When less equals more: the incredible potential of efficiency

 

So how can we make this offer more attractive? By changing the way solutions are marketed. Companies can move from selling products to selling results (kilometres travelled in electric buses instead of the buses themselves, light instead of bulbs, yield per hectare instead of tonnes of fertiliser). The end user pays for the service without buying the property, while the supplier retains the asset. This ‘servitisation’ model has great potential for accelerating the deployment of efficient solutions which, despite a high initial cost, offer a lower total cost of ownership thanks to reduced operating expenses.

What are the benefits of this paradigm shift? For the adopter, it's a major incentive, because the initial investment disappears. For the solution provider, the interest is no longer in selling the greatest quantity of products, but the best possible quality. The more reliable the product, the higher the profit margin. This is the end of programmed obsolescence!

This model represents a new form of economy, which I call the ‘qualitative economy’. To develop, it requires the arrival of a third player capable of taking on the initial investment.

This is the purpose of the Energy Efficiency Initiative launched in Baku by the Solar Impulse Foundation, the European Investment Bank and the European Commission. By combining public investment, guarantees and private capital, it will strengthen the deployment of efficient solutions for SMEs, particularly through servitisation.

Innovation is not just technological; it must also be financial. This will enable climate action to unite all the players by proving its economic profitability.

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 About the Solar Impulse Foundation and Bertrand Piccard