Triangle Sustainability Blog

I’ve previously speculated about some ways to calculate a carbon footprint (see post). My methods were pretty basic, but I hope they at least gave some ideas of how we can start tabulating or carbon costs.

While other carbon calculators do exist – such as Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth calculator – they only provide the high level information about what all goes into our carbon footprints – both individually and nationally.

For those who would like to take a more serious look at what comprises your carbon emissions, I highly recommend the book “Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air” by David MacKay.

MacKay, a Physics professor at the University of Cambridge, goes through a thorough investigation of all the direct and indirect carbon emissions that we’re each responsible for. He then tabulates those emissions against theoretical renewable energy alternatives. And I do mean theoretical – MacKay envisions such extreme scenarios as putting wind mills on almost every available acre in the UK or solar panels on every home. He focuses on what’s possible if we all used about as much renewable energy as we could.

The downside is that MacKay lives in Britain, and so his numbers are focused only on what the UK could do and don’t take into account U.S. consumption habits or potential renewable resources. But his book still provides a fantastic overview of the challenge behind actually going to a completely renewable-based energy supply, and he does it in a fun and very readable way for non-technical folks.

Best of all, MacKay gives his book away online for free, so you can download it in chapters or all at once and start reading today.

The global economy – currently languishing in the doldrums – seems to get worse daily. Each morning’s news includes fresh rounds of layoffs, profit declines and grim economic forecasts. Many Americans are feeling pessimistic about their financial situations and prospects.

To some, this might not seem like the ideal moment to be greening their home or business. In truth, there has never been a better time, and the principles of greenomics can lead the way.

As an emerging field, greenomics – or the economics of going green – still lacks proper definition. The most simplistic view includes only the cost-benefit structure of implementing environmentally-friendly projects. But from a broader, more dynamic perspective, greenomics adopts the principles of sustainability to link environmental success with economic success.

Greenomics is about more than sitting around calculating the return on investment for environmental projects. Instead it’s about leveraging green concepts to boost long-term growth potential.

For example, a company taking a simple-ROI approach might decide to put solar panels up on their roof. They calculate the costs of the panels, the price of electricity, potential output and some other factors, and come up with a break-even point.

By contrast, greenomics would start by developing a strategy. Solar panels might be part of the strategy – they might even be amongst the “low-hanging fruit” of high priority items – but probably not. More likely, the first steps on the strategy map would involve mitigating environmental impact and developing efficient practices. Once demand is lowered, it’s much easier to determine the appropriate methods of supply.

Without a strategy, companies and families are guaranteed to waste time, money and energy on projects that don’t provide the best return. Not only that, but you might end up doing more environmental harm then good if you can’t properly see the proverbial forest for the trees. The objective of Triangle Sustainability is to help you develop a strategy – for your business or family – to make the way you operate truly sustainable.

We’ll be creating a series of new posts in the upcoming weeks and months with more information on Triangle Sustainability’s view of greenomics. These will include discussions of managing risk, leveraging the ailing economy to your benefit, and understanding the components of a triple-bottom-line approach. We hope that you’ll keep checking back on this page and that you’ll post comments or e-mail us with your ideas on these critical topics.