Viability Lab has also applied its cross-sector impact expertise to leverage the power and reach of human interest and passions to further innovative initiatives.  Whether it’s huge music festivals or global sporting events, people who are inclined to invest themselves as ‘fans’ are also inclined to become passionate about the collective energy fandom generates, which overflows into passion about maximizing positive impacts and eliminating the negative. Identifying, leveraging and channeling such human passions is a key Viability Lab strategy in making widespread and long-lasting impact.

 

The Electric Forest Festival draws 45,000 eclectic music fans for a weekend of fun, tunes, and festivities in the forest and fields of Rothbury, Michigan. With plenty of amps, lights, and side venues, it also draws significant electricity. The festival's organizer, Madison House (Boulder, Colorado), seeking to do right by the planet, hired Viability Lab to apply our innovative approach to limit the festival's climate impact. Through detailed carbon footprint calculations, and working with carbon credit provider, Chicago Climate Exchange, Viability Lab's ingenuity provided people-powered carbon offsets for the entire festival.

 

The creativity didn't stop there. Viability Lab led the design of an eight-person, stationary bicycle/bar, deemed the "V-Bike," that generated renewable, carbon-free power whenever peddlers were peddling. Viability Lab was the most popular sponsor tent at the festival, as fans pedaled the V-Bike powering an onsite digital recording studio and multiple phone charging ports, for the entire festival.

 

Whether a massive event in Michigan or an entire rural region in Africa, Viability Lab proves that the most valuable type of energy is brainpower.