The public’s sympathy will not keep the homeless warm on a cold winter’s night – but Iglou will. What is Iglou? It is the materialization of an innovative idea to help these people thought up and created by French engineer, Geoffroy de Reynal, MSc in Energy Engineering. Iglou is a pop-up igloo that can be easily erected to comfortably fit a person, and possibly even save their life.
De Reynal is a perfect example of how actions speak louder than words. Everyone talks about how unfortunate the homeless situation is but with over 3,000 homeless people (and counting) in France alone, the talking is obviously not doing much to solve the problem. When the temperatures reached shockingly low levels this past winter in Paris, De Reynal decided it was time to act! Something had to be done to help those people stuck out in the dangerously cold weather. He set his mind to thinking up a master plan.
He drew up plans for a personal-sized, portable shelter that would be well insulated through appropriate material choices. The iglous are made from polyethylene foam, covered with aluminum foil. Both layers serve well as protection from the freezing temperatures by keeping the iglou’s interior temperature around 15° warmer than the temperature outside. Not only do these materials keep the cold out, but they also absorb body heat and solar lighting to naturally raise the temperature inside – like a natural heating system.
Furthermore, the iglous are private, compact, repairable, recyclable, waterproof, and easy to clean. As a nice little bonus, the iglou has a small window to provide solar lighting so that the occupants can control their own light while keeping their privacy intact.
De Reynal used his own money to build the first iglous. There were 9 in total and he took them all to the squats around Bordeaux, France for testing. The experiment proved to be a major success! Any person who tried one did not want to leave and the ones who didn’t get one, wanted one. The shelters worked as intended by keeping the people inside safe from the wild nights outside and protected from theft and violence.
Then, he used these first prototypes as an example to start an online crowdfunding campaign from which he received around $20,000 to make more of them. He hopes to make thousands of iglous by 2020. In the future, he plans to make them larger and place showers inside as well.
“I am not trying to replace emergency accommodations. I am just trying to make life a bit less difficult for homeless people. Having one of these igloos does not mean that you are not homeless anymore.” – De Reynal
This story shows that positive changes around us start with individuals. If we all try just a little bit harder, other people do notice and help too if they can. Together we can achieve much higher goals if we only take that first step as individuals to ACT on a good idea! Geoffroy de Reynal has managed to combine three attributes – creativity, invention, and social responsibility – to manifest his good idea and so can you with yours.
Photo Credits: Iglou Shelters Facebook page and Iglou Website
