Sustainability Innovators

As Green Manufacturer’s editor, I have the pleasure and privilege of meeting some of the world’s most innovative manufacturers.

Even though the basis of sustainability is Earth’s continuity, in today’s business environment, innovating sustainability sometimes requires more deviation than continuity. Blazing new trails can reap great rewards, but also comes with risk and struggle.

“With the persistence of an idiot, we continued,” said a recent interviewee, who was describing his company’s work on an energy-efficient improvement.

Of course, idiocy has nothing to do with green innovation. Unwavering belief in a concept, a commitment to protecting the environment, and fierce determination are the more likely drivers.

This issue’s cover story follows the brave undertaking of Multifilm Packaging Corp., which dared to take an alternative route for its cooling and heating source (“Candy packaging manufacturer uses geothermal—with a twist,” p. 6).

Multifilm could have gone the well-traveled route—getting a new, energy-efficient chiller. Instead, company owners sought something different that would be more ecofriendly for its application and could net long-term benefits.

Like any new venture, there were no GPS directions, no off-the-shelf solutions. An untried path is fraught with unexpected challenges and costs. Despite excellent design, extensive planning, and precise calculations, wells had to be redrilled, pipe had to be relocated, and layers of shale and rock were encountered. Copper prices that were low at the start escalated by the two-year project’s end.

For Southwest Windpower, the world’s largest producer of battery-charging small wind generators for on-site applications, the route was no less bumpy or detour-free (“SW small wind manufacturer,” p. 29).

When company co-founder Andy Kruse began his sustainability innovation road trip, he never expected it would take him from company headquarters in Flagstaff, Ariz., on historic Route 66 to Washington, D.C. “Now I live a large portion of my life in D.C., working to influence public policy.” He was instrumental in gaining investment tax credits for the entire industry. The challenges he encountered were not rocks and shale, but hard-headed legislators and weighty lobbyists.

The rocky challenges don’t end there. There is still a need for on-site wind energy systems to reach grid parity—what he sees as the last obstacle for renewable energy’s road to broad implementation via technology innovations and manufacturing efficiencies.

Unwavering Belief

Clearly, green innovation is a field ripe with rewards, but rife with risk as well. What if it fails? That question is especially keen when you’ve outlaid personal investments of time and finances. It’s only natural to have momentary misgivings in the dark hours between initial failures and final success.

What drives the sustainability innovators through those dark alleys is an unflinching belief in their concepts. It is not a blind belief, but a belief based on reasoning, planning, calculations, broad considerations, and even a willingness to abandon an idea if the facts don’t bear them out.

“We knew there was no reason for it not to work …”

… It Had to Work

“… It had to work.” That is the high-octane fuel, the nitrous oxide that drives innovators to reach their destinations, isn’t it? After you’ve invested your funds, your time, and risked so much, you make sure it works because it has to work.

Successful people dig deep to do what they have to do.

Commitment to Green

For sustainability innovators, there is an additional driver—a strong desire and a commitment to protect the environment while in pursuit of their American dreams. To avoid sliding down an environmental slippery slope, they have chosen to take the road less traveled.

Green on.