Browse Tag

sustainable

6 mins read

Zanshuri, a Black Owned Eco-Friendly Laptop Manufacturer in the $74 Billion Green Tech Market

According to a recent report, the global green technology and sustainability market size was valued at $10.32 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $74.64 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 21.9% from 2021 to 2030.

Consumers, investors, and others who prioritize sustainability are looking for products, equipment, and systems that conserve natural resources and reduce the negative impact on the environment.

UK-based Zanshuri specializes in the design and manufacture of eco-friendly laptops desktops and more. Zanshuri products are currently being used in a variety of fields including emergency response, finance, commerce, and healthcare.

We caught up with founder and CEO, Chib Nwokonkor to find ou more about his business.

eco-friendly laptop

What inspired you to start your Zanshuri?

As a child, the word “Zanshuri”, was often on my mind. I remember asking my parents if it was the name of a distant family relative, a country from our past, or some type of food. My mother assured me it was none of those.

The name stuck with me over the years, and when I finally got to university to study Computer Science and Environment, I used part of my student loan to register the domain name.

Living and working all over the world allowed me to gain an understanding of cultural differences, as well as the similar challenges which we all face. This coupled with my interest in sustainability, gave me an idea of what I would do with Zanshuri.

eco-friendly laptop

How does a Zanshuri laptop or desktop compare to those made by larger tech companies?

The core products at Zanshuri are our range of laptop, desktop and server computers. The difference between us and other manufacturers is all our computers are designed to use as little electricity to complete a task as possible.

This means they more aggressively reduce their power use when on standby or doing basic tasks. They also make the best use of ambient cooling, such that unless it is absolutely necessary for cooling fans to operate, they will remain static. Instead, natural convection is used to cool the system internals, until a threshold is reached, and then the fans will start up.

Although we use industry-standard components from the likes of Intel, AMD, Crucial and Samsung, we modify the cooling array with our bespoke carbon solutions, thus ensuring they run much cooler than they normally would. 

This combination of these factors leads to our computers using up to 90% less energy than other manufacturer’s systems.

eco-friendly laptop

Does being eco-friendly mean you have to sacrifice performance?

We are able to ramp the energy consumption of our systems up or down, automatically, depending on the needs of the user at that precise moment. As a result, our computers tend to outperform the competition, whilst still being able to undercut them in terms of running costs in the long term also.

What patents do you currently have pending?

We currently have patents pending on our developments, including one for non-dynamic cooling within a closed system, which in basic terms means reducing temperatures within a container without relying on fans or liquid systems.

What do you need to help take your business to the next level?

Right now the business needs significant investment to help us raise our profile, continue to refine our Intellectual Property and grow our headcount.

Being a small business in the UK has its challenges, some of which include Brexit, rising costs, and a restricted local market.

We believe the right investment can help us to become more visible to the global marketplace, establish a presence outside of the UK and achieve exponential growth through the wider rollout of our products and services.

Where do you see the business in 5 years?

Five years from now I would like to see us achieve all of the above. We should be a global entity and have premises on each major continent at the very least. Our products have been proven to work effectively as we have an established and growing client base.

Zanshuri has the potential to implement widespread change in an industry which has given lip service to power reduction for so many years. It is already common knowledge that some data centers use more energy than some towns and cities in the world.

This cannot be allowed to continue unaddressed. We are able to do something about it now, with products that actually work and are not just theory. It is an exciting time for all. My team and I are eager to make their mark on the world. This is the way we will do it.

Tony O. Lawson

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5 mins read

Black Engineer Creates Eco-Friendly, Disaster Proof Smart Homes

Housing is amongst the most basic of human needs, and yet, it’s becoming increasingly elusive — even in wealthy countries like the US. Technology has changed every sector leaving construction as the last industry prime for revolution.

The SolutionRoombus produces high quality and eco-friendly modular Smart Homes that are affordable for everyone. The homes are engineered to withstand storms, earthquakes, and even stop burglars.

We caught up with founder, Dami Jegede to learn more about his company.

Eco-Friendly
Roombus founder, Dami Jegede

What inspired you to start Roombus?

So my background is software engineering, and I’ve built 2 successful fintech companies. In 2018 I started looking to solve a bigger and more impactful global challenge. It became immediately clear that affordable housing was what I really, really wanted to do. It has been a big and hairy problem for decades and it gets bigger every year.

Eco-Friendly

Initially, it was about building affordable homes, but when we took a deep dive, it evolved into building the future of housing. We believe that is smart, health-focused, safe and eco-friendly homes.

How does Roombus differ from the homes built from shipping containers?

We actually looked at shipping containers at the onset. In fact, it was what made the venture seem attainable to me, but we abandoned the direction after much research.

We found in the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology found that the majority of containers have harmful levels of toxicity inside — with spillage of harmful substances and chemicals that were not removed by thorough washing.

Eco-Friendly

Hazardous chemicals and pesticides are used to treat the wooden floors, and some were coated in paint which contains harmful chemicals like phosphorous and chromate.

To top it off, container housing was too niche a market for our vision, only 16% of people we surveyed were open to owning a container home.

Roombus, on the other hand, has designed a proprietary steel core frame system that allows us to build truly disaster proof and healthy homes. Great for humans and the environment. Our homes are not limited by container dimensions and compromise, and so our spaces are much bigger.

Please explain how the homes are designed with sustainability and eco-friendliness in mind.

Construction is one notorious industry that produces one of the highest amounts of waste in the world today. Building homes on lots are highly inefficient from cost, labor and waste perspectives.

Most of us have passed by homes under construction and seen the amount of wasted materials on-site — broken wood framing, off-cuts from roofing sheets, insulation, and drywall. Most of that new junk is heading to a landfill near you.

Eco-Friendly

Our prefab method (building in a factory), and precision manufacturing reduces material wastage by a whopping 95%! Our steel framing system is 100% recyclable, and we use bamboo to replace as much wood as possible.

Bamboo grows super-fast and is extremely light on the environment. We utilize above-code insulation to save energy and reduce the need for heating and cooling all year round — from Florida to Alaska.

What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Grit and resilience can’t be overstated. You need to learn to pick yourself up and just keep moving. This is why you have to be double sure about your venture before you start.

Does it really matter to me? How much do I love this?  Hold on tightly to your destination, but let your path be flexible. Too many people waste too much time on a path that just never will open. Pull up your goal maps and try new routes!

 

Tony O. Lawson


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