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Top Green Tech Trends You Can Expect Towards The Year 2020

September 29, 2018October 4, 2018 by Alyce Vayle No Comments

Green tech trends show new advances every single year. Across the world, people are now trying to live more ethical, sustainable lives. Environmentalism first really took hold in the 1990s, now it is such an essential part of people’s lives. In fact, studies show that Millennials prioritise working for an ethical company over the importance of wages.

Green tech is technology that is ‘intended to mitigate or reverse the effects of human activity on the environment’. It can take many forms, and every year it changes and evolves. I did a bit of research into green tech trends, and I identified a few things that you might want to keep on your agenda.

Green tech trends can improve your life

The idea about green tech trends is that they exist to make something better: more useful, less resource-draining, faster, cleaner, greener and more ethical. I have to admit that I am not much of an environmental warrior, but I live in a very socially conscious neighbourhood, the Inner West of Sydney. The community is so green, that you can even share composting duties if you live in an apartment.

Trying to be greener, more sustainable and more ethical, should be everybody’s business. Here are a few green tech trends that you will see on the agenda towards 2020.

War on plastic

Where I live, in Australia, there is a massive war on plastic going on. New South Wales, the state Sydney is capital of, has recently banned plastic bags, then the ban was scrapped, then installed again. Many places are banning plastic straws and many other plastic products are now under the microscope, including coffee cups and plastic bottles.

Greenpeace Australia came out in support of the fact that McDonald’s will now ban plastic straws by 2020. “McDonald’s move to phase out plastic straws is a great step in the right direction,” Greenpeace’s Zoe Deans said. “We’d love to see them really making efforts to decrease all their single-use plastics; it’s just a huge problem.”

Smart green homes

The Boyf and I have become a bit obsessed with the idea of living off the grid, buying a block of land in nature somewhere (we love Golden Beach) and putting up a kit home, and running our power from solar. I would sew our clothes, and The Boyf would grow our veggies and raise our chickens – what a dream, right?

Look at these cool green kit homes you can simply slot together, you don’t even need a tool and they cost less than $10 000. “There’s no nails or glue either; it’s just wedges that lock into each other in a Japanese-style of joinery, and you then just tap them in with a wooden mallet,” says inventor Adriano Pupilli. “You can then add extras or take them away, according to how much, or the kind of space you need.”

Sustainable fashion

Fashion has become so disposable and it’s a huge problem. We are consuming so much fast fashion that it has really started to pollute the world. This really bothers me, and bothers so many people. One of my cool best friends even went so far as to start a sustainable fashion label where women can order beautiful dresses made-to-measure; and nothing is created until sold, so nothing is wasted.

“When considering that a further 20% of clothing was being used as landfill or cleared in secondary markets, I realised this meant that only 30% of women’s wear produced was actually sold as intended,” says Fame & Partners’ Nyree Corby. “Clearly this signaled an imbalance in supply and demand, and so I decided to dig a little deeper into the market.”

Nanotech

Nanotech is a field of science that is dedicated to the study and development of really, really small stuff – so small, it’s one million times the width of the lead in your pencil. It is a green technology trend that is making our planet a cleaner place.

For example, the use of nanotech materials like graphene in transistors and sensors like the ones Graphenea manufacture are helping to make the detection of illnesses much more nuanced and accurate. People can also use super thin graphene and graphite to create protective wearables like bike helmets, shoes, and even protective clothing.