NOVEL SOLUTIONS
Taking the Green Movement to the Bank C
SHEA GIBBS, MANAGING EDITOR
limate Capitalism, by L. Hunter Lovins and Boyd Cohen, is billed as a book that makes the business case for going green without a prior agenda or
horse in the race. “Believe in climate change. Or don’t. It doesn’t matter,”
reads the dust cover. Unfortunately, the acclaimed new book, a follow-up to the authors’ bestselling Natural Capitalism, doesn’t completely live up to its billing. Climate Capitalism makes a solid economic case for going green that could in and of itself be considered objective. But the authors’ passion for the green movement and concern for climate change come through on nearly every page. Lovins and Cohen present a preponderance of evi- dence both for the existence of climate change and for the effectiveness of taking up climate capitalism, the phrase coined to describe the process of cashing in on the green movement. Reading example after example of companies that are able to save money through simple measures (turning computers off when they are not in use, optimizing natural light, etc.), some will feel a desire to rise from their chair, shut off their lamps and continue reading by candlelight. Others will feel less so inclined. Metalcasters and others in the manufacturing sector may be turned off by the portions of the book that make the assumption that climate change is a real and manmade phenomenon, not to mention the sections that tend toward a “liberal agenda” (despite the authors’ contention they are avoiding just such a political stance). “Tracing back at least to the administration of Ron- ald Reagan, an ongoing campaign in the United States has delegitimized the role of government,” Lovins and Cohen write in the closing pages of Climate Capitalism. “And we have stood placidly by, even though this plays to the strength of entrenched interests far more than to the interests of citizens.” Readers of Climate Capitalism in the metalcasting
community will occasionally get the feeling they already know all this efficiency and renewable energy stuff. For example, the industry has been reclaiming lost heat for decades. But even knowledgeable business owners can have a difficult time acting on energy saving initiatives or pursuing customers in renewable energy markets when they are caught up in monitoring the day to day cash flow of their companies. For those readers, Climate Capitalism provides just the sort of motivation and idea generation needed to take action. Climate Capitalism isn’t the typical book you’ll find
on the “business” shelf of your local bookstore. It is a far reaching tract intended to incite major change in the free market system as we know it. Will it be successful? You’ll have to keep tuning in to your local weather forecast to find out.
ABRIDGED
Relevance to Metalcasters Technical Diffi culty Self-Help Fluff Profi t Booster
“Signifi cant opportunities exist for companies to
transform the products they make so that their customers can save energy too.”
Metalcaster’s Translation: You must take advantage of the metalcasting process’s inherent advantages and deliver lightweight, near-net-shape components. To take it a step further, metalcasters can help consumers save energy by producing components that go into the energy effi cient products purchased from OEMs.
November 2011 MODERN CASTING | 53
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