Imagine a small Brazilian town bursting with creativity, interconnected with people and knowledge from around the world, poised to solve the pressing issues of our time: climate change, unemployment, hunger, and sustainability. All with simple, feasible solutions that can be applied anywhere on Earth, and at a fraction of the cost compared to hydrogen solutions that some developed nations try to impose globally.

A visionary mayor and a social scientist from Brazil, connected to many partners globally, are researching innovative cleantech solutions. Together, they've built a smart city of just 24.000 residents that can tackle global challenges such as transitioning to green energy, eradicating hunger, decreasing unemployment, and promoting a sustainable economic model, all while incentivizing people to relocate from large cities to small and medium-sized communities worldwide.

The prevailing issues of income inequality and technological unemployment, coupled with the urban chaos of big cities, threaten to devastate life on our planet. But amidst this turmoil, brilliant ideas like the Brazilian town of Carmo do Cajuru emerge, offering humanity a fresh start in isolated communities and small to medium-sized cities.

Carmo do Cajuru, the Bright Green City, epitomises Brazilian ingenuity, sustainability, and intelligence. With its 24.000 inhabitants, it stands as a beacon, showcasing a replicable smart city model that can have a positive impact on climate, sustainability, and the green economy globally.

The city is a remarkable public-private partnership (PPP) that started with the Hummano Group in 2018, evolving into one of the world's most celebrated models for smart city PPPs, even recognized by the United Nations. Its merit lies in being the only smart city to achieve five Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): clean and affordable energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, and sustainable cities and communities. Another reason for its acclaim is the second phase of the PPP, which promises to create a global model for smart cities, with various innovative technologies in green energy, satellite telecommunications, and organic food production with LED lighting.

This phase will involve experts and researchers from Unicamp, one of South America's most prestigious universities, as part of a collaborative effort Climate Intelligence Center (CIC). This center will connect companies and institutions worldwide to promote and disseminate climate-related technologies and solutions that are already available but not well-known.

Numerous technologies scattered across the globe will form the most advanced model for contemporary cities.

Here's a glimpse of the technologies, innovations, and services that will feature in the second phase of the PPP in Carmo do Cajuru, demonstrating a multitude of existing and viable climate solutions from around the world:

  1. Satellite telecommunications
  2. Energy storage using:
    • Supercapacitors
    • High-durability lithium batteries
    • Compressed air
    • Solar concentrators
  3. Energy production through:
    • Mini hydrogen cells
    • Mini wind turbines
    • Mini hydro-flow turbines
    • Solar power
  4. Ultra-fast internet transmission via LED-Li-Fi for remote areas
  5. Data transmission (broadband) without fiber optics, Fluid Mesh
  6. High-speed horizontal organic farming with the Brazilian innovation Hortiluz combined with an agro community
  7. Electric mobility for public services
  8. Online public services: Healthcare, Education, Municipal services
  9. Community co-working for green innovation and digital nomads

Upon signing the second phase of the Carmo do Cajuru project, which includes collaborative efforts with the Hummano Group, Unicamp, Forum das Americas and Meersohn Marstrand, the city is expected to achieve over 95% electricity savings thanks to an innovative energy storage system combining supercapacitors and lithium batteries developed through a Sino-Brazilian technology collaboration. The city will also implement a small-scale compressed air energy storage system with 70% efficiency, compared to the 30% efficiency of green hydrogen, which comes with significantly higher costs.

Additionally, the city will benefit from satellite telecommunications, offering faster, safer, and more affordable communication, along with solar concentrator systems. Lastly, a project for horizontal organic vegetable and fruit production on a 1-hectare area, using the Hortiluz LED lighting system based on the Mirai project of horizontal gardens in Tokyo, promises to produce up to $300.000 per year per hectare in processed fruits or vegetables. This method consumes 90% less water, grows five times faster, and requires only one-tenth of the space compared to traditional agriculture, such as soybean farming, which generates minimal revenue and significant environmental damage.

In summary, the Carmo do Cajuru PPP will prove that small and medium-sized cities worldwide can usher in a viable and intelligent way of life. It will showcase to the world, businesses, and governments that climate issues, unemployment, and decentralized sustainable development can be addressed with mature, economically feasible technologies already available for over 15 years, as demonstrated in the Bright Green Book 1 published by Hummano in 2010 with over 4 million distributed copies (see BGB1).

It's worth noting that the Hummano Group played a pivotal role in organizing the startup HighTrend in late 2017, securing an initial investment of $5 million in 2018. They also managed the energy efficiency project and budgets that led HighTrend to win contracts for PPPs in Rio de Janeiro (the largest worldwide PPP contract) with a 33% discount and in Campinas with a 61% discount, along with contracts in Aracaju and Feira de Santana. This made HighTrend the world's leading company in terms of PPP contract volume, with $900 million in direct investment from the Phoenix Fund and the US International Development Finance Corporation up to now.

Today, we aim to demonstrate that the technologies we discovered over 15 years ago and published in the BGB1 have been ready to save the planet since the early 2000s. Robson Oliveira, Director of Hummano, along with Edson Vilela, Mayor of Carmo do Cajuru, and their teams have made this project viable, showcasing a model that can now be replicated anywhere on the planet, generating millions of jobs, eradicating hunger, stimulating the economy, redistributing development, and addressing extreme climate effects.