Mission
To cut carbon emissions NOW through systems change
Vision
A black swan: an improbable event with massive impact.
Black swan events can be positive: the passage of civil rights, the discovery of antibiotics.
Reversing climate change could be the next one.
Clean Local Energy, at the Neighborhood-scale
Thermal Energy Networks (TENs) are an ultra-efficient method of delivering clean local heating and cooling to buildings. They are the most advanced type of district energy system, using renewable thermal sources such as the ground beneath your feet to keep your building comfortable all year round.
Because they are large infrastructure projects expected to last a century or more, they offer many ownership, revenue and financing options. If we get the model right, we can reallocate wasted funding, such as the billions now spent replacing aging gas pipes, to cover the cost of the building conversions.
Black Swan Lab is developing ownership, revenue and financing models for TENs, and helping stakeholders choose among them.
The goal: neighborhood-scale clean local energy for all with an affordable energy bill, a bill that is not affected by distant wars.
A large problem: A super-emitting gas leak outside Boston, shot with a thermal camera and confirmed with a CGI.
Method
Black Swan Lab identifies large climate problems that no one is fighting effectively. We find practical solutions that can change the system, and refine them with stakeholders until everyone can get to “yes.”
When the solution is mature, we hand it off to others to implement while we take on the next big problem.
Open Source
All of our work is free to use and adapt under Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0.
Funding
To stay independent, we never take funding from any related industry.