I love this story. The lesson here is that the real world is messy and good engineers have to think on their feet. It also gives me hope that somehow humanity will actually solve climate change.
I thought it was interesting how they were patting themselves on the back for getting a solution in place in "only 7 weeks". I guess because they aren't in real production yet the timelines can slip, but I have to wonder if they had consulted with a farmer they may have found a solution at the Tractor Supply the same day that would have left their operation running while the rest of the team did the work back in CA of tracking down and negotiating with suppliers for the final product.
Farmers are often masters of mechanical improvisation because they have very narrow windows in which they can plant or harvest so breakdowns have to be fixed or worked around in just hours or at most a few days.
Farmers are often masters of mechanical improvisation because they have very narrow windows in which they can plant or harvest so breakdowns have to be fixed or worked around in just hours or at most a few days.