Roberto Hroval, Themis Ecosystem: »Green Deal and Prosperity For All!« (Part 1)

We are talking to a visionary and innovator from Europe, Roberto Hroval. He is the founder of many breakthrough solutions: Project Phoenix8, an innovative waste-to-energy technology that creates emission-free electricity with 98% economic efficiency, Biomass Ultima technology for producing green electricity from wood waste with the highest efficiency on the market, and many others. The last one–his biggest to date–is called the Themis Ecosystem.

The New York Morning Star: Mr. Hroval, what exactly is Themis Ecosystem?

Roberto Hroval: It is a new, all-in-one solution to creating prosperity for ordinary people, reducing global warming, and establishing interaction between innovative green companies and the community. They are in direct contact and they both benefit greatly.

It seems that global warming is a huge deal right now…

Yes, it is. But I have my own take on it. I try to see it from the perspective of an average person. Not through the eyes of the government, industry leaders, or economists. At the end of the day, we all go home to our families and have our own, very down-to-earth issues and questions. For example, what do I and my family have from this green life and “let’s reduce spendings, recycle, do good, and safe the Earth” trend? I don’t have the answers.

Of course, we all want to preserve the planet and breathe clean air. But there are two worlds going on. On one side, we have the white-collar world where all the deals are made. Companies try to find innovative solutions to reduce their CO2 footprint. So-called CO2 coupons are traded, and so on. You need to understand that these activities are not always green life-originated. Many companies just try to survive. The core goal is not preserving the planet–it is making money so employees can get salaries. So they adapt to the market and legislative demands.

The other world is the consumer’s world. End users don’t benefit a lot from business interactions. They consume products that companies offer and this is the only communication between the companies and the community. Communication is established on an offer-purchase basis alone. It is a one-way road.

Would you explain it a little bit more?

Of course. Let’s take a look at how the CO2 reduction is handled. By the way, this process is regulated by the international Kyoto agreement. But it doesn’t cover the whole world, though.

Imagine a factory that is, according to the so-called LCA analysis, carbon emission-negative. This means that it helps to reduce CO2 gas in the environment.

The factory can cash in this achievement. It can issue special CO2 coupons and sell them on the three markets. The first is the primary, national-level market. The secondary market is going on between the companies. One factory can sell these coupons to another factory that creates more CO2 than allowed. The former gets money, the latter reduces CO2 gas emissions.

Why is the second factory interested in buying CO2 coupons? Because it is still cheaper than paying penalties for exceeding CO2 emissions. Also, the status of being CO2 negative gives the company and its brand a better public image. Especially nowadays when being green-oriented is trendy.

Another way to reduce CO2 is, for example, by buying huge forest areas. The CO2 gas reduced by the forest can balance the excess CO2 generated by the plant. Also, this is a great story. The company is socially responsible and supports the planet. What they don’t tell you is buying cheap forest somewhere in the third country is way cheaper than paying penalties and being stigmatized as a polluter.

The CO2 gas negativity that forests produce can companies also transform into CO2 coupons and sell. Consequently, it is not strange that the price of these coupons reaches $1.000 or more.

Another problem is that between the coupon issuer and the end-buyer are many brokers. Maybe even ten. They don’t add value to the process. They make money from reselling the coupons alone. But at the end of the day, they are all happy.

See what is going on here? It is all great and beautiful on the outside. Companies save money on fines, have green certificates, and create PR campaigns about their high level of social responsibility and preserving the planet.

The question is, what an average person gets from this operation? Where are the benefits? Don’t get me wrong. It would be great if factories would use green technologies and contribute to cleaner air. But it is not very beneficial for society if the big polluter buys some CO2 coupons–or the forest in Africa–and claims that its production is green. It is not green per se. It is green on paper. People around the factory will still breathe the polluted air from their chimneys.

The biggest hypocrisy is when the leaders of these companies appeal to the community: “Our processes are green, now it’s your turn. Spend less, use less electricity, use green vehicles…” The only fair answer would be: “If you could buy CO2 negativity, why wouldn’t we have the same opportunity?” This is where the Themis Ecosystem steps in.

So what gap exactly does the Themis Ecosystem fill?

Imagine the Kyoto agreement on a personal level, with some other benefits. Instead of spending less and removing good things from your life to live more green, you can buy the so-called Industrial Token that adds CO2 negativity to you personally and to your family.

This is a great idea. But people don’t have much money to spend on these certificates…

First of all, it is not a certificate. It is an e-voucher that represents the products of the company, combined with the CO2 negativity that the factory produces. For example, imagine a factory that creates some tangible goods. Like our Project Phoenix8 factory that produces zero emissions green electricity. But it also produces CO2 negativity.

Now, instead of offering buyers to buy electricity directly from us–and instead of issuing our CO2 coupons–we created e-vouchers. Each voucher represents a portion of the electricity production and a portion of CO2 negativity. So when the buyers buy our e-coupons–we call them Industrial Tokens or iTos–they buy electricity and CO2 negativity. Both are redeemable for cash so we packaged them into a new unit, called Industrial Token.

See what we’ve done here? We connected the community to the green projects. The only mediator between them is the so-called Online Industrial Exchange where holders and interested buyers can trade Industrial Tokens with zero commission.

That way, the buyer becomes personally CO2 negative by buying Industrial Tokens alone. On the other hand, these iTos are created to grow in their economic value. The number of Industrial Tokens must stay the same even when the factory expands and the production increases. The more CO2 negativity is distributed among the same number of Industrial Tokens, the higher the value of the iTos becomes.

And here we start to talk about a new green deal for all, a fair formula towards prosperity on a whole new level.

(To be continued)