Tessa Vaendel,
Noor Debets
A Sustainable Lifestyle is the way of living of individuals and holds many activities in the day. Since it is about individuals, every person has its own rythm and role and therefore their activities are not the exact same on daily basis. But, generally seen, the course line will often match, as could been seen in chapter 0. Steering towards a self-sufficient 2065 three technological solutions are considered in this paragraph. These three solutions can be used in many disciplines, but, according to the infographic in chapter 0, food is a great focus in day-to-days life. Therefore the solutions will be worked out with the focus on this daily characteristic.
4.2.1. Presences in the 2065 sub-system
By 2065 both society and technolocial options will have changed completely, and overall due to advances in these new technologies will have created a more sustainable society. In order for this to actually happen two of the defined target groups (tourist and profit local) will have to adapt their lifestyles in order to align closer with that of the planet local. This means that they will have to go from simply choosing the most obvious and easiest option, to conscious decisions about their lifestyle, which won’t happen without intervention. To sketch out a path this adaption could plausibly take, we looked back at the YUTPA model, where we looked at different presence of the planet and the profit locals. These design spaces are aspects where the target groups do not yet align properly, which creates chances for improvement. In the YUTPA system that was worked in chapter 2, there were three relevant aspects.
Most people have forgotten about seasons and harvest, and that some goods are not always available due to these restrictions. This inconvenience is why all mass retailers ship their goods from outside of the island. The few local producers are not gathered in a single place. In order to buy these local, sustainable goods, people are required to travel all over the island. Profit locals buy non-sustainable, mass produced goods because it is easier, because these goods are gathered together, and available 24/7. This is why synchronizing performances is important. Local goods will never be constantly available, which is why adjusting the supply and the demand to match each other is so important if the profit locals are ever to buy local and sustainable goods.
Even then this cannot be a one-time purchase whenever they have some time left over, and it is a nice day to travel the island to these planet producers. Profit customers need to ready themselves for a long duration of engagement, and there needs to be a viable strategy for long term, in order to facilitate a permanent lifestyle change.
Negotation is the key to organizing this new system, and is necessary for both the previous YUTPA aspects. Besides that, very often it is the lack of knowledge between the planet and the profit locals that is a barrier, and a lack of understanding - the early adopters versus the conservative ones. This will also help set up the rules that make it more profitable for even the laggards to buy sustainable goods.
4.2.2. Prevailing technologies
The local producers will then be responsible for most goods on the island, and they will be part of an organized networking system. This system, called the internet of things*, links all these producers, and their goods together in a constantly updated stream of data. This data will function as an concentration of goods such as the old-fashioned supermarkets.
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* Internet of things is a concept wherein a network of physical objects is embedded with software in such way that it enables these elements to collect and interchange data. Examples nowadays can be found within Energy companies who provide apps and sensors which make it possible to control the temperature in homes at distance. “Things” will be collected in an effective and efficient way and will therefore support the sustainable lifestyle .
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This internet of things could be made more efficient with a point system. This system would log when and where people get their groceries, and reward them with a point system based on locality and sustainability for local food consumption.
In this particular case, we have been talking about food as an aspect of lifestyle, and the prevailing technologies are based on this analysis. Over the last century, people’s food intake has become more varied and exotic, and not many of them would be enthusiastic about giving that up. This leaves the inhabitants with a percentage of their diet that cannot be produced locally.
The answer to this could be 3D printing*. Technology is developing quickly, and by 2015 food 3D printers are functioning successfully. In those intervening 50 years, technology could develop these machines into efficient food producers on location, whenever a customer needs it.
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* 3D printing is hot and is gaining greater support these days. The process refers to the shaping of three-dimensional objects in a variety of shapes made from many different materials. 3D printing can make it possible to print on demand, on small scale and, theoretically, at any place in the world. This is sustainable in such way that overproduction will belong to the past. Besides, there is greater possibility to produce on local scale and it prevents broken devices to be rejected immediately because of the ability to produce, and therefore repair, small parts or elements of the larger device. |
These 3D printers will be on a certain location on the island, and many of these local producers will also be selling their goods from their own land. This requires a great amount of travel just to gather the week’s groceries, and simply not everyone is willing or capable of doing this. While creating a single centre where all these goods are concentrated is an option, another would be to introduce an autonomous vehicle system*. Texelaars would use the Internet of Things, buy their week’s groceries, which would then be transported to their homes. The amount of weight transported would be much less, which allows for a much more efficient system that reduces energy goods, and could run entirely on renewable energy sources.
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* Autonomous transportation; Whether it is about transport for people or for goods, autonomous transportation is driverless like drones, driverless cars or wagons. This innovative technological idea is sustainable since the transport will be independent of a driver’s time-schedule. Products or people can be delivered at any place, at any time, outside peak hours and during most energy efficient moments. |
The same point-system that can be implemented for the locally purchased groceries, can also function for the purchase of energy. Locally produced sustainable energy will be more and more the trend and at a certain point in time fossil fueled energy will be banned on a local regional and national level.
4.2.3. Interrelation of technologies with each other and with daily life
These technologies and concepts don not exist yet in 2015, and thus there is not yet any ‘standard’ or ‘accepted’ way in which they can be used. In the previous paragraph these technologies were described with possible uses, and in paragraph 4.3 we detail two pathways that could bridge the gap between 2015 and this future vision. These pathways both have different outside factors influencing them. While the goal of this strategy is reached in both situations, namely, self-sustainability on Texel by 2065, the actual island will look slightly different, which can be read in paragraph 4.3. Besides these surface differences there will be a new, more sustainable subsystem on the island.
In the previous paragraphs, most of the chapters have focused on food specifically, instead of a more generic ‘lifestyle’. This is because we have defined lifestyle in the first chapter as the choices the inhabitants make in their everyday life. Food is an important aspect of this, and a very good example case, as this is an integral part of daily life, and yet allows a lot of personal freedom of choice.
In this future system, the internet of things gathers knowledge about all local food sources on the island, which is updated daily and accessible to the people. This food is gathered, not physically like in the old mass retailers, but in online data. This internet of things could be done either in a one-step system, or in two. This second option is a way of working that has kept similarities with the standardized way things were done in 2015. The first part gathers information on crop growths and locations for a retailer, a gathering point, which transports this food in one location. The other step would be a database from the retailer, that sends out information on the current stock of this shop. The inhabitants of Texel would travel to this shop for their (bi-)weekly groceries run.
A one-step database combines these two steps, gathering information from availability and locations directly from the producers, and then informs the customers of this directly. Since in both cases this whole island remains a micro-system, it involves a lot of travel to gather relatively small quantities of goods from a larger quantity of producers. This requires a lot of travel. At this moment, the autonomous travel system comes into play. Vehicles large enough to transport humans are heavy, and the combined weight of human and vehicle costs a lot of energy to transport. By using autonomous vehicles, such as drones, or something similar, that only have to transport relatively small quantities of product, a much lighter vehicle can be made. These smaller transports are then capable of running on renewable energy sources. These vehicles can transport all local products to a single retailer, to assure a constant supply and renewal of goods. In the second case, the one step system without retailers, these drones could directly transport all goods from the producer to the consumer, once this consumer has composed a shopping list.
In 4.2.2 we already mentioned one of the problems that came up during the analysis of food as a lifestyle aspect. In the 21st century, humans have become very used to eating a varied and international diet, and Texel is not capable of reproducing all these goods, for example pasta, locally. In this case there are 3D printers that could solve this lack. These printers are capable of producing this food using base materials. In 50 years, every household could have one of these, to print foods as needed. Or, this single retailer could have several 3D printers, and makes sure to have a stock of these products for when people want to buy them.
4.2.4. Rules and regulations
When the Internet of things was explained in this chapter, we mentioned a possible point system, which would provide points, with corresponding bonuses to people as they bought local and sustainable products. This system could be worked into the data, and could distribute discounts to people based on these merits. These discounts would help bring down the price of local products to stimulate the profit local target group. The system works with tags on the produced food that entail the production post of origin. The more this point is closer to the eventual consuming point the more points you get.
Another option would be to use negative stimulation instead of positive. By adding travel costs, or sustainability compensation to goods imported from other areas, these goods become more expensive and less attractive. These regulations can be organized from different stakeholder groups, depending on the pathway taken. Either way, it will make sure that local good will always be the profitable option, both economically and sustainably, removing the barrier that stopped profit locals and leisure tourists from buying sustainable foods.