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As I travel down the G Word road, one thing is becoming profoundly clear: The big thinkers are all about efficiency. Game changers like Jonathan Goodwin and his elegant, fuel-efficient engine dreams, food manufacturer John Blazevitch, and many others are focused on re-thinking things from the ground up.
As Goodwin said with a smile, "five dollars a gallon for gas isn't too bad if you're getting 2000 miles on that gallon." And it’s not just talk. Goodwin's successful Hummer conversions are really just the most publicized example of the engines he's working on today. Understandably, that vision of high efficiency, high-performance engines is gaining attention from a growing array of investors and competitors around the world, so with a little time and resources, Goodwin might just be what a friend called him, "the Henry Ford of the 21st Century," spearheading the manufacture of radically efficient, powerful engines for the mass market.
For John Blazevich, it's all about changing the effect manufacturing has on the planet. By building a food-processing center with "variable frequency drives" that continually monitor the energy demands of each part of the building (think of them as a parent constantly turning the lights out behind you as you leave the room), Blazevich has envisioned a quantum shift in manufacturing design that, while admittedly very costly, might actually reduce his energy usages and emissions output by 50% over time. By adding in things like a "heat redirection" system to make hot water from refrigeration exhaust and a massive solar panel system on their rooftop, Contessa has become the first LEED Certified manufacturing plant in the USA. And we're not even talking about his new ideas in aqua-culture... yet.
In short- it's all about conservation and efficiency. As writer Paul Roberts states in his excellent, "The Seven Myths of Energy Independence:"
"...the logic of conservation is pretty hard to argue with. Better energy efficiency is one of the fastest ways to reduce not only energy use, but pollution and greenhouse gas emissions: According to a new study by McKinsey & Company, if the United States aggressively adopted more efficient cars, factories, homes, and other infrastructure, our CO2 emissions could be 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. And saving energy is almost always cheaper than making it: There is far more oil to be "found" in Detroit by designing more fuel-efficient cars than could ever be pumped out of ANWR."
So, as I look around, I'm beginning to discover the simple beauty behind most of our high tech innovations lies in their ability to do more with less.
Love green gadgets, fashion, and news? Get the latest from Planet Green's dynamic duo Suchin Pak and Daniel Sieberg on the G Word.
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