Press
Know thyself: Advice for climate tech founders
Building a climate tech company is not for the faint-of-heart. No part of the process is easy; the tech is difficult, customers can be decidedly old-school, and regulation is often complex, for instance. And too often, the innate challenge for founders is compounded by the weight of high valuations, enormous growth targets, and limited exit…
Read MoreWe need to rethink climate investing
For climate tech to scale, the collaboration between climate tech founders and capital providers will need to change. It will need to be a durable — and dare we say, sustainable? — relationship, and one designed for deep partnership. To get a sense of what this might look like, it is worth looking backward: to…
Read MoreIs winter coming for climate tech?
We’re worried about climate tech. We lived through cleantech 1.0 (b. 2007, d. 2011), and we see signs of similar mistakes unfolding this time around. And the problems are not restricted to a single group. Both founders and venture capitalists need to re-think their approach to the market. On the one hand, founders need to…
Read MoreUnbound Wildfire Liability is a Cost the US Can’t Afford
Utility wildfire mitigation plans aren’t enough.
“We are all one spark away from bankruptcy,” said one utility CEO at the recent Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners meeting.Â
He was speaking about wildfires: a topic under regular conversation at energy industry events and in utility board rooms. The business of providing electricity is being turned on its head, and all of us are paying a price….
Read MoreUSEA Power Sector Podcast Episode 27: The Ad Hoc Group Principal Brian Kooiman
In Part 3 of a series on distribution system resources and reliability, The Ad Hoc Group Principal Brian Kooiman answered questions by journalist Herman K. Trabish about the role of demand side flexibility in the U.S. power sector resource mix and reforms are urgently needed from federal and state regulators to allow customer-owned resources to…
Read MoreClimate investors are already bracing for Trump
Donald Trump’s victory in yesterday’s New Hampshire Republican presidential primary makes clear the stark choice coming into view for voters: On one side, an incumbent president whose signature climate achievement — the Inflation Reduction Act — is doing more to accelerate the energy transition than any other U.S. policy against an opponent who continues to…
Read MoreSupporting the Next Wave of Climate Tech Startups
A wave of extreme weather this year has left Jim Kapsis questioning whether utilities are prepared for more frequent, intense weather events in the future. There’s a growing group of startups that are more than ready to provide solutions, but they’ve struggled to break into the space. They need help figuring out a business model…
Read MoreClimate Disasters are Revealing a Blind Spot
Where Angelo Campus grew up in northern California, evacuations and power outages caused by wildfires were routine. At college, he worked in a lab developing small solar-powered electric grids for places hit by natural disasters or high fire-risk areas to reduce the odds of an errant spark from a conventional transmission line. After graduation, he…
Read MoreAnti-China Fervor Casts a Dark Cloud Over Solar and U.S. Climate Goals
In Congress, there is sudden bipartisan momentum to reinstitute tariffs on Chinese components. The U.S. solar industry is alarmed. Read More @ Washington Post
Read MoreSilicon Valley Bank Collapse Could Slow the Transition to Clean Energy
The bank cast a wide shadow over climate tech, with half the start-ups in the sector doing business with it. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has created new challenges not just for the nation’s banking system, but also for the Biden administration’s climate agenda, following a harrowing weekend in which many major clean tech…
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