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SUMMER 2016 VOL. 9 NO. 1 A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITY Greening Energy in China and Beyond HELPING CHINA INNOVATE NEW ENERGY SOLUTIONS TAKING CLEAN ENERGY TO O Y M UN ARBON DEVELOPING NATIONS K T C C A I O N R PLUS: AMORY’S ANGLE, RMI’S I W N E A M INNOVATION CENTER, AND MORE STIT U T R R O O TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMER 2016 /VOL. 9 NO. 1 GOING GLOBAL GOING GLOBAL CLEARING THE AIR IN CHINA AFFORDABLE, CLEAN ELECTRICITY FOR ALL Rocky Mountain Institute works with China to peak carbon emissions early and low, and to follow a clean energy pathway Rocky Mountain Institute’s work in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean improves people’s well-being 14 for its large and growing economy 22 Table of Contents Table 1 Summer 2016 COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS CEO LETTER MY RMI WALK THE WALK GLOBAL OPPORTUNITY: EXPANDING RECIPE FOR LASTING CHANGE: JOHN 33 YEARS OF IMPACT: LONGTIME Our Printing and Paper OUR IMPACT IN CHINA, AFRICA, THE “MAC” MCQUOWN ON WHAT MAKES STAFFER MICHAEL KINSLEY RETIRES. This issue of Solutions Journal is printed on elemental 02 HIS INFLUENCE CARRIES ON chlorine-free paper. Specifically, it is #2 FSC-certified CARIBBEAN, AND BEYOND 10 RMI TICK 28 CPC Matte Book and FSC-certified CPC Matter Cover, Sappi Papers in Minnesota, sourced from SFI-certified pulp. Using certified paper products promotes environmentally appropriate and economically viable AMORY’S ANGLE QUESTION & ANSWER INNOVATION BEACON management of the world’s forests. SOFT ENERGY PATHS: LESSONS OF GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: MARIA VAN RMI’S INNOVATION CENTER: 5 REASONS THE FIRST 40 YEARS DER HOEVEN ON ENERGY SECURITY, IT’S THE OFFICE OF THE FUTURE 04 12 ENERGY ACCESS, AND COLLABORATION 30 Staff Editorial Director – Cindie Baker Writer/Editor – Laurie Guevara-Stone Writer/Editor – David Labrador RMI-CWR IN BRIEF GOING GLOBAL : cover iStock.com; left, iStock.com; right, courtesy Off-Grid:Electric left, iStock.com; iStock.com; cover : Art Director – Romy Purshouse NEWS FROM AROUND THE A PARTNER’S PERSPECTIVE: Lead Designer – Marijke Jongbloed 09 INSTITUTE 20 MR. DAI YANDE PHOTOS Designer – Alexandria Kleidon CEO LETTER GLOBAL OPPORTUNITY Expanding Our Impact in China, Africa, the Caribbean, and Beyond By Jules Kortenhorst ust this past May, scientists predicted seem daunting, there is much reason for opti­ that at two carbon dioxide measuring mism. In the past year, President Obama and stations in distant parts of the world—in China’s President Xi Jinping reaffirmed their JAustralia and Hawaii—the levels will not dip deter mination to move ahead decisively to imple­ below 400 ppm again. The effects of climate ment domestic climate policies, to strengthen change are visible everywhere, perhaps nowhere bilateral coordina tion and cooperation, and to more so than on islands, greatly impacted by promote the transition to low­carbon and climate­ rising sea levels, increased storm intensity, and resilient economies. And in Paris, delegates from GLOBAL REACH These and other stories within these pages show There is plenty of high energy costs. China, now the world’s largest nearly 200 countries approved a historic agree­ In this issue of Solutions Journal, you will read about that a clean energy future is within our grasp. reason for optimism emitter of green house gases, is facing debilitating ment to address climate change. our work with the Chinese government and But we need to act faster to reach the targets set about addressing The Mauna Loa smog in many of its urban centers. And as influential partners to deliver an economically in Paris, and keep global temperature rise the world’s energy Observatory, in emerging economies around the world continue to Yet emerging economies and developing compelling alternative development path for the well below 2 degrees Celsius. Through the problems for the Hawaii, is the grow, they are expected to become major sources countries need our help to translate their Paris country, through our Reinventing Fire: China international projects described in these pages— next generation. premier CO2 of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. commitments into implementation plans. That is program. You will discover how the Alliance of along with our work decreasing emissions of the monitoring station why Rocky Mountain Institute, with your help, is Peaking Pioneer Cities (APPC) is helping 23 Chinese global shipping and aviation industries, and in CEO Letter on the globe. Although the world’s energy problems might working to transform energy use on a global scale. cities peak carbon emissions early and low by the U.S. accelerating the transition from fossil 2 providing technical support and resources, and fuels to renewables, transforming mobility in 3 how we are working with the APPC to create a cities, improving the efficiency of trucking, peaking handbook that any Chinese city can use to addressing fugitive methane emissions, and do the same. You will also learn how we are freeing increasing building efficiency—RMI is working Caribbean and other islands from their dependence hard to help realize a global energy revolution. on expensive, imported oil, and helping increase Summer 2016 access to affordable, reliable electricity in sub­ But we can’t do it alone. Our industry and Saharan Africa. Our Islands Energy Program and philanthropic partners are integral to our SEED Program (Sustainable Energy for Economic success. With your support, we can transform Development) are critical to these countries’ global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, necessary integrated energy transitions. and secure low­carbon future. As the world becomes more connected, and Jules Kortenhorst climate change affects each and every one of us, a is chief executive global viewpoint is crucial. So we speak with our officer of Rocky board member Maria van der Hoeven, former Mountain Institute. head of the International Energy Agency, about energy security and the importance of collab­ oration to transform our energy future. GET INVOLVED Philanthropic support makes RMI’s work possible. Join us by making HELPING AT HOME a donation today to help create a clean, prosperous, and secure low- Of course, we are also working close to home. In carbon future. this issue we take you on a photo tour of our new Give an unrestricted gift or target your gift to support an RMI Innovation Center in Basalt, Colorado. Our net­ project that addresses your passion. top left, © Rocky Mountain Institute; bottom left, iStock.com; right, iStock.com zero energy office building serves as a “living lab” and a practical model to propel the industry www.rmi.org/donate PHOTOS: toward deep green buildings. AMORY’S ANGLE what we want energy for—what “end­uses” we FIGURE 1A: A “hard” energy path representing government and industry forecasts of total U.S. sought, such as hot showers, cold beer, mobility, energy use during 1975–2025. SOFT ENERGY PATHS comfort, smelted alumina, baked bread—and how to deliver each of those services by providing An Illustrative, Schematic Future for U.S. Gross Primary Energy Use the amount, kind, scale, and source of energy Lessons of the First 40 Years 250 best suited to the task. This end­use concept soon By Amory B. Lovins merged with Roger Sant’s “least­cost” language, 200 resonant with the emerging Reaganomics hen the 1973 oil shock threatened Forty years later, a review of its initial reception emphasis on free markets. The resulting “end­ 150 COAL security and prosperity, America’s and continued influence shows what lessons have use/least­cost” approach revealed the most cost­ per year ) BTU 15 initial policy responses were con­ and haven’t been learned. effective solutions, chosen via competition or 100 Wfused and ineffectual. Intensifying business as planning, to such questions as whether to keep usual—drilling oil and gas wells, building giant warm in winter by gas or electric heating, or by A LOOK BACK TO 1976 50 OIL AND GAS coal and nuclear plants, perhaps developing coal­ insulation and weatherstripping. Quadrillion (10 NUCLEAR to­liquids synfuels—was vigorously proposed, To this 28­year­old author, it felt like dropping 0 but soon began looking too costly, dirty, slow, and a seed crystal into a supersaturated solution, Different questions yield different answers, so the 1975 2000 2025 difficult. The huge capital requirement would suddenly crystallizing the liquid into a whole new article contrasted two ways the U.S. energy system choke off other needed investments and ultimately form. A year later, President Carter invited me could evolve (Figures 1A and 1B). FIGURE 1B: An illustrative alternative “soft” energy path yielding the same GDP growth but make energy prices soar, so faltering demand into the Oval Office to discuss the article. He now combining efficient use with right-sized, right-quality, renewable, and widely accessible couldn't pay for the costly new supplies. Yet by says he found it very helpful in forming his energy sources (“soft technologies”). autumn 1976, no coherent alternative vision had policy—apart from Energy Secretary Schlesinger’s SAVINGS: ACCURATELY ENVISAGED been articulated. Policy imagination was stuck. synfuels effort, the most coherently pro­efficiency­ A later scholarly review found the article had An Alternative Illustrative Future for U.S. Gross Primary Energy Use and­renewables policy before or since. been the only one of dozens of mid­1970s studies 250 s Angle At that teachable moment, my Foreign Affairs with accurate foresight about total U.S. primary ’ article “Energy Strategy: The Road Not Taken?” Incumbent energy industries greeted the article energy use in 2000 (foresight, but explicitly not a 200 Amory reframed the energy problem and added an with skepticism, scorn, even outrage. A four­inch­ forecast, as it is often still mischaracterized). The alternative vision of U.S.

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