Jim Bowes

Several bike shops say it can't be done. I'm am sure it can be!
In my quest to become a circle business, I am building the first zero emission cargo bike for the natural media industry using a vintage Dutch cargo bike as my basis.
Natural Media Experts is an eco friendly urban communications company that produces outdoor campaigns for Gemeente Amsterdam and other gemeenten in the Netherlands. It is a restart of one of the first natural media companies in the world - GreenGraffiti.
How can I modify a vintage Dutch cargo bike into an electrically assisted cargo bike? How can I add a renewable energy battery pack power system to run various tools? (power washer, paint spray system, electric brushes)
A zero emission production unit would further reduce the impact of outdoor communication on our environment. It will extend the range where I can offer services, reduce costs to gemeenten by working faster and give my business a competitive advantage.
I am looking for someone with the knowledge I lack. As an advertising professional my engineering skills are limited and electricity scares me to death.
There are many vintage cargo bikes in the Netherlands that few are willing to use due to their heavy weight. However, they are perfectly suited to all tasks more modern cargo bikes are being used for. Repurposing old "unused" resources fits very well with my business and given the very high costs of modern e-cargo bikes could be a business opportunity as well.

I love the idea of SmartCities. However, there are many solutions that are low tech, non digital that can also play a large role and in many cases are more easily spread and embraced by a wider market.
Are there any organisations that are like SmartCities but also support low tech solutions?

Natural-media is a sustainable form of outdoor advertising. Natural-media are a portfolio of techniques that use water, sand, plants, clay, chalk and milk paint to produce outdoor communication messages. Techniques that are not protected by IP, easy to master within 30 minutes and require low skills. They have a low impact on the environment and a high impact on the audience.

The outdoor media industry consumed over 350,000,000 square meters of paper in the EU last year. This is a one meter wide piece of paper that circles our planet 3.9 times each year. Most of it is burned as it can not be recycled. This figure does not include plastic films or vinyl used by the industry.

Outdoor media is now moving towards digital solutions - large tv screens. However, if for example, the Abris and Mupis in Amsterdam are replaced by these large tv screens, they will consume as much electricity as 8000 average Dutch homes. It is a digital solution with many benefits but it has many downsides.

Natural-media is very low tech and does not fit well with SmartCity. That's okay. So the question is where does it fit? Finding platforms that support low tech and no tech solutions is proving to be difficult in the age of digital everything.

If you have any ideas, know of any platforms or organisations that include low tech solutions, I would be highly appreciative if you could share them with me.