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Business Opportunities in Advancing Sustainable Lifestyles in Greater Boston
1. Agenda
8:30-9:00 Coffee and breakfast, registration, networking
9:00-9:20 Welcome and brief introductions
9:20-9:40 Philip Vergragt and Halina Brown, SCORAI co-founders
9:40-9:55 Carl Spector, Commissioner for the Environment, City
of Boston
9:55-10:05 Brooke Nash, Branch Chief, Municipal Waste Reduction
Program, MA DEP
10:05-10:20 Short presentations about innovative initiatives:
Sasha Purpura (Food for Free), Paul Eldrenkamp
(Byggmeister Builders), and Sanchali Pal (Joro)
10:20-10:30 Q&A; initial discussion; assignments for subgroups;
coffee
10:30-11:45 Subgroups work
11:45 -12:30 Lunch, networking, subgroup work (if needed)
12:30-12:55 Report back from 5 groups (facilitator: Philip Vergragt)
12:55-13:30 Final discussion, and next steps (Philip Vergragt &
Vesela Veleva)
2. Business Opportunities in Advancing Sustainable
Lifestyles
in Greater Boston
SERC-SCORAI Workshop
May 16, 2019, 8:30 am-1:30 pm
UMass Boston, University Hall 2nd
floor, Room 2330
3. Workshop Goals
Raise awareness among variety of stakeholders about the role of
consumption in addressing climate change
Bring together a variety of organizations and people already working in
specific areas (e.g., housing, mobility, food, consumer goods, leisure)
Support and promote innovative business models and practices aiming
to reduce consumption while improving wellbeing
Identify high impact areas, actions and indicators for Greater Boston
area
4. Business Opportunities in Advancing Sustainable Lifestyles in Greater Boston
Workshop UMass SERC and SCORAI:
May 16, 2019
Philip Vergragt and Halina Brown
5. Background and Context
• Paris Agreement on Climate Change (2016)
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDG12: Responsible
Consumption and Production)
• C40 (Sustainable Cities) report on Consumption-based
inventories (2018) and follow-up
• In US: Green New Deal (2019): climate, jobs, and equity)
• Globally: climate youth movement; in US Sunrise movement
(2019)
6. Cities and Urban areas
• In big cities many problems conflate
• Cities are also engines for innovation
• Business has pivotal role
7. Three-prong strategy to address consumption
• Business: innovation of new sustainable products and services;
create sustainable livelihoods and work-life balance for workers
• Governance and policy: create conditions, infrastructures, and
incentives to innovate and to change to less material lifestyles
• Individual consumers: educate, inform, experiment with
alternative lifestyles, change social norms towards immaterial
well-being
8. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC
To avoid the worst consequences of global warming, by 2050
almost all uses of fossil fuels and GHG emissions must be
eliminated
9. In Newton, MA
Newton Citizens Climate Action Plan:
Acting Now to Secure Our Sustainable Future
Newton Citizens Commission on Energy
May 2019
Is it feasible for Newton to achieve the IPCC
goal?
13. BUT Newton Inventory does not count indirect emissions from
making goods
Embodied energy in building materials and house content
GHG emissions
– Manufacturing cement, bricks, plastics, countertops, fixtures, foam
insulation……
– Manufacturing appliances, furniture, curtains,
– Processing wood
– Mining -- smelting metals
– Transport
– Etc.
17. Two GHG Emission Inventories
Consumption-based and Sector-based
Oregon, 1990–2016
18. Understanding consumption
• Consumption is about lifestyles, aspirations, identifying with
certain social groups
• Pro-environmental behaviors have minor effect on carbon
footprint
• This is because key contributors to carbon footprint are:
type/size of house, its location, leisure time, diet
• Relentless expansion of idea of basic amenities
19. From The New York Times June 3, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/upshot/houses-keep-getting-bigger-even-as-families-get-smaller.html?_r=0
Based on the Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of American Housing http://www.census.gov/construction/chars/completed.html
The Survey also shows that 31 % of new homes are 3000 square feet or larger
22. Halt growth in house sizes
Before
1900
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
0
500
1.000
1.500
2.000
2.500
3.000
3.500
4.000
4.500
5.000
23. Accessory Dwelling Units (up to 800 sq.ft)
Jordan Palmeri
Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality
palmeri.jordan@deq.state.or.us
24. Leisure Actitivies
The rise of “flying shame” points to a blind
spot in conscious consumerism
Quartz, April 18, 2019
25. Workshop Outcomes
• Concrete ideas how business can contribute to sustainable
lifestyles in housing, food, transportation, consumer products,
and leisure.
• Develop initiatives and metrics to measure progress
26. The Role of Business in Advancing
Sustainable Lifestyles
1. New business models and innovative products & services:
Shift to plant-based diets (e.g., Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat)
Addressing food waste and food insecurity (e.g., Food for Free)
Shifting from selling products to selling services (e.g., car sharing, product leasing)
Promoting product reuse and upcycling (e.g., The Furniture Trust, Seeding Labs, Project Repat)
Eliminating single use packaging (e.g., refillable products, reusable containers)
Toxic products are sort-of green herring in this list. It is personal health issue, not sustainability
2. Enabling employees and customers to make lifestyle changes
Eliminating bottled water, buying local/green products, donating/repurposing surplus products
Promoting telecommuting, teleconferencing
Supporting mobility options (e.g., bike programs)
Labeling is a form of feeding green consumerism, which does not reduce consumption and is
widely considered as greenwashing
27. …“the relationship between a good aesthetic education
and the maintenance of a healthy environment cannot
be overlooked”. By learning to see and appreciate
beauty, we learn to reject self-interested pragmatism. If
someone has not learned to stop and admire something
beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats
everything as an object to be used and abused without
scruple. If we want to bring about deep change, we need
to realize that certain mindsets really do influence our
behavior.
28. The State of Recycling
SCORAI Workshop
May 16, 2019
Brooke Nash
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
29. Global Market Disruption
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
China’s National Sword Policy – January 1, 2018
Warning signs in 2013 – “Operation Green Fence”
U.S. recyclers highly dependent on Chinese markets
(mixed paper, mixed plastics)
Contamination standard set at .05 percent
Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) are designed to meet 2-
3% contamination at best
30. The Domino Effect
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
Oversupply of mixed paper and mixed plastics
Material moves from to other export markets accept but…
It’s a buyer’s market
2% contamination rate
Much higher freight costs
The value of a ton of recyclables drops 50-75% in 12 mos
MRF sorting costs increase to meet new specs
Significant cost increase to municipalities and businesses
31. Solid Waste Master Plan Goals
Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection
By 2020:
Reduce disposal from 6.5 million tons (2008) to 4.5
millions tons (a 30% reduction).
By 2030:
Reduce disposal by 80% by 2050
As of Dec 2017, 5.7 millions tons (~14% reduction)
A lot of work still left!
2020-2030 Plan – in development now
32. % MSW Disposal by Material Type
22 %
13 %
4 %
2 %31 %
15 %
4 %
1 %
8 %
2016 MSW Characterization
Paper
Plastic
Metal
Glass
Organic Materials
Construction and Demolition (in the MSW stream)
Household Hazardous Waste
Electronics
Other Materials
33. Tons MSW Disposal by Material Type
990.694
596.744
175.499
74.515
1.426.944
681.013
175.735
49.115 364.126
Paper
Plastic
Metal
Glass
Organic Materials
Construction and Demolition (in the MSW stream)
Household Hazardous Waste
Electronics
Other Materials
34. What is MassDEP Doing to Help?
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
Tools to help municipalities tackle contamination
Recycling IQ (Increased Quality) Grants
Consensus from Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs):
What is recyclable, what’s not?
Statewide education campaign – Recycle Smart
Strategic inputs to improve local processing capacity and end-
market
Municipal Glass Processing Grants
Recycling Business Development Grants
41. Costs to operate/year
Gas $ 2,349
Oil $ 3,379
Heat pumps $ 2,685
Electric
resistance $ 4,691
Assumed efficiency
Gas 80%
Oil 80%
Heat pump
(COP of 2.8) 280%
Resistance 100%gas
oil
heat pumps
electric resistance
-
1,00
2,00
3,00
4,00
5,00
6,00
7,00
8,00
9,00
Carbon footprint by fuel type (total household energy)
heating DWH a.c. cooking, clothes drying lighting, MEL
42. Solar panels
201.6 MMBtu, 54%
Siding and exterior trim
44.7 MMBtu, 12%
Insulation
36.4 MMBtu, 10%
Windows
27.2 MMBtu, 7%
Framing
21.4 MMBtu, 6%
Other
43.7 MMBtu, 11%
Embodied energy of materials by subcategory, major retrofit
43. Insulation materials selection impact
DER attic Cellulose in floor Spray foam in rafters
R-value 60 60
Embodied energy 3.8 MMBtu 46.4 MMBtu
Annual energy savings 24.7 MMBtu 24.7 MMBtu
Embodied energy simple payback 0.15 years 1.9 years
44. Source: Ace McCarleton, Jacob Racusin, Chris Magwood; Building Energy 19 conference
Carbon-storing strategies
46. 2
85% of people
don’t know their
carbon footprint
or how to lower it.
45% of Americans are
willing to change
behavior to improve
environmental impact.
Source: 1. Nielsen 2018 Report. 2. Grinstein, Amir and Ory Zik. “Carbon Innumeracy.” May 2018.
47. Joro is building an app and community that makes it
easy to track and improve our personal carbon footprints
3
SPENDING TRAVEL FOODELECTRICITY
Source: Unsplash.com photography..
48. We apply MIT research to make an important,
complex problem accessible
4
Monday, July 9
11:41
JORO
Skip meat at lunch this week to
reduce your carbon footprint by 5%.
Monday
JORO Wednesday
JORO Sunday
Last week, food and travel were the
main drivers of your carbon footprint.
Leave in 10 mins to take the T, saving
8kg CO2 and $4.00 vs. rideshare.
IMPROVETRACK DISCOVER
Automated sensing AI/ML applications Competition & community
49. 5
Work toward one simple goal: 12% improvement
Meaningful
12% is an achievable
goal for an engaged
user, for instance:
• Walk or bike <2 mi
• Take public transit
<10mi
• Limit meat to one
meal per day
• Turn the thermostat
down by 3 degrees
An engaged user will on
average take a car off
the road for 6 months.
The Joro community’s
projected impact with 1
million active users is
equivalent to taking
500,000 cars off the road.
Achievable
12% emissions
reduction corresponds
with the goal set in the
Paris Climate
Agreements to keep
global average
temperature rise <2°C
Tangible
50. Let’s take climate action
into our own hands.
Join our beta at www.joro.tech or by
scanning the QR code on your phone.
Email me at sanchali@joro.tech.