Weak signals from the future

What does the future hold? Water wars? Personal solar panels? Peer-to-peer renting? We've got our finger on the pulse, and suggest how today's trends could become tomorrow's phenomena.

Water fight
Oil wars are a thing of the past, and water has become the one resource worth fighting for. Only businesses with the foresight to cut down on waste and build future access to water into their strategies will hold up. So says a report by Ceres Group, urging companies to work out their dependence on water. The report backs Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe’s warning that “under present conditions… we will run out of water long before we run out of fuel”.

Fieldwork from afar
Wireless sensors powered by tiny chips and solar panels could revolutionise the ways scientists, conservationists and farmers monitor nature. Responding to movement or chemical balances in the environment, the data they transmit can alert a park ranger to the first sparks of a fire, or keep a check on toxic waste from a safe distance.

Personal PV
A new generation of small, lightweight plug-and-play PV panels, developed by start-up company Veranda Solar, has hit the Dutch market. The US designer Capra J’neva won €100,000 in the PICNIC Green Challenge to bring solar to a mass audience with her easy-installation panels. Moving away from the traditional concept of roof-panels, this relatively affordable product can hang from any window-ledge or gutter.

Rent bays
A new renting trend has risen out of the credit crunch. Why cut into a tight budget to meet an occasional need when you can have that camera or handbag just when you need it for a fraction of the price? The online community platform www.zilok.co.uk offers peer-to-peer renting as a sustainable alternative to eBay for have-nots, and an easy money-making ploy for the haves.

1 May 2009