Chow provides a sustainable business solution, bringing together farmers and food producers with their customers through an on-line, auction-based marketplace. Chow’s mission is to be “The e-Marketplace Where Food Wins.” Chow will be known worldwide as the eBay of food, with a particular forte in locally grown food. Chow’s value proposition is that it will serve as an intermediary to link food sellers (e.g., farmers, food manufacturers, commercial food networks and distributors that aggregate food for larger scale operations) with food buyers (e.g., commercial food networks and distributors and small businesses that purchase food for their products such as restaurants and cooperatives, and individuals).

Chow will be measured with all aspects of a true triple-bottom lined, blended-return business: social and economic development for sellers in rural communities, and for emergency food networks to access to recovered food; financial rewards for the company; and environmental returns for buyers and society through reduced CO2 emissions and reduced pollution from transportation. Chow expands a well-proven on-line business model into the new segment of locally grown food.

Chow has a vision to change agri-commerce so food sellers have easy access to markets. Chow has a competitive advantage by selling food on-line in an e-market, ensuring the link of food sources to their consumers and eliminating the currently confusing, time-consuming and ineffective web of channels to bring these markets together. This business model will provide a free marketplace for buyers and charge fees to sellers for listing and selling products.
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The heart of the Safe Water Project lies in Vengal village in the Thiravallur District of Tamil Nadu, India . In 2004, diagnostic camps conducted by the Rural Development Center (RDC) in Vengal revealed that 46% of the population was infected with Entamoeba Histolytica, E-Coli, and Whipworm. However, the problem is not as clear as the numbers. The tremendous disease burden in Vengal village is implanted in a vicious reiterative cycle of gender inequality, poor education, and inaccessibility to clean water.

Traditional water treatment programs, including those targeting women and schools, overlook  the cultural norms of female subordination and circumstances of poverty that shape educational opportunities.

The Safe Water Project acts on two powerful ideas:

1.       A sustainable solution to inaccessibility to clean water and adequate sanitation must extend beyond a biomedical treatment and address the social and cultural context.

2.      Harnessing the passions of young people is the most effective method of bringing innovative and rigorous solutions to intricate problems.

The Safe Water Project has mobilizesd American students to raise money through innovative fundraising techniques s and to directly visit Vengal to initiate programs promoting school attendance and greater hygiene practices.  In the 2009-2010 school year, the Safe Water Project has created a collaborative cross-campus effort at Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill to address the root causes of poor water and sanitation--gender inequality, poor education, crumbling infrastructure, lack of resources, and lack of public awareness. 

The Safe Water Project aims to give Duke and UNC students the transformative opportunity to implement self-designed social change models as the bedrock for a sustainable, grassroots approach to community water treatment.  

 

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  Our idea is focused on solving water problems in India, using rainwater harvesting as a solution, by reaching out to different kinds of people and interacting with them in the way they understand best, by showing them their benefits in being a part of this movement.

 

In the first phase of the project, a web portal will be launched which will provide the basic know-how of water problems, rainwater harvesting, a rainwater calculator and installation techniques. The client may even hire a consultant from our consultant network or try implementing solutions themselves.

 

It is important that those who are planning cities, buildings and homes for us have a good knowledge about water issues and relevant technologies. To achieve this, training workshop programs will be organized to educate architects, civil engineers and urban planners about rainwater harvesting ideas and solutions to enable them to incorporate the same into projects that they undertake in their future. This will result in a value addition to their projects and also make them socially responsible professional.

 

Throughout the two phases awareness regarding water crises will be created by displaying and popularizing the website at events, exhibitions and expos.  Free seminars at schools and colleges will be conducted to attract youngsters to this issue.

 

In the final stage a robust and rigorous model for domestic rainwater harvesting will be developed using expertise and experience. Once built, it is expected that the models will guide formulation of public policy for rainwater harvesting. At the consumer level, we will acquire rainwater harvesting rights from home owners by paying a fee. The fee will be paid by utilizing subsidies. The rainwater will be channelled to underground storage facilities. This water will be supplied back to the community during water shortages or as per need as a paid service.

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Our idea is to produce fresh drinkable water by using distillation as the primary process utilizing the vastly available solar energy. Though there are distillation units available for producing drinking water using solar power, a distillation process at lower partial pressure was not yet attempted. Therefore we have incorporated the basic principle of decreasing the boiling point of water by reducing the ambient pressure i.e. solar distillation at reduced pressure. In order to have a village level application at low cost, we propose manually operated vacuum pump to achieve lower pressure to enhance the boiling of water. According to our estimates our product will cost upto 1300 INR which can be brought down by mass production and subsidizing. We will be able to provide 21 litres of water per day.
                              
We got the idea from the basic concept that water boils at a much reduced temperature due to a lower atmospheric pressure in Himalayas. We aim at producing an artificial Himalayas like condition in the solar still distillation equipment.

The two major issues being addressed through this project are:

1) Making clean, drinking water readily available for the village community
2) This equipment does not consume electrical energy and rural India is not electrified completely as well.  
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Its high time we stopped taking drinking water for granted as a resource. Too little too late would land us up in a situation best described by the title.  With water tables depleting at an alarming rate and fresh water resources shrinking rapidly there is need for action.

A lot has been spoken about rain water harvesting, the methods and advantages. But it is one idea which has really not taken off on a large scale. This could partly be because of ignorance and lack of expertise.

I propose a website which shall help customers by providing good rain water harvesting solutions. Having good links with architects and civil engineers, new houses can be modelled with these solutions. This would mean an overall business for architects, engineers, website developers and customer satisfaction. The website would also include a host of eco friendly solutions like what type of solar panels/ wind mills to use and where to place them to optimize their effect.

This idea if recognised and supported would provide a strong and much needed impetus to rain water harvesting.
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 In many parts of the Himalayas, children travel as far as 18 km to school, preventing them from helping their families with important household tasks. When they arrive, they learn little that applies to their daily lives or immediately benefits their families. Most schools cannot afford fuel for heat or to boil water in a place where the winter temperatures inside can reach -20 C and unsterilized drinking water often causes diarrhea. These issues lead families to associate school with illl-health and wasted time, especially when considering whether or not to send their girl children. 

 

This situation has caused large economic disparities between rural and urban populations across the Himalayan region. Lack of education in mathematics has prevented rural people from earning fair cash incomes, engaging in entrepreneurship, and accessing cash-only goods such as sanitary napkins, contraceptives, and, in some cases, vegetables (which do not grow at the high altitudes).

 

We are working with local communities to establish strategically-located community education centers where children and adults can study science and engineering applied to major issues in their everyday lives such as high-altitude greenhouse horticulture, solar concentrator design, sanitation, watershed management, and engineering principles. These centers will employ passive thermal regulation to maintain comfortable temperatures throughout the winter and will incorporate greenhouses where children can learn how to grow vegetables for their families and where parents can learn to build greenhouses to grow vegetables to sell to traders passing through the village. Inspiring both through their design and their novel curricula, these schools will improve health and catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship in the Himalayan region.

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Literacy in India is key for socio-economic progress. Enrollment rate is 82.5% but the drop out rate is 34.9% - 52.8%. The most vulnerable group among this is the marginalized rural poor. The primary reason for low enrollment and high drop out rate is child hunger. A hungry child is less likely to attend school regularly as hunger drains them of their will and ability to learn. Chronic hunger leads to malnutrition which delays or stops the physical and mental growth of children. This leads them into a vicious circle of illiteracy, malnutrition and low economic productivity. To counteract this problem Indian government started Mid Day Meal Scheme in rural schools with a huge investment and running costs. The scheme is not very successful as it encounters various problems as- corruption, lack of funds, failure of delivery mechanism, failure of quality control, lack of infrastructure and others. Our project 'Poushtak' proposes a public private partnership model to counteract this grave problem. It is an innovative food product which is semi cooked and is nutritionally well balanced. It will be produced and distributed using the Social Business approach. Community women, the key facilitators will monitor and evaluate the project. Daily ration of nutritious mid day meal will be provided to 120 million rural school children so as to increase enrollment, retention and improve their nutrition status. The project will then be extended to open market so as to earn profits which will be reaped back into the rural project to make it self sustainable. The project will make use of technology and supply chain management to provide the product in possibly minimum cost.

 

 

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The initiative is undertaken squarely in the concept of “social entrepreneurship” where objective is not only normal profits but also the social capital necessary to advance the developmental goal. Copper device for preventing diarrhoea is a completely new line of thinking brought out by recent research at Foundation of Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore, India (FRLHT). The focus till date has been on cure of Diarrhoea and related diseases through ORS rather than preventive mechanisms like using Copper to treat stored water. This project will be implemented in consultation with FRLHT.  It needs to be emphasized that the objective of the project is not profit maximization. The target end-customers for the project would be urban slum dwellers and rural population having high incident rates of Diarrhoea. To market this product, local NGO network will be used to leverage their contacts as the target population consists of diverse and discursive communities. In doing so, incentives will be provided to this marketing intermediaries. The optimum price is arrived at Rs 55/per unit at which the end users will be interested to buy taking the view of hospital cost incurred by them. Production facilities are designed to produce 1000 units per day after studying the market.  Unused lands of FRLHT will be used to lay out facilities. The raw material for the project would come from copper deposits of Chitradurga district ofstate Karnataka, India. Out of the total operating costs, working capital takes up the major chunk. One year cash flow is calculated where the NPV comes around Rs3, 16,594 with an IRR of 2.50%. As part of the financial sensitivity analysis, it is found that highest risk is associated with selling price fluctuation.

 

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Ever since the Pakistan military initiated ground offensive in Waziristan, thousands of inhabitants of the conflict-affected areas have fled to neighboring districts including Dera Ismail Khan and Tank in the southern area of North West Frontier Province and are taking refuge in with friends and family in local communities. Internally Displaced people face difficult hygiene conditions with limited access to safe drinking water and sanitation. UNICEF reports significant water quality problems for the IDPs in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank. Provision of clean drinking water is a major logistical challenge. Boiling the water is an option but energy is not readily available and the other alternative sources are scarce, limited in quantity and have drawbacks. 

The solution lies in the newly developed gravity-driven device which will remove all particulates before passing the water through a membrane that removes bacterial and viral contamination The clean water is stored, ready for use. It can serve the need of 30 people and has a lifetime of 2-3 months.It will produce 8L per hour of potable water. It can be folded for the ease of transport and storage. It does not require any chmeical purifier, hand power, energy or pressure.

AQUAValue aims to import this device and distribute it to across the region. This will address the need for clean supply of water in the region. pate100.0

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PROBLEM: 26 billion plastic water bottles are thrown away each year.

SOLUTION: iG Filtered Water Bottles!

 

It is not often a revolutionary product comes along that has the potential to transform the market place and the entire world! The problem solver, by Inspire Green Incorporated, is a reusable bottle that filters tap water. Plastic water bottles are a major contributor to pollution, and take 700 years to decompose.

 

Our customization is the important aspect of our business because we are targeting colleges, big business and organizations. The consumer is able to put their logo onto the bottle.  This is a great way for businesses and campuses to promote themselves as eco-friendly and initiating green actions. By targeting these large markets, we will reach more people at a fast rate. Instead of trying to sell on an individual basis, companies will purchase the bottles from us and use them for personal advertising or fundraising.

Our business is simple; we have low start up costs, so prize-money would go very far with our business. It will help us advertise and get our bottles out there.

What sets Inspire Green apart from the others is that we could have a large, rapid impact on the world that we live in today. Not only would we influence our generation, but help save our planet for the many years to come. As we are increasingly trying to preserve our Earth, this new way to drink water will pave the way to a completely eco-friendly world!

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Ethembeni Children Haven currently host 39 orphaned kids who have either loss or be written off by their parents.  I still believe that God wants to make a difference in these kids lives by giving them a fare chance (education and food). I have felt that if we as His stewards of the earth, we can contribute by developing an agriculutral unit on the current farm and skills center for capacity building Gustav10.0

We identified two big problems that can be solved together. First, people throw away big quantities of organic materials. That so called waste can be used to benefit the soil. And second, food contaminated with agrochemical products or with a low nutritional value due to its handling. We thought how to solve those problems in an urban setting with its fast paced style of life. A system that resembles the natural cycle of the soil but accelerated, in order to show its benefits to the people sooner.

“Vegabox” (Vermicompost Garden Box) was created. This is the easiest and handy way of transforming organic waste into compost that is used to grow food with high nutritional value. Also it improves consumer freedom of choice between genetically modified (GM) and non-GM foods. A simple item to solve two problems. Organic material is transformed by earthworms and microorganisms into humus. Kitchen and garden waste are introduced in one side of the Vegabox while the humus created inside nurture vegetables on the surface of it. It’s so simple that anyone can use it and it would take a couple of minutes to do it. Also its size was planned to be able to have one inside your home or even your workplace.

We accomplish the reduction of organic waste while making it accessible to everybody. This is our contribution to a culture of rich, locally grown food and a better quality of life for the already inhabitants of Earth and its future citizens.

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How many wars were started over natural resources? How many people must suffer? Water is rapidly becoming one of our planet’s most scarce and precious resources. Our generation must seriously address the growing global water crisis. To achieve a healthy balance between human need and available natural resource drain, we must introduce a reliable, secure, and economically efficient development of new water. The initiative Hungry for Salt aims to alleviate heightened demands for fresh water supplies by using Earth’s oceans to irrigate crops, a subtle change in farming that will feed the world.

Oceans cover nearly 71% of the Earth’s surface. Of this, 97% is saltwater and 3% is fresh water. Of the 3%, less than 1% is available for human use, and this percentage is shrinking rapidly.

An experiment using lima beans and lettuce seeds tested varying levels of water salinity levels.  Both seed types were chosen for their nutritional benefit. Lima beans contain an excellent source of protein, which is useful as a meat replacement, and are rich in irons, calcium and vitamins. Additionally, lettuce is an excellent source of Vitamins A and C and calcium. The results confirmed that although lima bean and lettuce seeds cannot grow in ocean salinity levels, they are able to adapt to a moderate salinity level. Hence, the world oceans can be used to grow food producing plants when the salinity is reduced to acceptable levels.

Governments and industry focus on increasing food production, with little regard for natural resources. The unequal distribution of food and conflict over control of the world’s dwindling natural resources creates a major political and social challenge to governments, likely to reach crisis status as climate change advances causing more droughts, world population expands, and water demands increase. Continuing with existing trends would mean the Earth’s economically advantaged and disadvantaged people dividing further apart. It would leave us facing a world nobody could inhabit.

Two current methods of processing seawater are distillation and reverse osmosis processes; however these require large amounts of costly electricity. To eliminate the need for expensive electricity and create remarkable cost savings and environmental advantages for users everywhere, Hungry for Salt will employ Forward Osmosis desalination technology, known as Engineered Osmosis (EO)*. The EO process produces drinking water at less than half the cost of existing desalination systems. This is achieved by eliminating the need for high-pressures used in reverse osmosis methods, thus reducing the electricity and fuel demands by more than 90%. The effect is a decrease in the finances of salt water desalination that will finally bring the price of delivering water from our oceans below the cost of surface water.

My specific plan is to: one, further identify seeds, such as lima bean and lettuce seeds, that can grow in acceptable levels of salt water; two, further develop efficient engineered osmosis processes;  three, target potential growing areas; four, start to pilot reduced salt water based farms.

 

 

*Dr. Menachem Elimelech and Mr. Rob McGinnis of Oasys Water

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Transition Studio is a unique educational institution that combines the technical skills of a  traditional design/build curriculum with both a sustainability focus and a vision for humanitarian and service‐based design. While providing students with the tools to design, construct, and renovate, Transition Studio incorporates sustainability principles and a hands-on learning environment that features community‐based service projects. Through both its academic and workshop tracks, Transition Studio will serve an array of students from the homeowner pursuing efficiency improvements to the professional designer and architect. Our philosophy of “Regenerative Design” educates designers and builders of all backgrounds on the potential to create ecologically sustainable and socially vibrant communities through improved design.

Transition Studio takes a  four-point approach where the organization will offer experiential learning in the tracks of Lifestyle | Design | Stewardship | Outreach. Transition Studio360.0

We will team up with a bottled water company and produce biodegradable water bottles in order to fund wave-powered turbines to be placed in the Middle East. The turbine system is designed to induce the desalination process, where salt water is converted to fresh, drinkable water. The process begins when the sea waves move over the turbines to help convert mechanical energy into electrical energy, generating current that is stored in the batteries. The batteries are connected to pumps that help the pipes to transfer the salt water to the plants. When the impure water gets to the plant, solar energy is used to complete the process. This energy helps the plant raise the temperature and helps the water boil, which causes the desalination process.  The combined efforts of solar panels and turbines will reduce the need for most other sources of energy.

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Helping sugar cane farmers increase their yields through mobile technology

The sugar industry supports over 35 million farmers and another 50 million individuals depend on the crop and its adjacent industries. However, despite global high sugar prices farmers are still unable to realize increased income levels due to a combination of reasons including dropping yields and high agri-input costs. We propose that farmers use precision farming to improve crop productivity, decrease input costs and minimize the environmental impact by using knowledge and specialised technology.

Our services will be two-fold: (1) We will provide free local micro news and info to farmers via SMS and (2) We will provide Agri-Advisory Services through a smart-phone. By using a cost effective portable GPS device, farmers can gather precise location information in farms allowing us to map crop, soil and water measurements. A GIS software package will enable data analysis to track field activity across various aspects and stages of crop production. This data will be instrumental in using variable rate application technology. Our value proposition includes the following: Precision in application of fertiliser, pesticide and irrigation, digitisation of soil testing results, data collection and analysis, irrigation design, and providing regular and relevant information to farmers.
  

 

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In 2008 in the United States, 31 million tons of food waste was sent to landfills. In the same year, 17.3 million people lived in households that experienced hunger regularly. People want ideas which recycle resources back into communities, create jobs, and provide more sustainable models of agriculture. Break it Down offers a solution for communities by diverting food wastes from landfills and utilizing these materials as a resource for the sustainable production of fish and chicken eggs, valuable sources of protein.

Break it Down is actively developing a decentralized composting system which recycles organic wastes from local businesses and improves public understanding and involvement in the act of composting. This waste diversion program is also utilized as an educational tool – workshops, internships, and school curriculum provide opportunities for community engagement and teach the importance of diverting organic material from landfills and recognizing food scraps as a valuable resource for food production.

What we outline in this proposal is an innovative method of composting which directly results in sustainably-produced protein, effectively processes a larger amount of food waste, and maintains community engagement and educational opportunities while helping to alleviate hunger. Worms and soldier flies will be used to process organic materials and in turn utilized as food to raise fish and chickens. Any organic material can be recycled with this method, and a minimum of 10% of all food produced will be donated to low-income families. Ultimately, this venture will create a working model to develop more sustainable communities. Break it Down1650.0