![]() ![]() Where many environmentalists focus on a gloomy outlook for the planet, Griffith believes climate change is solvable, and he imagines a cleaner future that looks better than what we have now. “It is like a build-it-and-see kind of place. “Things don’t stay on paper very long,” said Joanne Huang, Otherlab’s special projects lead, who joined the company in 2019. They also designed a tracker system that helps solar panels follow the sun’s path through the day. Another team is designing a solar-powered scooter set for launch this year. One of the lab’s current projects aims to radically redesign offshore wind platforms. Otherlab, which Griffith co-founded more than a decade ago, is where the Australian and two dozen other scientists are trying to find a way to stop global warming. The three-floor, narrow, 24-foot-wide, 6,000 square-foot building’s architecture predates modern building codes, with perilously steep staircases winding up to Griffith’s top-floor office.įrom every available space on the ceiling and walls, Griffith’s team has hung bicycles - from cargo bikes to a four-seater electric model. Old organ chimes hang from the walls above the main workspace. Now, the organ parts left behind have been crafted into benches, tables and a skateboard rack. Organs were once assembled here and lowered to street level through a giant trap door in the wooden floor. ![]() Most of Griffith’s tinkering happens in a nearly century-old former factory in San Francisco’s Mission District. Joanne Huang, left, and Hans von Clemm, right, tune a bicycle during an afternoon break. Otherlab headquarters is located in the old Schoenstein Organ Factory building in San Francisco. Otherwise, he says, efforts to reach net-zero carbon emissions will fall short. While most environmentalists have taken aim at the fossil fuel industry, Griffith wants to decarbonize each American household - replacing every gas cooktop, furnace and hot water heater with electric devices. DOES THE FURNACE EFFECT STACK WITH CUBE SERIESThe 47-year-old, who won a MacArthur “genius” grant in 2007 for his prodigious inventions “in the global public interest,” from novel household water-treatment systems to an educational cartoon series for kids, has spent the past decade working to solve climate change through technology. Since that TED talk 10 years ago, Griffith’s San Francisco lab has attracted $100 million in capital from investors and spun out a dozen companies. “I really thought I was the leader of the environmental movement. (Stephanie Simcox for The Washington Post) Founder and chief scientist of Otherlab Saul Griffith at home in Australia on April 1, 2021. ![]() In short, a planet hypocrite, he told his audience. The founder of a wind power company and a dedicated bicycle commuter, Griffith was ashamed to discover that he was consuming much more power than the average American. On display was an exhaustive audit of his personal energy impact, calculating the carbon footprint of every action in his life down to his underwear, toilet paper and taxes. Climate Visionaries highlights brilliant people around the world who are working to find climate solutions.Īnd so, the tall engineer with tousled brown hair pulled up a chart on a big screen behind him on the stage. ![]()
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