Carbon-Neutral Energy Solutions

FountainBlue's May 12 VIP Roundtable was on the topic of 'Carbon-Neutral Energy Solutions'. Our executives in attendance represented a wide range of backgrounds, industries and perspectives, but they agreed on the following points:

• Carbon-Neutral energy solutions drive both sustainability and business goals while serving CSR goals and the needs of customers.

• The cost-efficient production, generation and usage of energy is foundational to all industries and organizations. Each innovator and leader might have different strategies for optimizing how energy is produced and managed at the office and at the plants, but sharing best practices across industries may benefit all.

• The customer fervor, international policy, and employee penchant for sustainable solutions is driving business initiatives and goals.   

Our executives pointed out that the challenge is to create and manage a cost-efficient source of energy for the products manufactured and produced, and to manage the energy generated so that we can proactively ensure 1) that energy is consistently available and plan-fully distributed, 2) that the equipment used to produce, store and manage the energy is safe and functional, 3) that the people using the energy are kept safe, 4) that the platform and infrastructure is operational and scalable, and 5) that the data respects privacy, security and access protocols.

Our executives agreed that innovation will drive the development of carbon-neutral solutions.

• Automation of tasks, systems and even factories will continue to generate astounding results, including automations to create more sustainable impact. We continue to do more work reliably with less human-power (which is not to say that humans will be replaced by robots or automation). 

• Innovation in fuels will help us all more efficiently travel through cars, boats, planes, scooters, etc.,

• There are tremendous opportunities to monitor and measure energy usage so that we can proactively plan where energy is distributed, when to use it, how to distribute it efficiently and fairly, etc.,

• Successfully innovating on the edge can help us all better manage energy usage and distribution, but the solutions themselves will need to be powered by some form of energy. 

But it's the people and the policies which will define how well carbon-energy solutions succeed.

• We need to choose innovation while managing risk.

• We need to better collaborate and share best practices.

• We need to provide solutions which are easy to use and readily adopted.

• We need to create and serve a connected, intelligent network of leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and executives.

• We need to create and drive policies which build infrastructure and support so that solutions can be more broadly adopted.  

The conversation this morning was mind-boggling in different ways as each executive brought a new perspective to the table. The bottom line is that it takes an army of innovators and leaders, working in collaboration for the greater good of all, so that most can benefit from the transition to more carbon-neutral energy solutions.