Dr. Mark Bernstein, co-founder of EarthShot, introduces the Clean Tech Portal, a resource for sustainable building innovations aiming for net-zero emissions. Learn how to shape responsible leadership and climate action through cleantech solutions.
Learn about Earthshot's Clean Tech Portal where you can find innovations that can help existing and new buildings be more sustainable and achieve net-zero carbon emissions. Understand how to work with organizations to shape responsible leadership on sustainability from Dr. Mark Bernstein, co-founder and president of EarthShot, a non-profit that seeks to inspire climate action by engaging people in activities that immerse them in a positive, empowering cleantech message.
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David: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome again to our podcast series Rework, the Sustainable Development Chronicles. I'm your host, Dave Kapu. In each session of this series, we'll focus on one or more of the United Nations sustainable development goals and their impact on the profession of facility management. The sustainable development goals.
Part of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development constitute an urgent call for global action. To end poverty and other deprivations with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality and spur economic growth, all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
Today we'll be looking at S D G 13 Climate Action SDG nine, building Resilient Infrastructure and more. My guest is Mark Bernstein, a true innovator in the field of value-based sustainability. Mark is a management consultant who works with startups and other businesses to shape [00:01:00] responsible leadership on sustainability, as well as co-founder and president of Earth Shot, a nonprofit that seeks to inspire climate action by engaging people in activities that immerse them in a positive, empowering, clean tech message.
Welcome, mark. Great. Well, let's get right down to business. Mark. One of the things that I think distinguishes you from a lot of other folks who work for the cause of sustainability and talk about the need for action to save the environment is your positive message that clean tech is cool. What can you tell me about how you came to this positive outlook and how you sustained it in the face of increasingly dire evidence of the precarious situation?
Our planet's in.
Mark Bernstein: So a couple things. First, we'll go back and start Star Trek which I watched in reruns, the original Star Trek and became you know, interesting in tech and sci-fi and stuff. But you think about the technology that was there, and I then I [00:02:00] was heavily involved in environment and energy and so I've always been engaged in thinking about how tech can change the world.
And as I progressed in my career I worked early on consumer behavior issues and it's just hard for consumers to change and it's really hard for us to get people to change the things they do, and so we need to bring technology into the equation to make it easier and so that people don't necessarily have to sacrifice.
So I made huge changes and so that's how I came to kind of this, you know, tech is really cool and interesting and I grew up in a. The early period and then computers, and I've watched that whole transition and it's really cool and it's really fun. And it can be for sustainability too.
David: Yeah, I think, you know, I think I told you last time we talked that I've been to lectures where the message is, you know, an urgent call for climate action, but.
It is presented in such dire [00:03:00] terms that, that you really walk out thinking, well, is it worth trying to do anything? And you're just a breath of fresh air in that atmosphere.
Mark Bernstein: But that's what we have to change, right? We have to change that narrative because scaring people doesn't get people to do things.
And it just, that doesn't work. And we've been doing that on climate for 30 years now, and it hasn't worked for 30 years. And as a good marketing person will tell you, If nobody's buying your product, you need to change the market and the message. So it's time to change the message on climate.
David: Yep.
Yep. Probably past time, but glad you're here to do it. You know, I love the Earth Shot website. You know, it's got features like games and graphic novels that, that try to make sustainability a fun topic. What kind of following are you attracting
Mark Bernstein: with this? So what we're looking to get are 20 somethings.
So when we were looking at building Earth Job to go, okay, we need to change the narrative. We need to give people this positive Cleantech vision in the [00:04:00] future. Who are the ones who are feeling a bit the most hopeless, and who are the ones that can make the biggest difference? And those are 20 somethings.
And we asked, where are they? Well, they're on video games and social media. So if we're gonna get to them, we gotta get clean tech into video games, get them talking about it, and inspired to do something. And that's, you know, so at earshot we are beginning to build that following among 20 somethings.
We're really going to be the forefront of transitioning to a Cleantech feature.
David: And it's even fun for 60 somethings. So,
Mark Bernstein: yes. Yeah, we're not saying no to anybody else, but you know, there are, the bulk of the gamers are in the, in their twenties. There are three and a half billion people who play a game every day in the world.
You know, and so if we're getting on this, let's get it in there.
David: Another big part of the website is the spotlight that you put on clean tech providers. I know that's also a focus of your consulting practice. What are some [00:05:00] of your favorite products that you've highlighted and, and how have you seen them being used?
Mark Bernstein: So, there are a lot of, you know, a lot of products I could talk about, but, you know, a lot of it's kind of, There, there are different things. So one company who seals ductwork in commercial office buildings, right? We don't get the fact that we lose a lot of energy just on leaking ductwork and they just go in and seal blow stuff through and seal the ductwork.
Great. 10% off your energy bill overnight. Simple. We're beginning to see that happen. Innovations in lighting. Lighting is another big thing and then building controls. Right. And now the morphing of these software building control things using artificial intelligence chat, GT G P T and other things to actually make buildings a lot smarter to save energy.
Got a company doing natural fiber insulation to replace fiberglass. And company making solar windows so you can replace your commercial office windows with windows that actually [00:06:00] produce power at the same time. So, it's, oh wow. It's high insulation, produces some energy and it's, it, and it returns on the investment and it looks good.
It's this whole variety from little simple. You know, ceiling ductwork to super cool solar windows.
David: Yeah, I love the solar windows. One of the perceived drawbacks though of these green products has for a long time been the notion that they're more expensive than they're conventionally produced alternatives.
But when we were talking recently, you told me that's often no longer the case. What's made the difference there?
Mark Bernstein: Technology change and innovation, and entrepreneurs, you know, I've been in this business a long time, so 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, I was selling people on sustainability stuff that cost more, right?
And it did. It paid off, but it took eight to 10 years to pay off, and it's hard for a company to do that. That's all changed the innovations in technology, not just from solar, but some of these other things [00:07:00] I talk about make the Clean Tech introduction, the best business decision. They're cheaper, they're more efficient, and their payback is really short, sometimes even immediate.
Sometimes maybe a year or two. But that's a really good return on investment. And so we're, you know, it is the innovations in technology scale. The growth of it, particularly when it comes to solar the production scale. And so we're beginning to see all those things emerge and converge into a place where all this technology, for the most part, is cheaper and better and more efficient.
Now, sometimes it costs a little bit more front, but you save money right away.
David: Yeah. Yeah. I think I it's that, it's the term of the payback that as I understand what you had told me is really changing. People are seeing that return almost immediately as you just said.
Mark Bernstein: Right. I'll give you an example of hybrid electric airplanes company and pair.
And so [00:08:00] they are retrofitting existing small airplanes with a hybrid electric powertrain. These planes every so often due to FAA regulations have to go through an overhaul in a certain period of time. So for the same cost of doing that overhaul, they can put in a whole new power trade. The minute you take off, you're saving 75%.
And so it's, you know, and that's all due to the fact that battery costs have come down a lot and more efficient. So the things, the innovations that have happened all of a sudden create an opportunity to. Change the game on how we look at Clean 10. Great.
David: Getting into directly the Sustainable Development goals, sustainable development, goal nine.
Which focuses on building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation would seem to align closely with the kind of work you are supporting in your consulting practice. And with Earth Job, a [00:09:00] particular goal of Goal nine, a particular objective is to significantly raise sustainable industries share.
Of employment and gross domestic product by 2030, particularly in the least developed countries where the goal is to double these figures. How do you see this playing out through the kind of work you're doing? So
Mark Bernstein: I see in a few ways firstly, you know, most of the clean tech stuff that reduces emissions also make you more resilient.
That's the one thing we need to recognize, and we've seen this huge growth in Cleantech jobs, you know, across the world. Right. And even with the slowdown in other sectors, that's still growing. And in a developing world, you know, there is, you know, the introduction of these new technologies through different types of programs really can produce local jobs because a lot of it's in, a lot of it is putting things in.
A lot of it can be made in different regions. It is being [00:10:00] made in different regions. So it all isn't just imported stuff. And. And somebody from the outside coming and installing it. And then you begin to train people to repair it. And so a lot of work people doing, particularly with solar microgrids, for example, as we move into as both climate change and a resilient thing is creating opportunities for local communities to own them.
And then you're training local people to repair them. So you're creating these long-term job, long-term infrastructure. By using the solar battery microgrid system that's bringing electricity to place that didn't have it, but also using the local folks and having them part of it. And so a number of opportunities there.
When it comes to retrofits of existing buildings, again, all that takes people to do and there are jobs there and they're well paying. They are also, you know, and so training local people take care of it. So as we build this resilient infrastructure that's also [00:11:00] climate friendly, we are really creating new economic opportunities.
And again, because now it's cheaper and better, it's actually the best economic decision for countries as well, again, which wasn't always the case, right? When I was doing rural solar stuff. It was, you know, okay, little expensive and. You know, it's better than nothing, but it was kind of expensive. It was still better in many of those countries when I was working in Africa and Southeast Asia than trying to string transmission lines.
But it was still hard to do and hard to get out there though. I'll give you another example if you want for sort of, I was just visiting Petra and Jordan. So Petra's this ancient city. I was there 15 years ago and there was kind of nothing around and inside there was not much. They've still kept the inside pretty plain. But now on this walk up these 2000 steps to this monastery where there were little kind of rest stops with little people, they, in the past there was just sort of some tea and [00:12:00] stuff.
Now they all have solar panels and refrigerator. So as you're going up there in this heat, you can have an ice cream or a drink, you know, but they're, they didn't string transmission lines. It's because they have solar panels up in these little huts and these little rest stops going up these steps. That's changed the game on how they can bring more tourists there.
Right. And then people can earn more money there.
David: That's good. That's great. Petra's been on my bucket list for tourism now I've got something else to look out for when I finally make it there.
Mark Bernstein: It's great solar panels everywhere.
David: That's fantastic. Okay, well let's take a short break now to hear from one of our sponsors.
We'll be back in just a minute.
Welcome back to this episode of Rework, the Sustainable Development Chronicles. I'm Dave Carpo and I'm talking with Mark Bernstein, co-founder and president of the nonprofit Earth Shot, which aims to engage people with a [00:13:00] positive, empowering clean tech message. Mark, I know that innovative resource conserving building materials are a big focus of your effort.
That certainly makes sense. Given the well-publicized fact that the built environment is responsible for about 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, how are you seeing adoption of these innovative materials progressing? Are there geographies or industries where you see the use of these materials taking hold more strongly?
Mark Bernstein: So, I'd say in the last few years we've seen an acceleration. Because again, a bunch of new technologies have emerged. Green cement being one of them, zero carbon cement. So a couple of companies making, you know, really innovative cement project products that can compete and are better than Portland Cement.
And some of these companies have raised lots of money and are accelerating the deployment as folks get used to the fact that you actually can do something differently. And we're beginning to see it [00:14:00] mostly in places where there are some, you know, regulatory push, you know, in the US like California, New York, and in Europe.
But you're beginning to see it happen in other places too, because not only, again, is this stuff better, it's actually they're competitive and price and actually easier to manage. And so, you know, we're seeing it, we're seeing this huge influx of stuff in cement. There are some new things happening in steel.
In construction modular housing units you know, using really innovative methods for producing structural insulated panels to make it easier and more efficient, to put up multi-story housing units affordably and sustainably. And so these, again, as we've seen these companies emerge over the last few years.
They're really beginning to gain traction, always pushback, but really beginning to see traction and particularly in those areas where the policy encourages changes and carbon [00:15:00] reductions.
David: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think it's, I think it's fascinating that, you know, these materials concrete and steel that we've been using in the case of steel for thousands of years Are, you know, we're now finding ways to innovate within those old technologies and make them much more energy efficient and resource friendly than they were in the past.
Mark Bernstein: Yeah. Well you think about cement and concrete, right? The Romans used it. Yeah. And we can still see stuff standing thousands of years later. The problem with Roman cement was it took too long to cure, right? And so, as we. Didn't wanna wait a week for something to cure. And so the recipe got lost for a while and Portland Cement came about and, you know, really efficient in terms of use, but very heavily energy.
The old Roman cement was based on different materials. Ah, and so a couple of companies have figured out how to take those materials, ponic materials they're called, and actually use 'em and cure them as [00:16:00] fast as. Portland cement and they are actually higher quality than regular cement. And so we're basically taking ancient technology, bringing in to today's world.
And you know, if you think about the stuff we see and the old Roman technology, you know, stuff lasts a long time and we can build that way too. And so it's those types of kind of new and old innovations that are making a difference.
David: That's that's fantastic. In a recent article of yours that I read, you wrote about returning to a focus on energy efficiency.
And in particular, you talked about an idea for an air conditioner swap out program, that it would encourage low and middle income families to replace old inefficient air conditioners with more efficient modern ones. In your words you were saving both significant costs for them and significant resource demand on their utility providers.
You suggested [00:17:00] in Southern California, this program could save individuals about a hundred dollars on their annual electricity costs and could be the equivalent of taking offline a 60 megawatt power plant. Can you tell us more about this idea?
Mark Bernstein: Yeah, so this comes about from my. 20 years focus on energy efficiency.
And last summer it was hot in California and we came close to some blackouts. And so the governor said, well, you know, we're really worried about blackouts or maybe we should put some money into extend the life of natural gas peaking power plant. And I was wandering around mid-city LA and I was looking up and seeing all these old window air conditioning units, you know, halfway falling out.
You know, they're not installed right. And they're old. And I said, you know, they're all used at peak time, which is the evening in California. You know, what if we just put new ones in? So, thankfully California as opposed to pretty much any place else actually collects data like that. [00:18:00] And there was data to be found.
And it turns out in the territory of that Southern California Medicine and Los Angeles Department of Water Power produced, there are quarter million room air conditioning units that are nine years old or older. If you replace them and actually put them in, right, you'll save 75% of the electricity overnight.
Right. And then, and who are those people? They tend to be low income, maybe lower middle income. Those are the people that have those old air conditioning units that are not installed. Right. And so what you're doing is you're creating this opportunity to build essentially a power, a negative power plant, right?
And so you're replacing these out. You're swapping them. People get better air conditioning, so they're actually now able to cool their apartments. Many times they're running these air conditioning and it's leaking and they don't operate well. So they're actually better able to handle the heat and everybody saves money.[00:19:00]
Right. And we're saving peak power. And it just makes economic sense and we can do it if we do it at scale cheaper than what it would cost to run that power plant, that peak load natural gas power plant. But it's that type of thing we tend not to think about. Right. You know, we say, okay, we'll give them rebates.
Rebates don't work cuz people can't really deal with the rebates and you gotta go in and you gotta. Tell you utility used to go in and give everybody a new one. And and then I was wandering around Manhattan, looking at all those in New York City as well. I'm sure New York City has way more than Southern California.
They don't have the data per se, but you know, you could just go in and make everybody more comfortable, save huge amounts of energy. We do not pay enough attention to energy efficiency. We've done a lot, you know, a lot of buildings have done lighting retrofits, but there's still plenty of buildings that haven't.
[00:20:00] And you get a third party that comes in and do it, does it, it costs you nothing and you start saving money immediately. But people, but buildings still don't do it. And so we really need to push and I really wanna continue to push sort of the need to not. You know, to not ignore the fact that we still need to use energy more efficiently.
And that just came out from walking around and looking at some air conditioning units that looked like they were falling outta the buildings.
David: Very timely observation was we're getting into that season. Even near in Boston where I am. You know, you're getting to the point where you walk down the street, you hear the air conditioning units humming and rattling as as they work to To keep people cool.
It would be great to see. Well,
Mark Bernstein: you know, you know, and 30 years ago you didn't have air conditioning there. Right. You know? And so not only is it somewhat new now, it's adding burden to the electric system. You know, it's new and inefficient at Sunbelt. Well,
David: I hope the idea spreads to areas like [00:21:00] like mine,
Mark Bernstein: well, we're working on trying to get people to notice it, and we're working on the state of California to implement a program like this.
Yeah. So
David: I, you know, you've written about. Sustainable technologies that maybe like the concept of energy efficiency that we just talked about that, that fly under the radar while we tend to focus on, you know, bright, shiny new objects. When you think about climate action, which is SDG 13, are there specific measures you think we're missing the boat on?
And if there are, what could and should we be doing that most of us aren't thinking about?
Mark Bernstein: And it's exactly, you know, the efficiency is actually the small pieces of things that. People don't see that added together can produce more savings than solar, but investors flock to these things because they can point to it.
But, you know, sealing duct work [00:22:00] or, you know, ch changing windows or even in, in a new building, building some things into it that are going to make it super more efficient. Just don't get the headlines and they don't often get the investment either. And cuz people want to kind of see things and they invest in stuff that you can see and do.
So we're, you know, again, we're really missing the boat on efficiency and productivity. For the most part is where I see particularly in, in the climate space. And now we need to reemerge that cuz we had a efficiency, you know, as the top of the mind during. You know, the eighties and the oil price increases and stuff, and there was a lot of push to that and we've kind of lost some of that.
And it needs to come back because, you know, we want to convert to a hundred percent zero carbon energy, right? So that means lots of renewables and things. So let's say you need a hundred megawatt today. Okay, that's a, but let's say you cut that demand [00:23:00] down. And you only need 90 megawatts. It means you only need 90 megawatts renewables.
You don't need a hundred megawatts. So, so it actually lets you achieve those zero emission goals faster when you're using less. And that isn't in the dialogue as much as it should. No
David: but you know what that, that leads right into the next topic I wanted to ask you about. The UN sustainable development goals are targeted.
Towards improvements we can make by 2030 and of course that's less than seven years away now, what do you see as the wins we should be focusing on in this next short time period leading up to 2030?
Mark Bernstein: Other than efficiency, which we've already talked about. The other one I think we need to really focus on is agriculture.
And I realize that's different than a lot of the listeners, but you know, the agriculture sector, food waste. And which is very relevant. So food waste by itself would be the fourth largest, if that was a country, the fourth largest emitter, greenhouse gases, you know? [00:24:00] So, you know, we waste a lot of food.
Agriculture itself could be more resilient and reduce its carbon emissions. It, and so we need to be looking at that as how we feed ourselves. And the other thing when it comes to the building industry, what we're seeing and agriculture is a movement towards urban agriculture. So innovations in rooftop. I've been talking to somebody recently, you know, on the innovations technology on, on rooftop gardens and rooftop agriculture, not just general plants actually growing food on commercial rooftops.
It has a whole bunch of benefits including reduces air conditioning. Because it cools and it actually has a significant measurable impact on reducing energy use in a building, while at the same time you can grow actual food that people can actually eat on the roof, on the walls, and on the ground.
And so thinking about food is the other thing, particularly around [00:25:00] the goals for climate and sustainability and everything else. Is really important.
David: So, so Mark, what's next on your agenda?
What new efforts are you gonna be focusing on as we move forward?
Mark Bernstein: So, a few things. We're continuing erha to try to put Cleantech into video games. We're beginning to build our f our first thing, which is a clean tick world in Fortnite. Fortnite is this big popular game and you can actually build your own environment in there and we're gonna build Cleantech into.
You know, into a Fortnite world and hope 20 year olds. But the other thing I'm focused on are young, diverse entrepreneurs in the Cleantech space. So what we're seeing also amongst the emerging technologies is people of different backgrounds, different colors, and the LGBTQ community. Young entrepreneurs emerging with really cool, interesting ideas and.
They have hurdles cause the system of investment is still focused on straight [00:26:00] white men. And so, we, they often have to run through more hoops, but they're often more motivated and innovative in their things. So my focus is kind of looking and helping support and develop through some other groups.
Innovations coming out from young entrepreneurs who are not only the ones we're trying to, mines we're trying to change at Earth shot, but some already doing it, and they're ready, emerging as the next tech leaders in the clean tech space, and so that we're trying to encourage them and move these forward so we begin to get all these new tech ideas out there and deployed across the world.
David: Well, graduation season is upon us, so hopefully you'll be getting another whole influx of of leaders of the future coming at you.
Mark Bernstein: There are a whole bunch of college graduates, to be amazed by what they've come up with and how they've emerged, and we just need to support them and we need to provide them opportunities to do that.[00:27:00]
David: You know, if anybody can pass along that positive message, I think it's you. Mark, I really wanna thank you for your time today, mark, and for your in really inspiring insights into this clean tech future that's gonna help us save the planet for future generations. I wanna urge everyone listening to this podcast to check out the Earth shot.us website and to join Mark and his team in this positive approach to climate action that Mark and his team are taking.
Mark Bernstein: Thank you very much. It was a pleasure to be here and looking forward to chatting with everybody in the future.