Pique Behind the Curtain Vol. 5

Lighting the Dark

Welcome to our fifth edition of Pique Behind the Curtain, our weekly newsletter debuting new content, highlighting great storytelling, and sharing behind-the-scenes footage from our films. If you enjoy Nathan for You, you'll love what we're watching.

Cydee Technologies: Lighting the Dark

Monika Jha saw the social effects of energy poverty up close in her hometown of Bangalore. The lack of reliable street lighting made it unsafe to go out at night, theft was abundant & emissions were high.

So in her last year of college, she invented a new lighting concept that saves cost & reduces energy. 

Cydee’s lighting concept can save 30% on energy consumption and 40% on cost. With high dispersion LED lighting concepts, three Cydee lights can replace five conventional lights to illuminate the same stretch of road. 

This is the type of climate innovation that can make society better while also helping us rapidly decarbonize. As Monika says in film:

“It is important that we realize if it’s not powered by sustainable sources, then we must consider that we are stealing it from future generations.”

Watch the full film here.

For our next episode, we go underwater with CalWave. Founder Marcus Lehman is aiming to tap into the power of the ocean by building a wave-energy converter. We filmed the deployment of their ocean pilot unit, which sits right under the surface and is positively buoyant. While wind power peaks in the summer, wave power is strongest during the winter months. It offers an interesting opportunity for a renewable energy counterbalance.

It’s a blend of John Oliver, Nathan for You and How to With John Wilson, but solely focused on climate. In each episode of Climate Town, host Rollie Williams breaks down a different issue backed by extensive research with lighthearted humor. His latest upload on Fast Fashion topped a million views, reaching audiences far and wide. Watch here.

Every week we'll share recommendations from readers about climate films and documentaries to watch. This week’s rec comes from Clare Hamilton.

• Scotland: Our Climate Journey:  “The film is about Scotland’s climate journey and is from the perspective of the campaigners, individuals and communities who got together back in 2007 to push the Scottish Government to take action, resulting in the strongest legally binding targets in the world…It tells the story of what a small nation can achieve if it puts its mind to it.” - Clare