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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: 2024: Hope Floats or Reality Bites?
As we kick off 2024, I invited five experts to share their predictions for tech, funding, and policy.
Here’s mine: 2024 will be big for resilience. In an election year, when climate action will become even more politicized, resilience tech should avoid the political crosshairs. The reality of extreme weather and wildfires will prompt utilities (no CEO wants a repeat of Hawaii), big real estate, and other vulnerable sectors to invest in their self-interest.
The Ad Hoc Gist: A Few of Our Favorite Things in 2023
As 2023 comes to a close, we are yet again on track to mark the hottest year on record. But it wasn’t all bad news.
We invited some of my AHG colleagues to share their favorite climate tech achievements this year – things that may not have captured all the headlines but nonetheless demonstrate progress.
The Ad Hoc Gist: Employee #1
In honor of his four-year anniversary at Ad Hoc, we invited our first full-time team member, Ian Rinehart, to take over the Gist this month. He shares his reflections on how the climate tech market and AHG itself have changed since he joined the company, and what he’s most excited about looking ahead.
In other news, we shared the importance of resilience on the With Great Power podcast, which dropped this week, and how policymakers, utilities, advocates, and startups have to do more to ensure we’re prepared for the worst.
Press
USEA 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 realize their potential to improve electricity delivery reliability, reduce customer bills, and achieve decarbonization goals.
Climate 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 deny basic climate science and for whom “drill, baby, drill” is the cornerstone of his energy platform.
Clean energy investors may be hoping for the former, but are already preparing for the latter.
Supporting 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 that works in the unique market that is the utility industry.
Jim's response? A new company called the Ad Hoc Group, founded in 2016 with the goal of helping those newcomers succeed.
Podcast
Hear more from our leadership on My Climate Journey and Technopolis.