ECORoofs - GREEN ROOFS STIMULATING THE FAMILY URBAN AGRICULTURE
Our company develops systems for green urban infrastructure, as Ecotelhado (vegetated roofs), Ecopavimento (eco paviment), Ecodreno and Ecoparede (eco wall).
Since the first moment the systems were developed to obtain benefits that are subjective to indivudual and communitary users.
Exemplifying with the Modular Ecotelhado:
The objective and subjective benefits of deploying a Ecotelhado coverage are on a thermal comfort inside the house (with the consequent reduction of heat and energy used by air conditioning_), acoustic comfort by the absence of reverberation, capability of planting any kind of vegetation, for example, lettuce, arugula, Raditi, green onion, green spices, reguluar plants, etc.
About You
About You
First Name
PAULO
Last Name
GUIMARAES
About Your Organization
Organization Name
ECOTELHADO – Henrique Eschiletti Machado Guimaraes
Organization Website
Organization Phone
051 32428215
Organization Address
Rua Erechim 330
Organization Country
Brazil, RS
Country where this project is creating social impact
Brazil
Is your organization a
For‐profit
How long has your organization been operating?
1‐5 years
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Innovation
Entry Form title
ECORoofs - GREEN ROOFS STIMULATING THE FAMILY URBAN AGRICULTURE
Describe your project
Our company develops systems for green urban infrastructure, as Ecotelhado (vegetated roofs), Ecopavimento (eco paviment), Ecodreno and Ecoparede (eco wall).
Since the first moment the systems were developed to obtain benefits that are subjective to indivudual and communitary users.
Exemplifying with the Modular Ecotelhado:
The objective and subjective benefits of deploying a Ecotelhado coverage are on a thermal comfort inside the house (with the consequent reduction of heat and energy used by air conditioning_), acoustic comfort by the absence of reverberation, capability of planting any kind of vegetation, for example, lettuce, arugula, Raditi, green onion, green spices, reguluar plants, etc.
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
What makes your project unique as it relates to the theme of this competition?
By analyzing some of te problems of big cities, such as social inequality, problems of flooding, pollution, slums and popular habitation with low housing condition, great emigration of the rural population (having this portion showing clear signs of poverty with low access to food) we decided to give our contribution and knowledge to improve the lives of these sufferd communities.
It was thinking about this social group that we developed the Ecotelhado Modular System for Agriculture to urban family.
In large population is observed that most people come from the interior of the country with land working background or farmers who, because of the difficulties of life in the field and fed by the illusion of life easier and glamor major cities, left behind their roots, their relatives and many times their achievabl dreams.
Thess families when reach the major cities are facing lack of work, difficulty in obtaining minimum financial resources, and the consequent difficulty of housing and feeding.
The Ecotelhado Modular Agriculture consists in a set of elements that makes possible for those people who once took their food from family farms to do something similar, even if not in the same land area but only at one house on top of a hill.
The action is to plant a garden on the slab covering the houses in which they live.
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
A society formed by two engineers enabled a dream to come true: which was to create a product that could be used by various segments of the population (as industry and commerce and at the same time), the civilian population from different social classes, without discrimination, benefiting directly or indirectly the poorest populations.
The civil engineer Paulo Renato Machado Guimarães and agronomist John Linck Manuel Feijoo, with thirty years of operation, used their talents, experiences and opportunities that life offered them, to build up intelligent systems that aim at the sustainability of the planet and people who inhabit it.
The criteria for designing a product is, first, to specify that the raw material has to have priority to come from industry recycled.
The second criteria is that the product must brings benefits to the natural environment (nature).
The third criteria is that, besides the direct benefits to the citizen who uses it, provides, at the same time, benefits to the community that surrounds it.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Who or what (i.e. youth, women, environment, etc.) benefits from your project, and why is your project critical?
Our project of green roofs in cities and urban centers, can be considered an urban revolution because of its reach.
When mentiooned the large spectrum of influences that our project could reach, we see its importance and urgency of its implementation in large urban centers of our country and also in other countries, whether developed world, developing or underdeveloped.
We will mention a few areas and why the influence of Ecotelhado about them:
- Food (hunger): hunger by planting vegetables;
- Housing: overall improvement of living conditions inside the house, caused by the thermal comfort Ecotelhado System;
- Biodiversity: Improved biodiversity in areas devastated by the appropriation of land
Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured.
The experiences of recent years have been rewarding because with few resources we were able to develop sustainable systems with full benefits to society.
Although we have not yet due support from the government, lawmakers from cities, states and union, the Ecotelhdo System has reached a fast and significant expansion.
The growth in square meters, has increased by over 50% year on year thanks to product acceptance by civil society.
This growth may be much longer and benefit the most deprived portion of our population if the Ecotelhado Modular System Agriculture were implemented in large public housing projects.
Ecotelhado Modular System Agriculture goes beyond the limits and borders of Brazil, for the interest of other countries for its implementation is already a reality in Chile, Mexico and Colombia, where shipments have been exported to expand at these sites, as well as other queries such as Portugal, Morocco and USA.
In Mexico and the U.S. there are already laws that promotes and encourages the use of green roofs in order to use their benefits for the community as a whole.
How many people have been impacted by your project?
Fewer than 100
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
More than 10,000
What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?
We believe that the main obstacle to the success of this project is the government's indifference and lack of public-private financing.
The amplitude that the project should have and the needs to speed up its implementation could generate a significant impact on society, specially the poor. We would need the support of those who make public policies with new financing alternatives and laws that contemplate the use of hedges green areas of high population concentration.
Having the benefits that this initiative promotes is extremely important to the population and for cities as the reduction of urban temperature, decrease flooding, landslides decrease of hills and the family diet.
How will your project evolve over the next three years?
We will continue to pursue the goals of our company to bring our products to serve the population, promoting social integration acts, food, housing improvement, biodiversity, integration of part of the urban population, with human integrity, to make these people soil can take part of their diet.
At the same time we’ll try to make the policy and legislative makers to realize the social importance of the project, because it provides a wide range of benefits to all levels of society simultaneously and indiscriminately.
The insertion of Ecotelhado Modular System specifications in social projects, like the current "My Home My Life", since this would benefit the thousands of families.
Sustainability
For each selection, please explain the financial and non-financial support from each
Clients: Financial support comes from the sale of products to different customers. Much of the resources are linked to new projects and development.
NGOs: we have the support of NGO, Green Roofs Brazil Association, which promotes the program through media dissemination, lectures at universities and connecting with the national Law policies makers to encourage the use of green roofs.
The Modular Ecotelhado Agriculture consists of a set of elements that makes possible for those who once took their food from family farms could do something similar, even if not the same land area but only one house on top of a hill.
The action is to plant a garden on the slab covering the houses in which they live.
With the Modular Agriculture Ecotelhado this is possible due to its unique characteristics of low specific weight and high moisture retention and substrate.
System Ecotelhado solves the problem of gardening and how to feed the family, giving these families better conditions to adapt to their new habitat, by providing cheap food and increasing their dignity.
Below is a projection of a large cluster housing.
On the left is possible to see how it is today: houses with roofs of zinc, cement slabs or without vegetation, ie an area with no preservation and warm.
On the right to observe the transformation of this community with the advent of Modular Ecotelhado and the benefits it brings.
How do you plan to grow and/or diversify your base of support in the next three years?
The sale of products to the highest layer of the population, as well as industry and commerce is creating opportunities for self-financing for the deployment of Modular Ecotelhado Agriculture.
But this growth will be slow and difficult access to the less wealthy if the government does not assume responsibility for creating conditions for the project to be developed quickly. It is very important that the government realizes the importance of the initiative, primarily for poor population, but also due to the potential of the project and its qualities, for the entire population and the natural environment of cities.
To change this paradigm shift we also have support of organizations that are seeking to capitalize projects like ours, crediting quotes, awards, and many praises. The project Ecotelhado as a whole, has received awards in all competitions where we participated and thanks to this, the whole society is benefiting of the results because our cities are gaining more vegetated providing better life to is population.
This is the way civil society, concerned and engaged in improving living conditions and the planet, shows to the government its recognition for the potential of the project pressuing the state to take a position towards the need of the project, assuming its responsibility towards the population, supporting these initiatives, creating the right conditions for regulation and funding to projects increasing the speed its implementation and bring direct benefits for society.
Collaboration
Please select your areas of intervention in the home improvement market
Financing, Technology, Labor, Water, Infrastructure, Green housing, Environment, Income generation, Urban development, Citizen/community participation, Public policy.
Is your innovation addressing barriers in the home improvement/progressive housing market? If so, please describe in detail your mechanisms of intervention
We think that the design of Modular Ecotelhado Agriculture is the most complete, ie there is no such product or system in the market that, if displayed, will bring many benefits to the city, and the user community as a whole.
As described, the product benefits the environment, drainage of the city streets, creates food for the population, reduces the urban heat, increases the thermal comfort to the user's home, reduces air, river and streams pollution and uses the recycling industry as its main base of raw material.
We do not believe that exists, at the moment, greatest contribution to society and the environment in a single project as well in a single product, with simple deployment
.
We also expect to see benefits in:
- Biodiversity: Improving biodiversity in devasted areas by the appropriation of land for construction;
- Public Policy: the action of government, creating space for green roofs, will decrease the pression for improvement in feeding the population and environmental issues;
- Reduction of environmental disasters: the inclusion of Ecotelhado on the roof retains the rain water and slowing down its volume to public runoff collectors reducing flooding. Also becames an important component to previde landslides at slum areas (normally hillsides) by decreasing the velocity of the water flow.
- Thermal comfort: with the inclusion of Modular Ecotelhado over rooftops the internal temperature of the house can suffer a 20C IF compared with cement slabs under 36º C, for example. Studies show that the internal temperature is 2º lower than external with the system Ecotelhado, and can be 20º lower IF compared with other similar greenroofs.
- Improvement of the microclimate around: with the placement of Ecotelhado System, and the home benefits where the system is installed, also the population at around is benefited, because the vegetation does not reflect the sun's heat but absorbs it. So it does not do the transmission of solar radiation to the neighborhood reducing the temperature around;
- Reduction of pollution: the placement of Ecotelhado and, its planted vegetation, will contribute to the removal of air pollutants, as well as produce oxygen, contributing positively to the control of pollution in big cities;
- Sustainable development: where before there was a forest and native vegetation, now there is construction and impermeable areas. The placement of buildings on Ssistema Ecotelhado System addresses to this problem rearranging the community development without harm to the environment;
- Community Development: the planting of orchards on the Modular Ecotelhado will lead to increased self esteem of the population, especially the needy, and Will create a new environment, because the population will be knit together in a common goal: creating better living conditions, feel more valued by the governments that provided conditions for this to happen and give more value to nature and life itself.
In addition to the subjective benefits to the user, communities of big cities will benefit from the deployment of ecotelhados, with the decline of urban temperature (microclimate), reduction of air pollution and rivers, reduced flooding (the retention capacity moisture and decrease the speed of rainwater that flows into the urban stormwater pipes), increasing biodiversity in urban areas.
These advantages are potencialized if the adherence to the green roof occurs on a massive and permant scale and permanent, through public policies.
Our company also develops products that seek to spread the importance of using these new techniques and diverse benefits, and broad reach many sectors of society.
Through its staff, lectures are held at universities, public and private tenders that have social goals that address the sustainability of the planet and its society.
We put into practice the University Program, which is to provides opportunities for the student to develop projects in the area and see it implemented experimentally on a first date and after the verification of feasibility, implement it on a commercial basis.
Are you currently collaborating with private companies, or have you partnered with private companies in the past? With which companies?
No. We always worked with our own resources
Please describe in detail the nature of the partnership(s)
We have a partnership with the Associação Telhados Verdes Brasil (Brazilian Green Rooftop), with the purpose of publicity and contacts with media agencies, universities and professionals.
Select the unit(s) with which the partnership was formed
Marketing department.
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