By Anya McCann

Cool Davis has selected Davis resident Mike G. Hart, CEO of Sierra Energy, as the recipient of a 2016 Eco Hero Award focused on reducing consumption and waste.

Hart is an innovator, actively seeking ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on a large, replicable scale. His FastOx® gasifier has the potential to change how towns and cities around the world deal with municipal waste by turning it into clean, low-carbon fuels and at the same time reducing GHG emissions and other harmful short-term climate pollutants.

Worldwide, landfills are the largest source of human-generated methane around the world and a major contributor to global warming.  The United States alone creates over 250 million tons of municipal solid waste annually.

As waste bakes in the sun, GHGs disburse into the atmosphere in the form of methane, which has a global warming potential of 84 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

Hart has developed FastOx® gasifiers to convert waste into clean, low-carbon fuels to further reduce GHG emissions and other harmful short-term climate pollutants.

By converting waste into renewable energy, FastOx gasification offsets fossil fuels that would be needed to create the same amount of energy. This net carbon negative technology reduces the amount and impact of new carbon added to the environment as well as diverts waste from landfills and eliminates subsequent methane emissions.

By converting waste into renewable energy, FastOx gasification offsets fossil fuels that would be needed to create the same amount of energy.

This net carbon negative technology reduces the amount and impact of new carbon added to the environment as well as diverts waste from landfills and eliminates subsequent methane emissions.

In addition, Hart has created an innovative platform to help other clean technologies come to market by creating additional opportunities to reduce GHG.

His online regional auction platform, Techpipe, helps emerging businesses validate demand for their products and reach commercialization at an accelerated rate through auctioning exclusive development or distribution rights, essentially crowd-funding.

Sierra Energy is currently headquartered in downtown Davis but will be moving to the former Moller flying car factory on Research Park Drive where they will host the Area 52 business incubator.

Cool Davis recognizes that Hart, a UC Davis graduate who returned to live in Davis 13 years ago with his wife Angie and 5 children, is an innovator having a high impact on the reduction of carbon locally with ramifications throughout the world.

Cool Davis is pleased to recognize Mike G. Hart as a 2016 Eco Hero focusing on Consumption.

2016 Eco Hero Award: Consumption

2016 Cool Davis Award Recipients

Eco-Heroes: Lisa Baker, Steven Wheeler, Parvaneh Keivanfar and Dana “Alex” Gray, Mike Hart

Climate Solutions: Mutual Housing Yolo, Davis Bicycles!, UC Davis Aggie Reuse Store

Each year Cool Davis recognizes individual Davis residents as Eco Heroes. The winners are residents who model how to incorporate sustainable practices into their work, civic, and everyday lives. Acting out of personal conviction, they do “the right thing” for themselves, our community, and our planet.

The Cool Davis Climate Solution Awards go to local businesses, groups, or organizations for exemplary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  As they model ways to reduce their environmental impact, they become leaders in creating options to conserve resources, reduce fossil fuel dependence, and stabilize the climate.

In its efforts to work with our community on carbon reduction and sustainability, Cool Davis awards focus on Energy, Transportation, and Consumption.