When To Change

I just finished an interesting study concerning hydrogen fuel cells. A large client of ours was considering a switch to hydrogen fuel cells for their forklift fleet and asked us to make recommendations. It's not a large fleet and they don't use them 24/7 but thought it worth a study. Several nearby companies have made the switch and have found that they can reduce operating costs to a degree and reap some pretty big PR benefits as well. One, BMW, has even gone to using landfill gas to lessen the impact of hydrogen even further. They can take their momentum with their hydrogen cars and tout the strides they're making on other fronts as well.

But what do you do when it doesn't make economic sense and the environmental and social impacts are negligible? Do you go ahead with an expensive retrofit, add an expensive refueling station and scrap all your old lead acid batteries? Or do you sit tight, continue to operate as efficiently as you can and plan for a point in the future that a change makes financial and environmental sense?

We told them to sit tight and find less expensive ways to save money and lessen their impact because sometimes knowing when to hold them is the smartest thing to do.

What Are We Talking About, Anyway?

Several people have asked me about my site because I started with two posts about cars. I like talking about cars but there are many other topics to address when it comes to sustainability. So for those not as familiar with the term I'll give a quick refresher. When we discuss sustainability we are usually talking about something that can or cannot continue. The recent debates about federal or state budgets are a case in point. Overspending catches up to you later and someone has to pay the bill. Whether it's about the environment or something else that can be depleted by overuse the outcome is the same. Using too much of something and not putting back or giving time to replenish can't continue.

In the case of money, we continue to borrow  and hope that our children will forgive us when the bill comes due. If talking about oil, we hope we can find more before we run out and hope that future generations will solve the damage to the environment or find substitutes. When we damage our environment we hope that our grandchildren will remember to use more sunscreen or find cheaper ways to desalinate ocean water.

In its broadest terms "Sustainability" means finding ways to meet our current needs without screwing our children out of their future. Whether it's money, energy or education you can't continue to make withdrawals without deposits somewhere down the line.