User Manual

2
Business Resiliency and Energy Innovation
ultimately enabling Denmark to sell oil
exports from North Sea discoveries. In
2010, Denmark generated 42% of its
electricity with wind turbines and 45%
by converting waste to energy and using
biomass in combined heat and power
plants that also supply vast district
heating networks.”
St. Paul, Minnesota, is another example,
according to Thornton. In 2003, District
Energy St. Paul began burning local
wood waste in a downtown combined
heat and power plant, selling power
to the grid and supplying district
heating for nearly 90% of buildings
downtown. Previously, the wood waste
from tree trimmings or damaged trees
would simply end up in landlls. “By
converting local wood waste into usable
energy, St. Paul has been able to cut
coal use by about 250,000 tons per year,
reduce carbon emissions by 100,000
tons annually, keep $12 million in fuel
recirculating in the local economy,
and maintain stable energy prices for
consumers,” Thornton says.
Multiple Forces at Play
Greg Unruh, an expert in sustainable
energy and Arison Professor of Values
Leadership at George Mason University,
points out that the U.S. has signicantly
underinvested in its power grid to
the same degree that it has neglected
other forms of infrastructure. The costs
of upgrading the grid can be steep—
as much as $160 billion. And even
then, the grid may not be especially
resilient. Although grids in the U.S. have
advanced controls and more operational
exibility than those in much of
Europe, wires in the U.S. are mainly
aboveground. “My colleagues from
Europe are always shocked when they
come here and see our wires overhead,”
he says. “Wires aboveground make
our grid very susceptible to weather
outages. A city block can be taken out
by a tree branch! In Europe, most of the
electrical grid is underground.”
As the U.S. confronts the enormous
expense of upgrading its power grids,
renewable energy sources—especially
solar—are becoming cheaper and
installation is easier to nance. Add
advances in storage technology, and it
is becoming easier for consumers and
businesses to generate their own power
away from the gird. Unruh believes that
these factors will drive fundamental
change in the energy industry. “The
pace of the switch will accelerate when
FIGURE 1
WHICH ENERGY SOURCES ARE EXPECTED TO GROW?
Respondents indicating that the use of each of the following will increase somewhat or
significantly in the next 10 years
Solar
Natural gas
Wind
Conversion of waste to energy
Biofuel
Fuels cell
Geothermal
Oil sand/oil shale
Hydroelectricity
Nuclear power
77%
64%
49%
49%
38%
36%
27%
25%
22%
13%
SOURCE: HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW ANALYTIC SERVICES SURVEY,
APRIL 2017
Businesses are already turning away from non-sustainable energy sources.
And the most prescient are taming energy costs and ensuring resiliency through
increased use of on-site power generation.