The ECOS Climate Action Hive: Where Local and Global Converge
The Vision
Imagine a structure near where you live that is made out of four modified shipping containers covered by a roof made of solar panels. Known by locals as “the Hive,” the simple building provides basic services for the community, including First Aid. But it is also something of an interactive museum or living laboratory for learners of all ages and backgrounds to gain insights and skills into sustainable practices for the 21st century.
Often buzzing with activities — people charging their mobile devices and electric bicycles, students learning science and career pathways related to sustainability, farmers and artisans selling their wares, experts giving workshops on food and healthy lifestyles — the Hive is where individual people can learn about local to global climate action…..and much more.
The basic kit of the Hive — solar panels, batteries, educational materials, and a handbook for making best use of the materials — is offered by ECOS, the Education, Communication and Outreach Stakeholder community affiliated with the UNFCCC, which envisions 100,000 or more Hives around the world, each unique to the community they serve. The Hive may be located in a local schoolyard, or village center, in a park or even a parking lot. Its structure is simple in design and can be easily installed and customized.
The Hive offers a complex range and depth of solutions. It has the potential to inform, inspire and engage the public to be directly involved in implementing adequate responses to climate change and related challenges, but also to help individuals and the local community meet their own self-sustaining needs.
Ideal for schools and other learning environments, as well as hospitals, refugee camps and vulnerable communities, the Climate Action Hives are at once adaptable, practical and economical, building capacity on a community scale to minimize climate risks and maximize resilience.
ECOS proposes demonstrating the ECOS Climate Action Hive at COP 23 in Bonn, Germany, 6–17 November 2017, ideally at or near the Conference Site. Open to the public throughout the Conference, this initial Hive could potentially be left on the site or moved to another location at the close of COP 23.
Background and Logistics
The Hive concept is inspired by the Hungarian company Aquaprofit’s Intelligent Water Aid Technology (IWAT), which was designed by inventor Zsolt Zombori for freshwater purification in remote locations. The IWAT modular approach lends itself to easy assembly, operation and customization.
A space approximately 50 meters squared will be required to display the system in Bonn at COP 23. The key elements of the Hive that will be featured include:
- Four High Cube ISO Containers modified for demonstration purposes
- State-of-the-art solar PV panels, roofing and controls
- A hybrid battery system including salt-water batteries for base load and next-generation lithium batteries for rapid charging
- First aid station
- Social communication systems including wifi and mobile phone charger stations
- Examples of local technologies for reducing GHG emissions, which may include heat pumps, electric bicycles or other vehicles, micro wind turbines, and/or in-stream hydro power
- Gallery exhibit of artwork (photographs and selected text) from the best-selling book Drawdown, edited by author Paul Hawken, highlighting the topics of Energy, Food, Buildings and Cities, Land Use, Transport, and Materials
We plan to train guides and invite experts who are participating in COP 23 to host visitors to the Hive during the conference. Over the next three years, the goal is to strategically site the first 1,000 Hives around the world, with priority given to refugee centres, vulnerable rural regions, and science and technology hubs. By 2030 the goal is to deploy at least 100,000 Hives in communities around the world to serve as strategic interventions to inspire the public to engage in climate action and related Sustainable Development Goals.
Contact:
Mark McCaffrey
