Originally published on WRAL TechWire, May 6, 2022

https://wraltechwire.com/2022/05/06/steve-rao-arguing-for-a-sustainable-innovation-playbook-in-the-triangle/

Steve Rao: Arguing for a ‘Sustainable Innovation Playbook’ in the Triangle

MORRISVILLE – With the recent celebration of Earth Day in our community, and in communities across the Triangle, I remain excited about the promise of sustainable innovation and the roles that our local governments, engaged citizens, entrepreneurs, and startups can play in accelerating our path to reducing carbon emissions by bringing innovative solutions to the renewable energy market.

My concerns on climate change heightened after reading Bill Gates’ book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, and a recent visit to a local startup, Susteon.  So, I’m proposing that we rethink our region’s approach.  Here’s why.

In his book, Bill Gates discusses the roles that philanthropists, investors, and governments can play in accelerating the innovation pipeline, from early stage research to the mass deployment of affordable, green, and reliable technologies.

Gates, with other notable investors including Michael Bloomberg, are investors in a $2 billion green innovation fund, which invests aggressively in green innovation.

According to Gates, governmental policy is not enough.  Gates would say that we need to develop a pipeline of startup companies that, together, can assist in reducing the 51 billion tons of greenhouse gases that people add to the atmosphere each year.  The cost of inaction is clear: By 2050, if we don’t get to zero, the temperature rise will be so damaging that life will get worse for humans and most of the natural ecosystems.

Gates convinced me we must challenge more startups and investors to focus on sustainability, and I’m also convinced that we can build an ecosystem that champions sustainable innovation across our region and state.

A CASE STUDY: SUSTEON

Last week, I was invited to the Cary-headquartered startup company Susteon, which is focused on carbon sequestration technology and is a portfolio company of the Gates Fund, Breakaway Energy Ventures, according to a story first reported by Bloomberg.

I’d previously heard Bill Gates talk about this technology, but I was still amazed to see such a game-changing sustainability innovation taking place in the Triangle.

The company developed  “a novel direct air capture technology which uses renewable energy that will allow us to remove, replace, and reuse carbon,” and calls it “the missing link to restore the Earth’s carbon balance” on its website.

WRAL TechWire’s prior reporting showed that Sustaera and Susteon share an address in Cary.  The company would later disclose a total fundraising round of $10 million later in December 2021.

“Our carbon-negative, cost-effective, and modular direct air capture system works around the clock in locations ranging from open grasslands to arid deserts to tropical savannas, serving as the cornerstone of a rapidly expanding carbon ecosystem that will include capture, credits, sequestration, and utilization,” the website reads.

During my visit and tour of the facility, CEO Shantan Agarwal indicated the company intends to run a pilot in RTP.  I am also interested in introducing his solution to other local governments in the region.  In addition, he revealed to me that they are also working on technology to convert natural gas to hydrogen.

Susteon’s sustainable innovation and the Gates Fund investment in a North Carolina company should be an inspiration to more entrepreneurs and startups.  I hope that more will develop game-changing technologies, which can help us achieve the goal of zero Carbon Emissions.    I think it is time for our region to have a “Green Innovation Playbook,” which could be thought of as a set of plays that our cities, counties, and entrepreneurial ecosystems can turn to in an effort to address climate change.  So here’s my best case, presented in what I’m calling the “Sustainability Playbook.”

SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION PROGRAMS

The first green innovation play for Morrisville and the Triangle  is to encourage and develop social entrepreneurs to participate in the Sustainable Innovation programs.   The idea would be for startups, focused on sustainability, to partner and offer pilot programs for different Town Departments.

We could begin to grow our own green innovation ecosystem, and become a destination in North Carolina for not only the data science and technologists, but also for entrepreneurs, focused on reducing the carbon footprint in our town and region.

We also can have market leading companies in the region pilot renewable energy technologies, based on Smart City and IOT Technologies.  For example, local company, GreenStream, has had success working with Morrisville and other cities in the area to offer real time flood monitoring and real time environmental conditions.

TOWN SUSTAINABILITY TASK FORCES

We need to encourage municipal task forces focused on environment and sustainability initiatives.  These should be established in every municipality in the Triangle.  And these task forces ought to be able to solicit presentations from startup companies and from the excellent research occurring at our region’s wonderful universities.

And, meanwhile, companies and researchers could shift focus to innovative approaches to reduce our region’s and our state’s carbon footprint, while focusing on building established companies ready to play a role on the global stage, ensuring our region will continue to be a destination for investment and job growth.

MASTER SUSTAINABILITY PLANS

Our cities and towns must also establish a Master Sustainability Plan, which can serve as a roadmap for the each municipality’s sustainability program.  Such a plan will draw from both qualitative and quantitative data to define initiatives and projects that balance the environmental, social, and economic impacts of Town programs, policies and operations.  I am very proud of the great work that Kimberly Conley and our team in Morrisville have done in establishing a Master Sustainability Plan, which has led to momentum in our initiatives across all municipal departments.  These plans can also help start ups and companies, focus their solutions on specific goals and identify places and areas where there are opportunities for pilots.

ENGAGED CITIZENS – YOUTH LEADERS

Finally, the most important part of any Innovative Sustainability Plan is for us to have engaged citizens who are willing to lead by example.   One needs to not look further for inspiring leadership sustainability than the youth led organization, Dedicated to Our Community of NC.

DOC NC is a leadership and advocacy student group that runs and supports different campaigns by planning, organizing, and executing different events.

In 2021-22, DOC NC  focused on education and awareness in our community on sustainable living.  Their team collaborated with the Town of Morrisville and Town of Apex on various sustainability projects and events to engage the community and were active in sustainability demos at both the Town of Apex and Town of Morrisville Earth Day Events.

DOC NC is engaging young adults in the development and execution of a sustainability initiative at the local, grassroots level.  Some initiatives currently being worked on are social media marketing, grant writing, solar energy use in local government buildings, conducting educational sessions on sustainability topics for after school elementary school children, library, etc.  Clearly, these young leaders have made it a priority to lead by example and we are grateful.

TIME FOR US

At the end of the day, I am convinced that our efforts to reduce carbon emissions go much further than recycling, solar, wind, and the traditional topics we cover and learn about in our communities.  Our transportation systems, the foods we eat (plant based meats), how we grow crops, manufacturing (reducing carbon in cement), and the design of our buildings and planning/layout of our cities will have to look very different over the next few decades if we are to accelerate our sustainability efforts.

It is time for the Triangle and North Carolina to execute key plays in the Sustainability Playbook:

• Accelerating technological innovation in IOT, Smart cities, and sustainability to the growth of start ups and more green jobs.
• Increasing Venture investment in these green companies.
• Encouraging towns to develop and implement Sustainability Initiatives and for citizens to truly engage on this issue.

As Gates reminds us at the end of his book, the time has come for all of us to take action now to keep our government, our employers and ourselves accountable to our efforts to reduce carbon emissions for a cleaner and healthier planet not only for our time, but for all time.

Sustainable cities and communities are resilient, not only on how we bounce back from the pandemic but how we bounce forward to a zero carbon world!  Let’s get to work!