The new IBMs of the world - ESCOs.

Amory Lovin's book back in the 90s -Natural Capitalism- exposed us all to the concept of the "negawatt", the inherent power in the energy never used. That in and of itself is a powerful concept. Once you begin to realize that the energy problem isn't about where it comes from, rather its about how its used, then its a fairly quick leap to understand that energy conservation can guide entirely different designs and break the mold of legacy configuration. Today, this is figurative for legacy thinking -renewable energy may be the long term goal, but the quickest path to energy independence, and to a high ratio of renewable energy is through a systems thinking framework. Simply put: if you consume less then you need to produce less and the alternative source ratio increases.

Energy efficiency is finally in vogue, largely supported through the Federal AARA stimulus but this use of public funds is by far and away going to make a much much bigger impact than electric vehicles or intelligent electric grid, both in psychology and in market opportunity. Interesting is that energy efficiency is driving renewables as well. Retrofits to alternative energy sources go hand in hand with conservation, or tuning the system first.

So who stands to capitalize on this shift? ESCOs. Energy services companies are the new IBMs and HPs of the world! Just look at the market opportunity - every commercial building and every mid to large organization (enterprise) will need to retool so to speak. Its like the era when ERP software became needed in order to run your business, but its bigger than that! So who will guide your organization and where to look and what to implement? Who will serve this new market opportunity? Comprehensive energy solutions that's who. We're not talking about GHG accounting, where talking about kW accounting which is easily seen directly in dollar impact -ROI, IRR, Payback, Lifetime Cumulative Cashflow. And guess what? You can measure this with our traditional accounting systems! Which means easy decisions and justifiable spends.

Supplement post will cover which ESCOs to be watching - AMERESCO is even going IPO this year.

Does Sustainabilty Include People Or Just Planet?

As "sustainability" penetrates the minds of corporations and consumers alike, we find ourselves attempting to define what that actually means. Sustainable focused ventures speak in 3BL (triple bottom line) while mature enterprises invoke their old CSR badges(corporate social responsibility). So are we talking about planet or people or both?

Most folks on the clean tech side of the world say that if you are doing good by the planet then you are doing good by people. Ok, but are you measuring that social impact? Corporate sustainability reports address energy and materials (planet) and at best solely address slave labor conditions (people). Ok, but are you measuring positive impact? At the other end of the spectrum are mission based social ventures, those operating on the people bottom line first with the profit bottom line last. Great! What is your planet impact and are you measuring that? I point this out because if you want to 'talk' 3BL then you must 'walk' 3BL... which brings us back to the main question: what does sustainability mean?

Addressing a common scorecard or standard is not my intent here. I'll take every effort that all organizations put forth with respect to people and planet to further buoy profit. Its the New Operation Norm (or the "NON" as we like to say at w1sd0m). My point is that however you configure your sustainability scorecard you need measure on all three fronts, not just two. Granted, there will be very very different impacts on these three vectors dependent on the nature of the industry and the company's products and services. But the most important element is to convey to investors and customers alike that you've leveraged the organizations resources to do good by all of us, not solely to benefit the three guys at the top eh.

I do suggest targeting those efforts that return on the investment applied, every organization needs early wins to gain wide spread support. Starting at green washing the brand will sink you in the end, undertake practical projects once you have a baseline, and turn that into positive branding. Side note: we must address BP yes? "Beyond petroleum" did work for the short term, which most of these greed mongers are about, but at a 40% drop in share value its apparent the sentiment now out weighs true value. Whoo hoo I say to the shift in consciousness - because its not about the short term, although that is how we survive, rather its about the long term.

Sustainability starts with mission statement as a guiding principle so a team can begin the baseline process to get an idea of where the company has large and small opportunities related to planet and people. Planet = green house gas; People = lives touched; Profit = dollars. There may be internal commitment already to a specific aim but don't let that override the need to baseline so you can report positive impact.

Common waste reduction efforts for immediate dollar return (Planet): Energy efficiency; renewable energy; waste to energy; packaging; transportation; and supply chain.
Common social impact efforts for immediate brand awareness return (People): non profit and philanthropic impacts; local jobs; employee benefits; community involvement.

Stay tuned as gNav solves the social impact side for a cleantech company -SunTrac Solar. We'll also post addendums on sustainability scorecards and standards, as well as the three vector approach from the big leaders in the space (Walmart, IBM, P&G, ...) gNav's overall effort is to bring true 3BL or integrated bottom line awareness to the clean tech euphoric world that believes simple enviro is the only effort needed.

Ag 1.0 System Effects Lead to Ag 2.0 Sustainbly Local

Recent readings on Ag investment [Silicon Valley investors place bets on sustainable ag] compelled me to post a brief compilation on the movement -organic food to sustainable farming to localization- becomes -urban farming, venture capital, and Ag incubators! This illuminates that different elements in change allow for an entire industry evolutionary step, if not revolutionary. Its absolutely amazing to see so many things changing about our current agriculture production system. A testament to near end use drivers to reset inherent values in the end product (sustenance and health) [Sustainable urban farming ideas that think inside the box], coupled with traditional incumbent motivations to produce a quality product economically [How export-focused agriculture has failed everyone it was meant to help]. THANK YOU Michael Pollan [The Omnivore's Dilemma] for showing us all the the systems impact. Large scale farming was a boon gone awry - loss of family farms, continuing starvation, and dare I say the fattening of America with low cost unhealthy food. Yes, markets and systems are complex but that doesn't mean we need simple catch phrases to point fingers with, it means that we each need the fortitude to look through the other lens -greenies need to look at systemic issues and how it came to be where we are now; capitalists need to see how their cost/margin/competition decisions affect their end users and the externalities alike. The bottom line is NOT solely financial. We're all in this together, there is no conspiracy and activists are not cooks, but we all affect each other's quality of life.

Our ability to learn from mistakes and avoid future problems is what makes us so called 'intelligent' right?

BTW - Grist provides great coverage on the industry http://www.grist.org/kingdom/food