboration between vehicle manufacturers with a view to reducing the cost of EV development and production. The general construction of EVs differs from traditional cars and typically materials, parts and repairs are, more complex and costly. This makes the overall insurable risk less competitive than many traditional, ICE options.

“Manufacturer EV platform collaborations are becoming more popular, e.g. where one manufacturer makes the platform (or ‘skateboard’) and others share it with unique bodies (or ‘top-hats’). Notable collaborations include Volkswagen and Ford, General Motors and Honda and Toyota with Subaru. The accessibility and availability of charging points is also increasing public confidence, as are the warranties that guarantee battery performance over the lifespan of the vehicle.”

Analysis of official data shows that there were 99,374 licenced battery electric cars in the UK in 2019, an increase of 53 per cent on the previous year and the equivalent of a new electric vehicle being registered every 15 minutes. Electric cars still represent a small fraction of the total number of vehicles on the road, however these vehicles are responsible for an estimated 185,500 fewer tonnes of CO2 being produced annually.

The sharp rise in their popularity, coupled with the stagnation of registrations of new petrol cars, suggests that motorists are undergoing a gradual shift towards more environmentally-friendly cars.

Source: Direct Line

In Tanzania, Locals and Officials Band Together to Save Mangroves

22.07.2020

mangroves_mangrovi — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

For many of the 30,000 people who live in the remote Rufiji Delta of northern Tanzania, life revolves around one thing: mangroves.

These trees and bushes, which thrive in the delta’s brackish water, are sources of building materials, firewood and income, providing valuable timber that residents often sell to make ends meet.

But the mangroves, which are also home to many species, like ray fish, king snappers, hongwe, prawns, migratory birds, and sea turtles, are sometimes seen as obstacles to be cut down, occupying land that can be used to grow rice and graze livestock. Such over-dependence on mangroves in the Rufiji Delta, home to 50 per cent of Tanzania’s mangroves, has led to a depletion of these forests, threatening residents’way of life.

A new project is aiming to reverse that trend and encourage the sustainable management of the delta’s mangroves. The initiative is being led by the Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) of Tanzania in partnership with the Tanzania Forest Service, Wetlands International, the Kibiti District Council, and the Pakaya Culture and Environment Group.

It will see officials and local communities work together to develop a plan to manage the mangrove forests, setting rules on where and when trees can be harvested. The models will also test approaches for restoring areas that have already been impacted by development, which will help delta residents enjoy the benefits of mangroves into the future. Their restoration efforts will be complemented by the Guidelines on Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration in the Western Indian Ocean Region, a new publication from the Nairobi Convention and partners that provides a step-by-step guide on how to build successful restoration projects and avoid common replanting pitfalls.

“We have seen rapid negative changes [in mangrove cover] over time in the Rufiji catchment,” said Hassan Bakari Kisoma, Director of Planning at Pakaya Culture and Environment Group.

Mangroves, trees that thrive in salt water and are found on coastlines in warmer regions throughout the world, underpin some of the most productive ecosystems on earth. Not only do they provide nursery areas for fish, crustaceans and many endangered species, but they also protect shorelines from eroding, shielding humans from flooding, hurricanes and other storms. Globally, some experts estimate that up to 55 per cent of mangroves have been lost since the 1990s.

Along with protecting a vibrant ecosystem, the Rufiji Delta project will help Tanzania “in meeting its commitments under various Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 14 on ‘Life Below Water’ and Goal 13 on climate action,” said Jared Bosire, Project Manager with the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Seas Programme. “After all, mangroves store more than five times more carbon than terrestrial forests.”

Of critical importance, say, experts, is the active role local communities will play in the project, particularly in choosing rehabilitation sites and developing harvesting plans.“I have been involved with many projects over the years that have attempted to reverse the degradation of the mangroves of Rufiji,” said Jumani Yusuf Kikumbe, Outgoing Chairperson of the Nyamisati Village Committee. “These efforts need to include communities from the beginning in an equitable way if they are to be successful.”

IMS and the other project partners hope that lessons from the Rufiji Delta initiative can be applied elsewhere in Tanzania, and even across the entire Western Indian Ocean region where mangroves are under similar pressures.

The initiative is being funded by the Global Environment Facility through the Implementation of the Strategic Action Programme for the Protection of the Western Indian Ocean from Land-Based Sources and Activities, executed by the Nairobi Convention.

This project aims to reduce land-based stresses on this environment by protecting critical habitats, improving water quality and managing river flows.

The convention, part of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Seas programme, serves as a platform for governments, civil society and the private sector to work together for the sustainable management and use of the Western Indian Ocean’s marine and coastal environment.

Source: UNEP

There’s No Place Like… Container

22.07.2020

render_19---Photo — Photo: Avala Container Homes

Containers have long stopped being used as temporary accommodation and started a new life – ecological, smart, functional and affordable. Goran Ergic from Avala Container Homes managed to create a modern, sustainable and simple solution for a house, holiday home, and office space. He managed to achieve that by reconstructing abandoned and empty containers and by implementing smart systems and usage of ecological materials.

EP: Smart buildings and houses are becoming more popular when we talk about sustainability; therefore, the architecture has a new ‘task’. How did you come up with the idea to start upa business that involves reconstructing shipping containers to achieve smart construction goals?

Goran Ergic: I have always been interested in different types of architecture and construction. It all started one day on my property by the sea. I realised that it would be great to use the potential that we possess most efficiently. I knew that the construction of brand new objects is quite expensive and that the carbon footprint of those objects is high. Because I spend a lot of time in nature riding a bicycle, I wanted to build an object that is easy to transport and won’t harm environment. That is how I came up with the idea to recycle shipping containers, and that way give them a new purpose. Not long after that, I decided to buy a container and to start with reconstruction. It lasted longer than I thought mainly because this is still not my principal occupation.

The most important thing is to choose appropriate materials to save the resources, and that is the reason why I have decided to implement Smart Home Systems. Bearing in mind the fact that most container houses are being used during winter or summer seasons, this type of technology enables the security and easier control of the houses.

EP: The fact that there are millions of containers worldwide that are being rarely used and that take up too much space is quite interesting. What are some of the advantages in comparison to other ways of construction?

Goran Ergic: Instead to end up in one of the smelters and that way produce more carbon dioxide emissions, containers that have served their purpose can now get a new one. Depending on the way they are reconstructed, they can now be in harmony with nature. Not only can you move them numerous times, but you can also change their purpose. Worldwide, they are used as holiday homes, residential and office space. Nowadays, they are very popular in the catering industry because of their fast and affordable construction and attractive appearance. A standard 40 ft container can be fully functional in about 15 days. Containers are made according to certain standards so that they can be easily attached together.

Containers are very resilient and can withstand all weather conditions, and they are very safe during earthquakes. There are more and more people in the USA that choose these types of buildings because of security and their ability to resist hurricanes and storms. Even though I mentioned this a few times, I would like to stress a significant fact that they are very affordable. If they are used in developed countries, why wouldn’t we start using them here?

EP: Considering the fact that you live abroad, why did you decide to start your business in Serbia? Are you thinking about applying for one of the grants for the development of entrepreneurship, innovation and the concept of sustainability in our country?

Goran Ergic: I moved with my family to Serbia during the 1990s, and I spent my childhood here. I spent the last seven years abroad, but I always longed to come back to Serbia and start my business here. Besides being nostalgic, I believe that Serbia is the best country for developing a business like this. When it comes to grants, I might apply for them at one point. At the moment, it is not possible because I still spend a lot of time abroad.

EP: Can you tell us more about the smart home concept and why it is important? What exactly does it entail?

Goran Ergic: I believe that this concept is relatively new and my aim is to develop this innovation and bring it to this part of Europe. Besides being mobile, we implement smart systems into these objects. Smart systems enable the control of the entire object even when you are not physically there. For instance, you can turn on/off heating; open/close shutters; turn on/off lights, etc. So far, smart systems have been considered a luxury, but I would like to make it available for everybody.

EP: Do you think that there is a future for this concept in Serbia? How would you describe a typical customer of the modular home or office space?

Goran Ergic: Even though I had a different opinion at first, I think people in Serbia are ready for innovations. We are behind when it comes to requests since most of them are from the western countries, but recently there have been many inquires from Serbia asking about the advantages of these buildings. Interested people are usually people who are environmentally conscious and follow modern trends in construction and architecture. These people understand the contemporary style of life and changes that are happening. Climate change has a huge impact on nature, and it was especially felt during the last year. We need to take care of nature, and to save the resources and this concept perfectly fits into this idea.

In focus:

EP: When we talk about container houses, are your clients using them as temporary accommodation, office space, holiday home or home?

Goran Ergic: As this business is being still developed, so far the main demand is for holiday homes and residential houses made out of multiple containers. As the business keeps expanding and customers coming up with new ideas, the purpose will change as well.

EP: When it comes to real estate, what do people consider as the most important thing? Why are more and more people interested in fast construction, modular houses, and residential container homes? Is it because of the affordable price?

Goran Ergic: There are a few reasons why people choose container homes. Besides modern design, price is one of the key factors. The pace of construction cannot be compared to conventional construction. Also, the quality is much better compared to other types of prefabricated houses. When it comes to the environmental aspect, there are two main reasons. First of all, forests are not being destroyed as they are for other prefabricated houses. Secondly, something that is abandoned and not being used anymore gets a new purpose and contributes to the protection of the environment.

EP: What kind of materials do you use when reconstructing containers and how much time is needed?

Goran Ergic: I always use the best quality materials to achieve the best possible durability and quality. All the materials that I use need to have eco-labels. Protecting the environment is one of the main motives why I decided to invest in this business. Besides that, eco-labels are a norm and standard that needs to be respected in the European Union. Energy efficiency is accomplished by triple glazed windows and polyurethane foam, which enables sound and
heat isolation and which is at the moment the best on the market.

EP: Is it possible to rent your container buildings?

Goran Ergic: At the moment, we don’t offer that service, but I hope that we will have that option in the near future.

EP: What is one of the greatest challenges in this job?

Goran Ergic: Even though that there are always going to be new challenges in this job, so far the biggest one was the research that I had to do before even starting this adventure to get an ecological building of high quality. I believe that other challenges will appear, for example, delivering the object on time.

EP: Why did you decide to name your company – Avala Container Homes? Is it because of the association with Belgrade?

Goran Ergic: Belgrade is my city, and I go back to it very often, and that is why I wanted the name to be associated with it. Avala is one of the most beautiful natural parks in Belgrade and a mountain where I would love to place a few containers and create an ecological oasis. Personally,mountains are the best place for vacation and finding your inner peace.

Interview by: Jelena Cvetic

This article was published in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine NATURAL RESOURCES, march – may, 2020

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