“The idea of mimicking lightning to produce nitrates for fertilization is not new,” Cappelli said, adding that while the idea has existed for 100 years, it was expensive and difficult to scale.

And there, by the perimeter of Bowling Green Municipal Utilities, it stood: a sculpture of a red lightning, 10 feet tall and 2 feet thick, almost 6 feet at its widest – roughly 1,500 pounds.

The sustainable design and contracting market is fertile ground for innovation now more than ever, Top 100 firms share. With decarbonization incentives baked into recent federal spending packages ...