Perhaps we can all learn a lesson from this innovative, high-tech, energy efficient, “smart village” built just northeast of Kuala Lumpur. Called Rimbunan Kaseh, it is said to provide a potential global template for addressing rural poverty in a sustainable environment.
It consists of 100 affordable homes, high-tech educational, training and recreational facilities and a creative, closed-loop agricultural system designed to provide both food and supplementary income for villagers.
A project of Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council (GSIAC) it stands on 12 hectares in the Malaysian state of Pahang. The smart village includes a four-level aquaculture system whereby water cascades through a series of tanks to raise, first, fish sensitive to water quality, then tilapia (‘the world’s answer to affordable protein), then guppies and, finally, algae. The latter two products are used to feed the larger fish.
Filtered fish tank wastewater is used to irrigate trees, grain fields and crops such as flowers and fresh produce, the plants grown
individually in novel hydroponic devices. This ‘auto-pot’ is a three-piece plastic container that automatically detects soil moisture levels and waters plants precisely as required, reducing needs for costly fertilisers and pesticides as well as water.
Organic waste is composted to encourage worms and other organisms on which free-range chickens feed together with the homegrown grains.
In addition to access to reliable food supplies, villagers can augment their monthly income by an estimated $400 to $650.
The energy-efficient homes (roughly 100 sq m – 1,000 sq ft) each require only ten days to construct, in part from post-consumer materials. Solar-generated power is complemented by biomass energy and mini-hydro electricity.
Malaysia is looking to scale up the smart village initiative, replicating the Rimbunan Kaseh model at as many as 12 sites in the short to medium term.
Ellis Rubinstein, president and chief executive of the New York Academy of Sciences, says: “This model offers a great opportunity to create holistic change for people in the worst circumstances in Malaysia and other nations as well.”
GSIAC is composed of leading education, economics, business, science and technology experts from the UK, Malaysia, China, India, Russia, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, and the USA. This includes two Nobel laureates.
Photos show: home exterior, a bedroom accommodation, the living area and (below) the ‘village’
More information: www.might.org.my and www.nyas.org
