The blackout and the bee – Encycle

When the blackout of 2003 hit the Northeastern U.S., 50 million people in the U.S. and Southeastern Canada saw skies transformed to expanses starry by night and crystalline by day as the power plants suddenly stopped. Of course, the blackout also meant everything in the entire region ground to a halt. Lights remained dark. Drinking water slowed to a standstill in its pipes. Cash registers ceased their blue-lit ciphering. This is the story of Mark and Roman, two guys who had been trying to figure out what kind of energy business they could initiate to help ease the challenges we face in that realm. As Mark considered the jarring change of that August night, he suddenly felt a kind of buzz – their course was clear. They needed to improve resilience in cities by improving the energy grid or at least energy efficiency. The stars seemed to shine down in accord. Although they were familiar with emergent theory based around ants and bees, they hadn’t considered a whole business built around that premise. But mimicking these behaviors was just the beginning as Encycle proved to the scholars and experts that nature was, in fact, the ultimate teacher.