Sustainability and Innovation: A response to a JD
Sustainability is a significant term. Nonetheless, the role is specific to environmental sustainability, on a sociological and economic sustainability context.
In the market, the “green” initiative has been an area of debate, conjecture and development for many, many years. As media technologies have developed, green marketing initiatives have been refined and convayed in an increasingly narrow context.
In the 1970’s, melbournians where involved with many of environmental movements, including conference festival otherwise known as confest. This festival has continued for many years, whilst I was younger I also attended with a significant troop of friends.
Many of the lead speakers within the current environment, could be identified as “dark green” activists, as they often refuse to listen to science or claim to understand it, whilst talking about broad topics with little specification, with the best of intentions as they continue their activitism with a goal of healing the world from its evils.
It is a fact that our economic, social and political environment currently rely’s upon the use of non-renewable resources. It is also a fact that these non-renewable resources are assisting Australia’s economic platform, as it continues to operate in a largely materialistic social environment, sustaining our cultures economic mechanisms; allowing us to be clothed, have shelter, be feed and have the opportunity of good health-care and the ability to support a family.
In the last 50 years, technology has made products much more available to consumers. It is unlikely that retail economics will change dramaticially in the next 50 years. Therefore, it is essential that we find better ways to use our resources and prosper in an increasingly international social-economic environment.
The science, intellectual capacity and development of professional methods to develop solutions for our societies, when considering environmental sustainability, could be beneficially labelled “light green”; a term to describe the individual interested in creating solutions and actionable works, while still maintaining a good grip on the commercial mecahnics underpinning out society and methods to evolve it.
A History of Contribution
I find it difficult to remember the entire project’s I’ve been involved in overall, that’s why i’ve got this blog. Nonetheless, here are some of the more recent ones.
Sustainability and E-Learning
In 2008, made an investment into an organisation called “Global Green Plan”. The founders of the Global Green Plan, developed plans to establish a range of initiatives ranging from an educational curriculum established in Williamstown High School, through to the start-up works for local community centre, which was designed to provide a community engagement strategy, in-conjunction with the curriculum’s delivery. Other plans and under-performing products included green bins, energy companies, carbon concepts, etc. etc.
I worked on the project freely for a number of months (about six months), investing cash into the project to pay their phone-bills, and to sponsor the attendance in the world sustainable buildings conference in 2008, where they needed promotional materials and copies of the curriculum printed, as well as assistance for representation at their booth.
The tasks I completed throughout the period ranged from strategic, business consulting works developing new economic models for the business (aiming to turn the business around, into a cash-flow positive position) to cleaning the williamstown customs house building, in an effort to get it ready to open; as well as web-development and video transcoding to initiate the build of an e-learning platform, marketing and promotions capability for the firm and its proposed membership revenue business system.
Soon after my investment FujiXerox invested into the business, culminating the collective works with an event where Dame Elizabeth Murdoch was announced as the patron of the Global Green Plan, as part of a broader school based event with speakers locally and remotely, with speakers such as Penny Wong and Isabel Lucas. This event was also marketed in connection to a letter Dame Elizabeth wrote to Michelle Obama, requesting action on climate change.
As another consequence of this work, I held a consultation with Telstra Corporation, endavouring to produce a method for e-learning curriculum materials to be sponsored by Telstra, and for this platform to be made available to students, using a 24/7/365 wireless network card, integrated with the e-learning platform, as well as schools and the school based filter. The development of this proposed platform is a work in progress.
Energy Technology and Transportation
In 2003, I purchased a Series 1, XJ6 jaguar the last car manufactured by the founder, with the specific intention of replacing the drive-train system with more recent, Hybrid Technologies.
Between roles, and during any other downtime periods, I researched technologies that could offer a suitable platform overall.
I found Wheel Motor Technology, being developed in the University of Queensland as well as other companies overseas. Having had some experience with the CSIRO, I was aware of the battery based technology; however, I was also aware of the difficulties facing battery use in these environments, including; charge, tempreture, availability, recycling and non-renewable components used within the battery technology. So, I started to look at ways to generate enough electricity, and regulate the power input.
This later led me to investigate ultra-capacitors and Micro-Turbine Engines.
Turbines are extremely efficient at the right speed. They can also operate on a range of fuels, with relatively little modification. However, it is not suitable to spin them up and down, with acceleration and de-acceleration. Through the use of ultra capacitors, it would be possible to create a “power store”, where energy generated from the wheel motors, any heat-conversion and direct electricity produced from the proposed micro-turbine, could be used to power the vehicle.
As an effect, the turbine could then be computer controlled to operate at optimal efficiency, as required to power the drive train and maintain optimal charge in the ultra-capacitor array. Through chance, I met a lady from the CSIR (south african equivalent to the CSIRO) who suggested they might have some micro-turbine units available for use on this project. However the project never proceeded beyond these concepts.
Works were pursued with the US based LincVolt Project, who have been working with a South Australian company. I spoke to this firm on several occasions, seeking to further investigate these concepts; however not much really happened. Last time we spoke I was advised they were in the process of raising capital, which is a positive outcome for their works.
To summarise this experience, although I found advanced technologies that were capable, (with investment), to produce a conversion solution for existing vehicles; the commercial desire to create these forms of solutions for the existing vehicle market seems lacking in the local market. New vehicles featuring technologies sourced from overseas will, most likely, be the course of least resistance for the introduction of more sustainably powered vehicles for the local market.
Portable power and storage
I became aware of Hydrogen Fuel Cells from an associated company called manhattern scientific. The Company, based in the US had developed many patents for manufacturing Fuel Cells. Further research in the area later found another company called Horizon Fuel Cell, who started their commercialiastion works selling fuel-cell toys.
I have been investigating the possibility of using fuel-cell technology in rural areas, as a replacement for standardised battery power.
Family have an “off the grid” farm in country Victoria. The power system they use is based upon solar power, with a deep-cycle battery array, connected to an inverter. The difficulty with this system, as it has been installed (by solar experts), is that the batteries are housed underneath the solar panels, in an outdoor environment. Due to this, the battery life span is decreased; batteries are ideally stored in a controlled environment of about 20c.
Their farm, and many like it, has dam water. Using an electrolizer and fuel-cell technology, is a plausable method to consider. The proces, would essentially use the solar panels to generate stored hydrogen, which can then be converted back to water (using fuel-cells) providing electricity at times where no solar power is directly available.
I have been discussing this concept with Horizon Fuel Cells, and we are working on a suitable solution to test this theorem.
In summary, this project aims to consider a suitable renewable solution for the storage of energy in the form of hydrogen. In doing so, it is believed that the solution will both generate clean water and electricity, from a stored potential energy state.
Related to this work is additional research into LED and OLED based lighting systems, as well as other appliances that lower the overall use of energy in the household.
Similarly, heating and cooling systems are being researched with a friends father (who started bramar), at this time I have a particular interest in finding out more information, about the mechanisms and power requirements of heat-pump’s.
Urban Water Use
Melbourne has recently been through a property boom. Our population has increased by between 800,000 and 900,000 people within the last ten years. Having worked within the offices of one of the largest Victorian property developers, who has been a key party in the development of environmental leaders in Australia, I am astutely aware of the infrastructure implications this population growth has on the broader local territory.
Sometime in the start of 2006, an English committee was engaged from the UK, to advise Melbourne water on new water management and efficiency initiatives. The leader for this Team is my partners direct reletive and, one day, while he swam in our pool, I was able to discuss some of my ideas in this area.
Bottled Water, and the export of water seemed like an unsuitable business for an environment struggling with a lack of water resources. Post my discussion, the news article discussing their trip, featured a picture of the CTO for Melbourne water, drinking a bottle of Melbourne water, perhaps unrelated, nonetheless humorous.
I also have a idea, about the treatment and recapture of stormwater. Through discussions with a local water manager, I became aware of the difficult issue of the water company apparently not being able to get an EPA license to treat storm water, in some environments.
With an increase of concrete, roofing and other systems for run-off into the storm-water. The produces an effect where less water soaks into the ground, as the concrete replaces the natural environment; a simultanious effect, caused by subdivision and other drivers caused by urbanisation; relates to humidity, as the mechanisms for precipitation within urban environments changes. One key element includes the process where more water, being stored or moved to underground water-tight drainage systems, where it cannot re-articulate back into the local environmental system. Another is the use of pre-existing swamp land and river areas, for urban housing, which drains into the other issue.
Water tanks provide a significant step towards responding to this issue, however as a renter I’m forced to watch my 50 year old fruit trees die in the yard, without any owner interest in implementing such technology. To continue to find ways to respond to this issue, further work surrounding the opportunity to reclaim storm-water and its use within localised parks, gardens and council areas, seems like an ideal method to continue to improve efficiency of our storm-water grid, in association to environmental management.
However my ideas in this area continue to develop and solid solutions haven’t really been identified as yet, beyond the initial ideas.
Geographic Mapping
Councils seem to obtain information about trees, when ther’re scheduled to be taken down. It is also my experience that older trees can become diseased. It was my experience, when living in Balwyn, that a tree chopper (I know their called aborists) continually left me cards, offering to cut down my trees. As a result of the successful work by the aborist around the local area, I developed a new initiatives I mapped into the e-learning project; (which was not further developed) was to do a tree census.
The concept of a “tree census” would be to provide a database of native flora, which can be used to more effectively manage the local flora population. Trees assist with carbon, as well as precipitation. When replacing trees with concrete, the environmental factors within the environment change.
I was recently paid to go and record on camera, the Natural Climate Change Conference.
This was brought together by the old Dean for mathematics, of Monash University. He was fighting to get some form of public recognition for the findings of his work, related to some very specific elements of climate science. With so much climate science in the media, it seemed that there were many experts who were not being effectively represented, due to their specific knowledge in the area; and, related specifications about the terminology, and the problems that related to each term, specifically.
Through his presentation, I learnt about solar flares and how they produce climate effects on the earth. I also learnt about solar cycles. Their discussion particularly related to the natural climate cycles, and new scientific findings in this area.
They were specific in their suggestions that urbanised areas create different environmental micro-climates, as opposed to broader “un-touched” environments. Nonetheless, they were particularly frustrated, that the news publicised every possible environmental issue as an effect of climate change. Climate change, however, is a very specific topic within a broader group of environment and sustainability issues. Climate itself, is affected by these issues, but is not directly related to the poor use of un-renewable resources, clearing of forests, development of ecologically beneficial technology and all such aspects emboded within the context of environmental sustainability.
GreenTV
There is no sustainability TV Channel. I’ve been working on one slowely, but it is taking time. One of my clients / friends in Dubai wants to hold a Dubai Environmental Sustainability Film Festival which I’ve been assisting him with developing conceptually and operationally.
Dreamtime
Game Concept Overview
Dreamtime is a quest and/or puzzle orientated computer game, distributed on leading platforms such as PC, Xbox360, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 or the platforms that are created in the next generation.
The Dreamtime game, is proposed to be embodied as an adventure game. The player creates a profile as a type of individual, representating a family and community member within a common Aboriginal community; and is presented with an immersive, story telling world where the users growth is governed by their ability to adapt and understand the environment around them.
The player starts within a community, and is required to learn key concepts concerning the lifestyle, beliefs and role they play in their tribal society as a contributor to the community. Once initial challenges have been met, the player goes “walkabout”. This offers the player an opportunity to visit, meet and get involved in other communities around Australia.
The Game-Play Challenges
In a manner not dissimilar to the iconic story orientated games of Kings Quest, Myth, Space Quest, Monkey Island, Legend of Zelda and Fable, the game Dreamtime, presents the player with an immersive world where they are required to successfully accomplish interactive stories, or tasks, that collectively contribute towards the game-players statistics and achievements in the game. The game is progressively developed for the user, based on what they’ve already achieved in the game. To begin with, simple aspects are available whilst in latter parts of the games storyline, more complex tasks or puzzles are opened up, requiring knowledge developed from prior accomplishments.
The Storyline
The Storyline will be developed through the participation and contributions of the Aboriginal society. The setting is Australia, prior to European Settlement, where Aboriginal people were part of the land, living in a manner untouched by European values and influences.
Through the participation of Aboriginal communities across Australia, it is envisaged that the game will create a historically accurate, interactive, participatory environment where the dreamtime and culture of Aboriginal communities throughout Australia can be embrased by the world of game-players.
It is envisaged that the game will be delivered in a manner that provides staged presentations at key intervals of the players progress. Within these stages, “dreamtime” stories would be presented to the user, representing the stories passed down by the generations of the real-world communities, in a way that assists the players’ progress in the game to the next level (of knowledge and gameplay).
Commercial concepts
Commercial Market
The game aims to be distributed internationally on a range of platforms.
The game would initially be distributed on PC and consoles, with extensions to the game concept being available on mobile gaming platforms. As the product’s scope is a game that provides character development based on the accomplishment of “dreamtime” story orientated puzzles, it is plausable to provide an online account where users can play on a range of devices, contributing to their overall “gamer profile”, where statistics and achievements would be listed.
Content development and Research
Aboriginal people had different territories throughout Australia, where differentiated cultural aspects ensued. Information pertaining to these individual cultures is somewhat available, however I am currently unsure as to whether the relevent information is available in a suitable format for use over the entire, potential scope of the project.
In order to fairly and effectively develop an archive of knowledge that can be used to generate game-play elements, Aboriginal communities across Australia should be engaged to assist by providing the stories and cultural learnings that will make up the game and the gameplay lifecycle. Using modern technology, it is viable to produce a gaming environment that can be extended with content downloads, after the title has been released to the market. Nonetheless, the broad functionality of the game needs to be published within the initial content package, embodied within the titles software.
Inorder to effectively document and aquire cultural information, it is suggested that the community is engaged and content acquisition is managed, by a team. This team would be responsible for accumulating stories, environmental information and other anthropological data as required by a commercial game development team/s, to turn the dreamtime stories and cultural information into an interactive gaming world.
Corporate Formulation
The Title is designed to assist the Aboriginal people of Australia, and their assistance will be crucial to the success of the game, through the collection of information for the manufacture of the gaming environmnet. In Return for developing a successful game, it is envisaged that a Not for Profit (NFP) entity would be established.
As this not-for-profit entity develops, and as the game becomes commercially lucrative – it is envisaged that this NFP entity would transition from an initial purpose of collecting and holding copywrite for the cultural information gained from throughout the community, towards a new operational business involving investments into Aboriginal Communities for the purpose of exposing its native culture to world markets. This proposed firm, would manage licensing revenues by investing in and contributions towards the on-going economic support for ensuring Aboriginal culture remains a “living” culture. I would like to see funds put towards the benefit of aboriginal communities in a way that brings about a ubiquity in aboriginal culture and what the aboriginal people, felt was most important. Nonetheless, the game must provide a satisfactory commercial return for investors and continued development; and, it will take a lot of good work to make this successful.
Game Engineering Concept
The Game engine needs to be able to represent 3-dimentional representations of geographic territories, at a range of levels. A user should be able to browse Australia as a whole; identifying which specific territory they wish to further investigate while, upon selection, also providing the capacity to interact with a local environment in a first-person perspective.
The Game Engine developed should be made in such a way that it is extendable, with additional content modules. These modules should use a standardised specification, as to provide the opportunity for contributions to the overall environment. Althought the initial focus is Australia and the Aboriginal culture, it is envisaged that upon success the concept could be more broadly applied to other territories around the world where indigenous cultures are less ubiquitous in modern-day lifestyle and communications. Internet access will be a key ingredient in the use of this platform, as it provides the game a method to extend the world and its incorporated “dreamtime” stories, as they become available; and, as funding continues to become available through the sale of game, for further development.
An Immersive Environment
Story telling is also a great art harboured within the creative film industry. I am continuing to consider how filmmakers and game makers could work together on this project, to provide a suitably immersive “dreamtime” environment. It is key to the game, that it looks immaculate, in its visual presentation. There are significant opportunities to also immerse traditional songs and other audio content as part of the experience.
Advanced gameplay and dreamtime puzzles
Almost every concept found within a culture can be described and/or represented to a player as a puzzle. By associating this concept to “dreamtime” stories, the cultural learnings of the Aboriginal people, would be captured from participating groups, and converted into game-play aspects. A good game ensures the player feels forfilled throughout the process of playing it, achieving goal, and moving to a new “level”. In this case, the gameplay is embodied within the story, which has some form of learning outcome found through interaction.
Game Developers are expertly trained at manufacturing gaming environments, and increasingly visual art. However game developers will require content, and a process for acceptance is also envisaged to be necessary to ensure the output is not misrepresentatal to the origin of the story, in a way that misguided.
Economic Effect
It is envisaged that this title, embodying the subject matter effectively in a way that can be successfully marketed to the world, would significantly benefit the Aboriginal culture and our modern understanding of that culture, and its representation in international markets. This historical platform of traditional Australia, could change opinions of Australia in a global market. Sorry, is an important word, however ensuring Aboriginal Culture remains a Living counterpart to the Australian Presence, is much more important.
Film and Social Contributions
The research project will present an opportunity to produce TV or film orientated content, surrounding the production of the game. It is also envisaged that locals could be offered a range of opportunities to participate in the production, providing a range of additional training opportunities in the process.
Related Marketing Concepts
It is envisaged that the game will include a number of cinemagraphic scenes, describing context and associted immersive scenes.
Industry Participation
There is a title called “earth”, which was produced with the assistance of advertising agencies and brands around the world, which was then freely distributed. Although the objective is not to freely distribute the principle output of this project; there is likely an opportunity to present branding and sponsorship support in assocation to the games software environment, but not within the game itself. Any brands and/or corporations known to be contributing to the Game would be rewarded with brand assocaition, to a game that attempts to bring to life indigenous culture. Therefore, as a method for brands, and industry to engage a commercial opportunity to support the community; it is envisaged that this project will provide a palletable opportunity. This is especially the case if and as a successful community development strategy takes form, in relation to the previously mentioned NFP Structure.
A Collaborative Work
The commercialisation strategy ideally provides a framework for wide-spread participation; in-turn, creating a brand that can be cross-marketed, and promoted across a diverse range of Australian and international groups.
As referenced earlier, one of the technical objectives is to build and/or use a game-engine, designed to provide the opportunity for modular development. Through the application of a modular development environment, with a relevant certification process; the commercial method may lend itself to distributed development, with a variety of development agencies.
Technology and Potential Applications (other than the “dreamtime” game)
There is potential for the body of work to be used in education environments and other spaces where immersive environments can be displayed. An example would be a digital planetarium or lecture theatre with digital projector; where the application could be modified to suit an instructor-led tutorial or exhibit.
Another potential application is the development of a framework for delivering a historical, interactive video application that compiles and represents content in a mapping orientated manner. Through the development of a computer game, a computer rendered environment would be produced that may be used for a variety of applications, at a range of complexity levels.
Another idea, is that it may be produced in a manner that provides the means to string-together stories using basic text-orientated strings (ie: XML) that uses a language or XML Schema, designed to allow the production of a story, based on referencing a group of objects, rules and linear gameplay processes. However, I am not sure if this is similar to existing game development processes. In such a design, it would be envisaged that the elements produced would be archived in a database structure for application and re-application into a range of environments. This mechanism is envisaged to be similar to the method used for second-life, however considerably different in the quality of rendering; and commercially different by instituting a process of validation prior to application within any applicable game environment.
In summary: I think this is a great idea that deserves support. If you are able to support the project, please do not hesitate to contact me
