Entrepreneurial Solutions to Insoluble Problems - Tides Canada

Growing OpportunityDeeper Dive: EnergyNot only are billions ofpeople denied reasonableenergy services, but theplanet is running a feversimply by meeting theneeds of those who arecurrently served.91www.innovalight.com/index.html92www.rmi.org93www.mbdc.com94www.mcdonoughpartners.com95www.hypercar.comMindset 3.0In carrying out this Deeper Dive, we spoketo a range of companies and organizations,from big petrochemical companies throughto early stage start-ups like Innovalight. 91This is a fascinating Silicon Valley start upwhich is using nanotechnology and siliconinks to create ultra-low-cost solarphotovoltaic modules. It has developed asilicon nanocrystalline ink that could cutthe cost of flexible solar panels to a tenthof current solar cell solutions — using asolvent-based silicon process that lendsitself to low-cost production and highthroughputmanufacturing. Just one moreexample of the cleantech surge nowbuilding. But in what follows, we will drawon the experience of the full spectrum ofnon-profit to for-profit organizations, fromfoundation-funded social enterprises tomarket-driven cleantech ventures.Standing back, what these entrepreneurshave to teach the wider world has less todo with how to develop a given technologyor how to put together a particular product,than with how they think, act and lead.So, for anyone wondering where theMindset 3.0 agenda (Figure 3.1, page 24)might take us, here are five points whichstruck us in looking over the shoulders ofdifferent types of entrepreneur working inthe energy field.1 Systems thinking and design:inefficiency is the enemyOne striking thing about leading social andenvironmental entrepreneurs is that theyare dedicated to changing the system, notjust to making marginal improvements.Whether or not they succeed in suchambitious aims is quite another matter,but there is no question that the globalenergy system is dysfunctional: not onlyare billions of people denied reasonableenergy services, but the planet is runninga fever simply by meeting the needs ofthose who are currently served.Take a taxi example. Jim Harris, ManagingPartner with the evolving CleantechInnovation Institute, is working out howto get those who influence choices on whatsort of vehicles qualify as taxis — the automakers,taxi companies, leasing companies,regulatory agencies, insurers and others —to focus on changing Toronto’s (and thenCanada’s and then North America’s) taxisto hybrid propulsion systems.41‘Converting North America’s 200,000taxis to hybrids,’ he explains, ‘would havetremendous financial, economic, health,and environmental benefits. Hybrid carsreduce smog emissions by more than 70%.Taxis drive 10 times the distance of averagevehicles every year. Changing 200,000taxis to hybrids would have the sameimpact as converting 2,000,000 cars!’The uncoupling of GDP from energyconsumption — shown in Figure 5.5 —is by no means a foregone conclusion: ithas to be fought for every step of the way.That’s what makes the work of people likeAmory Lovins (of the Rocky MountainInstitute 92 ) and Bill McDonough (of MBDC93and William McDonough + Partners 94 )so important. Whether or not particulardesigns like Lovins’ hypercar 95 (designed toachieve a three- to five-fold improvementin fuel efficiency) actually get built anytime soon, the spotlight has been placedsquarely on the need to drive out energyfrom our economies, value chains andbusinesses.2 Emerging economies:use bigger BRICsGiven the scale of the energy demand ofthe BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India,China) and other emerging markets, theworld needs to focus its attention here —and as soon as possible. Bill McDonoughhas already been working on a number ofplanned eco-cities there, an opportunityspace that has also attracted EcoCities. 96Ask the organization’s Chairman, LawrenceBloom, why he is focusing on China, and heis very clear on the point. ‘Fundamentally,the first EcoCities project is under way inChina (in Dongtan, near Shanghai) becausethe first opportunity was created there.’He explains, ‘China has both the “stick” and“carrot” in large measure to drive her fromher present polluting paradigm to cleanerand more secure solutions. Currently, onedirty coal power station comes on streamevery eight days to fuel China’s continuingeconomic growth. When I was last inBeijing, we took off from Beijing CapitalInternational airport on a cloudless day,but could not see the sun until the planewas at 12,500 feet. The pollution is nearlytwo-and-a-half miles high and is currentlyconsidered to be costing the country 8%of GDP in asthmatic and bronchialconditions and lost working days. With400 million people expected to migratefrom the countryside to the cities in thenext 30 years, that is a very big stick.’