Green business pioneer gets to the source of the problem at his Shoresh sandal factory

TIRAT CARMEL — Visionary Yoki Gil understands a lot about the environment. But there is one thing he cannot wrap his mind around: the failure of government and businesspeople to grasp that, within decades, the world will run on renewable energy. He notes that those who jump on the bandwagon today will benefit most.

“Hundreds of people come to visit,” said Gil, who has two northern Israeli factories, one of which produces the iconic Shoresh sandal (known internationally as Source) and was the first in the country to reach net-zero carbon emissions on its electricity and transportation.

“They say, ‘Wow!’ And when they leave, what they’ve heard goes out the other ear,” Gil lamented.

The staircase leading to the Shoresh offices in the town of Tirat Carmel is lined with awards and photographs of Gil standing, somewhat awkwardly, next to public figures. The most recent is Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman. Waiting to be hung is a Person of the Year award given to Gil earlier this month at an annual international energy and business conference held in central Israel.

With gray hair tied into a ponytail, Gil looks and talks more like a philosopher than a businessman. He dismisses questions about the return on investment he has enjoyed by adopting a sustainable lifestyle and running a business that does not negatively impact resources for future generations.

He prefers to explain why it’s so important to think globally — and act locally.

Having started producing sandals in 1989, Gil today presides over a 350-employee business with a NIS 400 million shekel (nearly $110 million) annual turnover that exports 80 percent of its products. Although best known to Israelis for its hiking gear  — some 250,000 sandals are produced annually, with most sold in Israel — its profits come primarily from Source Tactical Gear sold to armies and police forces worldwide.

The sandal factory is a relatively quiet place where the soles are molded, the straps are sewn, and the assembly is done by hand. The completed pairs are put into a bag whose shape Gil designed on the basis of origami. It is net zero on electricity, meaning it produces as much electricity as it consumes from the national grid.

The rest of the complex, including the tactical gear company, will be similarly net zero by the end of 2025.

‘The world could run cleanly with half the energy used today’

While Gil, today in his late 60s, doesn’t know whether or not to celebrate Tesla billionaire Elon Musk’s inclusion in US President-elect Donald Trump’s upcomng second administration, he insisted on showing an excerpt from last year’s Tesla Investors Day, where Musk unveiled the company’s Masterplan 3 and said the world could run “with abundance” and sustain a bigger population using half the energy consumed today if it transitioned from burning fossil fuels to using the sun, water and wind.

This is because only a small fraction of the energy needed to extract, refine, transport and distribute fossil fuel actually provides electricity or mechanical movement.

“Because of the climate crisis we are looking at a disruptive revolution in energy,” said Gil. “Every person on Earth will draw energy from renewable sources and not fossil fuels. It will happen in our lifetimes, as Musk says. And as in all revolutions, the first who jump onto the bandwagon will benefit the most financially. Wake up. There’s a revolution!”

The mismanagement of three resources currently makes life unsustainable, according to Gil: electricity, transportation and waste.

“It’s so simple. You don’t need to wait for hydrogen or some technology in the future. Renewable energy is infinite and the tech is here,” he said.

And the cost of going net zero? “Obviously you have to invest in solar panels, batteries and electric vehicles to become sustainable at home or in the workplace, but you don’t need to invest personal capital,” said Gil. “You can get bank loans easily, because there’s no risk. The sun will always shine.

“Instead of paying electricity and gasoline bills, return the interest on the loan and after a certain number of years, you’re done with the loan and the bills,” he argued.

Until it made the transition, gradually, starting in 2019, Gil’s factory was spending NIS 1.1 million ($300,000) annually on electricity, transportation and waste. He discovered that going net zero made clear business, as well as environmental, sense. The previous year, in 2018, he had already begun testing living sustainably in his home.

“I had never looked at the bills for electricity, cars or landfill,” he said. “We’re all like that. Why? Because it’s a given. We accept that the electric bill goes up because there’s war in Ukraine, as if it doesn’t depend on us.”

He replaced all 15 of his factory’s fleet cars with electric vehicles, installed rechargers, and imported Israel’s first EV delivery truck.

He put solar panels on the roof, which produce all the electricity needed to power the factory and the cars. And he bought a storage battery to use when the sun doesn’t shine or grid prices are high.

“The cost of, and income from, a solar battery are now close to making it economically worthwhile and batteries will soon be advantageous,” Gil said. A battery also provides “real energy security. Last year, there was an eight-hour power cut because a transformer burned out midday. Our factory was the only one around here able to continue working.”

The Shoresh electricity system is a closed one — a microgrid. This means the factory consumes the electricity it produces, taking around 80% less electricity from the grid. Furthermore, the electricity only has to travel a short distance between the panels on the roof and the point of use.

Along with a growing number of people, Gil believes that microgrids provide the logical and economical way to transition to renewables. If more people generated the electricity they consumed, the currently overburdened grid would not need to be expanded, as is being planned.

The Israel Electric Corporation has long resisted microgrids, fearing a loss of central control, and the government is pressing ahead with building big solar fields in Israel’s north and south to supply the densely populated center, all of which requires the construction of additional infrastructure. It also plans to have a chain of expensive, fossil fuel gas-driven power stations to provide backup when demand reaches occasional peaks (for example, during a heatwave).

In one policy document, the Electric Authority predicted that reaching 30% renewable energy would require building six new switching stations (to convert from the high voltage of 400,000 volts to the medium voltage of 160,000), almost 100 substations (to convert from 160,000 volts to an even lower voltage), and laying 1,600 kilometers (994 miles) of transmission cables — enough to crisscross the length of the country more than three times.

The document noted that it could take a decade to complete a new substation because of the time it takes to finish planning and obtain permits for the land. Getting a high-voltage line erected can also take a decade due to the need for land acquisition, planning, permits and construction.

While Gil’s microgrid can be disconnected from the national grid in an emergency (as it was when the transformer burned out), it is connected most of the time — and not only because the law prescribes it. Going “off-grid” (disconnecting totally) would mean buying additional panels to ensure so much backup that it would not be economically worthwhile. The connection is what enables the factory to reach net zero electricity, economically, by drawing electricity from the grid when needed and returning it during the weekends, when the panels continue to operate but the factory is closed.

Waste not, want not

Having dealt with electricity and vehicles, Gil is now focusing on net zero plastic waste. In the coming year, he will import the first waste gasification unit of its kind in the world.

Unlike incinerators, gasifiers — employed to date for organic waste only — use a thermochemical process that doesn’t use energy but creates heat in a low-oxygen environment and reduces the waste to its constituent parts. Among the byproducts are a form of gas called syngas, which can be used to create electricity and heat that can heat the buildings.

Whether these changes are financially worthwhile is a question that Gil hates. (The answer he gives for return on investment is “two figures,” which could be anything from 10% upwards.)

“Everyone who comes here asks, ‘What’s the ROI?'” he said. “That’s the first question — as if that’s the secret of human existence. We’re used to asking what’s worth it financially, rather than what’s worthwhile to live well. I’ve never seen a person who was happy after earning 11% interest rather than 9%. On the contrary, that person will envy whoever made 15%.”

He continued, “It won’t help just to talk in terms of ROI, because people will always find excuses not to do it. They’ll say they don’t understand anything about energy. They’ll ask about radiation from the solar panels, or waste at the end of the panels’ life. People who fly overseas for weekend shopping expeditions (generating carbon emissions by flying) are suddenly worried by a solar panel’s end of life.”

Businesses were already having to change to meet international regulations such as carbon taxes and net zero requirements, Gil went on, noting that a proposal his company was preparing for a UK contract had to include a carbon reduction plan.

“Everything we do is open source,” he added. “All the Excels, the financial calculations, are available. But there’s an awareness and cultural issue.”