Transforming Energy, Securing Communities
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SPRING 2019 | VOL. 12 NO. 1 TRANSFORMING ENERGY, SECURING COMMUNITIES Power Systems That Stand Up to Natural Disasters The Fierce Determination of Next-Gen Climate Leaders M OUN KY T C A I Meet, Sway, Lovins: O N R Globetrotting with Amory I N E ST U T And more… IT TABLE OF CONTENTS SPRING 2019 /VOL. 12 NO. 1 FUTURE PLANNING YOUTH TAKE ACTION SEEKING RESILIENCE IN THE “NEW THE NEXT GENERATION OF CLIMATE CLIMATE NORMAL” LEADERS 14 Communities around the world are taking 20 Young social activists and student and steps to improve their resilience against nonprofit leaders are helping to accelerate extreme weather events the energy transition from the ground up COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS CEO LETTER RMI IN BRIEF NOW MORE THAN EVER: AS THE NEWS FROM AROUND THE INSTITUTE 02 ENERGY TRANSITION BECOMES UNSTOPPABLE, WE MUST MAKE SURE 09 IT GAINS ENOUGH SPEED TO AVERT CATASTROPHIC WARMING AMORY’S ANGLE IN REMEMBRANCE THE INVISIBLE ENERGY BONANZA: THE KONHEIM FAMILY’S LASTING CREATING WEALTH OUT OF NOTHING IMPACT: WHAT BEGAN AS A MEMORIAL 04 12 TO ONE YOUNG PERSON IS TOUCHING THE LIVES OF MANY—AND CHANGING THE WORLD BANKING ON CHANGE SCALING SOLUTIONS CHANNELING GLOBAL INVESTMENT WHEN A HOME-GROWN IDEA 26 FOR GOOD 32 GOES GLOBAL Nearly 200 countries signed the Paris RMI is showing the world how working Climate Agreement. RMI is helping the with hundreds of buildings at once has global financial system underwrite their sustainability impacts greater than the climate actions sum of their parts Table of Contents Table 1 Spring 2019 A YEAR WITH AMORY LIFE LESSONS FROM GLOBETROTTING Our Printing and Paper 38 WITH AMORY LOVINS: HOW RMI’S This issue of Solutions Journal is printed on elemental COFOUNDER EFFECTS CHANGE AND chlorine-free paper. Specifically, it is #2 FSC-certified INSPIRES ENERGY CHANGE-MAKERS CPC Matte Book and FSC-certified CPC Matte Cover, AROUND THE WORLD Sappi Papers in Minnesota, sourced from SFI-certified pulp. Using certified paper products promotes environmentally appropriate and economically viable WALK THE WALK management of the world’s forests. MAKING CHANGE IN THE WORLD: AN 42 INTERVIEW WITH RMI MANAGING DIRECTOR LENA HANSEN Editorial/Design Editorial Director – Cindie Baker Senior Writer/Editor – Laurie Stone Senior Writer/Editor – David Labrador Creative Director – Romy Purshouse Cover clockwise from top, iStock.com, RMI, Anton Thesollers, iStock.com; far right, iStock.com : Design – Kaitlin Wutschel Cover Design – Denise Greene Photos CEO LETTER NOW MORE THAN EVER As the energy transition becomes unstoppable, we must make sure it gains enough speed to avert catastrophic warming By Jules Kortenhorst his past July, we at Rocky Mountain At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Institute were struck in a very personal in Davos, Switzerland, in January, I heard from way by the urgency of the threat of business leaders that addressing climate is now Tclimate change as an out-of-control forest fire the most critical challenge we all must face, but raced down the mountainsides surrounding the I also heard uncertainty about how to proceed. RMI Innovation Center in Basalt, Colorado. Brave What is the pace and the general direction firefighters were able to halt the fire a quarter- of the energy transition? What are the right mile from our office, but three of our neighbors’ technologies and business models to pursue? homes were lost. It was a stark reminder that How do business, government, and civil society we all face the challenges of a warming world, leaders work together to accelerate change? This including more frequent and intense droughts is where RMI’s contribution is so crucial—in and more devastating fires, like the tragedy in bringing clarity to inspire confidence on the best Paradise, California, this past fall. This means pathways toward a clean, prosperous, and secure that we must use new energy technologies to be low-carbon future. In these pages, you’ll see that better prepared (see “Seeking Resilience in the we are leading global thought and action on the ‘New Climate Normal,’” p. 14), but above all it energy revolution. means that we must do everything in our power 2 to speed up the energy transition and slow down One area where we’ve made remarkable progress A panel at Davos climate change. While there is much progress to is energy efficiency—saved energy cut global on realizing the take heart from, there is far more to be done, and costs by $2.2 trillion in 2016 alone. In fact, as energy transition. the need for RMI’s work is more urgent than ever. you’ll read in Amory Lovins’s article (see “The Invisible Energy Bonanza,” p. 4), efficiency gains That’s why I noted with interest and optimism are starting to push out investments in inefficient the rumblings of legislative action in the United technologies and industries. Another, of course, States. This country is already achieving much, is the rapidly falling cost of renewable energy yet it can achieve more with leadership and R&D technologies like wind, solar, and batteries. We investment from the government that developed are now starting to see existing coal plants being the Internet and the Global Positioning System. pushed out by new investments in solar and wind While the Green New Deal proposal got all the capacity. And in a development that was invented press, there is a growing bipartisan consensus that here at RMI, cities in China and India are being serious climate action must be taken at the federal designed to harness both renewables and energy level. RMI’s Reinventing Fire analysis showed that, efficiency to achieve zero or near-zero carbon from 2010 to 2050, the US economy could shift emissions while supporting vibrant and growing completely away from coal and oil, increase in economies. You can read about RMI’s support size 2.6 times, and save $5 trillion by embracing of those cities, and the origins of the concept, in only the efficiency and renewables available in “When a Homegrown Idea Goes Global” on p. 32. 2011. Since we published that analysis, costs of the low-carbon technologies have improved even But daunting challenges remain. Among them faster than we predicted. We see with growing is global air conditioning, which is on track to confidence that the transition to a low-carbon grow by more than 3 billion units by 2050 as the future is profitable, and we can only hope that a standard of living rises in hot, humid countries. consensus will emerge in Washington to put the That’s why RMI is leading the Global Cooling Prize, United States more firmly on that path. an innovation competition launched in November to develop a climate-friendly residential cooling RMI is able to do its part only because of the help solution. The prize, initiated by RMI, Mission that comes from partners and supporters like you, Innovation, and the government of India, could and like Bud Konheim, whose passing we mourn mitigate up to 0.5˚C of global warming by 2100 (see “The Konheim Family’s Lasting Impact,” p. CEO Letter (see “RMI in Brief,” p. 9). 12) while celebrating his continuing contribution to preserving the Earth’s climate. In fact, right 3 Another vast challenge is how to finance the now numerous ideas for impact are sitting on my energy transition in developing economies, where desk waiting until we find the finances to work on capital for renewables and other climate-related them. I ask you to redouble your support, and to investments is not yet readily available. More encourage others to take part, as well. We must do Spring 2019 generally we need to shift global investments all we can to scale up the transition to a cleaner away from high-carbon, long-lived assets like and more prosperous future for us all. coal-burning power plants and prevent existing ones from being run for the decades needed to Jules Kortenhorst recoup investments already made. As you’ll read is chief executive in “Channeling Global Investment for Good” on officer of Rocky p. 26, RMI’s leadership is helping global finance Mountain Institute. flows align with decarbonization pathways. Another hurdle is reducing climate-forcing carbon emissions from hard-to-abate sectors GET INVOLVED such as aviation, shipping, trucking, and heavy Philanthropic support makes RMI’s work possible. Join us by industry. RMI is hard at work guiding innovation making a donation today to help create a clean, prosperous, and in all of those sectors and, as a recent report secure low-carbon future. by the Energy Transitions Commission shows, decarbonizing them is achievable even with Give an unrestricted gift or target your gift to support an RMI today’s technologies, at a cost far less than that project that addresses your passion. of allowing their effect on climate to remain undiminished. And technologies are improving WWW.RMI.ORG/DONATE Photo: Courtesy World Economic Forum Economic Courtesy World Photo: as more research and development pours in. AMORY’S ANGLE THE INVISIBLE ENERGY BONANZA Creating Wealth out of Nothing By Amory B. Lovins hree guesses: is this article about a ENERGY EFFICIENCY: BIG IMPACT, new, cheaper renewable technology? a LITTLE ATTENTION cheaper, safer nuclear fission or fusion Conventional ways to save energy are actually the Ttechnology? a new technology to extract more world’s largest energy “source” today. Millions of fossil fuel at lower cost? small improvements over the past few decades— insulation, weather-stripping, better motors None of the above. It’s about neither energy supply and engines, recovering waste heat, more-frugal nor new technology. It’s about a more important chemical reactions, all the myriad fruits of careful but far less familiar story: how smarter design engineering—add up to efficiency gains that now can better apply existing technologies to create provide more global energy services than oil or radical energy efficiency at far lower cost.