Insights
Learn more about
The Gist
The Gist is the monthly newsletter of The Ad Hoc Group that covers everything at the intersection of climate tech and policy. Subscribe at the link here to have The Gist mailed to your inbox each month.

The Ad Hoc Gist: Greece’s Climate Transformation
Greece experienced a summer from hell with raging wildfires and a punishing heatwave. And that’s less than two years after the war in Ukraine sent energy prices soaring.
But the land of sun and wind is poised to capitalize on the energy transition, says Nikos Tsafos, chief energy advisor to Prime Minister Mitsotakis.

The Ad Hoc Gist: Inside DOE’s $8.5 billion push to retrofit homes
On the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most significant piece of climate legislation in US history, we’re taking you inside the Department of Energy. Karen Zelmar is the manager of the home energy rebate programs, which provide $8.5 billion for home efficiency and electrification projects. We talked to her about their newly released guidance and what it’s like to work at DOE during a pivotal time.
Press

Climate 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 founded a startup called BoxPower to commercialize the technology, setting up his first system in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Anti-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.

Silicon 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 companies faced insolvency.
Podcast
Hear more from our leadership on My Climate Journey and Technopolis.