This presentation was delivered at the EnergyCarta Asian Youth Energy Summit 2010. It covers global issues shaping our future, cleantech and how it is defined, design and ethical considerations for industry and policymakers.

1. Vision + Development | Performance Optimisation | Project Management | Content + Communications

2. Asian Youth Energy Summit 2010
Cleantech Realities
Chris Tobias
Lead Strategist, Forward

5. The only thing certain is change.

6. The future =
Population growth +
Resource depletion +
Security and conflict +
Climate change

7. Population growth:
7-9bn on a planet that should
safely support 2bn
Economic and lifestyle ambition
to live like the West– with a
footprint to match.

8. Resource depletion:
More people, competing for less
“stuff”.
Especially critical: energy and
water (note the relationship).
Other key resources (e.g. trace
minerals) also declining in supply.

9. Security and
conflict:
More security issues globally.
Countries increasingly scrambling
for resources (ie China, Korea, US)
Numerous flashpoints for conflict.
(Iraq, Sudan, Rwanda)

10. Climate change:
It will impact every aspect
of human life.
Temperature changes, erratic
weather, droughts, sea level rise…
They’re game changers at a
difficult point in human evolution.

11. Cleantech: the silver bullet?

12. ... or did technology start the mess
we currently have?

14. If we do not mind history,
we are destined to repeat it.

15. So how are we defining
“cleantech”?

16. Cleantech is a term used to
describe products or services that
improve operational performance,
productivity, or efficiency while
reducing costs, inputs, energy
consumption, waste, or pollution.
(wikipedia)

17. It’s about humans, not just technology.

18. Fixing human software
(behaviour, attitudes, beliefs)
is
more important
than making more hardware.

19. Technology, like money, is a
means to an end.

20. Solve first for human behaviour.

21. Design technology
holistically as part of
a system.

22. Design for numerous outcomes.

23. Design for local conditions.

24. There are no silver bullet
solutions to our problems.
There is no “one-size fits all.”
There are no global “killer apps.”
There are plenty of clichés and
bad ideas.

25. Want help?

26. Some global cleantech best practice examples

27. Chido Govero
Orphan in Zimbabwe
Pioneered growing
mushrooms on
agricultural waste to
feed her family
Turned into an export
industry
Inspired and trained
others in Africa, South
America, and India

28. Jack Sim
Successful Singaporean
business-man
Chose to tackle
sanitation issues in
developing countries
rather than “retire”
Founded World Toilet
Organisation (WTO)
and drew resources
worldwide for the cause

29. Singh Intrachooto
Thai architect,designer,
professor, owner of
Osisu
Designs furniture,
products, and buildings
using recycled
industrial and
agricultural waste
Highly successful and
internationally
renowned

30. Majora Carter
American economics
consultant, concerned
citizen and activist
Founded Sustainable
South Bronx and
pioneered numerous
green initiatives locally
Reactivated the
neighbourhood, created
jobs, cleaned up
environment

31. Dr. Willie Smits
Dutch conservationist and
entrepreneur living in
Borneo
Pioneered combined
sustainable forest farming,
rainforest creation project,
orangutan habitat, and eco-
tourism venture: Samboja
Lestari
Also founded Masarang
Foundation which among
other things helped pioneer
converting sugar palm to
ethanol

32. Tom Szaky
American “eco-capitalist”
Created the startup
Terracycle, a company that
makes consumer products
out of post-consumer
products
First started by bottling
worm fertiliser in reused
plastic drink bottles
Has expanded to numerous
other product lines; has
many emulators worldwide

33. What’s going on locally?

34. What can you as a young person do?

35. Be a catalyst for change.
In other words…
WANT A JOB?

36. Find new ways to meet these needs:
-How/what will people eat?
-How can more food be grown locally?
-What sort of building materials will be used in the future?
-What forms will buildings take?
-What sources of energy can be harvested and used?
-How can processes become more energy
efficient/effective?
-Where will we get water from and how will it be processed?
-How will people be employed? What jobs will matter?
-How will people get healthcare, and what sort of treatment
will it involve?
-How will mobility/transport need to adjust (both short and
long distance)?
-What currency will people use to exchange goods and
services with?

37. Focus on adaptation.

38. Be Ready
Alternative Possibilities: Singapore and Beyond
Case Study: Agriculture and Land Use–
how will people feed themselves with
increase in fuel/food prices?
-Singapore historically produced much of its
own food domestically.
-Now reliant on importing some 93% of its
food; food production per capita dropped
dramatically (graph: Earth Trends)
-Critics say that Singapore does not have
enough land area to devote to agriculture
-Yet…there are approximately 300 sites
currently listed as farms island-wide

39. Be Ready
Alternative Possibilities: Singapore and Beyond
-Singapore: 30 golf courses and country
clubs… not to mention parks, green
spaces, public gardens, and military camps
-The challenge: perhaps it’s not a matter of
land area, but land use
-Localised, low-carbon, intensive, urban
agriculture could be possible on this small
island
-Cuba rebounded from it’s own “peak oil”
scenario following the collapse of the
USSR, and now is largely food secure. In
2002 it produced 3.2m tonnes of produce
in urban agriculture (see image at right)

40. Be Ready
Alternative Possibilities: Singapore and Beyond
Case Study: Less Energy = Better Buildings
-Many Singapore buildings are inefficiently built and
operated “glass boxes”, or monolithic high rises
-According to energy efficiency expert Lee Eng Lock,
60% of energy usage in SG attributed to inefficient aircon
(bad op. practice, rather than lack of good technology)
-And where does the energy come from?
According to NTU in 2007, Singapore energy sources:
76% Natural Gas (most imported MY/IN)
22% Fuel Oil (imported from elsewhere)
3% Waste to Energy (refuse)
.3% Diesel

41. Be Ready
Alternative Possibilities: Singapore and Beyond
Case Study: Less Energy = Better Buildings
-One local exemplar of “green” architecture:
Poh Ern Shih Temple, Pasir Panjang
Key Features:
-Passive cooling design; minimal aircon usage;
emphasis on natural ventilation
-Shading overhangs/eaves
-Amorpheus Cell PV system in 2 large installations
(roof + pagoda)
-7 large solar hot water heaters
-4x micro wind turbines (yes, they work in SG!)
-Energy efficient lighting
-Energy self-sufficient
-Water harvesting on site for landscape
-Coming soon: micro-hydro

42. Be Ready
Alternative Possibilities: Singapore and Beyond
Case Study: Social Resiliency
Worldwide movement: Transition Towns
Key Features:
-Decentralised organisation focused on local
responses to peak oil and climate change
-Started in the UK by Rob Hopkins in early
2000’s; now active in 278+ locations in 16+
countries worldwide
-Small, self-organised communities take on
initiatives for local resiliency and self-sufficiency
-Emphasis on building local economies and
social capital

43. Experiment and take risks.
Follow your passion & your gut.
View problems as opportunities.
Market yourself and influence
people.
Learn everywhere.

45. You never change anything by
fighting the existing reality. To
change something, build a new
model that makes the old model
obsolete.
-- Buckminster Fuller

47. Tomorrow doesn’t have to be
another yesterday.

48. Thanks for your attention. We’ve been…
Chris Tobias, Lead Strategist
E: chris@forward.net.nz
M: +65 8406 2275 (SG) +64 21 0225 2650 (NZ)
Skype: Forward.net.nz
Twitter: FWDTHNKG
Linkedin: ChrisTobiasForward
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