8. Building Sustainable Businesses as a Force for Good

Find out more about Episode 12  on the Blend ESQ Website, with some useful links.

Whilst working as Vice President of Market Analysis for BHP, Mark realised it was really difficult to see how net zero climate scenarios were going to happen, but that these solutions were necessary to limit climate impacts. This shifted him onto a new path of thinking of “what more could be done, what do people need to stand up and find out and make happen over the coming years”.

Mark left BHP keen to activate something big to prove we can have our low-carbon solutions and our economy at the same time. Green Gravity will be instrumental in providing an opportunity for the next economic life of the very many disused mine shafts across the globe.

The sustainable solution will revive these vertical shafts and take advantage of their height to raise weighted steel objects with renewable energy, store these weights at the surface, and then use gravity to spin a turbine as these are lowered back down the shaft to generate electricity, to be directed straight into the grid when it is needed.

The Green Gravity team and its partners are working from flexible locations around the world, based at the Innovation Campus in Wollongong, helping industry gravitate towards a clean energy future.

Want more info?

• Green Gravity, Website
• Green Gravity, LinkedIn
• Mark Swinnerton, LinkedIn
• Green Gravity’s ingenious energy storage solution, Australian Financial Review
• Can abandoned mine shafts solve the renewable energy conundrum? Illawarra Mercury
• Australian Technologies Competition 2022, Winner of Mining and Resources Category
• National Energy Resources Australia, LETs Pitch Australia 2023, Winner

Check out the Wollongong locals engineering our future, Platinum Season 2 Sponsors SOTO Engineers.

Photo Credits: Blend ESQ, Venture and Gain Agency, and Pixabay.
Podcast Production: Relativity.

Find out more about Episode 11  on the Blend ESQ Website, with some useful links.

If a business and a charity had a baby, you’d have a social enterprise.

Social enterprises trade like any other business, but they exist to solve social, cultural, or environmental problems.

They generate most of their income from their product/service and reinvest profit/resources in a way that community benefit outweighs the individual benefit.
 
Kylie Flament talks to us about finding her tribe in the world of social enterprise, and how the philosophy of ‘enoughness’ empowers her with the freedom to keep on doing good for people and the planet.

Want more info?

• Social Enterprise Council of NSW/ACT (SECNA), Website
• SECNA, LinkedIn
• Kylie Flament, LinkedIn
• Social Enterprise Australia, Website.

Meet the not-for-profit, Healthy Cities Illawarra, creating healthy environments to enable healthy choices for the people of Illawarra and Shoalhaven, NSW.

Check out the Wollongong locals engineering our future, Platinum Season 2 Sponsors SOTO Engineers.

Photo Credits: SECNA, Venture and Gain Agency, Unsplash and Pexel.
Podcast Production: Relativity.

Find out more about Episode 10  on the Blend ESQ Website, with some useful links.

Hysata is using technology developed by the University of Wollongong and led by Dr Gerry Swiegers, to bring to market the world’s most efficient electrolyser. This involves using electricity to create a chemical reaction that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen gas.

Dr Paul Barrett, Hysata CEO has a PhD in chemical engineering, has spent his career working on the development of various technologies, and in the last decade has turned his interest to work on and invest in decarbonising technology that advances the world beyond fossil fuel use.

In 2022, Hysata attracted more than $40 million in investment, including the world’s largest wind company, Vestas, and Australia’s Former Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel to their Global Advisory Board.

Want more info?

• Hysata, Website
• Hysata, LinkedIn
• Paul Barrett, LinkedIn
• Breakthrough opens door to low-cost green hydrogen, University of Wollongong (UOW)
• UOW developed hydrogen technology commercialised, UOW
• 5 Minutes With… Hysata CEO Paul Barrett, Energy Source and Distribution
• Tom Campey, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Hysata explains how the Hysata electrolyser works, why it’s a game-changer for hard-to-abate sectors, and the clear path Hysata is on to gigawatt-scale manufacturing on ‘A Positive Climate’ podcast.
• Australian researchers claim ‘giant leap’ in technology to produce affordable renewable hydrogen, The Guardian.

Check out the Wollongong locals engineering our future, Platinum Season 2 Sponsors SOTO Engineers.

Photo Credits: Hysata, Mariana Zurak, Relativity, and Venture and Gain Agency.
Podcast Production: Relativity.

Find out more about Episode 9 on the Blend ESQ Website, with some useful links.

The work of a UOW-graduated Electrical Engineer, Nessar Khan, Co-Founder and CEO of Kratos Energy has been instrumental in the electrification of over 8 million homes in rural areas of Bangladesh, providing off-grid and low-cost electricity via solar and battery and addressing the harmful health effects of burning kerosene indoors.

Nessar shines a light forward for Australian rooftop solar and batteries having seen firsthand the large-scale clean energy benefits when policy and investment of the Government of Bangladesh and the World Bank aligned.

He identifies the barriers Australia still has in place to enable the connection of solar farms to the grid in rural areas, and why we need to rapidly address this to meet our net zero goals.

We discuss the continued importance of energy-efficient appliances as a tool in our clean energy toolkit and answer some of the common questions asked by first-time consumers of solar panels, inverters, and batteries.

Want more info?

• A powerful read: ‘Living in the Light‘ the Bangladesh Solar Homes Story, published by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (The World Bank), 2021.
• Learn more: Energy Management for Business  or Households, energy.gov.au
• Nessar Khan, LinkedIn
• Kratos Energy Pty Ltd is a renewable energy engineering and consulting services provider. Delivering solar PV and battery storage at every phase of a project, from the early stages of site selection, feasibility, and design through to project management of the construction phase, operation, and maintenance.
• Surge in Solar-Powered Homes – Experience in Off-Grid Rural Bangladesh, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, 2021.
• Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development Project (RERED), The World Bank
• Renew – Leading in Sustainability.
• Green Building Council Australia.
• About NatHERS, National House Energy Rating Scheme.

Check out the Wollongong locals engineering our future, Platinum Season 2 Sponsors SOTO Engineers.

Photo Credits: Nessar Khan and ocean image by Venture and Gain Agency.
Podcast Production: Relativity.

Find out more about Episode 8 on the Blend ESQ Website, with some useful links.

Benn Lim works within the philosophy that money is like water, it should be encouraged to flow, returning a profit in order to build businesses that do good in the world, both for people and the planet.

As the Chief Operating and Impact Officer, Benn has led Arowana to become a B Corporation, using the sustainability framework as a system of behavioral change and continuous improvement to guide their global operating companies and investments in electric vehicles, renewable energy, vocational and professional education, technology and software, venture capital, and impact asset management. 

Benn is passionate about creating positive change in the world, building strong communities, and fostering future generations with solid foundations upon which they can flourish. In his personal time, Benn enjoys reconnecting with nature by taking bush walks whilst practicing mindfulness.

Want more info?

• Learn more about the B Corp movement. 
• Reach out to Benn at Arowana. 
• Check out Tembo e-LV, your electric fleet may be in reach sooner than you first thought!
• Benn Lim, LinkedIn
• Green Antz, solving plastic pollution through eco-bricks and pavers in the Philippines.
• VivoPower, sustainable energy solutions.
• EdventureCo, digital, soft, and future skills training for the roles of the future.

Check out the Wollongong locals engineering our future, Platinum Season 1 Sponsors SOTO Engineers.

Photo Credits: Benn Lim and ocean image by Venture and Gain Agency.
Podcast Production: Relativity.

Dr Trent Jansen's take on defining Australian design identity has been likened to what Droog has done for Dutch design identity.

His design anthropology studio in Thirroul explores stories like a shared fear and fascination with mythical bush creatures, that have united indigenous and non-indigenous Australians for generations. Collaboratively designed objects are starkly Australian in appearance, celebrate unique indigenous artisans, bring light to observations of a changing climate in remote parts of Australia and reach thousands in their narrative through exhibitions across the world in Italy, US, China, and locally in the PowerHouse Museum, and National Gallery of Melbourne.

Voted in the top 100 most influential people in Sydney, Trent worked with members of Beyond Coal Coast to spark the volunteer-led organisation 'Electrify 2515' with a 'can we be your feet on the ground?' phone call to Dr Saul Griffith. Creating a groundswell of households (20%) across the 2515 northern suburbs of Wollongong to register to electrify their households in 6 ways, and to hopefully become Australia's first electrified community.

Find out more about Episode 7 on the Blend ESQ Website, with some useful links.

Keen to learn more?
Visit the Trent Jansen Studio website or instagram.

Find out about the community volunteer-led 'Electrify 2515' pilot to electrify your home in 6 ways, and register your interest. Hopefully, via Rewiring Australia, the 2515 northern suburbs of Wollongong will be on their way to becoming Australia's (if not the world's) first electrified community.

Platinum Season 1 Sponsors, check out locals engineering our future, SOTO Engineers.

Photo Credits: Tobias Titz and ocean image by Venture and Gain Agency.
Podcast Production: Relativity.

Yael Stone is a wonderfully talented Australian actor both on stage and screen, most widely known for her role in the US Netflix comedy ‘Orange is the New Black. Just as ‘Blaze’ is hitting Australian cinemas, Robyn talks to Yael about how her efforts in criminal justice reform and experiencing the Black Summer bushfires forced her to clarify her personal values and to try to work towards them. In early 2020, literally covered in climate anxiety, Yael renounced her US Green Card and a life spent traveling between Australia and the US for acting.

Yael is now studying ‘sustainable communities’ at UOW and the seed for ‘Hi Neighbour’ was sown out of curiosity to illuminate the training pathways for coal workers, amidst a global energy transition from fossil fuels, to upskill or retrain and to find future local jobs, keeping them here to call the Illawarra home. Funds donated will see rooftop solar installations in local businesses, with loan repayments and interest converted into scholarship funding.

Find out more about Episode 6 on the Blend ESQ Website, with some useful links.

Keen to learn more?
Visit Yael Stone via the Hi Neighbour website or instagram. Find out more about AIME, read Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, Tyson Yunkaporta, and check out locals engineering our future, Platinum Season 1 Sponsors SOTO Engineers.

Photo Credits: Alex Vaughan and ocean image by Venture and Gain Agency.
Podcast Production: Relativity.

Zahra Shahbazian, Senior Business Initiatives Manager at the University of Wollongong (UOW), harnesses her engineering and advanced manufacturing expertise to create partnerships between UOW and regional businesses to solve problems, create efficiencies, and translate research into commercial reality.

Find out more about Episode 5 on the Blend ESQ Website, with some useful links.

Keen to learn more?
Visit Zahra Shahbazian on LinkedIn, University of Wollongong (UOW), and check out our Platinum Season 1 Sponsors SOTO Engineers.

Photo Credits: Zahra Shahbazian and ocean image by Venture and Gain Agency.
Podcast Production: Relativity.

After graduating as an electrical engineer from UOW in the 80s, Ty Christopher, Managing Director of Ty Christopher & Associates and Strategic Advisor to Ecojoule Energy started working in the field for the Illawarra County Council. It was the beginning of a 35-year journey through all the engineering parts of the Integral Energy and Endeavour Energy businesses, where he spent the last 10 years in executive roles.

 He was instrumental in designing and installing the first grid-sized battery in NSW in Wongawilli in West Dapto. We discuss the social importance of community batteries and he shares his industry perspective on a $1.1B problem, being the oversupply of voltage across the National Electricity Market (NEM). Listen, because he also has some great solutions!

Find out more about Episode 4 on the Blend ESQ Website with some useful links to more information. Also find out about Ty Christopher and SOTO Engineers.

Photo Credits: Ty Christopher and ocean image by Venture and Gain Agency.
Podcast Production: Relativity.

Blend ESQ Director, Robyn Johnson and Operations Manager, Catherine Wade discuss mission, sustainability, and an actionable agenda to drive global and local change.

With decades of industry, environmental management and ESQ experience between them this salty conversation covers a range of topics and ideas, including why they each pivoted their careers and personal lives to the mission of driving sustainable change in the Wollongong area and how highlighting the work of other passionate advocates and change makers, whilst making small incremental changes at home, can make all the difference to the future of our planet.

Find out more about Episode 3 on the Blend ESQ Website with some useful links to more information. Also, find more about our Season 1 sponsor SOTO Engineers.

Photo credits: Venture and Gain Agency.
Podcast Production: Relativity.