The Sustainable Building Initiative is now “Build for Tomorrow”

Eco-efficiency is the application of specific measures to maximize the efficiency of resource use (energy, water and materials) reducing thus consumption, environmental impact and operating costs.

It enhances the environmental performance as well as profitability of the entity and is therefore, the logical first step in improving its long-term sustainability.

Eco-efficiency:

• Enhances the image of the entity for its contribution towards climate change mitigation.

• Improves the performance and extends the service life of equipment.

• Reduces the operation costs and future equipment upgrading costs

We focus on delivering recommendations that are:
• Profitable

• Simple and fast to implement

• Require low initial and life-time investment

• Deliver measurable results swiftly

Inspired by and in collaboration with Earthship Biotecture, we build structures that offer people a self-sustainable way of living in any climate without sacrificing comfort levels. We minimize the embodied energy of our organic designs by using what some people consider garbage, and make them visually attractive by incorporating natural indigenous materials. In this way, we not only keep our carbon footprint at a minimum but we are also solving a universal problem by reusing tires, plastic and glass bottles, aluminium and metal cans, and others.

We support households, businesses and organisations on their path to sustainability. We believe that environmental impact can be considerably reduced without requiring big investments in infrastructure and rather investing in great people. With this in mind, we have put together a set of training modules focused on:

• Waste Management

• Environmental Impact and Cost Reduction

• Organic Food Production

• Resource Conservation

We understand that many people want to take the first steps into a more sustainable and independent life but they might not have a piece of land to start from scratch. Having this in mind we have created a scheme that adapts to the current situation of our customers allowing them to adopt some of our sustainable systems into their current homes.

We support our clients in designing and installing the following systems to existing buildings:

• Rain Harvesting Systems

• Sewage Treatment

• Clean Energy Generation

• Passive Temperature Management

• Organic Food Production

We develop and innovate passive and nature-inspired designs. Our goal is to incorporate basic needs of water, food, and shelter offering maximum comfort and minimizing environmental impact. We reduce environmental footprint of the designs by using passive designs, rain-water harvesting, renewable energy, water treatment systems and we maximize the use of natural and recycled materials.

Rubén Cortés

Wild Asia’s Sustainable Building initiative is led by Rubén Cortés. He combines experience in business development, management and education from Europe, Latin America and South East Asia with a great passion for social issues and sustainable models of development.

Rubén started his business career in the tourism sector in Germany.  After completing his International Business studies in Mexico, he spent some years in the international business development field.  Yet, his interest in social issues and his passion to learn and contribute to sustainable development efforts brought him to South East Asia.  After 3 years in the region and getting involved in education and sustainable development projects in Cambodia and Malaysia, his interest in pragmatic effective solutions took him back to North America to learn what is considered the most radically sustainable design and building model: Earthship Biotecture.

In South East Asia, Rubén has undertaken consulting and training projects for educational institutions, public and private sector. He has also supported permaculture efforts as designer, lead builder and workshop facilitator. As part of the Earthship international building crew, Rubén was one of the main coordinators of the “Windship Project” -an effort born as response to the devastation of Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), in the Philippines. In Malaysia, has has supported various organizations to improve their operations and achieve international sustainability standards. He has designed sewage and rain harvesting systems -as well as trained builders to install them- to compliment a large reconstruction effort in Kelantan.

Nicolas Dubrocard

Nicolas has been working on providing eco-efficiency and sustainability advice and solutions to businesses around the world for more than a decade.

In Morocco, where he established and ran an environmental consulting firm, he specialized in advising hotels and tourism businesses on compliance with international sustainability standards, environmental management systems, pollution prevention and water efficiency. Given his experience, he was entrusted by the United Kingdom´s The Travel Foundation to run the “Every Drop Counts” water conservation project, which achieved in Marrakesh and other major destinations an impressive 15% average reduction in water consumption among participating businesses.

In 2011, he joined Green Key, a Denmark-based eco-label for hotels, conference centres, restaurants, attractions and other travel and leisure businesses, with more than 2 200 members in 45 countries. As the organization´s International Director, Nicolas increased by 25% the number of countries signatories to the eco-label; significantly enhanced Green Key´s outreach by signing a partnership agreement with Starwood, one of the world´s largest hotel companies; and participated in conferences and tourism fairs worldwide to advocate for the crucial role eco-labels play in improving sustainability in the travel and leisure sector.

In 2014, Nicolas moved to Thailand to implement for Kuoni, a major European Tour Operator, a water management project, which provides information on water conservation measures as well a tool to help businesses calculate the real cost of the water they use.

His expertise in sustainability and resources conservation is further strengthened through his hands-on experience auditing more than 100 eco-hotels in 25 countries for Green Key, Travelife and other eco-labels.

Patricio Gonzalez Morel

Patricio is a mechanical and environmental engineer with a broad experience in resources conservation and pollution prevention, which he employs to help companies become more profitable and sustainable by using water, energy, materials and chemicals more efficiently in their operations. Since 1996, he has provided technical assistance to more than 200 facilities for private clients, NGOs, international development organizations and multilateral institutions, including the US Agency for International Development, the Danish International Development Agency, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Although he has worked with a wide range of industrial plants and processes, the bulk of his experience lies with service sector companies. Patricio is a leading expert in resources conservation in the hotel industry, and has conducted detailed sustainability assessments in 130 properties across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. Through this work he has been able to amply demonstrate that low-cost and high-return equipment and operational upgrades can generally reduce a hotel´s utility costs by 15 to 25% while significantly enhancing its environmental performance.

He has also worked with large tour operators (TUI Travel PLC, First Choice, Thomson, etc.) to lower the environmental impact and operating cost of their flagship hotels; led the technical activities of major international sustainable tourism projects, including the Environmental Audits for Sustainable Tourism Project (Jamaica), the Red Sea Sustainable Tourism Initiative (Egypt) and the Caribbean Hotel Environmental Management Initiative (Eastern Caribbean); and produced guidance manuals and digital resources for hoteliers, consultants and developers on key sustainable tourism issues.

Over the past 10 years, he has leveraged this experience to improve sustainability in other service sector segments, and has conducted comprehensive resources conservation assessment in schools, universities, office buildings, retail shops and hospitals, among others.

An Earthship is a radical self sustainable building that takes care of humans providing water, food, energy, sewage treatment and a comfortable temperature while reusing universally abundant garbage like tires, plastic and glass bottles, aluminum and metal cans, and others.

An Earthship is “the epitome of sustainable design and construction. No part of sustainable living has been ignored in this ingenious building.” “Earthships can be built in any part of the world, in any climate and still provide electricity, potable water, contained sewage treatment and sustainable food production.”

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