StartupRealities

StartupRealities No 127 IslandSaviour is a sea defence construction company which builds breakwaters around private islands to insulate them from the effect of sea level rise. Global sea levels are forecast to go up by 0.75 metres by 2100 as a result of climate change and melting polar ice caps. Building underwater sea walls along vulnerable coastline reduces beach erosion and protects land from being taken over by the ocean. CEO QUOTE "Wealthy individuals and cruise companies own many islands and are willing to pay for their preservation. Whereas governments that award public works to us to protect coastline generally are not too picky about the looks of a breakwater, private owners usually demand an unspoilt view. In such cases, we build the breakwaters a dozen centimetres below the mean ocean surface. In other words, we create a giant infinity pool around the island. This is also good for the environment, as it allows fish migration." - said IslandSaviour founder and...

StartupRealities No 103 WaveGenergy installs wave power generating facilities off sea coasts threatened by wave erosion, which slows down or stops erosion altogether while also generating electricity. These facilities consist of interconnected polymer sheets on the surface of the ocean and are installed along the coast to dampen the power of the waves that reach the shore. The company's primary focus are erosion-threatened populated shorelines and built-up coastal strips with high real estate valuations. In almost all countries the shallow waters off the coast are owned by the state, so contracts for installing these wave power generating facilities are awarded by governments under a formula that takes into account both the land saved from erosion and the electricity generating potential. CEO QUOTE "The ocean is a blessing in so many ways, but its destructive power should not be underestimated. We turn the negative of wave erosion into a positive: coast protection and ele...

StartupRealities No 21 FlattenHills Limited is a construction and real estate company which buys coastal hills, mines the rocks in the hills for construction material, and converts the flattened plots into seaside residential developments. INTERVIEW WITH THE FOUNDER "Two people have inspired me to start my business and they lived more than 2,000 years apart," FlattenHills founder and CEO Phil Halls told us in an interview. "The first one is Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing. His ports and properties empire makes perfect commercial sense. When the shipping and ports business is down, he converts port sites into prime seaside real estate. This business model cannot go wrong," Halls noted. "My other inspiration is China's first emperor, Qin Shihuang. He said he would dig out the mountains and fill up the valleys. I am not sure why he said that but it makes sense if you are building a road, for example: you remove the obstacles and the rubble from the obsta...