A research report has been released outlining the path towards sustainable homes and offices by innovation intelligence platform Springwise, commissioned by Swedish lift manufacturer Aritco. The second in an annual series, the Aritco/Springwise Future of the Sustainable Home and Office Report serves as a practical guide for moving towards net zero and circular ways of living and working, highlighting case studies of global innovations that embed sustainable solutions and conscious design into home and office spaces in a post-pandemic world.
The Aritco/Springwise Future of the Sustainable Home and Office Report offers insight into twenty recent innovations, developed in response to the macro events and shifts that have affected the way we live and work. From 15-minute cities to reinventing materials, these case studies serve as tangible evidence of the exciting advances in cutting-edge sustainable design and manufacturing technologies that we can see moving into 2022 and beyond. The twenty innovations are sectioned into ‘Net Zero’, with a focus on cities, energy and materials, and ‘Circularity’, with a focus on biodiversity, waste and tech.
In both practical and aesthetic terms, furniture is a key element within home and office interiors, but a detrimental source of carbon emissions especially in commercial buildings. The trend report captures innovative furniture design as it has never been done before. Rype, a company that aims to the carbon impact within commercial workspaces by 80%, remanufactures office furniture to return it to as-new condition using both old furniture and waste materials to rebuild pieces according to their original design. Rubelli, an Italian, family-owned luxury fabric house have developed a range of eco-friendly fabrics that combines co-viscose and an eco-polyamide made from castor bean extract. Not only do castor beans grow easily and do not require copious watering like other crops, but also offers practicality within the fabric produced from it, providing elasticity, thermal protection and quick drying.
Looking at innovative sustainable architecture, the report unveils the ‘Garden House’, built in a historic Melbourne suburb, that generates all its own electricity using solar power. Producing 100 kilowatt-hours daily, it generates enough power not only for the house’s climate-controlled heating, a digital entertainment system and a heated swimming pool, but also to charge an electric car and feed back to the local power grid. Sustainability is embedded into the rest of the house design with recycled bricks used in the construction and simple additions to the sustainable features of the house such as a vegetable patch, compost and a water tank that irrigates the garden and toilets.
The report conveys increasing trends towards the need for the reduction of water wastage, revealing a spray surface cleaner that has been developed by a team of Penn State University researchers. The spray repels sticky dirt leading to fewer toilet flushes, which can favourably affect emissions from homes and offices, and has the potential to increase hygiene in regions of the world with water scarcity. The non-toxic, bio-inspired surface cleaner acts in only five minutes and forces sticky substances to slide off the coated surface, with its main ingredient being silicone which naturally biodegrades into carbon dioxide, silica and water.
To access the report go to: https://www.springwise.com/report-future-of-the-sustainable-home-and-office