By David Dodge and Kay Rollans
Norman Crowley believes that a successful economic affront to climate change involves three pillars: the boring stuff that makes money (energy efficiency), the supermodel that attracts customers (supercool electric cars), and the education, knowledge, and wisdom to build a sustainable world.
Together, be believes these three pillars will help solve climate change by 2030.
Crowley Carbon—the energy efficiency company we discussed last week—is the “boring” side of Crowley’s vision. But he has the family-friendly education and flashy sex-appeal sides of things well in hand, as well.
The supermodel of climate action
Crowley says Electrifi, his new electric car company, is the “supermodel” of his three-part formula to battle climate change.
Electrifi approached the designers of some of the most beautiful cars ever made such as the Corvette Stingray and the Ferrari Testarossa and asked them if they would like to reimagine their cars “as the perfect car.”
Electrifi’s mission is to reimagine these classics as modern, electric vehicles with radically increased power and speed while dramatically lowering their carbon footprint.
These supermodels of the energy transition seem to be working already.
Electrifi has already made cars for actor like Dev Patel and singer Ellie Goulding – “we made Ellie’s wedding car.” These very famous people are now latching onto this and then they want to help as well.
“We use that attention to focus on climate and to focus on the message. But also the cars, thankfully, make us a lot of money”—money he can use to fund the “boring” energy efficiency side of things, as well.
Of course, I had to know what’s in the garage of a climate-focused classic car mastermind.
“There is a 1981 Ferrari 308, which has been electrified. There is a 1972 Landrover Series three that’s absolutely beautiful and has been electrified. And then there’s a 1963 Corvette Stingray…. [The] Stingray’s in the process of being electrified,” Crowley reported.
To his fellow car nerds, Crowley noted that the Stingray will be transformed from “267 brake horsepower (although I think some of those horses have died over the years) to 2000 horsepower,” Crowley says with a big grin.
But hold on, we thought Crowley was a big fan of Elon Musk and Tesla. They don’t warrant a place in his garage, but Crowley also has a couple Teslas lying around. “We have a [Tesla] Model S and we have a [Tesla] Model 3 four-wheel drive, and we completely love those.”
“The problem with bringing the Stingray or the Ferrari out is it attracts too much attention – if you go anywhere when you come back, there’s a crowd around it and sometimes you just want to go to the shops and buy a sandwich,” says Crowley.
You know times are changing when you drive your Teslas to stay incognito.
The Cool Planet Experience
Crowley admires many non-governmental organizations that work on climate change, but when it comes to educating the public in a way that motivates them to act, he says that many NGOs “are living in the past.”
“We have within our grasp most of the technology to make our lives way better, to solve climate change and to make the poorest of the poor live way better,” Crowley says, but NGOs tend to focus their education and messaging around “climate guilt.” But guilt, Crowley says, “is not a motivator for action.”
That’s where the Cool Planet Experience comes in.
The Cool Planet Experience is a public-facing, high-tech, engaging exhibit located at the prestigious Powerscourt Estate & Gardens, just outside of the village of Enniskerry, Ireland, which coincidentally is where the Cool Planet Group and Crowley are based.
“We set up a center called Cool Planet Experience to…very optimistically showcase the future,” Crowley explains. It’s “kind of like Disney World for Climate.”
Crowley calls it a 4D immersive experience in which you learn about the perils of climate change and save a virtual city by learning about and implementing climate solutions.
The center opened just before COVID-19 hit. Still, in six months, 50,000 people visited the exhibit. Plans are in the works to create centers just like it around the world.
In his book “The Case for Climate Capitalism” Tom Rand makes the case for harnessing economics to tackle climate change. Norman Crowley is a living model of how a low carbon world is more than possible.
We have published our full 48 minute interview with Norman Crowley. Whether you believe climate change can be “resolved by 2030” or not this is a remarkable effort to transform business and the world to a climate resilient world.