As I mentioned on Monday, I'm in Belgium and visited Boss Paints on Tuesday to interview the boss, Toon Bossuyt. Boss has done many clever things, many of which will feature in my next book, but one is to produce 25% of the electricity supply from solar PV on the roof.



Belgium has gone solar mad - there are incentives for installation and a feed-in tariff to guarantee a decent return. When Boss first put 64 panels on the roof, it was the biggest in Belgium. Now they have 1477, but they've still not retained that accolade. When I've been travelling to and fro by train it is rare not to see one roof in every suburb or village with a sizeable array.

In the picture above, there's a silver coating on the roof which keeps the buildings cool in summer - it also has an albedo effect - reflecting the suns' rays back into space without causing climate change. Clever.

Labels: boss paints, solar photovoltaic, solar PV

...well, rails actually. By the time you read this I'll be getting on board Eurostar for a speedy trip to Belgium where I'll be interviewing the MD of a revolutionary paint company for my next book (more details on this to follow) and attending a consultants' workshop. My ability to blog may be compromised as I don't know what the internet facilities will be like and I'm taking the family for a city break to Bruges at the same time.

As well as book #2, there are a number of other exciting developments in the pipeline. Stay tuned.

Labels: terra infirma

Barack Obama is about to put his climate change bill to Congress (the news story in this month's Low Carbon Agenda was a little premature). It has been battered, swollen with compromises and slightly watered down, but given this is the home of Big Oil, big cars and big bellies we are talking about, it would be unreasonable to expect even the saintly Obama to execute a handbrake turn in this mother of all economic supertankers. A key moment, and one which will resonate around the world.

Meanwhile the UK Government is working up a strategy for financing the shift to the low carbon economy for the Copenhagen conference later this year. Details are a bit sketchy so far, but it appears to be based on a form of contraction and convergence. Cynics may suggest that they need to focus on national leadership as well as making international noises. But overall, there is the impression of building momentum for a post-Kyoto settlement and one which will really deliver.

So, if dawn breaks on a brand new low carbon world, will you be ready for it?

Labels: barack obama, climate change, copenhagen, low carbon economy

The killer question I ask when helping organisations improve their sustainability is "What's your budget?". The answer is usually a "uh..." accompanied by a slight blush.

Like most organisations you have an environment/sustainability policy. It says you are committed to good things X, Y and Z.

How committed? Where's the money?

To do X, Y and Z someone has to go cap in hand, trying to filch part of someone else's budget. And you're surprised things happen slowly?

Make the commitment. Assign a budget. Yes, in a recession. Put your money where your mouth is.

Labels: budget, commitment, policy

If you are a UK-based large organisation and you haven't checked whether you will come under the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) yet, then you'd better get moving. In this presentation, Jane Dennett-Thorpe of The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) explains some of the latest developments as the consultation on the CRC comes to an end (source: edie).

Labels: carbon reduction commitment, crc, decc, legislation

For a wee side-project I'm doing, I'd be grateful for suggestions of your favourite breakthrough green thinkers - people who have really made a difference in the sustainability field like Rachel Carson (of Silent Spring fame) rather than communicators/campaigners like Al Gore and George Monbiot.

For example, the people who I rate are Amory Lovins (RMI), McDonough & Braungart (MBDC), Jaime Lerner (Curitiba), Prof Tim Jackson (Surrey Uni), Janine 'Biomimicry' Benyus and Bob Frosch (ISIE). Other candidates could be Nicholas Stern, James Lovelock (gaia) and David Pearce (Blueprint for a Green Economy).

Thanks in anticipation of your wisdom!

Labels: amory lovins, gurus, janine benyus

Now available from the resources page.

You can't say I don't spoil you...

Labels: carbon emissions, energy efficiency, terra infirma, transport

I've just added two new free resources on the Resources page:

1. Climate Change FAQs for Executives - a quick guide to the science of climate change.

2. Terra Infirma Brainstorming tool - useful for developing green solutions.

There's more in the pipeline.

Labels: brainstorming, climate change, resources, terra infirma

As promised, some notes from last week's Low Carbon Innovation Network. Numbers were slightly depleted due to the Tube strike which brought central London to a standstill.

I facilitated two sessions:

1. Long-term Environmental Strategy

In this session we had a food wholesaler, a recycling company, an energy monitoring system company and 2 consultants (including myself). It was very clear that companies were getting started by identifying and exploiting 'quick wins', but were struggling to convert this momentum into a long term strategy.

The most interesting point from this was that the maximum time frame that participarts were working to a 2 year timeframe - so anything over this was regarded as "long-term". This was reflected in the tendency for the conversation to drift into operational issues rather than strategy.


2. Empowering Staff to Take Action

We had 3 council officers, 3 from industry and 3 consultants including myself and an organisational psychologist. The latter worried me a bit as I was an engineer talking about her area of expertise, but she agreed with the vast majority of what I put forward.

Many of the participants had done the basics - setting up committees, appointing green champions and running awareness events. We discussed ways of making this fun for people - quizzes, clothes swaps and green away days were some of the examples given.

When I asked whether anyone had witnessed a manager showing leadership in this area there was embarrassed silence until one of the consultants recounted a business she knew where the directors had built an ethical business from scratch, recruiting only people who would be committed to those values and behaving in a low carbon manner always.

No-one had really tried getting their staff to generate solutions (I distributed the Terra Infirma brainstorming tool to help those who wanted to try).


As always I really enjoyed the sessions and I'm always trying to stretch the people who come along out of their comfort zone. But I'm getting frustrated that while participants think they are really making progress, they're not really breaking through to making a real difference to the way they operate.

Labels: low carbon innovation network, workshops

Interface is one of the world's leaders in green business in the rather unsexy field of carpet - they also happen to be the biggest producer of modular carpet in the world. CEO Ray Anderson is not the greatest public speaker in the world, but his message is compelling.

Labels: interface, ray anderson, ted

Coming soon...

Labels: three secrets of green business

In 2008 wind, solar and other clean technologies attracted $140bn (£85bn) compared with $110bn for gas and coal for electrical power generation (source: Guardian). There was a slight drop in investment at the start of 2009, but this is apparently recovering.

Given this background, it makes the decision by many 'big oil' companies to pull out of renewables an odd one. I'm sticking with my prediction that they will become the vacuum tube manufacturers of the 21st Century - the fossilised energy industry.

Labels: investment, oil industry, renewable energy