The year has started out very busy for your loyal correspondent, who has been interviewing experts on grid modernization, energy storage, and agricultural technology.
In the coming months, I’m looking forward to bringing you stories about some incredible organizations that are making progress in the fields of:
- Virtual Power Plants
- Microgrids
- High-Voltage DC transmission
- Nanobubble technology
- Mechanical battery technology
These organizations include Moleaer, LF Energy, Swell, sonnen, and KraftBlock with more to come.
I am shifting my focus to three main areas for writing and research over the next year:
- Post-Carbon Industry
- Grid Evolution and Energy Efficiency
- Agricultural Technology
Post-Carbon Industry
Like it or not, our present civilization is supported by the magic of cheap, energy-dense fossil fuels. Our civilization literally cannot survive without fossil fuels. It just turns out that it cannot survive with them either.
To thrive and survive, we need to find zero-carbon ways to produce the goods and services that will allow us to maintain and improve our standard of living while reversing the environmental effects of 200 years of unrestrained industrial expansion. In these articles, we focus specifically on carbon capture and sequestration, carbon credits, next-gen nuclear, renewable industrial processes, and more.
A factory in Houston, Texas, circa 1973. The factory burned discarded automobile batteries.
WIKIPEDIA.ORG
Grid Evolution and Energy Efficiency
Generating zero-carbon power and electrifying transportation has the potential to cut worldwide carbon emissions by more than half. But we cannot reach these goals without making major changes to our energy distribution grids and big efficiency improvements in our homes and offices. The technical and behavioral challenges are daunting but, after my recent discussions with global experts in this field, I believe that change is possible!
A simplified schematic diagram of the generation, transmission, and distribution systems. Here, we … [+]
WIKIPEDIA.ORG
Agricultural Technology
The development of factory farming and the Green Revolution of the late 60s has allowed civilization unprecedented abundance. But the increase in agricultural yields has come at a cost we are only now starting to understand – oceanic dead zones, depleted or poisoned water tables, a loss of biodiversity and soil health.
Rethinking agriculture means figuring out how to use regenerative techniques for farming and animal husbandry and managing our seas sustainably.
An employee checks lettuce grown in an indoor farm at a Spread Co. plant in Kameoka, Kyoto … [+]
© 2018 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP
We have a lot of work ahead of us as a society. 2020 was tied for the hottest year on record. This is a shocking fact considering that 2020 experienced a La Niña event (which has the effect of cooling the atmosphere) and was tied with 2016 – an El Niño year (during which heat is released from the Pacific into the atmosphere).
I firmly believe that the greatest threat to civilization also represents its greatest opportunity. Far-sighted entrepreneurs and investors have the mother of all tailwinds at their back – phenomenal demand caused by an inexorable physical reality. Intelligent investors take note.