Posted on 04.24.11

Carbon Nation’s Sustainable Economies of Scale

by Bill Dagiantis

Peter Byck’s film Carbon Nation offers tangible take-aways for affecting change and implementing sustainable solutions on many levels.

On Sunday, April 17th I watched the screening at Facets Multimedia in Lincoln Park during the weekend of its Chicago theatrical premiere. Tim invited me and even though I didn’t have time to read about the film, I’m a vulture when it comes to learning about sustainability (look for my next post on favorite sustainability books). After a few minutes of environmental stats via awesome motion graphics, I realized that this wouldn’t be the doom and gloom evening I had anticipated.

Unlike many environmentally-themed films that focus on the damage we have already done to the planet we inhabit, Carbon Nation offers sustainability-driven solutions and keeps its story line focused on them. The film highlights alternative energy sources and shares tangible takeaways to help you start reducing your own carbon footprint and living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. In fact, as noted in the film’s trailer, it doesn’t even care whether or not you believe in climate change. It exists to offer solutions.

It’s a film that inspires you to take action in your day-to-day life while also causing you to think about how government and corporations can help by increasing their funding and investment in alternative technologies. Carbon Nation offers solutions that range from large-scale government-based solutions on the high end to personal things you can do in your every-day life to make a difference. Let’s break the film’s solutions down based on scale:

Large & Complex Government Solutions

Thomas Friedman makes a great statement in the film when he says, “When the military goes green, the country goes green. Going green will save U.S. companies billions of dollars and it will also spur a whole new set of industries worth possibly trillions of dollars.”  He was talking about the Department of Defense’s Green Hawks program which has the potential to drive economies of scale for clean energy equipment and products.
 
This resonated with me because of an internship I had at the Northwestern University Homeland Security Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. I worked with many small entrepreneurs whose technologies were funded by the government to help Homeland Security efforts and due to the capital they received, were able to create products for sale to the general public. Even though this wasn’t a sustainability-based program, it serves as an example of government funding to propel ideas and innovations forward that might not have made it otherwise. I see this as an extremely important step in the right direction. Yes, our tax dollars go towards funding these entrepreneurs who have the opportunity to rake in millions, but that’s what’s great about innovation and the entrepreneurial leap. However, heads of companies need to take the lead for less capital-intensive solutions.

Medium Scale Corporate Solutions

Organic yogurt maker Stonyfield Farms’ CO2 reduction effort is one corporate example showcased in the film. Gary Hirshberg, the company’s Chairman, President and CEO says, “These teams together in the last three years have generated $7.8 million of profits for my company. That’s $7.8 million that translates into 46 new jobs and even through the recession we are growing jobs.” Teams work together to see who can come up with the best ways to take waste out of the process. It’s what Japan taught us with Kaizen and Muda, and what Ray Anderson (of Interface, Inc.) focused on to lead Interface’s Mission Zero model of business.

Smaller Scale Solutions

The best example of a small scale entrepreneur whose solution picked up steam (literally) is Bernie Karl, a geothermal pioneer and wild Alaskan, who found a way to use 165 degree water to create geothermal power. He said, “I want clean water and clean air. And that’s so simple.” Now he’s caught the attention of Carrier Corp. and worked with them to create the application for generating electricity from waste heat for 165 degree water. Carrier developed the application and two power plants went on line in 2006, and they’ve been humming ever since. The entire project cost about $2 million. Before the geothermal power came online, it cost the resort about 30 cents per kilowatt hour to generate electricity. With the power online, it costs about 6 cents per kilowatt hour —matching some of the cheapest electrical rates in the country. Bernie estimates that after he pays off his debt load for the power plant next year, he’ll be paying one cent per kilowatt hour, matching the super cheap rates that are paid for pure hydropower systems. In the movie he says he looks forward to providing this technology throughout Alaska.

Personal Solutions

My personal takeaway was the concept of “Meatless Monday.” Grazing equals deforestation and so does growing soy to feed cattle. Industrial agriculture is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gasses. As someone who lost over 40 lbs. as a child I know the health benefits of eating less red meat. Now I know the added environmental benefits as well.

The Last Word

Carbon Nation was a good film and I like that it offered both small scale and large scale examples of how to reduce carbon and make a difference and/or profit. It wraps up with a scrolling list of one line takeaways that you can immediately do as an individual. I’d share some of them here, but they went by too quickly to jot down.

I touched on a few of the film’s solutions. It also mentions wind farms, Van Jones’ Green for All, appliance recycling programs, and white roofs. Have you seen Carbon Nation yet? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the film, some of the solutions proposed, and/or any other relevant solutions discussion.