Green Haven (“GH”) is a non-profit, charitable organization, founded by Mr. Ravinraj Gopinath & supported by the Leela Vasu Foundation. GH was set up to fight challenges faced in poverty using means of living of-the-grid & self-sufficient systems. By means of building self-sufficient communities for those in poverty-stricken countries, GH is able to house as many as 1,000 people & children in an area as little as 1 Acre. Primarily focusing on India, the Middle East & South Africa, GH uses revolutionary means of sustainable living with Eco-friendly sources of sustainable energy, organic food & clean drinking water. This way minimal funds are needed to sustain the centres, if not at all, to end poverty one community / centre at a time. Before setting up our own centres, GH starts off with The Green Haven Project (“Project”). With the Project, we build, install & manage off-the-grid systems in existing orphanages (as well as other credible non-profits) worldwide. Our systems drastically minimize operational costs for these non-profit centres, furthering their ability to help those in need. No only are they very easy and cost next to nothing to manage, the systems have a lifespan of as much as 20-30 years individually. Our systems are in more details below. With the technology readily available today, the ideologies of GH are not only viable, but necessary as well.OUR SYSTEMS
Here’s a little bit more about the how we intend to house thousands of children in poverty in limited areas of land, with full access to sustainable energy, clean drinking water & organic food.
SHIPPING CONTAINER HOMES (SHELTER)
The main infrastructure of the our Havens are shipping container homes. Not only are they very affordable & easy to build up, design & engineer from scratch – they are very environment friendly as well. They also give our safe havens protection from the harsh weathers upholding a viable & proven standard of safety for the children. Given that all containers come with hardword flooring, erecting the containers require no piling work at all. Using safe means with the assistance of engineers & architechs, much can be achieved with very, very minimal costs. Even far less costs are required for the interior design of the container homes. Contrary to what it looks like, it is extremely easy to execute a shipping container home design. All you need is a shipping container, a construction company to assist with building it and an structural engineer for safety measures. You want to add doors or windows or need a stair case, simple enough. as we can simply weld furniture &/or staircases etc created from scrap metals before insulating them.
RAINWATER HARVESTING (WATER)
AQUAPONICS (FOOD)
We build & install a vast collection of organic product, which includes fresh water seafood & plants (fruits, vegetables, wheat, spices etc), using a system called aquaponics. Not only is the system self-sufficient & requires barely any human interaction at all, the system proves to cultivate crop up to five times faster, and five times bigger compared to conventional farming & even hydroponics. There is no use of any chemicals in the food or water as well, making it completely organic, completely natural. With aquaponics you place plants closer together on a float system above the water, therefore it fits 10 times more plants in the same space. The roots of the plants are always in nutrient rich water so there’s no over-crowding. The system also removes the need for pain-staking and annoying weeding. The need for pesticides is eliminated, which makes it that much easier for you to have amazing plants and fruit without toxic chemicals and since the aquaponics system uses only 2% of the water normal gardening does and because the water is constantly re-circulated, you do not lose any nutrients to soil absorption. The roots of your plants are constantly submerged in nutrient rich water and you never have to worry about watering your plants again. Plant experts are shocked when they visit aquaponic farms at how fast plants grow. For example, lettuce which takes 60+ days to mature, takes only about 29 days with this system!
SOLAR PANELS (ENERGY)
There are many options to choose from when it comes to clean, green energy. Wind, wave, geothermal etc. But considering the universal application of solar power conversion anywhere in the world, GH chose to capitalize on Monocrystalline Solar Panels. After much use and research on the building of such an intricate & complicated system, we started to build solar panels of our own. Most common problems faced are that of water egression in the panels to the cells itself. GH panels, have no such problem considering our effective encapsulation techniques – giving our panels a lifespan of at least 20-25 years. Monocrystalline solar cells are first generation solar technology and have been around a long time, providing evidence of their durability and longevity. Several of the early modules installed in the 1970’s are still producing electricity today. Single crystal panels have even withstood the rigors of space travel. Some other solar websites suggest that single crystalline solar cells can last up to 50 years. According to some solar engineers, there will only be a slight drop off in efficiency of around 0.5% on average per year. PV panels made from monocrystalline solar cells are able to convert the highest amount of solar energy into electricity of any type of flat solar panel. Consequently, if your goal is to produce the most electricity from a specific area, these are the best. Monocrystalline solar modules suffer a reduction in output once the temperature from the sunlight reaches around fifty degrees Celsius. This loss of efficiency is lower than polycrystalline cells. Also besides producing more electricity per sqm of installed panels, these reduce the amount of electricity needed if in grid-tie systems.
ORGANIC SWIMMING POOLS
As a bonus for the children, we also build organic, all natural swimming pools for them. These pools are filtered naturally using biofilters & oxygenated with plants and wildlife. The pools will be built with the highest safety systems & preventive measures for the younger kids.. Documented long term health effects of chlorine and other conventional pool cleaners include eczema, rashes, cancer as well as itchy and prematurely ageing skin. It’s also believed to cause asthma, an increased risk of allergy and breathing problems. Many sufferers of drying skin conditions actively seek out regular wild swimming sessions to alleviate unpleasant symptoms. These pools are highly attractive, consisting of a swimming area and a ‘regeneration area’. The swimming area could even be a traditional box rectangle shaped pool. It will look the same, but the water will be untainted and far more pleasant to swim in. The regeneration area of the pool is often contained within a separate miniature pool and is responsible for cleaning, filtering and oxygenating the water that passes through here. The plants that form this cleansing arena acts as a filter. Animals and bugs will control any pest issues such as mosquitoes from laying their larvae into the water. Plants also serve you by consuming nutrients that could otherwise begin forming. However, mosquitoes won’t be a problem if you circulate the water using a water pump that can be charged by solar energy. This in turn will clean, oxygenate and circulate the water from the swimming area to the filtration area of the system.
OUR VISION & MISSION
GH was prematurely influenced by The Venus Project (“TVP”) & Mr. Jacque Fresco’s idea of a world without money, along with Jacque’s “The Best That Money Can’t Buy: Beyond Politics, Poverty, & War”. After years of research & tweaking of the ideologies of TVP, Green Haven then devised a simpler, more immediate-application of a model. The skeleton of which is Eco-friendly, sustainable living, off the grid.
VISION
GH envisions a world where everyone has unlimited access to organic food, clean drinking water & Eco-friendly sustainable energy. Imagine a world that fosters hope and opportunity for everyone – where the cycle of poverty and financial dependence ends and productive livelihoods begin, for even the most disadvantaged.
MISSION
To improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good. To do this we will: Ignite a worldwide social movement, and thereby mobilize millions to action – to give, advocate and volunteer to improve the conditions in which they live; Galvanize and connect all sectors of society – individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations and governments – to create long-term social change that produces healthy, well-educated and monetarily-non-dependent stability to everyone; Raise, invest and leverage billions of funds annually in philanthropic contributions to create and support The Green Haven Projects to generate sustained impact in communities that need it the most; Hold ourselves accountable to this cause through our steadfast commitment to continually measure – in real terms – improvement in off-the-grid models. Capitalizing on TVP’s model of self-sustainable means of living & after years of research, GH began to design a self-sustainable & eco-friendly model to provide organic food, clean drinking water & Eco-friendly energy to their communities. We believe that living off the grid, without the use or need of money is the only viable option in sustaining a non-profit with all the essentials it needs. Instead of using the funds raised through donations and such for salaries, energy, food & water, GH models use their donations primarily for the expansion of the project instead. With a self sustainable system in place for food, water & energy, there aren’t much, if not at all, costs required to sustain the community. Whatever You donate goes to saving another child out on the street, by welcoming them into our community. This is how you can be assured that your donations make an actual, direct impact in changing the lives of another. “Access to organic produce, clean drinking water & the sheer abundance of Eco-friendly sustainable energy sources should be made available to everyone. Especially, to those who lack such resources. This is what I hope to accomplish, one project at a time.”
