The Moon Boot in Action 1969 credit: NASA

Last Thursday, I took part in the online launch of the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP), the rebranded Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA). During our break out session, Jonathan Garrett of building component manufacturer Quanex mentioned the ‘Moon Boot’ concept, which he credits to Alan Knight, formerly of Business in the Community (BitC). I liked it so much, I thought I’d share it further.

Basically, the analogy is that 10,000s of people worked to put Neil Armstrong on the moon in 1969. Of these, only a handful worked on the boots he wore. But no moon boots, no moon landing – in a way the boot designers were just as important as the rocket scientists. Every big project is made up of lots of little components, many of them vital to success.

I have used a different analogy to express the same concept in the past – the iPhone. All the technologies that made up the iPhone had been available for decades (I could have bought a touch screen peripheral for my BBC Model B micro in the mid-1980s if I could have thought of a use for it), but by 2007, all the necessary components had matured sufficiently to be integrated in a graceful way, and, BOOM, society changed forever.

Quanex’s own ‘moon boot moment’ was when they realised that their advanced window seals could be used to protect the innards of solar panels from moisture, extending their life by 10 years and massively improving their economics and accelerating the decarbonisation of our society.

The low carbon transition presents a cornucopia of such innovation opportunities. Some of these will be big sexy technological breakthroughs, others, apparently small incremental tweaks (eg adding better seals to solar panels) that make the whole thing more viable and accelerating our drive to the tipping point.