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A recent estimate for the total global freshwater is 35,000,000 cubic kilometers. Sounds like a lot right? Not quite. Humans depend on freshwater to survive, but unfortunately it only accounts for 2.5% of the Earth’s total water volume. Geophysicists and climatologists maintain that changes in climate conditions and stresses on water supply from overconsumption of groundwater resources and population growth will bring 45% of the world’s population below the Basic Water Requirement (BWR) by 2050. Water supply is difficult to adjust because renewable freshwater sources such as rain and groundwater are highly variable with respect to meteorological and geographical factors. Currently, households and farmers are consuming freshwater at rates that are below the sustainable yield.

The scientific facts beg the fearsome question: will the world run out of water? Environmental entrepreneurs would like to think the answer is no. A University of Ottawa student’s desalination process to extract drinking water from seawater took the $10,000 top prize this week at the Eastern Ontario Technology Venture Challenge competition. Large-scale desalination typically requires large amounts of energy as well as specialized, expensive infrastructure, making it very costly compared to the use of fresh water from rivers or groundwater, but founder Mohammed Rasool Qtaishat (pictured right) claims that his technology is more efficient and cost effective than competing desalination technologies. His startup Water For All, has already obtained funding including $286,000 in from the Middle East Desalination Research Center in Oman. (more…)

You want a RoboScooter, you just don’t know it yet. The MIT-designed lightweight, folding, electric scooter is one their labs latest innovative creations that is bound to revolutionize urban mobility. The prototype of the new design, which was unveiled at the Milan Auto Show a couple of months ago, is a product of MIT’s Smart Cities Group run by professors and students. Their goal is to reduce the negative effects of extensive vehicle use, road congestion, air pollution, traffic noise, excessive consumption of space for parking, and ultimately reduce carbon emissions to slow global warming. No wonder they were a semifinalist at the MIT $100k.

They are working with manufacturers in Taiwan and Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute. Motor scooters are already popular abroad in European and Asian cities and it’s about time that someone is doing something to reduce traffic congestion in these major cities. RoboScooter is an improvement because it is green and designed in such a way that eliminates the powertrain with the motors directly inside each of the two wheels. This makes it possible for the scooter to be folded up into half its size and making it easier to be stored in crowded urban environments.

If the scooter isn’t impressive enough, the team designed and accomplished the project in a mere eight months “from a blank sheet to a built concept.” Plans in the future not only center on selling these but creating systems where communities can share or rent from spots throughout the city Zip Car style. Check out the video to see it in action:

With lots of you graduating, your parents are presumably looking for gifts to commemorate this joyous occasion. For the environmentally responsible parents WorldChanging is offering a very unique gift. The organization will wipe your carbon slate clean. Depending on the level of donation, they’ll remove all the guilt of the carbon emissions you caused in your childhood, college or working life.

From the website of WorldChanging,

Your grad gets to head out into the world with the moral weight of their personal choices lifted from their shoulders, you get to show your love and respect, the climate gets a bit of a break and Worldchanging gets the funds we need to continue our prize-winning work exploring the solutions that will create real, lasting change. Half your gift is even tax-deductible!

The amount of money you donate will be used to buy carbon offsets from TerraPass. For $6,000, they’ll offset all the climate emissions you racked up until high school graduation. For $7,500, they’ll offset childhood and university years. For $25,000, they’ll offset youth, college and working careers.

In addition, you’ll also get a certificate saying that you’re carbon slate is clean. Yes, this means there is a way to pay back for all the emissions you’ve caused and be good again. Living a carbon neutral life is trendy and it is certainly easier to pay for your deeds than change your bulb or get an electric car. Last year individuals spent $331 million to buy carbon offsets for (more…)

Laurier School of Business & Economics student Christopher Carmichael won the national Wes Nicol Entrepreneurial Award in a competition against students from Acadia University, Carleton University, University of Guelph, University of Ottawa, and the University of Waterloo. His company, Campus Ink provides competitively priced ink cartridge refills, using a portion of the proceeds ($1 per refill) to invest in businesses in developing countries through Kiva.

Campus Ink, currently at seven colleges in Canada, refills cartridges up to 10 times fasting than current refilling processes that can take up to 30 minutes. The unique process consists of sonic sound cartridge head cleaning and a delicate refilling method that amounts to only a few minutes of your time. Refilling ink cartridges is an eco-friendly alternative to disposing of them in landfills where they take up to 450 years to decompose. Campus Ink’s site reports that in North America alone 350 million cartridges are tossed into landfills annually.

Campus Ink is not without competitors; many large companies refill and provide a broader service offering. The college startup is competing on price, time and location. It can offer lower prices because (more…)

Husk Power Systems, a startup out of UVA’s Darden School of Business, is already providing electricity to nearly 10,000 rural Indians utilizing rice husk generators that run on piles of rice mill waste product. The proprietary technology and business model is brilliant because it provides three solutions to critical problems in India: 1) A lack of reliable electricity, which is a huge obstacle in rural India; 2) A reduction of carbon emissions that amounts to nearly 200 tons per village annually, and 3) The ability to bring new technology to remote villages that are struggling to keep up with the industrialized world. It’s no wonder Husk Power just won $50,000 at the University of Texas Social Innovation Competition for having the “most compelling new idea to change the world,” $1,000 for the People’s Choice Awards, $10,000 from Darden’s annual business plan competition and top 10 finalist recognition at the University of California at Berkeley Global Social Venture Competition. On top of all that, the team is currently a top 10 finalist in this year’s Ignite Clean Energy at MIT for the top prize of $125,000.

The story of the founders, Sinha and Pandey, is quite impressive (more…)

Students from University of Nevada, Las Vegas took first place last Friday in the state’s Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business plan competition. The team presented Waste Alternatives Transformation Technologies (WATT), which will aim to produce clean energy and energy products from municipal, commercial and industrial wastes. Their business model would also help reduce landfill needs in local municipalities.

The team, comprised of college students Keeton Little, Josh Beilin and Kyle George, took home a $20,000 prize to help launch their new business. Moving forward, they plan to pitch their idea to small municipalities in the area to bring their concept to market. Previously, they won the Nevada Commission on Economic Development Commissioner’s Award, worth $2,500; the combined prizes should provide them with enough seed money and publicity to get underway.

In May, WATT will be back at it, competing in the Tri-State Donald W. Reynolds Cup business plan competition. Undergraduate and graduate winners from Arkansas and Oklahoma will join Nevada’s winners to compete for $90,000 in cash prizes.

The Earth Times reported that Patrick Walsh, a student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, won the $30,000 Lemelson-Illinois Student Prize, which is awarded to a student who has demonstrated remarkable inventiveness and innovation. Patrick developed a battery-powered, solar-charged LED lampare that is brighter, safer, healthier, longer-lasting, and less expensive for people with unreliable electricity.

According to the report, Patrick visited India following his freshman year in college, which inspired him to change the the way 1.6 billion people (the Indian population) light their homes. Many of the nation’s citizens still use kerosene lamps for lighting within the home. Patrick’s portable lamp will not only reduce the $38 billion in annual fuel spending, but will also risk of poor air quality and accidental fires. (more…)

YouthActionNet is a prestigious international fellowship program aimed at young social entrepreneurs between ages of 18 and 29. Every year they select 20 outstanding leaders and supports them through a year long program of leadership skills building. The previous fellows from the past 6 years have done extraordinary work in areas of social development, environmental policies and have influenced government decisions too. The fellowship is offered by the International Youth Federation

Last date for applications: May 15th, 2008.

Eligibility:

Young people in the age 18-29 years, who should be the founders of existing project/organisation with a clear vision for social change or leading a project within an organisation. Proficiency in English is required and the applications must be submitted in English

Program Benefits:

Skill-building:
1. A seven day capacity-building retreat in Washington, DC (all expenses paid)
2. Development of a customized learning plan based on individual leadership learning needs. This learning is focused on six dimensions of leadership: personal, visionary, political, collaborative, organizational, and societal.

Networking:
1. Networking with international and national aid agencies, NGOs, and corporate partners
2. Peer-to-peer networking throughout the year.

Advocacy:
1. Training in communications and media outreach; public relations technical assistance.
2. Access to global advocacy platforms and media coverage.

Global Fellows also have access to potential funding opportunities.

[YAN via Letmeknow]

I just discovered The Beanstockd Project, a clever and creative media organization that sneaks in your daily dose of environmental news by mixing it with pop culture. By intertwining the content, they aim to intercept a demographic that doesn’t actively seek knowledge of environmental issues. Concurrently, they hope to “remove the negative ‘granola/hippie’ stigma associated with the environmental movement.” The news isn’t boring either; in fact, the content is as entertaining and amusing as it is informative. The biodegradable bamboo phone that sprouts a tree when placed in compost is one of my favorite posts alongside the one about condoms produced in Brazil from rubber trees. A lot the content is mixed with celebrity news as well, which should appeal to all the ladies out there. Guys don’t worry there’s plenty for us to enjoy too.

The Harvard startup will also combine a Beanstockd Market Game that will incentivize users to use green products available for purcahse on the Beanstockd site. Purchases will act as one of the their primary revenue streams in addition to advertising and sponsors (Subway has already signed up). The founders, Sandra and Angela, split responsibilities of running the blog and game, which they actually received an award for from the Harvard I3 competition. The blog is already up and running and they hope to have their game up by the fall. The game, which specifically targets college students, seems intriguing. Here is their description of it:

Beanstockd provides an infrastructure for users to become personally invested in the environmental movement in an entertaining and addictive way; it is not a virtual stock-market game, but an environmental competition that transcends the virtual - it uses the stock market as a vehicle to publicly report and deliver real-time, community environmental news. This “game” affects how you get to school, which kind of detergent you buy, and the way news is disseminated throughout your community. The goal of The Beanstockd Market is to change environmentalism from niche activism to a part of mainstream culture by transforming environmental action into an entertaining, habitual social activity.

Sandra and Angela seek to solve a real problem. Our generation has been raised throughout our lives to be aware of environmental issues, yet there has been no real incentive or motivation to change and form more environmentally responsible habits. Although we can’t determine how useful the game will be, they are certainly approaching the educational aspect in an innovative way. I believe that they will be able to get people hooked on their content, and through that medium, will be able catalyze reform and cause people to be more environmentally conscious in their daily lives.

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Daniel Sheridan (Coventry University) is hoping to solve energy problems in Africa by enlisting the help of children in the playground. Daniel has developed an electricity-producing see-saw, which won “Most Innovative Product” at the Coventry University Enterprise Festival. He then went on to win the main Bizcom award with prize money of approximately $2,000, which he estimates will be enough to fund a prototype to bring to sponsors and donating entities.

This noble and cost-effective product would be supplied as a central unit to the local community who will have a hand in building part of it and installing it. Not only does it involve local people into the creation, but it also considerably reduces logistical costs. Daniel worked as a volunteer in Kenya in Summer 2007 and his experience of working at a school inspired him to begin this project. His dream is to hopefully one day, see the device being built and used to make a true impact in Sub-Saharan Africa.