Entomophagy. This is the name we use to call insect consumption by humans. It is estimated that more than 2.000 million people worldwide include insects in their daily diet, but until now, those palates are not European. Among the most consumed insects are beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps and ants. I do not want to be bearer of bad news but, a few months ago with the publication of Regulation (UE) 2015/2283, legislative barriers, which do not allow this in Europe, have disappeared, so like in “Poltergeist”… they are already here!
Until now, a novel food has been all kind of food or ingredient that had not been used to human consumption in the EU before 15 May 1997. In the context of Regulation 258/1997, it has been authorized food with fungi or algae (microalgae oils rich in DHA), foods produced with new technologies (fruit juices under high pressure), typical food consumed outside EU (chia seeds), etc. The procedures for authorization of a new food were a real demonstration of human perseverance and tenacity, because, being optimistic, we would be talking about processes of at least three or four years. Despite of this fact, from 1997 to 2015 there have been about 180 requests for authorization in Europe, and now approximately 90 new ingredients have been allowed.
Of course, it is not curious that the category of insect was not included in a regulation published almost 20 years ago as novel food. In fact, as these ingredients were not covered by the legislation, it seemed that they did not exist, as today in Linkedin: if you are not, do not exist. This situation is the reflection of a reality that we live daily: the gap between technological progress and legal aspects causes conflict situations that end up limiting research and development of new foods. With the new regulation, it is expected that companies can commercialize more easily innovative food market in the EU, while maintaining a high level of food safety. To this end, it has simplified the process for authorization of a new food and provisions have been introduced on the confidentiality of the information and data protection after approval.
According to the FAO, there are a lot of advantages in the insect consumption by humans, like we can see in the next board:
But I can’t finish yet. Please, someone has to tell FAO that insects could be good for us but they give us a horrible revulsion. Probably, I am not the only one who almost has a heart attack when I feel an insect over me, so imagine what would happen if I have one of this in my dish. I am aware of the display to create this culture of entomophagy in the following years. I imagine the best chefs creating recipes and menus to delight us with new flavors of insects, or the food industry launching tasty and nutritious snacks for kids’ lunch with these little animals, or your mother’s answer (chef channel follower) when your father asks her… Mary, what’s for dinner?…
The biggest obstacles are not the technology barriers but the psychological and organizational barriers.
In the previous post, we explained the three steps (Reduce, Recover and Replace) through which a factory can reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases associated with its energy consumption.
Let’s suppose that Peter is a newly hired young engineer in a factory as Energy Responsible to reduce factory emissions and improve their corporate image, following the proposed steps of the REEMAIN project.
Peter, our new energy manager, logically begins with the first step: reduce, which is the easiest one be carried out, at least with respect to disconnecting the machinesthat are not being used. These gestures allow the factory to save energy and money at the same time. They will not usually cause tensions within the organizational structure of a factory. Using a cyclist simile, “this road is flat and with the tailwind”.
However, the next step sooner or later will analyze the different energy settings of the production systems in search of an energy settings alternative that reduces energy consumption and here, returning to cyclist similes, is where “the road becomes an uphill road”.
Wage incentives and bonuses for production managers are usually based mainly in the fulfillment of the planned production. This fact generates an internal pressure from up to bottom within the organization of the factory so that nothing impedes the achievement of the actual production figures. Then, once the production figures are assured, the next parameter to optimize, in terms of incentives and bonuses, is the economic cost of this production. But usually this cost, will be studied and evaluated in an aggregated or global way.
For example, casting thermal processes, usually specify a possible range of working temperatures. The minimum working temperature is that which ensures that the molten metal will not solidify prematurely under nominal operating conditions. The maximum temperature is fixed by the characteristics of the machinery itself and the product. Very occasionally, production stops due to incidentals, the molten metal is cooled slightly and this issue causes the so called “cold shut” defects, with the consequent rejection of the pieces produced, and therefore, the failure to achieve the production targets. How this problem is avoided in most cases? Opting for the easiest solution, this is, to raise the temperature of the molten metalpermanently to have bigger margins against eventual stops, whether or not they finally occur.
Another practical example is the operation of the compressed air systems of the factories. Again, to avoid problems of lack of supply and the corresponding “reprimand”, maintenance chiefs set the power of the compressors to full power permanently whether or not the factory is working under full production regime.
The above examples are intended to show the fact that sometimes the energy settings of the processes are oversized with the consequent increase in energy consumption. This is because, the factory workers and managers involved in the production and maintenance perceive that do not oversizing might harm other indicators such as compliance with production planning and the total planned cost. As long as these two key performance indicators or KPIs are exclusively the only or main criteria for evaluating the performance of production workers and maintenance, there will always be internal resistance to the implementation of the changes necessary to achieve a cleaner production.
In the past, other secondary indicators, not considered important as job safety or respect for labor rights, gained importance and also became key indicators when assessing the performance of a factory. There are already companies like Google (Google Green Initiative) or IKEA (People and Planet Positive initiative) that have undertaken internal restructuring with the sole aim to reduce associated emissions even at the cost of worsening any of the economic KPIs.
In the next post, we will talk about practical examples of green manufacturing.
3D printing is here to stay. When a new technology is so widespread that no longer catches the attention it is that its implementation is complete. More and more people have a plastic 3D printer at home and many of us know someone who has bought one or it has been built by pieces. It was only a matter of time before this technology would give the jump to other sectors. Although the construction sector usually adopts this type of technological developments rather late, in this case there are already several projects trying to bring the additive manufacturing (as is also known 3D printing) to construction.
What is wanted, among other things, it is to face the new architectural designs that are increasingly complex, industrialize certain construction processes which, today, are almost artisanal and improve sustainability using recycled materials for printing.
Such systems pose major challenges such as the development of new building materials that allow their proper implementation. Usually, the addition of other materials or compounds that improve the properties (or achieve the desired properties) in setting times, strength and insulation is used.
One of the first projects in relation to additive manufacturing in construction is called “Contour Crafting“, led by Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California. And now there are many research centresand universities focused on these issues as AMRG University of Loughborough considered a world reference or IAAC in Spain.
They have also appeared commercial developments such as the case of a Chinese company that manufactured homes, offices and entire buildings using these techniques. The specific case of this company seems to respond to marketing strategies (which seems to be taking effect) because a good position in these technologies can open important markets.
In any case, there are many interesting initiatives such as WASP, an Italian project for sustainable buildings in disadvantaged areas, the construction of a steel bridge in Amsterdam, or NASA contest for construction of buildings on the moon or Mars using these techniques, the winner of which proposed the use of ice as raw material.
In the light of these developments it is easy to see that the additive manufacturing construction offers some advantages hard to match with other methods such as complexity in designs that can be obtained, the accuracy and repeatability of certain construction procedures. It is undeniable that industrialization is increasingly integrated into many building processes and 3D printing sure to have your niche in the construction sector.
As always with new technologies, certain optimistic sectors are saying that the additive manufacturing will be the majority system used in all industries but certainly there are currently no universal manufacturing technologies (beyond certain methods such as mass production). The current manufacturing processesare highly specialized and uses the most appropriate technologies in each case it seems complicated than a single technology is able to replace almost all existing. Therefore, and being realistic, we must find the most suitable application field for 3D printing in construction.
In this regard, CARTIF participates in a major national research project related to 3D printing in construction. This project focuses on the application of 3D printing technologies in construction in those areas where it is considered that can be especially useful: the manufacture of prefabricated modules and rehabilitation of facades. It does not seek a universal technology to serve in all areas of construction, but to reach the market with a product that offers a viable alternative to other existing technologies (i.e. realistic and sustainable applications). And without forgetting that all progress made in this field (whether by R & D or marketing strategies) will impact in the future, for the benefit of the whole society because what it is pursued, is to build better, faster, cheaper and in a more sustainable way.
Shopping centres have been invented in the 1920’s in the United States and represent the modern version of a historical market place with their collection of independent retail stores, services, and parking area.
Over the whole of Europe there are thousands of retail outlets standing for almost 30% of the non-residential building stock, varying among other criteria in their functions, forms and sizes. Currently, more than 6 million companies are acting in the retail sector while around 30 million Europeans works in commerce.
New types of shopping centres emerge which meet public and retail needs, but the new types do not replace existing shopping formats, they instead add to the range of shopping facilities which already exist.
According to the International Council for Shopping centres (ICSC), a shopping centre is a scheme that is planned, built and managed as a single entity, comprising units and communal areas, with a minimum gross leasable area (GLA) of 5,000 square meters.
Shopping centres are sometimes perceived as icons of a consumerist society, because of their high energy demand, high CO2 emissions and waste. Therefore sustainability of the retail sector may significantly contribute to reach the long-term environmental and energy goals of the EU. Shopping centres are of particular interest due to their structural complexity, due to the high potential of energy savings and carbon emissions reduction, as well as due to their importance and influence in shopping tendencies and lifestyle.
While in the residential buildings, energy is mainly consumed by heating, domestic hot water and appliances, in the shopping centres, energy is used in a variety of ways, store lighting, ventilation, heating and air-conditioning, food refrigeration and others. However, the composition of the energy consumption varies from one retailer to another. Non-food retailers, have a different share of energy use compared to food retailers. For example, the electricity consumption of appliances in electronics stores is higher than in other kind of shops, which are more dependent on lighting, such as furniture or clothes shops.
The majority of European shopping centres are already built, but there is a still huge potential for energy savings, offering the possibility in many aspects to improve the technical systems, such as lighting and ventilation, or the building envelope, and monitoring systems. There are, however a number of major barriers to achieve the desired energy reductions and not all of these may be solved by the installation of new technical solutions. Pleasing customers is of primary importance in shopping centres, because customers provide the necessary profits, however customers are not demanding directly energy uses reductions in shopping centres, but demand among other things variety of products and low prices, access by public transport, parking and good location. Nevertheless, customer environmental awareness is increasing, which it is a very important factor to have the approval of the actions associated with energy efficiency by the customers and thus be a more positive factor when choosing where to shop.
There is currently a wide variety of conventional and innovative technologies and energy management systems, with which to renovate the shopping centres from an energy point of view. Thanks to this type of actions, a reduction in the energy consumption of the shopping centres and their corresponding greenhouse gas emissions will be achieved. The Energy Division ofCARTIF, it is currently working on projects aimed at improving energy consumption in buildings, among which are shopping centres (CommONEnergy project), public buildings (BRICKER project) and residential and tertiary sector buildings (INSPIRE project). Through energy modelling and simulation tools, energy audits, instrumentation and control advance strategies, analysis and detailed studies on the incorporation of renewable energies, and our experience of over 15 years, we are able to reduce the economic and environmental cost of energy generation.
In summary, energy sustainability in commercial buildings is not only necessary for the environment, but provides added value to the products offered to potential customers.
Human nature relativizes disadvantages and problems in depending on what they affect us, personally or our environment. With respect to Accessibility and Universal Design, today, we can find the idea that these are problems that only persons related with disability scope must engage.
At the disability world, we can say that general mentality is quite advanced, although not enough yet, and less what concerns to mental health. The changes of attitude towards disability people started at the Renaissance. In Spain, Isabel of Castile created hospitals for soldiers in which prosthesis and therapeutic device were provided them. Even so, disability did not begin to be seen with clinic eyes until the middle of s. XIX, in order to know the causes and suggest possible improvements. But this issue was addressed from social services. People with disabilities were seen as people null, from the point of view social and productive skills.
At mid-twentieth century, in 1955, during the International Labor Conference, a recommendation about “Rehabilitation and Employment of the Disabled” was presented. In this moment, it was considered “the need to make available to people with average disability professional adaptation medias of independently their origin, nature or age, always they can be prepared to exercise adequate employment and they have a reasonable prospect of obtaining and maintaining employment”. Although it has analyzable nuances still, it can be considered as the forerunner of the social and labor integration of people with disabilities.
Following the Convention, Laws that try to go adapting to reality, with more or less success, emerge. And, when have we started to talk about Accessibility? In 2007, the first resolutions concerning access and use of public spaces appear in Law on Equal Opportunities, Non-Discrimination and Universal Accessibility, known as LIOUNDAU. The First National Accessibility Plan 2004-2012 appeared and was published by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The main objective is “to achieve universal access for all environments, products and services to overcome barriers that discriminate against persons with disabilities”.
This legislation has support in different international and national standards and regulations related to interface ergonomics, accessibility of hardware and software, subtitling, audio description and web accessibility, such as
Regarding Universal Design or Design for all, it is necessary to clarify that this concept does not cover all possible cases. As Stephanidis said in 2001, “universal design does not necessarily imply that a single design should be suitable for all users, but it should be treated as a design philosophy that tries to meet the needs of accessibility for the greatest number of potential users”.
After this collection of Laws, regulations and related aspects accessibility in the field of computer science, is clear that the design and accessible development is not an option. Accessibility is an obligation, in legal terms. The problem is that ‘accessibility’ is not understood as part of design – few universities considering ‘accessibility’, and only as an optional subject. This makes that accessible systems development needs accessibility experts and it increases the costs in time and money of any technology project.
We should consider whether these savings offset, in cost or quality, spending necessary to adapt or redo designs, in the event that the Laws of digital accessibility were applied with the same rigor as those affecting architectural designs. Is built a new building without access to level?
Finally, if we are talking about “meet the needs of the most number of users” we should keep in mind that we are opening the market expectations of the products we develop. Where we see an obligation, cannot we have a good business?
“True beauty lies within”, this words have been heard for all of us and in this way we have learned at home. But the reality is far from the theory when we are talking about fruits and vegetables.
Around 30% of the food waste problem is related with the primary production and one cause is that the fruits and vegetables dismissed by the exigencies in terms of quality (shape, size, appearance, etc). For instance, 20% of the potatoes are sorted out in Swedish potato farms due to quality standards (Mattssonet al., 2001). It is true that a lot of these products end up in other industries, like processing/ feed industries, but some produce is left unharvest or wasted. If it was not because they are the “wallflower”, they could arrive to the consumer because they have the same nutritive and organoleptic characteristics.
From this point of view, have appeared in some countries different initiatives which hope contribute to reduce the food waste commercializing theses “ugly” fruits and vegetables.
In 2014, European year against food waste, the French supermarket chain Intermarché launched in their stores the initiative “Inglorious fruits and vegetables”. With a massive global campaign and 30% cheaper, Intermarché decided to sell these non-calibrated and imperfect fruits and vegetables that it is not usually find it in a store, besides they put on sell soups and juices made from these vegetables to show at the consumers that these products could be so good like any other. The initiative was a successful and they got sell 1,2 tonns in a couple of days.
To encourage the purchase of these vegetables other supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury (UK) have started to offer these vegetables in their stores, and so reduce the food waste. Asda, the second supermarket chain more important in UK, put “wonky veg box” on sale by 3,50 pounds, 30% less than standard lines.
In Germany, two women launched a crowdfunding campaign to promote the benefits to consume vegetables that were not accepted in terms of quality. They work directly with local farmers and supermarkets that discard these veg and make dishes that then they sell in a coffee shop, labelling as “Culinary Misfits”.
Terms of quality are not the only reason for the primary production have the majority of the food waste. Inappropriate agronomic practices and wrong variety choices produce inferior quality leading to high losses in the selection process. A lake of appropriate resources during storage and transport or mechanic damage by multiple handling can increase the damage, especially for highly perishable commodities such as fruits and vegetables.
To reduce these amounts of waste it is carrying out some improvements techniques in the primary production, new post-harvest technologies (new silos, protection of storage cereal to pest, new packaging materials, temperature control, etc.), all these improvements have to adapt to the place where they applied remain affordable with respect to local conditions. Often some simple and economic solutions in transport, production and packaging can reduce food losses and waste in development countries (Millennium Project of the United Nations, 2005; FAO 2011B).
In this sense works the Postharvest Education Foundation, with educational programs aimed at reducing food losses, maintaining quality, market value, nutritional value and food safety, and access to references, resources, training activities and mentoring services for young professionals in the field of postharvest technology.
To struggle against the food waste in fisheries, the French organization “La Panier de la mer” collaborates with different fishing ports, where it picks fish that not are been sold or it can’t be sell and it would throw it away. This fish is transformed into fillets or freezing that them it distributes to different food aid associations.
Fish Fight are been worked in the fight against the fish discards at the sea, putting pressure on the politicians to find more sensible criteria in this sense (In 2015 Europeans politicians have voted to ban the discards). Currently it focuses on their struggle to finish with botton-trawling and the promotion of artisan fishing, finding a sustainable production with the environment and avoiding massive catches that increase waste.
These are just some initiatives to change the production system in which we are living and consuming, which must change among all to get a model that can feed the world’s population in a fair and sustainable way with the environment.
