Ola Network

An Urban Permaculture Design project

Background

The comstock project learnings:• Restaurants are the black hole in the city, they are the

most intensive users of energy• Working with for profit businesses require a different

approach • There's opportunity to create awareness in the restaurant

industry beyond what green certification programs are already doing

• There is a huge unmet need in this industry and a lot of permaculture designers to draw from that is an untapped resource

Assessment: green certification

• One size fits all• Checklist approach• Slow evolution • sustainability is not enough

http://www.dinegreen.com/restaurants/standards.asphttp://www.ecocrownhospitality.com/Restaurant-Organic-Certification.phphttp://www.gbcertified.com/home09.asphttp://www.business.gov/manage/green-business/green-marketing/green-certification.html

http://www.dinegreen.com/restaurants/standards.asp

Assessment: open loops

1.Food sourcing2.Water3.Energy4.Waste5.Resources and Materials

Changing direction to aim higher

We want to create a movement in the restaurant industry toward systemic and positive change

Vision

“Ola”, in Hawaiian means life and well being. Our mission is to use permaculture strategies and principles to create a higher standard of sustainable practices. We do this by empowering businesses to join us through education and connecting them to a community of permaculture designers who can support them in this transformative process.

The solution: a network for change

The Ola network focuses on supporting businesses to:• Learn • Connect• Act

On permaculture principles and strategies that creates systemic results


Learn • Simple visuals to create awareness • Easy to follow DIY methods • Learnings from real experiences within the community

ConnectAct


Learn Connect• permaculture designers to businesses • Businesses to businesses • Designer to designer

Act


Learn ConnectEngage• Pledge to the same mission• Support each other • Share experiences

The solution

Implementation

Register as B-corp • Measure success by social impact• For profit

o income for permaculture designerso project does not rely on donations

• Build a mix of investor (HNWI) and advisors (permaculture designers)

Implementation

Fundraising - round 1 • Friends and family

o Target investors: Ed Merrin & Martha Stewart • Education: double as marketing that creates immediacy and

accountability in the business world)• Marketing, use simple visuals and figures to create immediacy and

accountability. Focus on making permaculture accessible to businesses.

• Demonstrate existing successful projects on site to create awareness about feasibility

• Leverage partners and target investors, to recruit a 10 dedicated businesses

• Recruit designers to work on these projects we match them with and donate part of their proceeds to Ola

Implementation

Business model • Membership fees • Matching fees: Businesses pay a small % of overall project

cost to the site when a project is successful

Implementation

YEAR 1: • Beta site and process with small # of designers and businesses

(10/10)• Site vs 1: matching process

YEAR 2: • Target 100/100 locally • Start generating revenue• Site vs 2: social layer

YEAR 3• Grow globally • Target 1000/1000 • Site vs 3: collaboration tools

Assessment

Assessment: open loops

1.Food sourcing2.Water3.Energy4.Waste5.Resources and Materials

Open loops: (1) Food sourcing

• Open loops exist where there is a disconnection and no relationship between food growers and the ultimate consumer. Loops are closed when local, sustainable, small-scale organic and seasonal networks are integrated

• Excess food transport miles traveled - wasting time, energy, and polluting the environment

• Industrial agriculture business sources supporting the economies of scale and cash crops, rather than the local farmers, markets, and culture

• Vegetation grown in monoculture settings - depleting the land and soil of its nutrition and leaving crops vulnerable disease rather polyculture farms with complementing ecologies and varieties

Open loops: (2) Water

• Water inefficient devices for toilets, dishwashers, and faucets (strategy - lowflow or noflow or timedflow, plus aerators)o Hand sink faucets without aerators can use

up to 10 gallons of water per minuteo A DIY solution to reduce toilet flush water

usage in an old toilet with large tank is to place a brick of filled litter bottle

• Water is not used to its full potential as opposed to greywater systems which can capture 50-80% of wastewater

Open loops: (3) Energy

• Heat flowo Daytime heat lost at night without proper insulation and solar

capture or thermal designo No thermastat or temperature control system to management

conditions intelligentlyo HVAC systems with leaks or needing filter maintenance

• Energy usageo Appliances without energy efficient or "EnergySTAR" structureso Appliance kept on at all hourso Partially loaded dishwasherso Solar water heating, better use of energyo Lighting systems and lightbulb choice

• Food-relatedo Refrigeration systems, design loses chill through inefficient usageo Food preparation and heating devices

Source: http://www.sfdph.org/dph/files/EHSdocs/Green/Energy.pdf

Assessment: (4) Waste

• Excess edibles or food scraps• Grease and oils• Paper, plastic, styrofoam or other disposables

for serving or takeway food and refreshments• Restroom paper towels• Cardboard, plastic, or glass bulk storage

containments• Up to one-fifth of America's food goes to waste

each year, with an estimated 130 pounds of food per person ending up in landfills

Assessment: (5) Resource & materials

• Non-renewable materials • Unnatural synthetically derived materials,

furnishings or treatments such as polyester, plastic, vinyl, and toxics

• VOC paints, carpets, products that off-gas• All new furnishings rather than restored,

recycled, salvaged• Chemical and toxic cleaning products, dish

soap, and hand soap

Unknowns

• Is there a perceived unmet need? • Feasibility • Niched industry, what are the financial implications of that?• How long will it take it to create enough awareness for

business owners?

Let's start a movement