{"id":5023,"date":"2026-02-23T11:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/?p=5023"},"modified":"2026-02-26T14:54:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:54:47","slug":"sustainability-in-your-ear-the-net-zero-accelerators-colin-mangham-on-natures-rules-for-building-a-sustainable-infrastructure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/sustainability-in-your-ear-the-net-zero-accelerators-colin-mangham-on-natures-rules-for-building-a-sustainable-infrastructure\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability In Your Ear: The Net Zero Accelerator\u2019s Colin Mangham on Nature\u2019s Rules for Building A Sustainable Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p>We already have the technology to decarbonize buildings, and many pilot projects have shown it works. So why hasn\u2019t progress toward net zero moved faster? Colin Mangham believes it\u2019s because we\u2019re still using outdated business models to promote new solutions. Colin is the Chief Experience Officer at the <a href=\"https:\/\/usgbc-ca.org\/\">US Green Building Council California<\/a> and leads its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeroaccelerator.org\/\">Net Zero Accelerator<\/a>, the first program focused only on net-zero innovation for buildings. Since 2019, the accelerator has helped over 100 companies in a six-month program that stands out by putting real technology pilots into actual buildings with dedicated partners, then tracking the results. This approach has led to more than 60 pilot projects in California and beyond, providing the proven results that founders and investors need to move forward. Colin offers a unique mix of experience to this field. He has served as Chief Marketing Officer at four growing companies, co-founded and led Morpho Energy, which helps put unused commercial rooftops to work for solar, and he is a certified <a href=\"https:\/\/biomimicry.org\/\">biomimicry<\/a> specialist, which shapes what he teaches founders. He often thinks about beavers, which are keystone species that create habitats for others by building their own homes. As he tells entrepreneurs, \u201cThis thing that you\u2019re creating, it should also create better living environments for the people and the neighboring organisms all around you.\u201d It\u2019s an approach that applies systems thinking to business strategy, leading to companies that differ from the typical Silicon Valley disruptors.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_366121\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-366121\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Colin-Mangham_inarticle.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-366121 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"450\" data-src=\"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Colin-Mangham_inarticle.jpg\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-366121\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colin Mangham, Chief Experience Officer at the United States Green Building Council of California\u2019s Net Zero Accelerator, is our guest on <i>Sustainability In Your Ear<\/i>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The conversation includes case studies that illustrate the Net Zero Accelerator\u2019s pilot-driven approach to incubating companies. <a href=\"https:\/\/byfusion.com\/\">ByFusion<\/a> makes construction-grade blocks from unrecyclable plastic with 83% lower emissions than concrete alternatives. Their Boise pilot succeeded not because of a breakthrough in materials science, but because they orchestrated a community of stakeholders, overdelivered on their pilot, and built a predictable, repeatable outcome. And <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epavellc.com\/\">ePAVE<\/a>, which makes a patented reflective pavement coating, turned a failed first application for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hudsonpacificproperties.com\/\">Hudson Pacific Properties<\/a> into a deeper partnership by reframing the product as \u201cnot faulty, but precision\u201d technology that requires careful application to deliver on its engineered performance. Colin points out that there is ample shared ground to overcome political differences about sustainability: \u201cThe economics of the solution, the ROI, the lack of disruption, the speed to market, the replicability, the job creation\u2014all these different things are the things that red and blue can agree on.\u201d The companies that will succeed in creating net-zero buildings are making deals that tie financial rewards to performance, and building business models that make sustainability a reliable investment rather than a gamble.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about the Net Zero Accelerator, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeroaccelerator.org\/\">NetZeroAccelerator.org<\/a>. Learn about the US Green Building Council of California at <a href=\"https:\/\/usgbc-ca.org\/\">USGBC-CA.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div>If you found this episode helpful, please consider <a href=\"https:\/\/api.spreaker.com\/v2\/episodes\/70072417\/download.mp3\">sharing it with a friend<\/a>.<\/div>\n<ul class=\"[li_&amp;]:mb-0 [li_&amp;]:mt-1 [li_&amp;]:gap-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc flex flex-col gap-1 pl-8 mb-3\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">Subscribe to <em>Sustainability In Your Ear<\/em> on <a class=\"underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current\/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current\" href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/earth911-com-sustainability-in-your-ear\/id1384301001?mt=2\">iTunes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words pl-2\">Follow <em>Sustainability In Your Ear<\/em> on <a class=\"underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current\/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/user\/earth911\">Spreaker<\/a>, <a class=\"underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current\/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/966-Earth911com-Sustain-29715785\/\">iHeartRadio<\/a>, or <a class=\"underline underline underline-offset-2 decoration-1 decoration-current\/40 hover:decoration-current focus:decoration-current\" href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/@elkcreeknotes?si=OYncOJMSzZ857f4L\">YouTube<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Interview Transcript<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>0:10<\/p>\n<p>Hello! Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you are in this beautiful planet of ours. Welcome to <em>Sustainability In Your Ear<\/em>. This is the podcast conversation about accelerating the transition to a sustainable, carbon-neutral society, and I\u2019m your host, Mitch Ratcliffe. Thanks for joining the conversation today.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s talk the built environment. The technology exists to reduce the environmental impact of our homes and office buildings, skyscrapers and bridges, and bring them all much nearer to net zero. We have the materials that work and will benefit from discovering more. Pilot efforts have proven successful. So why hasn\u2019t the march to net zero begun to scale faster?<\/p>\n<p>And one answer is that we\u2019re still trying to sell 21st-century performance with 20th-century business models. However, new approaches to revenue and customer agreements are emerging, from outcome-based contracts to resilience as a service. The companies that will win aren\u2019t just building better\u2014they\u2019re structuring deals that align financial incentives with performance guarantees.<\/p>\n<p>My guest today is Colin Mangham. He is Chief Experience Officer at the <a href=\"https:\/\/usgbc-ca.org\/\">US Green Building Council California<\/a> and its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeroaccelerator.org\/\">Net Zero Accelerator<\/a>, which is an accelerator focused on the built environment. Since 2019, the Net Zero Accelerator has run more than 100 companies through a six-month program that does something most of these programs don\u2019t: it places real technology pilots in real buildings with committed partners, and then measures what actually happens.<\/p>\n<p>Colin brings a rare combination of perspectives to this work. He\u2019s been a four-time Chief Marketing Officer for growth-stage companies, has guided dozens of global brands generating over $500 million in revenue, and has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs secure more than $80 million in capital. He\u2019s also the co-founder and president of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.morphoenergy.com\/\">Morpho Energy<\/a>, a company working to unlock the idle asset value of commercial and industrial rooftops and parking lots. In other words, they\u2019re going to put solar panels on top of all those buildings and parking structures.<\/p>\n<p>I urge you to check out his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/colinmangham\/\">TEDx talk<\/a> and media appearances, which have established him as a leading voice for biomimicry and nature-based innovation. We\u2019ll talk with Colin about what the Net Zero Accelerator has learned from placing pilots across wildly different contexts\u2014from converting unrecyclable plastic into construction blocks in Boise to optimizing HVAC systems across New York City buildings and even to coating Hollywood soundstage parking lots with reflective pavement.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019ll dig into why business model innovation may matter more than, for instance, better insulation for scaling net-zero businesses, what founders in the green building sector consistently get wrong about going to market, as well as what biomimicry can teach us about building resilient companies, not just resilient buildings.<\/p>\n<p>You can learn more about the Net Zero Accelerator at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeroaccelerator.org\/\">NetZeroAccelerator.org<\/a>. After mentoring over 100 climate tech companies, what has Colin Mangham learned about what separates founders who break through from the ones who stall out? Let\u2019s find out right after this brief commercial break.<\/p>\n<p><b>[COMMERCIAL BREAK]<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Welcome to the show, Colin. How you doing today?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>3:25<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m actually doing great here in soon-to-be-sunny Southern California, and it\u2019s a great start to my day here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>3:31<\/p>\n<p>Well, great. I\u2019m glad to have you here. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. I wanted to talk about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeroaccelerator.org\/\">Net Zero Accelerator<\/a> and what led the <a href=\"https:\/\/usgbc-ca.org\/\">US Green Building Council of California<\/a> to decide to not just teach people to do pitches or demo days, but actually launch pilots. Why is that the right way to move us faster towards net-zero solutions for the built environment?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>3:52<\/p>\n<p>Well, the first thing is, I like that you said \u201cnot just,\u201d because some of those things are sort of mandatory\u2014to help guide pitch sessions and to demonstrate to an audience, right?<\/p>\n<p>But really what happened was, we were looking at, as a community-based nonprofit, the work we were doing\u2014and we still do, of course, on a larger scale now. USGBC California started as USGBC LA when we started the accelerator in 2019. But as a community-based nonprofit largely focused on advocating green building practice, we were looking at it and there seems to be a gap that we could bridge between technology and advocacy, or vice versa. And so that was the first impetus for this.<\/p>\n<p>But really the thing that has stuck with it all along is we\u2019ve got a community of change-makers. We\u2019ve got a community of potential pilot partners. We have a community of advisors and subject matter experts, and frankly, people who are sustainability geeks and nerds like we are that really have a passion for this stuff. We said, \u201cHey, who out there in our community will raise your hand and help this young company get some validation and get a foothold and prove their concept?\u201d And then, by virtue of that, you\u2019re actually helping us help you and help all of us, right? You know, implement technologies that are necessary for scaling adoption of green building technologies and solutions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>5:19<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m actually hearing systems thinking, even in the design of the accelerator, which I\u2019ve been involved in several of those, and it\u2019s that promise that we\u2019re going to make the connection to customers, basically, that a lot of them hold up and never deliver on\u2014and you\u2019re able to do that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>5:34<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we operate in a system, and a lot of my worldview is kind of like looking at biological systems. And so a system-based approach that doesn\u2019t really include the various players and how you position on that landscape\u2026 and I can get to some of my marketing background in that regard, but really looking at stakeholder engagement and understanding that there are ways that you need to move within the system.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of the system, frankly, can be regulatory. It can be things that just aren\u2019t easy. There are a lot of headwinds. But these are natural constraints. And I will say this, with a background in creativity and design practice: when we have the constraints and restraints that we see in getting novel solutions into market, it forces us to be more creative.<\/p>\n<p>So we do have to think about how it works within a system. We have to think about how\u2014whenever you talk about scaling something, it\u2019s going to fail on the backs of, frankly, other people and organizations. And so we\u2019re different in that respect, because we began as a community-based nonprofit looking at how we might accelerate change.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>6:51<\/p>\n<p>You just mentioned your background in biomimicry and nature-based solutions\u2014and by the way, folks, check out Colin\u2019s TEDx talk called <em>Find Your Woods<\/em>. It\u2019s really interesting. But how does that thinking shape how you advise companies, and not just in terms of their product design, but their business strategy?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>7:06<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s funny, because it\u2019s like I can\u2019t unsee <a href=\"https:\/\/biomimicry.org\/\">biomimicry<\/a> once I\u2019ve seen it. And I had the great honor and privilege of working with <a href=\"https:\/\/biomimicry.org\/janine-benyus\/\">Janine Benyus<\/a>, who is the matriarch, so to speak, the mother of modern biomimicry. And so what we learned there was\u2014it\u2019s a similar audience for biomimicry as with USGBC California, which is a lot of architects, engineers, designers.<\/p>\n<p>And so what we found was that there\u2019s a lot of people that, if they hit a wall and they can\u2019t find the inspiration, or they\u2019re trying to create something completely from scratch\u2014which, you know, everything is iterative, right?\u2014then they can look to the natural world to say, \u201cAll right, well, how do I shortcut to get to a solution?\u201d Because there are a lot of things that have been around for a whole bunch of years that have stood the test of time.<\/p>\n<p>And so, to your question about how I look at it as I guide people looking to do business model innovation: really, I think about beavers. I spent a good amount of time in Colorado. One of my moments that really got me into this business, so to speak, was walking irrigation ditches in Colorado, looking for beaver dams. Because if there\u2019s a beaver dam, it blows out the ditch, and if in Aspen, Colorado, it blows out an irrigation ditch, it may blow out a really expensive house down the hill. And so where I discovered this, I found a lot of love for beavers.<\/p>\n<p>And what I discovered in biomimicry, to the question, is that beavers are keystone species. By building their homes, they create habitat for others. And so this is the thing that I often remind business people: this thing that you\u2019re creating\u2014remember, it\u2019s back to your acknowledgment of the system\u2014it\u2019s also creating, and it should create, better living environments for the people and, frankly, the other neighboring organisms all around you.<\/p>\n<p>So really thinking about making sure that the externalities, the other impacts\u2014the direct impacts is what a lot of founders certainly focus on: \u201cHere\u2019s how I can impact this person or this organization or this watershed or this building.\u201d But really thinking about the broader implications and the ripple effects is important in biomimicry thinking.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>9:31<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re making a really important point, which is: when you\u2019re building a business, you\u2019re building a setting for others to have an opportunity to experience some abundance that you\u2019re sharing with them, but it\u2019s a reciprocal thing. And a lot of the time, everybody looks at it only in terms of what they can get from someone else. A system is a much more complex and interactive experience.<\/p>\n<p>How do you think about designing a business model for a new company when they come to the accelerator? And maybe using the example of resilience as a service as the business model\u2014how did you come up with that approach?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>10:04<\/p>\n<p>The first thing is, through the biomimicry lens\u2014or, frankly, a whole bunch of different goggles\u2014resilience, and how we define resilience, is having really a Plan B, a Plan C, and having multiple approaches to achieve the same goal. If you think about resilience as a service, you\u2019re really providing\u2014if you\u2019re the resilience service provider\u2014someone or something multiple options to achieve success.<\/p>\n<p>And so when we talk about resilience as a service, I\u2019ll say one thing we advise certainly young founders on is not to present your solution as a silver bullet. And really, this is a fun one: not to say, \u201cWe\u2019re going to disrupt markets.\u201d People, frankly, they don\u2019t want disruption. There\u2019s enough uncertainty. A lot of times they\u2019re clinging to their jobs. There\u2019s a human factor involved, right?<\/p>\n<p>And so what you\u2019re providing them is some confidence in the ability to make sure it happens, even if you hit some bumps along the way. But that\u2019s resilience\u2014it is defined as multiple ways to achieve the same goal.<\/p>\n<p>And so what we do is give them that perspective, but at the same time, in terms of business model innovation relative to the green space, the sustainability space, is also to look off-balance-sheet for where there is an exchange of value. And I define business in general\u2014it\u2019s not like I discovered it\u2014but if you just look at it, business is meant to be an exchange of value. All of our economies, over all of time, have been based on some sort of exchange of value, right?<\/p>\n<p>And so where it has really been strongest is where there\u2019s reciprocity. Resilience and reciprocity, resilience and mutualism, symbiosis, if we use the biological terms\u2014where there\u2019s an honest, good, valuable, fair exchange, that\u2019s where we really look for our founders to look again off-balance-sheet: an exchange of goodwill, exchange of knowledge, exchange of relationships, exchange of just even feel-good.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>12:03<\/p>\n<p>All the externalities that traditional accounting ignored.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>12:07<\/p>\n<p>It completely ignores. And it\u2019s why\u2014this is where the real business model innovation can and should happen. And it\u2019s why, you know, I know that ESG gets kind of a bad rap in certain circles, capital circles in particular. And I won\u2019t go into all the acronyms that are on a short list or a hot list.<\/p>\n<p>But the fact of the matter is that there is a community, there is a world, there is an ecosystem, there is an environment, and again, neighboring species that provide ecosystem services to us that allow us to do our business. Without them you wouldn\u2019t have a business. And frankly, Mitch, you got me riffing here, but the fact is, if there weren\u2019t things to fix, you also wouldn\u2019t have a business. So be okay with there being problems in the world, because otherwise we\u2019d all just kind of sit around and do nothing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>12:55<\/p>\n<p>Well, new solutions are the basis for innovation, and we often talk about the desire for innovation without thinking about the fact that you have to be looking into these new niches. So as you think about accelerating the transition to a sustainable built environment, what are the key industries to focus on? What are the key species?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>13:15<\/p>\n<p>Well, I\u2019ll go back to what we call the AEC\u2014so that\u2019s architects, engineers, and construction, sort of like contractors, et cetera. And all those in the built environment are serving the property owners, et cetera, and eventually, certainly, the residents. We look a lot at occupant health.<\/p>\n<p>That AEC\u2014the architects, the engineers, and the people that are building things or retrofitting things\u2014they\u2019re the front end of a process that really has an impact over many, many years, right? So if you build a building, you would hope, we would hope, that\u2019s going to be good, solid building stock for 50, 60, 100 years, right? And so same thing with an architect: you\u2019re on screen, you\u2019re on paper, you\u2019re on site, looking at what can be there, what should be there, what is beautiful there, that has both form and function.<\/p>\n<p>And so the reason I mentioned that is it\u2019s important with that leverage point early in the design, or the rethinking, the retrofitting of buildings, that these people who are at that phase are involved in sustainability, because they\u2019re thinking about the long term at the beginning of a cycle. And the most sustainable buildings are, frankly, the ones we keep in use.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.laconservancy.org\/learn\/historic-places\/bradbury-building\/\">Bradbury Building<\/a> here\u2014if you\u2019re a fan of <em>Blade Runner<\/em>\u2014I think it was 1893 here in Los Angeles, and they\u2019ve retrofitted that thing, and it\u2019s one of the most sustainable buildings in the city. 1893, and it looks it, in the coolest of ways. But again, the thing is that this audience has a large impact on things that will be sitting for a long, long time. So it is the real leverage point, and that\u2019s what we focus on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>19:16<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve seen this. I\u2019ve been on both sides of this conversation. You find a reason to say no, just to move on.<\/p>\n<p>Let me ask about a particular example of a startup that you work with that involved creating a system. So this is <a href=\"https:\/\/byfusion.com\/\">ByFusion<\/a>. They make construction-grade blocks from unrecyclable plastic, and that produces 83% lower emissions than concrete alternatives. The pilot, though, required you to get the City of Boise, Dow Reynolds Consumer Products, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hefty.com\/hefty-renew\">Hefty Renew<\/a> program\u2014where they process bags into, in this case, bricks\u2014all together to work this out. How did you get that group into a room and start the conversation across all of those single-point-of-need problems that those participants represented?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>20:01<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s actually one of my favorite stories, and not just because you presented it here, but it\u2019s a great company, partly because they were one of our first\u2014they were one of our guinea pigs, if I could say that\u2014in 2019, and they\u2019ve really evolved along the way.<\/p>\n<p>What I will say is, first of all, we didn\u2019t broker the Boise pilot. What we did was, importantly, we guided a Los Angeles-based company in how to go about maybe getting a pilot study outside of the City of LA, even though we very much wanted it in the City of LA, in a pilot market that could be applicable to a whole bunch of markets around the country, including in Los Angeles communities, right?<\/p>\n<p>And so what we advocated is certainly some of what we talked about previously, which is product-market fit, right? In systems. This word has come up continually in our conversation\u2014the system in Boise, for ByFusion, was that we need certainty in feedstock. In their case, it\u2019s unrecyclable or not-easily-recyclable plastic, right? So if they don\u2019t have that feedstock to create that block, and didn\u2019t consistently know it\u2019s going to show up, and consistently know it\u2019s going to be exactly what they need\u2014if they don\u2019t have that, then they\u2019ve got a challenge.<\/p>\n<p>And so that\u2019s where Hefty Renew really helped them. Hefty Renew already had a relationship with those homeowners, for example. And so here again, stakeholders and system in place. So how do you get the stuff? If ByFusion had gone out and said, \u201cAll right, we\u2019re going to go knock on doors and collect all that,\u201d they would have failed. But somebody was there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>21:30<\/p>\n<p>And there was a pyrolysis plant in Boise that they were able to use too, so all the pieces of the solution were there. That\u2019s the other interesting point about that project.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>21:38<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, you\u2019re exactly right, especially because a lot of times we see that sort of piggybacking, co-location, especially in manufacturing facilities. Like, we\u2019ve got some that are working with insulation right now that are co-located at a facility where it\u2019s not competitive, but it\u2019s adjacent enough that you can put something in that 100 square feet over in the corner, and it\u2019s not going to disrupt the system. But there\u2019s some other thing happening there\u2014and in that case, pyrolysis\u2014that can be applied to what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>And so, you know, maybe it\u2019s how things are moved in and out, off the loading guard. Maybe it\u2019s the temperature and humidity control in the space. There\u2019s a variety of things\u2014storage is a big aspect. But how they were able to find a facility there where they didn\u2019t have to build this stuff is also really important.<\/p>\n<p>And so it\u2019s interesting, because then you think, \u201cWell, if you can just plug and play so easily, what\u2019s your intellectual property there?\u201d Then it comes to a system\u2014we talk about value-added resellers. They\u2019re very much one. They\u2019ve combined all these things, this technology and this system, into something that really works.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>22:45<\/p>\n<p>Now, one of the interesting things about that project, too, is that they actually underestimated how much they would be able to process profitably. What is a pilot that overperforms telling us? Does it mean that sustainability-focused companies often underestimate their opportunity?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>23:02<\/p>\n<p>That one\u2019s hit or miss, because I think some actually overestimate, because they think, \u201cThis is going to save the world. How can my total addressable market not be massive, right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In ByFusion\u2019s case, I think they did what I tend to advocate across the board, which is under-promise and over-deliver. And it\u2019s not to set yourself\u2014I mean, look, 80 tons versus 72 tons\u2014those are still big amounts, right? But what it tells them is, \u201cAll right, well, there\u2019s something that works well here.\u201d And if I go back to nature, nature replicates things that work. Failures are fossils.<\/p>\n<p>And so what they need to do is\u2014it\u2019s not a post-mortem, that\u2019s not the right word for something as wonderful as what they pulled off\u2014but to kind of go back and say, \u201cWhat? Why did that work?\u201d And this is where the real honesty needs to come in for an entrepreneur, because you also can\u2019t say, \u201cWell, we\u2019re always going to get that.\u201d It may have been very specific to that particular pilot. Now you want to go replicate those conditions, right? But it doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re going to over-deliver every time just because of that one pilot. So that\u2019s also the danger of a highly successful first pilot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>24:14<\/p>\n<p>Also the case with any ecosystem. I put a different species into the same type of ecosystem, and it may not perform the same. Lots to talk about here, but we need to take a quick commercial break, folks. We\u2019re going to be right back. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n<p><b>[COMMERCIAL BREAK]<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Welcome back to <em>Sustainability In Your Ear<\/em>. Now, let\u2019s get back to the conversation with Colin Mangham. He\u2019s Chief Experience Officer at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeroaccelerator.org\/\">Net Zero Accelerator<\/a>, a program of the <a href=\"https:\/\/usgbc-ca.org\/\">US Green Building Council of California<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Colin, you\u2019ve talked in the past about how 21st-century performance-based business models are stuck in 20th-century formats. And when you look at, say, for instance, ByFusion, like we were just talking about\u2014what does that shift from product selling to system selling look like in practice for a founder who hasn\u2019t made that leap? How do you articulate the challenge they face?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>25:05<\/p>\n<p>You know, it is funny even to hear you say it. I feel like even referring to the 21st century and 20th century feels a little 20th century, but we\u2019re 26 years in, and we\u2019re still kind of learning the same lessons.<\/p>\n<p>The lesson, especially for founders\u2014and a lot of what we\u2019ve talked about here\u2014people that are technologists, and then they\u2019ve really geeked out in the most awesome of ways on their solution, they really look at features, and maybe not features and benefits. And so 20th century, it was more about features and benefits. It wasn\u2019t really about the systems, and it certainly wasn\u2019t about owning and being accountable for the performance of things. We didn\u2019t talk about circularity in these types of things.<\/p>\n<p>But the difference is product-market fit needs to engage with stakeholders. This is a differentiator for us: that there are people that you may not even be selling to that will be affected by this. And it\u2019s not all features and benefits. So that\u2019s the main shift.<\/p>\n<p>Looking from, let\u2019s say, these diagrams and schematics of competitive landscapes\u2014I lean towards looking at the competitive landscape as a map of not just competitors and latent competitors, meaning they could be a competitor once they see what I\u2019m doing, but also co-opetition opportunities. What looks like a competitor actually could be a partner, and looking at it as a landscape, as a map, versus looking at your typical X and Y axis of \u201cHere\u2019s our features and benefits,\u201d or our side-by-side comparison with all the check boxes, like \u201cWe do all these things\u201d\u2014people are overwhelmed with that. They want to know how it kind of works within their current network.<\/p>\n<p>And I\u2019ll give you one example as recent as yesterday. One of our companies is having a challenge selling into a certain audience set, not because of features and benefits, not because the ROI is\u2014it\u2019s incredible\u2014but because that particular audience does not want to disrupt a 20-year relationship they\u2019ve had with Steve. And that\u2019s just a factor they have to kind of work with. Again, it\u2019s the system that they\u2019ve got to work within.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>27:11<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s always a people problem at the end of the day. I mean, as much as we talk about the technology, I want to turn to another example of your work: <a href=\"https:\/\/feedbacksolutions.io\/\">Feedback Solutions<\/a>. So this is a technology that sounds really simple. It\u2019s a people-counting sensor that optimizes HVAC ventilation in a building in real time based on who\u2019s in the building or how many people are in the building.<\/p>\n<p>And they tried this out across three very different settings: a big office complex, a nursing school, and a library at Fordham University. Like we were talking about a few minutes ago, there are different settings for the same solution. What\u2019s the benefit of testing one solution in multiple places, and how did you bring that group of pilot sites together for the company?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>27:55<\/p>\n<p>Well, the benefit\u2014and again, I\u2019ll do this through the marketing lens\u2014a lot of times we\u2019ll talk about an A\/B test. And frankly, when we talk about pilots in marketing and advertising and product launches, right? And that\u2019s what I spent a lot of the early part of my career with. You look and you say, \u201cAll right, well, if it works in Austin, will it also work in Boston?\u201d And Austin and Boston are completely different in many ways. If it works in Austin, it might actually work just as well in Seattle. Now there\u2019s adjacency there. If it works in LA, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s going to work in New York, right?<\/p>\n<p>And so it\u2019s really testing out replicability, and that\u2019s really what entrepreneurship is anyway. If you\u2019re going to put the effort into it and you\u2019re going to scale the adoption of it, you want to first find something that you can replicate over and over and over again.<\/p>\n<p>And so what they did there was they looked not only at the building typologies\u2014different types of buildings, especially like between a library and commercial real estate, right, mixed use\u2014but they also looked at the occupants. A library will have people there on a Saturday. A commercial office building will probably not. A nursing school would have different traffic on different days.<\/p>\n<p>What we\u2019re looking at is: how, if we can figure this out across A, B, and C, then we can replicate A, B, and C when we go after more A\u2019s, more B\u2019s, and more C\u2019s at the same time. In the pilot case, they may also say, \u201cWell wait, C is not as attractive and not as defensible and efficacious and replicable as we thought it was going to be. We need to focus on A and B.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And so really, that\u2019s a big part of it, especially when you\u2019ve got limited resources, limited time\u2014you\u2019re a relatively young company, growth stage\u2014figuring out where you need to apply those resources. And again, the one-two punch here is: what can I replicate, and what am I replicating off of, and what should I prioritize in terms of where I should really be selling this solution?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>29:58<\/p>\n<p>Well, and it\u2019s also the quality of the owners of those settings for the pilot that matters. And there\u2019s another example. You have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epavellc.com\/\">ePAVE<\/a>, which is a company that makes a patented reflective pavement coating that preserves asphalt and concrete. But they had a problem. Their first implementation for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hudsonpacificproperties.com\/\">Hudson Pacific Properties<\/a> didn\u2019t work. They actually had to redo it, but that ultimately led to the real estate firm getting more involved. What\u2019s the lesson about failure and transparency, about how a pilot might go sideways, that sets the stage for that kind of cooperation and growth in a relationship?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>30:34<\/p>\n<p>This is a funny conversation, Mitch, because I\u2019m realizing how much my worldview is through the marketing lens. I think about raving fans. I think about the complaint that comes in that you can solve, and now they\u2019re a fan for life\u2014or for at least a while\u2014versus the complaint you never hear about, right? And I\u2019d rather hear from the person who has a challenge that I can solve and I plan for solving, than not hear from them again.<\/p>\n<p>If that failure had happened and they said, \u201cAll right, well, thank you. No, thank you. We\u2019re going to dig this up. See you later\u201d\u2014that would not have been good. But in this case, the interesting thing is that it wasn\u2019t a failure of the product; it was a failure of the application.<\/p>\n<p>And so what happened there, which I think is frankly quite brilliant: A, it was immediate transparency. They said, \u201cAll right, well, no, we\u2019re going to fix this. And this wasn\u2019t expected, but not totally unexpected.\u201d The difference here is they framed it as not a faulty product, but a precision product that needs to be applied in a certain way, because this is a highly engineered product that, for it to do what we promised it will do, it needs to be applied in a certain way. And let\u2019s try another group, and let\u2019s do this right. And that\u2019s what they did.<\/p>\n<p>And so the opportunity actually helped them to reframe the quality of the solution and the efficaciousness and the technology\u2014the greatness of the technology. So again, not a faulty product, but a precision product, and it just needs a little more care for it to do what it needs to do.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>32:07<\/p>\n<p>This has been a great exploration of what it takes to launch a company. And I want to ask about the 2025 cohort at the Net Zero Accelerator. You\u2019ve got everything from wildfire resilience to digital twins and circular construction models. Now that you\u2019ve had more than 100 companies go through the program, what do you think the most underappreciated category of net-zero innovation is, based on the experience that you\u2019ve had?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>32:32<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d say water use and water conservation. And the answer I\u2019m giving is informed partly because we\u2019re running an architectural design challenge right now on residential water use\u2014the future of water use at home.<\/p>\n<p>And I mentioned water because I recently heard someone say\u2014and I\u2019d love to quote it as my own, but I\u2019m not going to\u2014but they said, \u201cHey, what do you call it when the power goes out? Well, we call it a blackout, right? And we have a term for that. What do you call it when the water stops flowing?\u201d We don\u2019t have a term for that, because it doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n<p>The cost of water, the assumption of water, puts it in a category where people don\u2019t really pay attention as much as they could and I think should. Two things: I worked on Live Earth with Al Gore, leading up to COP 21\u2014it\u2019s been over a decade now. And there was a conversation around water conservation in LA, and a person at the table said, \u201cColin, no one in Los Angeles is going to care about water conservation until they turn the tap and nothing comes out.\u201d And so people don\u2019t think about it that much.<\/p>\n<p>And the reason I present it as a big opportunity for net zero is what we don\u2019t think about is the water-energy-carbon nexus, as we call it. It takes energy to move water, to heat water. And so if we can reduce our use of water, we can reduce our heating of water, transport of water. It\u2019s an energy-efficiency play at the core.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>34:03<\/p>\n<p>So as you think about household water use and the design of the home, is it more about capturing rainwater and using as much of that for non-potable uses? Where\u2019s that headed?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>34:17<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s certainly interesting. And to pull from the biomimicry playbook, we look at solutions that are locally attuned, right? And all of life that is still here adapts and evolves to wherever that life lives. And so I mentioned that because we\u2019re here in Southern California, we\u2019re finally out of drought\u2014I think it\u2019s the first time in 25 years or so. But we\u2019re not really a rainy environment like, let\u2019s say, Seattle. Although, Mitch, I\u2019ve been told that people in Seattle\u2014it doesn\u2019t actually rain there, they just say that so Californians will stop moving there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>34:50<\/p>\n<p>When I lived there, that was true. But it does rain there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>34:54<\/p>\n<p>So, is the greatest impact I can have on my water use in my home capturing rainwater and using it as gray water, probably for landscaping, these types of things? Maybe not. But is the cost of doing it as part of my solution fairly low? Sure. And so I think we need to look at a variety of things.<\/p>\n<p>One thing that happens here is you get into habits, and one of the habits, especially in Los Angeles, is you forget that your landscaping system\u2014and people love their landscapes here\u2014you didn\u2019t tweak the settings on your sprinklers for winter, and you\u2019re overwatering, just because you didn\u2019t think about it, and because it runs at 5 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>And so there\u2019s just things that we\u2019re trying to do behaviorally with people to say, \u201cHey, have you thought about this?\u201d And I\u2019ll add this, because I think it\u2019s an overarching principle with everything we\u2019re talking about here: a lot of people just don\u2019t want the data. Like, if you tell me, \u201cHey, Colin, take a five-minute shower versus a 10-minute shower, and you will reduce GHGs by this\u201d\u2014I\u2019m like\u2026 how about, \u201cHey, Colin, I know you do all your thinking in the shower, but what if you did some of your thinking on a walk outside and took a shorter shower?\u201d Oh, that makes more sense to me.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>36:06<\/p>\n<p>Well, living on a well and next to a river, I\u2019ve discovered after leaving the city that the water cycle is like a wild animal. And to the whole nature of the conversation we\u2019re having, it\u2019s starting to see yourself in a bigger system. And those homeowners in LA who are watering all year round when they shouldn\u2019t be are an example of a set of\u2014we\u2019ve talked about it before\u201420th-century ways of thinking. It\u2019s like, \u201cOh, I can turn it on, I can leave it on. I don\u2019t have to worry about it.\u201d But the cost of water is going up. The availability of water is falling. It\u2019s a different time.<\/p>\n<p>If a climate tech founder is listening to this right now and they\u2019re sitting on maybe even a validated pilot, but they\u2019re struggling to scale it up, what would you tell them about how to think about their business before they try to raise another dollar or pitch another customer? What should they just stop and do?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>36:56<\/p>\n<p>The first thing I would ask is, \u201cAll right, well, who did you validate it with? And why did you validate it? How was it validated?\u201d And the \u201cwho\u201d part really goes back to the whole thread here, which is the system.<\/p>\n<p>So if you validated a pilot with a partner, two things. One is, what was the intent of that? And then, largely, the intent is to communicate that validation to be able to ease up and soften up the additional sales, right? And so can you get that partner that you validated with, and apparently had success with, to sing your praises? That\u2019s the first thing. That\u2019s the networking effect.<\/p>\n<p>Even more directly, if you validated with them, focus on further implementing it with them. And this is what we talk about in terms of pilots in general. Pilots for us is not about, \u201cDoes this thing work? I don\u2019t know. I got my prototype. Let\u2019s hope, and we\u2019ll learn.\u201d It\u2019s more about, \u201cHey, this thing does work, and if I put it in Building One with, let\u2019s say, a REIT, and it\u2019s validated, then they\u2019ll be like, \u2018Oh, okay, let\u2019s put it in Buildings Two through Ten.&#8217;\u201d And that\u2019s really it. Replicating successes.<\/p>\n<p>So if you validated it, what was your plan for repeating that validation with that validating partner? And what can be your plan moving forward to get them to speak on behalf of you in some way? Case studies, as simple as it is, are highly useful.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>38:33<\/p>\n<p>Transforming the built economy requires that we recalibrate business systems within technological systems within a natural system. That\u2019s a lot of complexity. How do you see us making progress towards a sustainable built environment before potentially disastrous warming is locked in? Are we going to make it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>38:55<\/p>\n<p>This is what we call a pregnant pause. Are we going to make it? I don\u2019t know. Should we not try to make it? Absolutely not. We\u2019ve got to keep going. We\u2019ve got one.<\/p>\n<p>And so I would think about things like, can we turn this thing around? For example, there are some big corporations that could be more sustainable, and those are big battleships that I talk about\u2014turning them around a little bit and heading in a different direction. Can we turn the economy around in time? Can we turn global warming down in time? I don\u2019t know if we can turn it around. I do think we can tack the sailboat left and right a little bit. This is what we call in biomimicry the dynamic equilibrium. Things are always in flux. We\u2019re always going to be having gains, and we have steps forward, steps back.<\/p>\n<p>But the thing that I would like to turn around, the thing I would like to go back to that would help us to get there in time, as you said, is\u2014really, frankly, I\u2019m going to be contrarian here\u2014some 20th-century thinking. Which is, the solar business came out of abundance. If you\u2019ve got sunlight, why not use it? If you\u2019ve got flowing water, use it. If you\u2019ve got people, leverage that. And if you\u2019ve got time as a young entrepreneur or a college student, leverage that and turn that into money, I guess, if that\u2019s the thing that certainly fuels it.<\/p>\n<p>But really, I think we need to go back to just looking at innovation as like, \u201cWhy not?\u201d And I know a lot of it\u2019s gotten politicized. But where has it gone, that we said, \u201cHey, we\u2019re American. We\u2019re real Americans, and we can do things better.\u201d Where\u2019s the \u201cdo better\u201d? And we need more of that.<\/p>\n<p>Inevitably, and this is how we position it with a lot of our entrepreneurs: it\u2019s not about the hugging of the tree, but that tree is going to do better because of this. But the economics of the solution, the ROI, the lack of disruption, the speed to market, the replicability, the job creation\u2014all these different things are the things that red and blue can agree on. And it just happens that I would have a hard time thinking about anything that can be affected by biomimicry thinking or any sustainability thinking where you optimize something, where you gain efficiencies, that doesn\u2019t have some sort of positive environmental effect.<\/p>\n<p>So let\u2019s focus on those things. Let\u2019s look at things as advocate entrepreneurs. Lean into frustration. Doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ve got to walk around angry all day, but look at the things that aren\u2019t working and fuel that. The greatest entrepreneurs\u2014and this is another thing for our young companies\u2014are the ones that say, \u201cYou know what, if someone is not making that and I want that, I\u2019m going to make that. And there\u2019s got to be other people like me out there.\u201d But that fuels them to create a solution that is quality, because they want it for themselves. That\u2019s where a lot of amazing ideas come out. And they\u2019re dedicated. They\u2019re passionate about it. They\u2019re hyper-focused on it. They\u2019re on the leading edge, bleeding edge, and they create novel solutions that others like them will eventually want. But they create quality solutions because they\u2019re fueled by saying, \u201cWhy can\u2019t we do better?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>42:04<\/p>\n<p>If I may\u2014my response, and I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts: it seems the problem, to me, is a systems problem\u2014that some people see systems and some don\u2019t. In other words, they\u2019re exclusionary. And the problem, ultimately, is that red-and-blue divide is a refusal to see a bigger \u201cwe,\u201d to recognize the full system we live in, and try to assert a particular perspective on the world. How do you get through that? You\u2019re a marketing guy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>42:28<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s too much talk of storytelling, but I do like a good story, and how I often do it\u2014I\u2019ll give you two things.<\/p>\n<p>One is, I recently said, \u201cHey, let\u2019s look at red and blue through\u2014those, you and I remember\u2014the stereoscopic 3D glasses, right? Red lens and a blue lens.\u201d And when you put them together, red and blue, and you looked at the picture, you\u2019re like, \u201cOh, now I see all the depth.\u201d And so I like to think about: if you combine red and blue, you don\u2019t get brown\u2014you get depth.<\/p>\n<p>And I like to think about, when we talk about biodiversity relative to diversity across the board\u2014cultural, et cetera\u2014diversity is really the currency of our exchange. In some cases, if, Mitch, you and I are selling the same thing, there\u2019s no exchange here. But if we see the world differently, we provide something to the world that\u2019s different, then we can have that mutualism. We can have that exchange, that value exchange. And so that\u2019s part of it. I really think that what we need to do is look through that red and blue lens.<\/p>\n<p>And the story I will tell is: I was in Houston a couple of years ago, gave a keynote to a lot of energy companies. And I put a picture of a tree up on my slides, and I said, \u201cAll right, I can see an amazing carbon sink here. Trees\u2014love trees for that, right? Oxygen, fantastic. But you may see a deer stand at your hunting camp. Can\u2019t we just both love the tree?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>44:01<\/p>\n<p>Colin, there\u2019s a lot to unpack and continue to explore. How can listeners follow your work and the work of the Net Zero Accelerator and the US Green Building Council of California?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>44:10<\/p>\n<p>Well, first of all, I think I\u2019m fairly easy to find, so if you search me, you\u2019ll find things related to the biomimicry that I talked about, and thank you for mentioning the TED talk. I feel like it was a decade ago, so I feel like there\u2019s a lot of things I would change. But still, the topic is evergreen, right?<\/p>\n<p>But yeah, if you go to <a href=\"https:\/\/usgbc-ca.org\/\">USGBC-CA.org<\/a>\u2014that\u2019s our mothership\u2014and in there you can also get to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeroaccelerator.org\/\">NetZeroAccelerator.org<\/a>, which is where the accelerator lives in a microsite with a whole bunch of frankly fascinating companies. So I do invite you to have a look there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>44:52<\/p>\n<p>Well, Colin, thanks for taking a trip through the systems with us. We really appreciate it. It\u2019s been a fascinating conversation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colin Mangham\u00a0 <\/strong>44:59<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, Mitch. Thanks for drawing it out of me.<\/p>\n<p><b>[COMMERCIAL BREAK]<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitch Ratcliffe\u00a0 <\/strong>45:06<\/p>\n<p>Welcome back to <em>Sustainability In Your Ear<\/em>. You\u2019ve been listening to my conversation with Colin Mangham. He is Chief Experience Officer of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeroaccelerator.org\/\">Net Zero Accelerator<\/a>, a program of the <a href=\"https:\/\/usgbc-ca.org\/\">US Green Building Council of California<\/a>. And you can learn more about the Net Zero Accelerator at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netzeroaccelerator.org\/\">NetZeroAccelerator.org<\/a>, as well as about the US Green Building Council of California at <a href=\"https:\/\/usgbc-ca.org\/\">USGBC-CA.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This conversation underscores, for me, why sustainability is poised for a much greater impact than we anticipate at the moment, despite all the pushback. After decades of talk, we\u2019ve created a growing awareness\u2014a vast swath of professionals that\u2019s ready to converge on the challenge of building a sustainable, circular, and bio-based built environment, and the economic case for doing so. The pieces are in place, and the people needed to lead the way have arrived. They\u2019re educated in recent science and recognize the economic opportunity is not just significant, but critical to maintaining a standard of living that we would all accept and enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s not just architects and engineers anymore. Facilities managers, chief financial officers, materials scientists, pavement coating specialists, HVAC manufacturers, plastic processing entrepreneurs, water system designers, real estate portfolio managers, and marketing strategists have all come to recognize the threat from climate change and how making decisions can turn down the CO<sub>2<\/sub> emissions that we must reduce.<\/p>\n<p>Consider Colin\u2019s background. He\u2019s a four-time CMO who uses biomimicry to coach climate tech founders to succeed with pilot programs and then sell through the results to the market. That\u2019s a portfolio career if I\u2019ve ever heard one, and it\u2019s this new combination of skills that allows each of us to begin to enter into systems thinking and work together to create a new reality.<\/p>\n<p>The net-zero built environment needs every discipline at the table, because it\u2019s a systems problem that requires process changes to transform engineering feats into enduring business and governmental practices that change the shape of our everyday lives\u2014and change them for the better.<\/p>\n<p>Colin\u2019s point that systems-based solutions demand a different sales pitch than Silicon Valley has taught us is critical. People don\u2019t want disruption. They want a consistent, predictable outcome. And that human factor is the reality that climate tech founders, who lead with \u201cWe\u2019re going to disrupt your market,\u201d need to internalize, or they will find themselves handing time-impoverished executives a reason to say no, because they\u2019re talking about too much unfocused change. Give them a very well-defined opportunity to improve their lives and their business performance, and you will find that people will listen and buy in.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, consider <a href=\"https:\/\/byfusion.com\/\">ByFusion<\/a>, for example. It\u2019s a company that turns unrecyclable plastic into construction-grade blocks. They didn\u2019t succeed by disrupting anything. Instead, they succeeded by plugging into what already existed: Hefty\u2019s Renew collection network, a pyrolysis facility in Boise, Idaho, and a willing municipal partner ready to foot the bill to try the thing out. They orchestrated a community of stakeholders, over-delivered on their pilot, and improved the system\u2014not just the technology. It worked. They created a predictable, repeatable outcome that disruption-first sales strategies don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>And finally, let\u2019s talk about Colin\u2019s challenge at the end, and it deserves our attention: what has happened to the \u201cwe can do better together\u201d mentality? The most durable innovations in nature aren\u2019t the flashiest\u2014they\u2019re the ones that create habitat for others and new habits. So like beavers, nature\u2019s engineers, who reshape a stream to create pools where fish can spawn, where crawdads can hang out during the summer, and where birds and wildlife can come to water.<\/p>\n<p>Think in terms of how building your lodge\u2014that is, your business\u2014creates an environment for other organizations, while preserving nature\u2019s ability to thrive within the space that you\u2019ve entered. To build a business, create opportunity for others to enjoy long-term resilience and provide value to the community around you. Seeing the needs of others, even your American political enemies\u2014which is a term I thought died with Richard Nixon\u2014that these folks are critical to the system you want to build can actually unlock success, rather than create more friction between political perspectives.<\/p>\n<p>As Colin said, we can put the red lens and the blue lens together to create deep pools of goodwill and shared prosperity, just like a healthy ecosystem. Red and blue, working together, seeing the full system rather than insisting on only one single point of view, is how we can begin to revitalize this country\u2014create the compromise that builds things our great-grandchildren will be proud to inherit.<\/p>\n<p>So stay tuned. There are going to be a lot more conversations with people making sustainability happen, and you will find them here on <em>Sustainability In Your Ear<\/em>. And I hope you\u2019ll take a moment to share one of the conversations in our archive of more than 540 episodes with a friend or a member of your family. Send just one link to get the conversation with them started.<\/p>\n<p>And folks, writing a review on your favorite podcast platform will help your neighbors find us. You are the amplifiers that can spread more ideas to create less waste. So please tell your friends, family, and co-workers they can find <em>Sustainability In Your Ear<\/em> on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Audible, or whatever purveyor of podcast goodness they prefer.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for your support. We appreciate it. I\u2019m Mitch Ratcliffe. This is <em>Sustainability In Your Ear<\/em>, and we will be back with another innovator interview soon. In the meantime, folks, take care of yourself, take care of one another, and let\u2019s all take care of this beautiful planet of ours. Have a green day.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/earth911.com\/podcast\/sustainability-in-your-ear-the-net-zero-acclerators-colin-mangham-on-natures-rules-for-building-a-sustainable-infrastructure\/\">Sustainability In Your Ear: The Net Zero Accelerator\u2019s Colin Mangham on Nature\u2019s Rules for Building A Sustainable Infrastructure<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/earth911.com\">Earth911<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We already have the technology to decarbonize buildings, and many pilot projects have shown it works. So why hasn\u2019t progress toward net zero moved faster? Colin Mangham believes it\u2019s because we\u2019re still using outdated business models to promote new solutions. Colin is the Chief Experience Officer at the US Green Building Council California and leads&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5023"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5023"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5027,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5023\/revisions\/5027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/baldheadedgirls.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}