How the US Could Save $500 Billion

World economies have suffered a lot because of reasons which were “hidden”. Terrifying numbers have been announced in the US. According to the Institute of Integrated Profit (the Integrated Benefits Institute, 2012, US), the US economy loses about US$576 billion a year due to employees’ health problems; this is more than 3% of the country’s GDP. Furthermore, 39% or $227 billion of this is due to the “loss of productivity”.

Many of these workplace casualties are connected to bacterial and fungal contamination, which has an adverse impact on the contemporary professional activities of the average person, since s/he daily spends more than 80% of time indoors. It has known that modern civilization means being in constant contact with air-borne microflora and toxic chemicals. Bacteria and fungi, being pathogenic, contribute to the development of many infectious diseases.

Moreover, some furniture or, for instance, parquet and linoleum may excrete toxic substances causing chronic poisoning and discomfort and provoking allergic reactions. Lack of humidity and oxygen in locked premises affect people’s health state and, therefore, have a negative impact on their work productivity.

Money is lost on the days off. Workers’ worsened health also leads to a decrease in their self-esteem, energy and work efficiency. So, both employers and employees end up suffering financially, physically and professionally.

KazNU students find natural solutions for an urban environment

Students at Аl-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan (KazNU), came up with their own way of tackling this issue. Their “bio-terminal” is a revolutionary new concept transforming urbanized life. The project is based on the belief that it’s possible to find environmentally sustainable and natural solutions to support people’s wellbeing, which also indirectly results in a reduction of the governments’ expenditures on healthcare systems and the “loss of productivity” caused by health reasons.

Thoroughly planned by the KazNU team of young professionals, the “bio-terminal”, as it is seen by its creators, is a specific combination of diverse types of plants and high-tech elements such as solar panels, adjustable sprinklers and nutrition systems. Phyto-healing and phyto-protection of people inside buildings are considered the number one target of the “bio-terminal” devices.

Authors of the concept have researched and selected the optimal combination of plants, taking into consideration the specificity of buildings’ placements, the type of human activities and contingent factors. While developing the idea, creators were surprised to find that plants offer a number of natural solutions to problems which the students could not even imagine before they got started. The inventors were also astonished by the effectiveness indexes of harnessed plants, which surpass the same ones of the artificial devices.

Despite a wide range of domestic and imported air purifiers, filters, ozone generators, ionizers, converters, humidifiers and other devices aimed to clear air from pathogenic microorganisms and toxic chemicals, these most advanced devices are not always able to provide a healthy and favorable environment. In addition, the cost of such machines and their maintenance is quite expensive.

Plants, on the other hand, being a part of the decor, are easy to fit into any building’s design, less expensive than technical equipment, do not require complicated maintenance or care, have no side effects and are quite effective at functions that the man-made devices are supposed to carry out.

Effective, attractive and environmentally sustainable

In a consumerist market, every client is interested not only in the functionality and effectiveness of a bought machine, but also in its service lifetime and design. Knowing that, the authors have also considered these aspects. The plants’ properties and required conditions (food, light, soil) for quick and stable growth and prolonged life expectancy have been studied and defined.

Elements including solar panels, adjustable sprinklers and nutrition systems are all utilized effectively, and the inventors have also come up with the idea of using only recyclable materials and advanced high-techs, ensuring the bio-terminal is truly environmentally sustainable. “We are going to focus on four basic models: "Office", "Home", "School / University" and "Kindergarten", taking into account the placements and types of human activities,” says one of the authors, Yegor Zbrodko.

The official headline of the project is: “Building the world after 2015: bio-terminal as the way to create a healthy environment for people’s welfare”. The project has been developed as part of the MDP/GC program at al-Farabi KazNU & Earth Institute at Columbia University, coordinated in Kazakhstan by Rafis Abazov, PhD. This program has also originated several other successful projects, including a “biking habitat”, which are being implemented both inside and outside the KazNU campus.

The bio-terminal project also ties in to several Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which must also be considered in the post-2015 agenda. Improving human health and reducing the economic impact of health problems are crucial targets to make progress in environmentally sustainable urban spaces. The development and implementation of these kinds of natural solutions can reinforce these essential targets and mitigate the global burden of infectious diseases.

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