Amazing innovation is happening in climate tech and climate solutions, all around the world. But people don’t necessarily know it, or have time to do the reading to piece it all together. So my friend Decarb the Dog and I decided to put together this climate innovations guide and glossary. We hope you’ll find it useful, and get a boost of optimism from reading it. Use this index to jump around:
Technologies
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Innovation Areas
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
The Goal: Net-Zero Emissions
Overview:
Emissions are the heart of the climate challenge: they’re overheating the planet. Fossil fuels have transformed human life, but burning them emits heat-trapping greenhouse gases which accumulate in the atmosphere, raising global temperatures and driving extreme storms, droughts, floods, and species extinction. We need to stop investing in and burning fossil fuels, to reduce these emissions to ‘net zero’ and mitigate the climate destabilization already underway.
Key concepts and terminology:
Carbon dioxide CO2; The predominant greenhouse gas trapping heat in the atmosphere. Persists for centuries in the atmosphere.
Carbon intensity How much CO2 is emitted in any given process or activity.
Embedded/embodied emissions The amount of GHGs emitted in the course of producing a specific item, like a car or building.
Fossil fuels 👎🏽 The world runs on oil, gas and coal: four trillion dollars 💰💰💰💰 worth of them per year.
Greenhouse gases Gases emitted by burning fossil fuels, which trap heat in the atmosphere 🥵.
Methane CH4; The second biggest greenhouse gas. Shorter-lasting than CO2 but much more potent at trapping heat (30-80x).
Net zero 🎯 The goal of reducing human GHG emissions as close as possible to zero.
Nitrous oxide N2O; The third biggest greenhouse gas, emitted when fertilizer goes into soil. Long lasting like CO2 and potent like methane.
Parts per million 📈 Global atmospheric CO2 concentration, currently at about 420 parts per million, up from 340 ppm in 1980.
Scope 1 emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from a company’s operations that it directly controls.
Scope 2 emissions Emissions from the production of energy a company buys to use in its operations.
Scope 3 emissions 💩 Emissions produced by A) a company’s customers while using the company’s products; and B) a company’s suppliers.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Solar power
What’s exciting/promising:
– Already the cheapest power source on the planet.
– Can be deployed anywhere, from rooftop systems to massive solar farms.
– Expect further breakthroughs in efficiency and cost.
Overview:
Solar is now the world’s cheapest and fastest growing power source. And it’s continually improving: manufacturing costs keep falling, and solar cell efficiency keeps climbing, enabling more power to be produced in less space. Rooftop solar saves money by producing energy where it’s consumed, while utility solar benefits from larger scale but has to overcome issues of land availability, permitting and access to grid connections. Currently China leads the world in solar technology and manufacturing, and dominates the global solar supply chain with its massive scale advantages and ultra low pricing.
Open questions:
– How quickly can solar costs keep dropping?
– Can we remove permitting, land use and grid interconnection obstacles?
– Can we diversify the solar supply chain away from China?
Go deeper: PV Magazine; Jenny Chase; IEA
Key concepts and terminology:
Agrivoltaics Solar + agriculture; for example using panels to provide shade for cows 🐮, or growing berries 🍓 underneath.
Cell The basic unit of solar PV (photovoltaic) generation; uses a semiconductor material (usually silicon) to convert sunlight into electrical current.
Efficiency The 🎓 best solar panels today convert about 24% of the sun’s energy into electricity; those in the lab convert as much as 30% or more.
Ground mounted solar Solar arrays mounted directly on the ground; cheaper to install and easier to maintain than rooftop solar.
Module/panel An assembly of connected solar cells, containing layers of materials like glass, silicon, plastic, aluminum, copper, silver and lead, all sealed together.
Multi/hetero junction cells 😎 Stacks of different semiconductor materials layered together, each able to absorb a different part of the solar spectrum.
Perovskite cells Solar cells made from perovskites (compounds with a specific crystal structure).
Silicon cells Crystalline silicon is used in 95%+ of today’s solar photovoltaic cells; it provides the best combination of efficiency, low cost, and long lifetime.
Solar parking carports Steel structures enabling solar panels to be installed on top of 🅿️ parking spaces, an efficient use of existing space.
Solar supply chain Starts with raw silicon, which is made into polysilicon, then ingots, then wafers, cells, and finally modules.
Thermal solar Systems which convert sunlight into heat, such as rooftop solar hot water systems.
Thin-film cells Using thin layers of a semiconductor like cadmium telluride, deposited directly onto glass, plastic or metal, to enable lighter, more flexible solar modules.
Trackers Mechanical solar mounts which automatically pivot toward the sun as it moves, maximizing solar production.
Wafers Blocks of silicon (or some other semiconductor material) which are processed and coated to form the heart of a solar cell.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Wind power
What’s exciting/promising:
– The latest turbines produce massive amounts of clean power.
– Wind generates power 24/7, a perfect complement to solar.
– Floating wind tech is enabling large, deep-water wind farms.
Overview:
Wind generates a tenth of the world’s electricity, and thanks to recent innovations in design and materials could generate much more. Today’s massive offshore turbines can produce up to fifteen megawatts each, and their 24-hour clean power potential nicely complements the daytime power generation of solar. Yet the monumental task of siting, financing, constructing, transporting and installing these huge structures makes wind farms a capital-intensive, years-long business that only governments can really push forward. And these highly visible machines have somehow become more politically polarizing than other renewables.
Open questions:
– Will governments keep making big bets on wind power?
– Can better financing overcome the drag of rising interest rates?
– Is there enough global demand for the industry to keep investing in innovation?
Key concepts and terminology:
Blade materials Modern turbine blades are made from light, fiberglass-reinforced polyester and composites like carbon fiber, optimizing performance but making recycling challenging.
Blade design Modern blades incorporate high-lift 🛫 airfoils, trailing edge noise-reduction add-ons, advanced blade tips, aeroelastic tailoring, and other performance enhancers.
Floating wind Giant floating platforms have enabled bigger wind farms in deeper 🌊 ocean waters; less visible and drawing less opposition.
Fixed offshore wind Offshore wind turbines fixed to the ocean floor; geographically limited by water depth.
Height advantage Power increases exponentially with wind speeds, which are faster higher off the ground. Plus longer blades extract more wind energy even at low speeds.
Horizontal-axis turbines The most common wind turbine type, like an airplane propeller, with three blades and the rotor shaft pointed into the wind.
Monopiles Massive steel tubes driven into the seabed to support offshore wind turbines. They can be up to 30 feet in diameter and 300 feet tall, and weigh up to 2,000 tons.
Nacelle Houses all the turbine’s generating components (gearbox, electronics, and an induction or permanent magnet generator).
Onshore wind Easier to install than offshore, but more local ✊ opposition. These turbines can be over 300 feet tall and generate three-plus megawatts of power.
Small wind Small distributed wind turbines between one and 100 kilowatts which can be used to power homes, farms, schools, water pumps, and even feed energy into the grid.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Batteries & Storage
What’s exciting/promising:
– Batteries are a force multiplier for all other clean technologies.
– Continual improvements in cost, energy density and safety.
– Potential for further breakthroughs to accelerate electrification.
Overview:
Batteries are the all-around athlete of decarbonization. They increase wind and solar’s advantages on the grid over fossil fueled power plants. They increase EVs’ advantages over gas and diesel powered vehicles. And they keep getting cheaper and better. Each year brings improvements in battery chemistry and design, energy density, lifespan, safety, and cost. Yet some challenges persist, including China’s domination of the lithium battery supply chain, and the rare metals/minerals needed for production.
Open questions:
– How fast can new lithium-ion chemistries, or solid-state technologies, become deployable?
– Can a robust battery supply chain be developed outside of China?
Go deeper: McKinsey; FCAB; CTVC
Key concepts and terminology:
Anode/Cathode Anode is the negative electrode in a battery; Cathode is the positive electrode.
AC coupled A battery that takes AC current and converts it (via an inverter) to DC for storage, and then back to AC to discharge.
Battery cell The basic battery unit, with an anode, cathode and electrolyte. Aggregated in large numbers into battery packs.
Battery recycling Extracting as much re-usable material as possible (e.g. lithium, cobalt, nickel etc.) from end-of-life EV and grid batteries.
Continuous power How many kilowatts (kilo-volt-amps) a battery can output continually.
Cycle lifespan The number of times (cycles) you can charge 🔋 and discharge 🪫 a battery before it degrades.
DC coupled A battery that takes in DC current, and discharges DC current when needed.
Duration Today’s lithium ion batteries store four to eight hours worth of energy (for intraday use, e.g. on the grid).
Energy density How much energy a battery can store given its size and weight.
Flow batteries Long-duration grid batteries that store energy chemically as a bulk dissolved metal (e.g. iron) in large tanks of an electrolyte.
LFP lithium ion phosphate 🧪 LFP batteries are less storage dense than NMC batteries, but use fewer rare metals and are cheaper and less prone to fire.
Long duration storage Technologies that could store 10-200 hours of power, like metal-air, compressed air, flow, and gravity batteries.
NMC lithium ion chemistries 🧪 Nickel manganese cobalt batteries are energy dense, but have cost and fire risk issues and use problematic metals.
Peak (or max) power How many kilowatts a battery can output in short 💥 bursts.
Sodium ion chemistries 🧪 Batteries using cheaper sodium in place of lithium; now competing for both grid storage and EV applications.
Solid-state batteries 🚀 Batteries using thin layers of solid electrolytes to carry lithium ions between electrodes, enabling higher density.
Thermal batteries Heating or cooling a medium like water, sand, rock, bricks or molten salt to store energy for later.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
DERs
What’s exciting/promising:
– DERs are now capable of producing gigawatts of power.
– They can shift demand to when the grid’s greenest.
– They can enable microgrids and local resilience.
– They’re proliferating quickly.
Overview:
DERs – Distributed Energy Resources – are transforming the grid, facilitating the transition to cleaner power. DERs include rooftop solar arrays, batteries, EVs, and appliances: networked technologies at the grid’s edge (in homes and businesses) that can collectively act like ‘virtual power plants.’ They can eliminate the need for dirty gas plants to handle demand peaks by supplying gigawatts of power back to the grid quickly and shifting demand to times of high clean power generation. They can help assure local resilience in case of grid outages. And they can help the grid better handle surging power demands from electrification.
Open questions:
– How to scale up VPPs and demand response when utilities are resistant, see them as competition?
– Who will control and run VPPs and how will they interact with centralized grid management?
Key concepts and terminology:
Demand response Systems enabling customers to lower their electricity use during peaks, in return for compensation 💰.
Distributed energy resources Resources like batteries, EVs, and appliances, that can respond to real-time signals to help balance the grid.
Distributed generation 😎 Power generation (e.g. rooftop solar) distributed at the edges of the grid.
Duck curve 🦆 A big midday dip in demand, followed by a big rise as the sun sets, on grids with lots of solar generation.
Grid defection The potential for cord-cutting by businesses or homes that can generate and store their own (e.g. rooftop) power.
Net energy metering How utilities compensate customers 📉 for electricity they export to the grid (e.g. from their solar panels).
Self-consumption When rooftop 🌤️ solar owners consume the power they generate directly, vs. exporting it back to the grid.
Virtual power plant 😎 The collective output of distributed resources (e.g. batteries) that can provide large amounts of on-demand power to the grid.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Grids
What’s exciting/promising:
– Grids are getting forced open, and becoming much greener.
– Large-scale integration with DERs and microgrids is coming.
– Digital upgrades will make analog grid tech smarter and more flexible.
Overview:
Today’s grids are a relic of the 20th century, and woefully inadequate to the world’s electrification needs. They’re centrally managed with a top down architecture (power plants out to homes and businesses) and obsolete technology. So there’s a huge opportunity to re-architect, upgrade and improve them: opening them up to DERs (rooftop solar, batteries, EVs), enabling them to add new clean generating capacity faster, and making them more resilient to new threats like extreme weather and forest fires. How all this will happen is unclear, however, because most public grids are controlled by monopoly utilities who are risk averse, highly regulated, and face little competition. Plus, it will cost a lot of money!
Open questions:
– How to overcome utility and regulatory resistance to re-architecting public grids?
– How to overcome obstacles to expanding transmission capacity?
– Who’ll pay for all the grid upgrades needed, and how to ensure grid affordability?
Go deeper: Utility Dive; Canary Media
Key concepts and terminology:
Behind the meter The wiring, hardware and software on the customer side of the utility meter.
Blackouts and brownouts When a utility triages electricity demand by cutting off customers so the grid doesn’t crash.
Curtailment Ordering wind or solar farms to reduce their output 🙁, because there’s no room on the grid for their extra power.
Distribution The local part of the grid that brings electricity into cities, homes and businesses.
Grid enhancing technologies Ways to get more out existing transmission lines, e.g. dynamic line ratings, topology optimization, and advanced power flow control.
Load A unit of energy demand… whether a single light bulb or an entire factory.
Microgrid 😎 A local network with its own generation and storage, that can be ‘islanded’ 🏝️ from the grid and run separately if needed.
Peak load The time(s) of maximum load demand for a grid.
Resilience 💪🏽 The ability for customers to stay online or get power back quickly when a storm or fire knocks out the public grid 🥶.
Substation A facility that takes high voltage power from the transmission network and transforms it to lower voltage for distribution.
Time of use rates ‘Peak’ ⏰ and ‘off-peak’ electricity pricing based on lower supply costs at certain times of day.
Transmission The long distance part of the grid: high voltage wires that bring power from large power plants.
Utility An entity which generates, distributes or sells power on the grid.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
EVs
What’s exciting/promising:
– EVs have hit a mass market tipping point and continue to get even better.
– They’re cheaper (lifetime cost), simpler, and much greener than gas vehicles.
– Fleet vehicle (e.g. delivery van) adoption is starting to accelerate.
Overview:
Transportation is 25% of global emissions, and the easiest sector to decarbonize quickly. Passenger EVs are already making the leap from early adopter to mass market, because they’re simpler and more capable than fossil fueled cars, and cheaper on a total lifetime cost basis. Light duty and short-haul trucks will be next, as costs keep dropping thanks to battery, drivetrain, and software innovations. China is currently the world leader in EV technology, supply chain and sales, having kick-started its EV ecosystem over a decade ago by electrifying its bus fleet. Now the rest of the world must catch up.
Open questions:
– When will EVs become cheaper up-front than gas and diesel vehicles?
– When will we see competitive EVs in every vehicle category, including trucks?
Go deeper: IEA; Automotive Dive; Canary Media; NACFE; Inside EVs
Key concepts and terminology:
eBikes eBikes 🚴♀️ have exploded in popularity ($40+ billion sold globally in 2023), and now outsell 🚘 four-wheel EVs in the U.S.
Delivery vans Over four million delivery vans in the U.S. today (Classes 3-6) are ripe for electrification, to save money and improve the driver experience.
Electric buses Electric 🚎 buses, already ubiquitous in China, are cost-effective due to their known, limited-range routes and ease of charging at depots.
Electric scooters and motorcycles Quickly proliferating in Asia, where two wheeled vehicles (with polluting two-stroke engines) outnumber cars.
EV motors EV motors use AC current to set up a rotating magnetic field to create torque, controlled by electronics that respond to the accelerator.
Fuel cell long-haul trucks Hydrogen-powered fuel cell drivetrains could help electrify long haul trucking, until batteries improve substantially.
Hybrids 🤔 Vehicles with both a gas engine and battery-electric drivetrain. Some can plug in, others can’t.
Induction motor Induces a current in the rotor’s (copper or aluminum) cladding, creating an electromagnetic field.
Miles per kilowatt-hour. A measure of efficiency: how far an EV can go with a fixed amount of electricity (equivalent to MPG).
Permanent magnet motor The most common type of EV motor, where the rotor (with embedded 🧲 magnets), possesses its own magnetism.
Regenerative braking ♻️ Returning kinetic energy into an EVs battery to brake, rather than applying friction to the wheels.
Rotor/Stator Rotor is the motor’s moving part, which feeds torque to the transmission and 🛞; Stator is the housing which applies AC current to create a rotating magnetic field.
Short haul trucks Routes under 250 miles are ripe for electrification, and account for a huge amount of trucking emissions and local diesel particulate pollution.
Structural battery pack Battery cells built into a structural (load bearing) component of an EV to reduce weight and cost.
Torque Force that causes rotation around an axis/axle. EV motors produce instant torque, directly proportional to the electric current applied.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Charging
What’s exciting/promising:
– A massive build out of chargers is underway; they’re getting faster and smarter too.
– Charging can be paired with clean power (rooftop, grid).
– Bidirectional charging (V2B) can replace diesel generators.
Overview:
EVs can eliminate massive amounts of emissions, but only if charging them works really well, with the cleanest electricity possible. It’s still early days for the world’s charging infrastructure, but progress is being made on standardization, software coordination, and building out capacity for where and when vehicles need to charge. Meantime, the possibility of two-way charging is on the horizon – a development that would let people use their cars (or trucks) as portable batteries, introducing more competition to the grid and making backup diesel generators obsolete.
Open questions:
– How will charging infrastructure and habits evolve?
– How to incentivize more daytime charging to take advantage of cheap solar?
– How fast can charging infrastructure get built out for trucking?
Key concepts and terminology:
Battery swapping Successfully being deployed across Asia for two and three wheeled electric scooters.
Bidirectional charger A charger that can move electricity in two directions (e.g. in and out of a car’s battery).
Direct from solar charging Using DC to DC conversion to charge an EV directly from solar, avoiding energy loss from converting to AC and back again.
Fast DC charger A direct current (‘Level 3’) charger operating at 50kW or above that can ⛽️ charge a typical EV in ☕️ less than an hour.
Level two charger An alternating current charger (‘Level 2’) operating at 5-10kW that can charge a typical EV in four to eight hours.
Managed charging Opt-in programs that can ⏱️ remotely control when EVs charge, to minimize cost, emissions and/or peak load on the grid.
Megawatt charging Ultra high speed DC chargers for 🚚 trucks and other large-battery 🚜 vehicles.
On board charger The built-in charger which enables an EV to convert power from an external AC source to DC power for its battery.
Trickle charging Charging an EV off a standard home wall (AC) outlet (‘Level 1’). Can take 20 hours or more for a typical EV.
Vehicle to building/home The ability to use your 🚘 car’s battery to power your 🏠 home for several days in case of an outage.
Vehicle to grid The ability to use your EV battery to provide power to the grid during peak load times; requires more technology and market coordination than vehicle to home.
Vehicle to load The ability to power appliances or machinery directly from a 110 or 240 volt outlet on-board an EV, eliminating the need for a generator.
Wireless charging Technology under development to enable EV owners to charge by parking in a certain spot, using magnetic resonance.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Power electronics
What’s exciting/promising:
– Inverters keep improving, enabling better EVs, batteries, solar… everything.
– Power electronics can digitize electricity in buildings (e.g. digital breakers).
– Power electronics can digitize the grid.
Overview:
Semiconductor innovations are transforming how we switch power and move it around, enabling cheaper, more powerful and flexible electrification. Inverters are improving quickly, for example, driving advances in electric motors (range), batteries (faster charging), and renewables (yields). Other chip-based products in the pipeline include digital circuit breakers, transformers and electronics for virtual power plants and microgrids. When ready they’ll replace dumb, analog 20th-century grid technologies with fast, programmable, much more versatile counterparts.
Open questions:
– How soon can smart power infrastructure replace traditional analog gear?
– How much efficiency and resilience can be gained in the global energy system as a result?
Key concepts and terminology:
Gallium nitride The next major power electronics breakthrough after silicon carbide.
Grid forming inverters 😎 Smart inverters which can collectively ‘form’ a micro-grid that’s synchronizable with the public grid.
HVDC converters Power electronics enabling more practical high voltage DC transmission lines, by reducing costs of interconnecting with AC distribution systems.
Inverter High tech devices that convert AC to DC power (or vice-versa) in your EV or solar system or battery, or the grid.
Meter collar Smart device installed between a home’s utility meter and wiring to better utilize existing capacity (for solar, EV charging etc) without panel upgrades.
Microinverters 🔬 Small chip-based inverters used to convert DC output from individual solar panels to AC power, among other applications.
Power electronics Semiconductor based hardware for managing, converting and harnessing electrical currents.
Silicon carbide The semiconductor material that helped drive the power electronics revolution, enabling greater EV range and faster charging.
Smart meters 🤔 Chip enabled systems that can (in theory) monitor and help manage electricity usage and characteristics in near-real-time.
Smart panels 🎓 Electric panels which can dynamically allocate capacity among circuits, enabling more efficient and flexible electricity usage.
Solid state breakers Digital replacements for traditional breakers, which will eliminate inflexible dedicated circuits and also improve safety.
Solid state transformers 🚀 Replacing transformers (big jugs of oil and wire magnets) with digital ones would make the grid much smarter, more flexible and resilient.
String inverter An inverter which converts the DC output from multiple solar panels wired together (a ‘string’) into AC power.
Switchgear Digitally controlled devices that control, protect and isolate electrical systems, for example a microgrid within the larger public grid.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Heat Pumps
What’s exciting/promising:
– Heat pumps are much more efficient than traditional HVAC.
– Heat pump deployment is accelerating, and the products keep improving.
– Heat pumps can decarbonize industrial heat, too.
Overview:
There’s finally an efficient, low-emission solution for heating and cooling: electric heat pumps. Traditional fossil-fueled furnaces waste lots of energy and emit lots of GHGs, as do traditional cooling systems. High efficiency heat pumps solve these problems, especially with grids getting greener; they also eliminate the costs of fuels. Heat pumps work in homes, offices, EVs, and even industrial settings. But getting them deployed at scale is challenging; nobody really wants to rip apart their home, office or factory to install a new system.
Open questions:
– How much better, cheaper, and easier to deploy can heat pumps get?
– When will contractors get as good at installing heat pumps as they are gas furnaces?
– When will heat pumps get a better name?
Go deeper: Keeping It Chill; Canary Media; IEA; EHPA;
Key concepts and terminology:
Air source Heat pump that pulls heat from the air (or returns it to the air if cooling).
Cold chain The energy-intensive supply chain for products which must be kept frozen or refrigerated, like 🍧 food and 💊 medicines.
Ductless/mini-split System where an outside compressor/condenser is connected to indoor air handlers via a refrigerant tube to move the heat.
Ground source/geothermal Heat pump that pulls heat from the ground (or returns it to the ground if cooling).
Heat pump Heats/cools by using electricity to efficiently transfer heat. Includes a compressor to move the refrigerant, and heat exchangers to extract or dispense heat.
Heat pump (ventless) dryers New heat pump 🧦 clothes dryers which draw much less electricity than resistance dryers and eliminate the need for a vent.
Heat pump water heaters Two to three times more efficient than traditional resistance heating models.
Humidity control Important for temperature control, because people feel warmer indoors at higher 😓 humidity levels and cooler at lower ones.
Hydronic systems Systems that use water to bring heat/cold into a building through tubes in the (‘radiant’) floor or radiators.
Inverter AC Energy-efficient air conditioners using variable speed compressor motors (vs. traditional units which can only run 100% on or off).
Low-temp process heat Industrial heat under 200°C, for making products like food, beverages, paper, and machinery. Can be decarbonized with heat pumps.
Next gen AC 😎 New efficient cooling devices which do dehumidification separately or use technologies like evaporative cooling instead of vapor compression.
Refrigerant The fluid a heat pump or air conditioner uses to transfer the heat or cold indoors.
Refrigerant emissions CFC-based refrigerants are climate destructive, so switching to lower ‘global warming potential’ formulations is important.
Resistance heating The traditional method of using electricity to generate heat, by flowing electrons through a resistive material like nichrome wire.
Wastewater heat recovery Using a heat pump to recover and re-use heat from showers, dishwashers, sewage etc.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Green Hydrogen
What’s exciting/promising:
– Green hydrogen could power industrial processes instead of coal.
– Green ammonia, hydrogen’s chemical cousin, could power shipping.
– Electrolyzers are improving, making green hydrogen more viable.
– Electrolyzers can be colocated with renewable energy to further reduce costs.
Overview:
Green hydrogen – and its cousin green ammonia – have the potential to convert renewable energy into a low-emission fuel for industry and transport. Both hydrogen and ammonia burn emission-free, and can be made from renewable energy by machines called electrolyzers, which use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Green hydrogen could potentially replace methane gas and coal in high heat industrial processes and diesel in long-haul trucks and ships. But there are many obstacles to overcome, including how to make green hydrogen (or ammonia) cheap enough to convince businesses to use it instead of cheap ‘dirty’ hydrogen/ammonia (made by burning fossil fuel).
Open questions:
– Can electrolyzers get cheap enough to make green hydrogen cost-competitive with fossil-fueled hydrogen?
– Is today’s massive global investment in hydrogen just wishful thinking?
Go deeper: NYT; IEA; H2 Coalition
Key concepts and terminology:
Ammonia Ammonia (NH3) and hydrogen (H) are 👯♂️ cousins which can be made from each other. Ammonia is easier to transport however, so better suited to shipping and agriculture.
Blue hydrogen Hydrogen made with fossil fuels via the high emission steam methane reforming process, with a carbon capture/storage system added on.
Electrolyzer 😎 A machine that can create green hydrogen (by splitting water into H and O), or green ammonia, using renewable electricity as an input.
Fuel cell A machine that can convert gas (like methane or hydrogen) into electricity. If run on fully green hydrogen, fuel cells could help decarbonize 🚛 🛩️ 🛳️ many things.
Geologic hydrogen Naturally-occurring deposits of subsurface hydrogen which could potentially supplement green hydrogen in decarbonizing certain sectors.
Green ammonia Ammonia produced with 100% renewable electricity.
Green hydrogen Hydrogen produced with 100% renewable electricity. In practice, some fossil-fueled electricity from the grid usually gets mixed in.
Grey hydrogen Hydrogen made with fossil fuels via the high emission steam methane reforming process.
Hydrogen One of the simplest and most commonly found elements on earth, and a potential zero-emission fuel (when burned, it emits only 💦 water).
Steam methane reforming How hydrogen and ammonia are produced today, using lots of methane gas plus high (fossil fueled) heat, and emitting lots of CO2.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Geothermal
What’s exciting/promising:
– Enhanced drilling techniques could enable geothermal to scale worldwide.
– Superhot rock geothermal could potentially generate gigawatts of power.
– We already have the drilling expertise, we just need to apply it.
Overview:
Recent breakthroughs in geothermal energy could lead to a new source of clean power worldwide. Geothermal’s been around for centuries, but limited to areas with specific geologies (near geysers etc). That’s about to change, opening up much more energy-generating potential, thanks to new drilling technologies that can work almost anywhere. Test deployments of these ‘enhanced geothermal’ techniques are underway worldwide, and if successful will attract financing to deploy them at scale.
Open questions:
– Will the oil and gas industry throw its drilling muscle behind enhanced geothermal?
– Can this technology be replicated globally or is it too specific to local geologies?
Go deeper: IGA, Jamie Beard; Canary Media; IRENA; Project Innerspace
Key concepts and terminology:
Closed-loop geothermal Using water or another fluid flowing through pipes (rather than directly through subterranean rocks) to tap geothermal heat.
Deep geothermal Systems between 150 and 5,000 meters deep, with ground temperatures between 30°C and 200°C 🪭.
Drilling technologies Many of the oil and gas industry’s innovations, like hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) and horizontal drilling, can be applied to geothermal.
Enhanced geothermal 😎 New technologies (e.g. drilling and data) being developed to make geothermal practical in places that don’t already have natural geologies where water easily flows through rock.
Hydrothermal plants Traditional geothermal plants which take advantage of natural geologies (near ♨️ hot springs and geysers etc) featuring heat and pathways for flowing water to tap the heat.
Geothermal energy Renewable energy generated by tapping heat coming up from the deep in the earth.
Shallow geothermal Systems less than 150 meters deep, with ground temperatures between zero and 30°C. Can support building heating and cooling via ground source heat exchangers/pumps.
Superhot rock energy 🚀 With the right drilling technology, gigawatts of energy could be generated from superhot (400°C) rocks miles deep in the earth.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Hydropower
What’s exciting/promising:
– Repowering existing dams with modern turbines can boost power generation.
– Small hydro and pumped hydro technologies are improving and attracting investment.
Overview:
Hydropower plants generate almost twenty percent of the world’s electricity, and the biggest chunk of our renewable/clean supply. They also provide crucial grid-balancing functions, plus energy storage to balance out solar and wind. But fewer big new dams are getting built these days, and droughts and erratic rainfall levels are impacting power production at existing facilities. Therefore the main opportunities to grow hydropower include modernizing and upgrading existing systems, and deploying ‘small hydro’ and ‘pumped hydro’ systems.
Open questions:
– Can global hydro capacity keep growing or is it flatlining?
– Can pumped hydro scale to become a major player in storage?
– Can permitting and licensing be streamlined for hydro plant modernization?
Key concepts and terminology:
Conventional dams Mega-dam-projects with engineered reservoirs 🦫 are becoming less common.
Environmental issues Hydro projects can create a variety of issues, from disrupting local ecosystems to methane emissions from vegetation decay.
Hydropower Power generated by flowing water (e.g. from a river or reservoir) which spins a ⚙️ turbine as it rushes downstream.
Non-power benefits Aside from power, grid balancing and storage, hydro projects can provide major benefits like flood control, irrigation and water supply management.
Permitting and licensing Permitting and licensing can create high costs, long lead times, and lots of risk for hydropower project developers.
Pumped hydro Pumping water to an uphill reservoir with grid electricity when it’s cheap, then running that water down through generators to harness the energy when it’s most valuable.
Revenue uncertainty With electricity markets (and pricing) changing quickly, hydro developers face lots of uncertainty re: long-term future returns on their investments.
Run-of-river plants Non-reservoir hydro plants which divert some of a river’s water through a side channel, using gravity to generate power. They usually have little or no storage capability.
Small scale hydro 😎 Small hydropower generators (10kW to 30MW), common in local communities, industrial and agricultural settings (rivers, canals, conduits, reservoirs etc).
Storage wars Hydro is the lowest-cost large-scale form of energy storage today, but battery technology is moving fast, causing some investors to wait on the sidelines to see what happens.
Turbine upgrades and additions Upgrading or adding turbines can significantly boost an existing hydro facility’s capacity.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Nuclear power
What’s exciting/promising:
– Extending the life of existing reactors can buy time for other decarbonization efforts.
Overview:
Existing nuclear plants provide large amounts of clean power; future prospects are cloudier. Nuclear has been a major global electricity source for decades, though dogged by accidents and questions about its cost-effectiveness. A new generation of (presumably) safer, smaller and more cost effective fission reactors is under development, which in theory could complement renewables with clean dispatchable power. However, very few are on track to get financed, permitted, and built.
Open questions:
– Why are next-generation small modular nuclear reactors not getting built? Are the reasons political, or can they just not compete for capital against ever-cheaper renewables and batteries?
Go deeper: IAEA; Energy Monitor; EWG
Key concepts and terminology:
Nuclear fission Fission reactors harness thermal energy from splitting ⚛️ uranium atoms, then use the heat generated to drive steam turbines and generators to create electricity.
Nuclear fusion 🚀 A reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier one while releasing lots of energy. Still in development and mostly theoretical.
Nuclear power Generates 10% of the world’s electricity (20% U.S.). There are currently over 400 fission reactors in the world (about 400 gigawatts), and more being built.
Nuclear safety Nuclear accidents and radiation releases (Three Mile Island 1979, Chernobyl 1986, Fukushima 2011) have made the public cautious ☢️ about nuclear power in many countries.
Restarting/extending reactors Governments (e.g. Japan/Germany) are considering restarting reactors shut down after Fukushima, and extending the life of others, to help meet near-term emissions goals.
Small modular reactors Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) are technologies that developers hope could someday safely provide portable, low-carbon power to balance renewables on the grid.
Technologies | See Innovation Areas
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Electricity
What’s exciting/promising:
– Electricity is a lot easier to work with than fossil fuels.
– Electricity can be produced locally, and doesn’t require pipelines or tankers.
Overview:
Electricity’s the key to electrification… so it’s worth learning the basics! Although the fundamentals of electricity haven’t changed in a century, they’re more important to understand than ever. Everyone who wants to use EVs, batteries, solar or heat pumps – or even just understand their electric bill – should have a basic understanding of electricity. We also need to make sure there’s enough trained electricians out there to help install all the new climate gear. And be nice to them!
Open questions:
– How to encourage more people to want to become electricians?
– How to get more people to read their electric bill, and learn how much energy their car or home uses?
Key concepts and terminology:
Alternating current 🔌 The type of current commonly used for most grid power distribution, and in homes.
Amps A measurement of flow in a circuit (e.g. 15 amps), or how much power can flow across that circuit in a given amount of time. Amps = watts/volts.
Circuit A closed-loop path for circulating electric current, including a source of charge and devices that can use or manipulate the current.
Direct current The type of current commonly used in industrial processes, electrical motors, power supplies, and to charge batteries.
Generator A machine that converts mechanical energy (e.g. from a turbine or motor) into electrical energy.
Kilowatt A thousand watts; and a good measure of home electricity consumption. Your 👚 clothes dryer, for example, might ‘pull’ a constant kilowatt or more of power while running.
Kilowatt hour A 🔋 total amount of electricity stored or used (an appliance that requires one kilowatt, running for an hour, uses one kilowatt hour).
Transformer Hardware that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another and can increase or decrease voltages.
Volts Voltage is like water pressure in an electrical circuit: the higher the voltage, the more power can be delivered through a given sized circuit. Volts = watts/amps.
Watts A basic unit of electric power. Old incandescent light bulbs needed 100 watts to light up. Today’s LEDs only need ten or less. Watts = volts * amps.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Nature
What’s exciting/promising:
– Preventing further deforestation and wetlands destruction.
– Accelerating investment in reforestation and wetlands restoration.
– Protecting other natural ecosystems (and the people who protect them).
Overview:
Nature is the most powerful force on the planet, and a key part of keeping the climate in balance. It’s under severe threat from global emissions, however, and its ability to absorb carbon to offset those emissions keeps diminishing. Forests keep getting cut down and wetlands keep getting destroyed… possibly to the point of no return (tipping points). The oceans are heating up and acidifying, and scientists are unclear how much more carbon they can absorb. All this has dire consequences for every species on earth. We can counter these trends if we invest heavily now in natural climate solutions – for example reforestation and restoring wetlands.
Open questions:
– How to finance natural solutions at scale, and give investors confidence that these solutions are cost-effective and durable?
– How to measure, verify and enforce the protection and restoration of natural systems?
Go deeper: IUCN; WWF; Wetlands International
Key concepts and terminology:
Biologic carbon sequestration Storing carbon in grasslands, forests, soils, and aquatic environments.
Cost effectiveness Nature based solutions (e.g. for flood protection) are more cost-effective than engineered ones (concrete), but the latter gets more 💰 funding globally.
Deforestation Profit-driven global deforestation (e.g. for 🌾 crop or 🐄 grazing land) is rapidly destroying existing carbon sinks worldwide.
Indigenous people They have a much better track record than any other humans of managing land to protect natural ecosystems and biodiversity.
Other benefits 😎 Nature based solutions designed to absorb carbon often provide other big benefits such as 🪭 cooling and 🌊 flood risk reduction.
Protected areas Areas like national parks, forests and marine fisheries designated by governments to conserve biodiversity and protect natural ecosystems.
Protecting biodiversity Reforesting also helps protect species diversity; forests are home to the vast majority of species on the planet.
Reforestation Replanting 🌲🌴🌳 trees and supporting natural regeneration of native forests (vs. creating monoculture plantations) in areas affected by human clearing.
Restoring wetlands Protecting and restoring peatlands and coastal wetlands (salt marshes, sea grasses, mangroves), so they can absorb more carbon and protect against flooding.
Reversing soil erosion Reforesting and planting trees is one of the best ways to hold back the 💨 wind and 💧 rain that drives soil erosion.
Urban nature solutions Investments like urban forests, green spaces and roofs, and canopy cover can provide cooling, shade and flood mitigation as well as carbon absorption.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Carbon
What’s exciting/promising:
– There’s an easy way to reduce carbon emissions: burn less fossil fuel.
– Lots of investment is going into carbon capture (we’ll see if it pays off).
Overview:
Carbon dioxide is the primary driver of planetary warming. Carbon emissions, while less heat-trapping than methane, are more voluminous and last for centuries in the atmosphere. Technologies are being developed to capture carbon as it’s emitted (or directly from the atmosphere), use it in products, and store it. But they’re still in their infancy and far from economical. Which means that for now, the best ways to reduce atmospheric carbon are to burn less fossil fuel, and invest in protecting and restoring natural ecosystems like forests and wetlands that naturally absorb and store carbon.
Open questions:
– Will carbon capture costs ever drop to where it’s economic at gigaton scale?
– Will there be a way to transport, store or use this much captured carbon?
Go deeper: IEA; CCS Institute;
Key concepts and terminology:
Biologic carbon sequestration Storing carbon in grasslands, forests, soils, and aquatic environments.
Carbon capture Capturing carbon as it’s generated (e.g. by fossil fueled power plants) before it goes into the atmosphere.
Carbon credits/offsets Financial products enabling companies to 💄 claim they’re ‘offsetting’ their own emissions.
Carbon markets Markets for carbon credits and carbon reduction or removal ‘products.’ Issues include transparency, verification and standardization.
Carbon sink Anything that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.
Direct air capture Using technology to pull carbon directly from the air, thus removing it from the atmosphere. Extremely costly, and uses lots of energy.
Enhanced oil recovery A common use for captured CO2: pumping it into oil wells to 🤮 flush out hard-to-extract oil. Only some of the CO2 remains below ground.
Geologic storage Storing carbon in underground geologic formations (e.g. pressurized into a liquid and injected into porous rock).
Liquid capture systems Technologies which pass air through 🧪 chemical solutions to capture carbon.
Solid capture systems Technologies which pass air through filter materials that chemically bind with the CO2 to capture carbon.
Transporting carbon Compressed CO2 gas can be transported by pipeline (most economical), rail, truck or ship.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Methane
What’s exciting/promising:
– Finding and plugging methane gas leaks is an immediate emissions win, and totally doable.
Overview:
Reducing natural gas use is the path to reducing methane emissions. Methane – the main ingredient in ‘natural gas’ – is the most heat-trapping GHG, thirty times more potent than CO2. It’s also the most insidious, leaking from every stage of the gas supply chain if not burned along the way (when burned, methane releases CO2). Methane is a by-product of oil extraction, and leaks from oil and gas wells, from gas distribution pipelines and infrastructure, and at the point of consumption (e.g. when used in gas stoves or furnaces). Other major sources of methane emissions include decomposing landfill waste and biomass, and agricultural emissions (e.g. cow burps).
Open questions:
– How to compel gas companies to report and mitigate methane leaks?
– How can ‘natural’ gas usage be reduced, when it’s cheap and falsely perceived as cleaner than coal?
Key concepts and terminology:
Abandoned wells Millions of 👻 abandoned oil and gas wells were never sealed properly and therefore continuously leak methane. Plugging them can stop the leaks.
Distribution leakage Three percent or more of all U.S. natural gas production leaks into the atmosphere.
Flaring Oil companies burn off (🔥 flare, releasing CO2) methane they can’t capture at the wellhead to sell later. But these flares are fickle, and often leak or stop working.
Landfill methane capture Landfills constantly leak and release methane, but it can instead be captured and used to produce electricity.
Methane bombs, bursts and plumes Massive super-emitter leaks (up to hundreds of tons per hour) from storage or distribution infrastructure.
Methane detecting satellites 🛰️ Satellites with equipment designed to detect and identify methane leaks across remote areas.
Methane hunters Academics and other entrepreneurs who’ve dedicated themselves to 🕵️♂️ tracking down major methane leaks and getting them shut down.
Microbes 🦠 Microbes decompose organic matter (e.g. in landfills, wetlands, and livestock stomachs), releasing methane in the process.
‘Natural’ gas Found in nature alongside oil deposits, ‘natural gas’ consists of 70-90% methane, with the rest being ethane and propane.
Optical gas imaging cameras Infrared and other cameras which can 👀 detect methane leaks otherwise not visible to the naked eye.
Orphan wells Leaky wells with no company taking responsibility for them, because they’re out of business or 💩 don’t want to be held responsible.
Routine leaks Methane leaks from faulty valves and compressors, and from storage tanks, which are designed to vent when pressures build.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Buildings
What’s exciting/promising:
– Retrofitting older buildings with efficient systems and envelopes is a big win.
– New buildings are increasingly being designed for efficiency (and all-electric).
Overview:
Building efficiency is a massive decarbonization opportunity. Buildings account for about a third of global energy consumption – and up to half that energy is wasted! Efficiency hasn’t historically been a priority for utilities, because they make money by selling more energy, not less. Or for builders or owners, because fossil fuels have been relatively cheap (e.g. for heating). That’s all changing now, and there are huge emissions reductions to be had by designing better building envelopes and systems and retrofitting existing ones. But with hundreds of millions of buildings in the world – each one unique – it’s a slow and costly process.
Open questions:
– How to overcome obstacles to faster building decarbonization, such as cost, lack of skilled labor to do the work, utility disincentives, split incentives, and inertia?
Key concepts and terminology:
Air filtration Energy-efficient filtration is important; moving air through filters takes lots of energy.
Building codes Building codes are becoming more 🧐 climate friendly, but not fast enough.
Building envelope enhancements 💌 Upgrading building envelopes (floors, walls, roofs, windows, doors, etc.) for better insulation and air sealing.
Data centers They’ve become a focal point for decarbonization – and criticism – due to their extreme energy intensity and emissions.
Duct sealing Sealing leaky ducts can improve HVAC system efficiency up to twenty percent.
Energy use intensity An efficiency metric (energy consumed per square foot per year) enabling comparisons between buildings.
Grid interactive buildings 🛜 Buildings that can pull energy from the grid when it’s cheap and clean thanks to DERs (e.g. storage and software controls).
Insulation Formats and materials include loose-fill and blow-in, spray foam, rigid boards, and even radiant barrier insulation, which reflects heat.
LED lighting LED lights are the lowest hanging fruit of building energy efficiency.
Mass timber buildings Even tall buildings are now being constructed using laminated timber (solid engineered wood panels), reducing embodied steel and concrete emissions.
Passive heating and cooling 😎 Building designs which absorb and use the sun’s heat in winter, and keep it out in summer, resulting in comfort plus high efficiency.
Reflective roofs Roofs coated with specialized pigments that reflect sunlight and absorb less heat.
Smart sensors and thermostats Connected devices which can help make sure energy isn’t wasted on unneeded heating and cooling.
Split incentives A challenge specific to leased or rented buildings: landlords typically pay for building retrofits, while cost savings go to the tenants.
Zero-emissions-ready 🤗 Fully electric new buildings that will be zero emissions when their local electricity supply fully decarbonizes.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Local solutions
What’s exciting/promising:
– Local climate innovations often move faster, and can be replicated elsewhere.
– Local energy systems like community solar, district energy and microgrids have huge potential.
Overview:
All climate and energy issues are local. Around the world, people use whatever energy sources are most locally accessible. And they innovate and invest in the climate solutions that make sense locally. Which is great, because ideas that work in one place can often be generalized and deployed globally. Islands are a great example: because fossil fuels cost more there, they’ve led the way in pioneering renewable energy, batteries, and microgrids. If the world’s going to switch off fossil fuels quickly, we need all the local innovation like this we can get!
Open questions:
– How much control can local communities exercise?
– How can they cut through opposition or foot-dragging from regional or national governments or monopoly utilities?
– How much financing can they muster?
Go deeper: C40 Cities; Global Covenant;
Key concepts and terminology:
Adaptation Getting local communities ready for climate impacts like extreme heat, storms, fires, droughts or flooding.
Air quality Addressing air quality issues (smog, particulates, toxins) goes hand in hand with decarbonization.
Bikeability Making local communities as appealing and safe for people using 🚴🏽♂️ bikes and eBikes as possible.
Built environment Local initiatives can greatly accelerate building decarbonization.
Bus rapid transit 🚍 Buses which run in dedicated lanes so they don’t get stuck (as much) in 🚦 traffic.
Climate justice ⚖️ Making sure communities who’ve suffered from proximity to fossil fuels (extraction, burning, etc) benefit from decarbonization.
Community solar Solar arrays installed near a local community, whose output is is financed by and shared by that community.
Community energy co-ops Local buying groups which can purchase wholesale, cleaner electricity for their local communities.
District energy Local systems which can efficiently distribute decarbonized heating or cooling to a group of buildings or neighborhood.
Food systems Local initiatives can help improve the quality and climate-friendliness of the food supply, and reduce food waste.
Islanding 🏝️ The ability to disconnect from the larger grid and be locally self-reliant for electricity, e.g. via a microgrid.
Local health The local health 🩻 impacts of fossil fuels are well known (diesel particulates, groundwater contamination etc).
Micromobility Electrified car alternatives like e-bikes and scooters.
Planning and permitting Improving local zoning and building codes to be more climate-friendly can be a big win.
Public transportation Electric buses, 🚎 light rail, subways, and commuter trains are all great ways to decarbonize mobility.
Resilience Making local communities more self-reliant (energy and otherwise) and resistant to 🌪️ extreme (e.g. weather) events.
Walkability Making local communities as appealing and safe for pedestrians as possible.
Workforce and jobs A trained 👷🏽♀️ workforce is crucial to help decarbonize local communities, as is providing good local jobs.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Food + Agriculture
What’s exciting/promising:
– Helping farmers use less fertilizer, and lower-emission fertilizers.
– Reducing bovine (cow) methane emissions with feed additives.
– Reducing food waste and global meat consumption.
Overview:
Agricultural and food emissions account for over a quarter of global emissions. Fertilizer, which enabled the 20th century human population explosion, is the top source of agricultural emissions. Making it involves burning gas to chemically pull nitrogen from the air. Then it emits even more GHGs (twice as much) when it hits the soil. Livestock are another big challenge: not just the deforestation to graze 1.5 billion cows worldwide, but also their methane-emitting burps. Finally, there’s food waste: 30-40% of the U.S food supply, for example, is simply wasted.
Open questions:
– Can farmers be persuaded to use less fertilizer?
– Can agricultural emissions be reduced without reducing crop yields?
– Can humans hungering for meat change their eating habits?
Go deeper: Canary Media; EEA; McKinsey
Key concepts and terminology:
Alternative fertilizers Lower-emission approaches to getting nitrogen into soil, like natural bacteria, biological activators, or genetically edited microbes.
Alternative proteins Lower-emission alternatives to 🍔 meat and 🥛 dairy, like plant-based milks and meat substitutes, or ‘cultured meat’ grown from animal cells.
Green fertilizer production Using hydrogen or ammonia produced with renewable energy instead of the Haber-Bosch steam methane reforming process.
Haber-Bosch process The traditional high-emission process for producing nitrogen fertilizer: fix nitrogen into fertilizer (ammonia) using ‘steam-reformed’ (fossil fueled) hydrogen.
Fertilizer reduction Reducing over-fertilization without sacrificing yields, through better 💿 data, farming practices (‘precision agriculture’), soil testing, etc.
Food waste A major emission reduction opportunity: 30-40% of the U.S. food supply, for example, is 🗑️ wasted.
Increasing yields Increasing yields per acre with less fertilizer and pesticides is possible, for example, via genetic 🧬 editing of plants and animals.
Methane-reducing feed additives Products available today (e.g. seaweed-based) can reduce up to 30% of the methane emissions from cows digesting feed.
Nitrogen runoff Fertilizer runoff into rivers and lakes not only wastes the fertilizer, but pollutes drinking water and causes algal blooms and dead zones.
Nitrous oxide emissions Nitrogen fertilizer emits the GHG nitrous oxide when it enters the soil – at twice the emissions level it took to produce the fertilizer.
Pesticide reduction Production of petroleum-derived chemical pesticides causes lots of emissions; technology can be used to apply them more selectively.
Regenerative farming 🤠 Practices like planting cover crops or reducing tillage (plowing) can improve soil health, reduce erosion, and sequester some carbon… but may also reduce yields.
Vertical farming Growing crops indoors in high-tech high-yield factories, maximizing land use while minimizing weather and pesticide impacts.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Steel + Cement
What’s exciting/promising:
– Lower-emission cement formulations.
– Electric (e.g. arc) furnaces and kilns.
– Potentially powering furnaces and kilns with green hydrogen.
Overview:
Steel and cement account for about eight percent each of the world’s GHG emissions, due to the coal and limestone burned in kilns and furnaces to make them. Traditional coal-fired steel and cement plants are still getting built, because they’re cheap, and because generating high heat without fossil fuels is difficult. Under pressure from customers and regulators, however, producers are starting to invest in a range of decarbonization options from electrification to green hydrogen to new materials formulations.
Open questions:
– How long will proving out new low-emission cement formulations take?
– Who’ll pay the cost premium for switching to lower-emission electric furnaces?
– Will there be enough cheap green hydrogen available to decarbonize blast furnaces?
Go deeper: GEM; GCCA; IEA; Canary Media; SteelWatch
Key concepts and terminology:
Blast furnaces Traditional coal-fired furnaces for steelmaking; still getting built worldwide, especially in Asia.
Carbon in concrete Adding CO2 to concrete can make it 💪🏽 stronger, so efforts are underway to develop and scale carbon capture in concrete.
Cement emissions Primarily from breaking down CO2-rich limestone and clay in superheated coal-fired kilns to make clinker.
Cement recycling Using recycled concrete from demolished buildings in new construction is a major opportunity.
Clinker The binding agent for cement; a mix of limestone and minerals that have been superheated and transformed in a kiln.
Clinker reduction Lowering cement emissions by substituting alternatives for clinker (fly ash, calcined clay), or by formulations requiring less clinker.
Concrete The world’s top 🏢 building material, produced using cement to bind together water and aggregates (like sand and gravel).
Direct iron reduction 😎 Using green hydrogen instead of coking coal to reduce iron ore into iron which can be made into steel in an ⚡️ electric furnace.
Electric arc furnaces Furnaces that use electricity and scrap steel to make steel: lower-emission than processing raw iron and coke in coal-fired furnaces.
Electric kilns New lower-emission kilns under development for making cement.
Limestone Breaks down into lime and releases CO2 when heated above 850ºC. The CO2 released is 60% of cement emissions, with the burnt fuel (coal) being the other 40%.
Metallurgical coal The specialized type of coal used for steelmaking.
Pig iron The main component of steel; extracted from iron ore by smelting it with coke and limestone in coal-fired furnaces.
Steel emissions Primarily from the coal-fired 💥 blast furnaces that turn iron ore into pig iron, a key steel ingredient.
Steel recycling Scrap steel can be economically made into new steel in electric arc furnaces.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Petrochemicals + Plastics
What’s exciting/promising:
– Figuring out how to reduce demand for virgin plastics and petrochemicals.
– Figuring out how to electrify production processes like cracking.
Overview:
The world is addicted to cheap fossil-fueled petrochemicals and plastics, which are high-emitting and virtually impossible to decarbonize. And the oil industry is counting on growing demand for them (industrial and consumer goods, bottles, paints, lubricants, fabrics, fertilizers etc.) to keep their refineries humming. Fossil fuels are the primary ingredient (feedstock) in petrochemicals, and making them burns even more fossil fuels. Efforts are underway to develop non-petrochemical feedstocks and electrified production processes, but they’re nowhere close to being economically scalable.
Questions/challenges:
– Can we reduce or slow global plastics consumption… especially single-use?
– Will petrochemical companies make the capital investments required to electrify their manufacturing processes?
Go deeper: Guardian; UNEP; DOE
Key concepts and terminology:
Air pollutants Petrochemical plants expose 👷🏽♀️ workers and others nearby to health hazards including VOCs like ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, formaldehyde and particulate matter.
Bioplastics New plastics made from plants, biomass, bio-polymers and other non-fossil-fuel-feedstocks.
Demand reduction Reducing demand for products like 🧴 single-use plastics is the biggest lever for reducing petrochemicals emissions.
Electric crackers Electrically heated steam cracker furnaces are being developed which could replace conventional fossil-fueled steam cracker plants.
Electrified processes Some processes, like chlorine production to make PVC pipes and solvents (‘chlor-alkali process’), already use electricity, so can be decarbonized.
Feedstocks The fossil fuel raw materials used to make petrochemical products and plastics.
Plastics waste incineration Over 20% of global plastics waste is 🔥 incinerated, releasing even more emissions than it took to make in the first place.
Polyethylene Main ingredient in many plastic products like PET (water bottles, dispensing containers), HDPE (shampoo and milk bottles, freezer bags) and LDPE (bags, trays, containers, packaging films).
Recycling Plastics recycling can’t compete economically with cheap virgin plastics. Thus about 400 million tons of plastic waste ends up in 🐠 oceans and landfills annually.
Refineries Oil refining (hydroskimming, hydrocracking and catalytic cracking) accounts for four percent of global CO2 emissions, plus significant methane emissions.
Refinery by-products Key chemicals like aromatics, a major ingredient in PET soda bottles, are sourced from oil refineries as a by-product of fuel production.
Steam cracker plants Facilities which transform hydrocarbons like ethane, propene, or petroleum gas into other chemicals and plastics, using fossil-fueled hot steam to ‘crack’ their molecular bonds.
Virgin plastics Brand new plastic supply with no recycled content. So cheap, recycled plastics can’t compete.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Power generation
What’s exciting/promising:
– Retiring existing coal plants and repowering them with clean generation.
– Flooding the grid with renewables and DERs so gas plants can run less, and eventually never.
Overview:
Shutting down coal and gas plants is the key to clean power; most of the world’s power still comes from fossil-fueled plants. Coal powers the biggest chunk, followed by gas. But coal plants are getting easier to retire these days, because they’re no longer economically competitive with renewables or gas (though some news ones are still getting built). Gas will be tougher to dislodge, because it’s low-cost and has trillions in new investment dollars behind it (e.g. LNG terminals). And gas plants are financed by governments and industry over many decades. So once they’re built (and they continue to be), they can be very hard to shut down.
Open questions:
– How to convince regulators to stop funding unneccessary gas plants for ‘backup’ purposes?
– Who should take the financial hit from writing down these ‘stranded assets?’
Go deeper: WRI Power DB;
Key concepts and terminology:
Gigawatt A million kilowatts (or a thousand megawatts). Only the very largest power plants generate more than a gigawatt of power.
Megawatt A thousand kilowatts. Most utility power plants produce tens, or hundreds, of megawatts of power. Alt usage: 😍 ‘megawatt smile.’
Peaker plant A power plant, usually gas, which operates only a few hours per month or year at times of peak demand.
Repowering Upgrading a power plant, e.g. with more powerful wind turbines, or converting it to a new cleaner power source (e.g. ♻️ coal to solar).
Stranded asset A power plant that’s no longer profitable, but which a utility is stuck with contractually and must keep paying for.
Terawatt A billion kilowatts (or a million megawatts or a thousand gigawatts). Large countries’ energy usage often runs into the terawatts.
Turbine A machine ⚙️ spun by water, wind power or other energy source (e.g. burning fossil fuel), to generate electricity.
Utility scale power Large power plants (hydro, gas etc.) that connect to high-voltage transmission lines.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Water
What’s exciting/promising:
– Innovations to better manage groundwater, stormwater, and wastewater.
– Better desalinization technologies.
– Smarter irrigation.
Overview:
Water is a crucial resource for life, and a big part of the climate puzzle. Droughts and heatwaves are challenging fresh water availability globally, and flooding is wreaking havoc on water infrastructure (because warmer air holds more water which can come down quickly). Billions of people regularly face water scarcity. We need lots of innovation and collaboration to protect the planet’s water and help people get the water they need, while minimizing the destruction of natural systems. And to do so sustainably: moving water around (pumping, shipping, storing) and managing it (cleaning, purifying) is very energy intensive.
Open questions:
– What water-management innovations are the most scalable?
– What investments should governments and businesses be prioritizing?
Go deeper: IPCC; IWA; Water Tech; SWM;
Key concepts and terminology:
Bottled water 600 billion bottles of drinking water are sold each year globally – often just for 🏪 convenience – resulting in massive emissions (to make and ship the bottles) and plastic pollution.
Desalinization Work is underway to make reverse-osmosis desalination greener and more energy efficient while minimizing brine waste disposal; e.g. better membranes requiring less heat and evaporation.
Digital water management Using sensors, smart meters, GIS, and other 💻 digital technologies to detect leaks or impurities, control irrigation, prevent floods, and generally use water more effectively.
Groundwater management Protecting 💧 groundwater from overuse and pollution (i.e. using it more sustainably) is key to ongoing water availability.
Purification and treatment Filtering and removing contaminants or harmful pollutants from water using chemical and/or mechanical processes.
Rain/stormwater harvesting Capturing rain and storing or returning it to the water table, rather than letting it overflow into the ocean or wastewater systems.
River levels Recent 🥵 droughts have caused river levels to drop to unprecedented lows, challenging water availability for consumption, power generation and shipping.
Solar powered water Solar powered water desalination or purification systems which can enhance access to clean water ‘off the grid.’
Wastewater management and reuse Managing wastewater so it doesn’t pollute freshwater reserves, or treating it so it can be used for irrigation or industrial and municipal purposes.
Water smart agriculture Conservation techniques like improving organic matter to increase soil moisture retention; drip irrigation; reducing post-harvest losses and waste.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Supply Chain
What’s exciting/promising:
– Shrinking the supply chain by reducing fossil fuel shipping (imports).
– Efforts to accelerate reshoring and nearshoring.
– Efforts to convert shipping fleets to run on green ammonia or hydrogen.
Overview:
Forty percent of global shipping is fossil fuel imports (oil, gas, coal). Reducing those is the fastest way to shrink supply chain emissions. The other sixty percent consists of commodities or manufactured goods which can be used more efficiently (see circularity), or produced closer to where they’re used – a trend already starting to happen due to wars, pandemics, and geopolitical disruptions. And finally, electrification can help decarbonize the rest: e.g. electrifying trucking and using green hydrogen or ammonia to electrify shipping.
Open questions:
– Can re-shoring, nearshoring and energy decarbonization shrink the global supply chain over the next decade?
– Can the shipping industry agree on standards for low emission engines and fuels?
Go deeper: IRENA; Tyndall; IEA
Key concepts and terminology:
Ammonia engines Ship engines which run on energy-dense green ammonia – either by burning that ammonia or using it to power fuel cells.
Bunker fuel The sulfur-laden, emissions-intensive fuel that powers most global ⚓️ shipping. Made from refinery dregs.
Electric airplanes Getting a 🛫 plane off the ground takes more energy than today’s batteries can hold. But that could change.
Fuel-cell electric ships Green hydrogen or ammonia-powered fuel cells will enable lower-emission electric powertrains for long distance shipping.
Globalization The decades-long trend of outsourcing manufacturing to 🇨🇳 🇻🇳 🇲🇽 🇮🇳 🇹🇭 🇹🇷 low-cost countries, enabled by friction-free trade and cheap shipping.
Hydrogen engines Engines where hydrogen powers fuel cell electricity generation. Hydrogen is harder to store than ammonia, so it would likely be ‘cracked’ from ammonia on-board.
Kites and sails Shipping companies are experimenting with 🪁 wind-assisted propulsion devices like towing kites and rotor sails which can reduce a large ship’s fuel use by up to 20%.
LNG tankers ‘Liquified natural gas’ is methane gas that’s been cooled down to liquid form so it can be transported internationally by tanker.
Ports Electrifying ports and upgrading them to support cleaner fuels and ships is critical to decarbonizing supply chains and minimizing local health impacts.
Reshoring and nearshoring Moving production and supply chains closer to consumption to reduce geopolitical risk and environmental impacts.
Supply chain weaponization The use of shipping and pipelines as a political weapon, as in the 🇺🇦 Ukraine war with oil and gas from Russia.
Sustainable aviation fuel Jet fuel that’s made from recycled cooking oil – it can work, but costs a lot and is in short supply.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Circularity
What’s exciting/promising:
– Efforts to build re-use and recycling into more products and markets.
– Efforts to reduce overproduction, and production of disposable and single-use products.
– Business models that thrive on circularity rather than new consumption.
Overview:
Getting to net zero with eight billion people, no matter how much we decarbonize, will likely also involve consuming less. Which means we can either stop growing (‘degrowth’); or keep growing but consume more efficiently. Circularity (aka ‘circular economy’) is one approach to this, a sort of overuse reduction and recycling on steroids. It could enable lower, more efficient consumption of virgin resources, and lower emissions. But it’s somewhat at odds with the profit motive.
Open questions:
– How to make lower consumption and circularity attractive to markets, when growth drives profits?
– How to convince people this is important?
Go deeper: Ellen MacArthur; EDF; NREL; WEF; UNEP
Key concepts and terminology:
Business model innovation Designing circularity-friendly business models (e.g. efficiency, sharing, rental, services) vs. those that thrive on constant new 🛍️ consumption.
General recycling General recycling programs have succeeded in changing behaviors, but have a more mixed record economically and emissions wise.
Producer responsibility 😎 Making brands financially responsible for recycling the products they sell.
Product life extenders Technologies or techniques which can 🏄♂️ extend the life of products, like steam cleaning vs dry cleaning for garments.
Sector-specific recycling: Processes in different value chains (metals, batteries, clothing, glass, paper etc.) which can enable end of life materials to be re-used.
Recycled material substitution Substituting recycled materials for virgin materials in goods production, for example in fashion, packaging, or any product incorporating plastics.
Reducing overproduction Overproduction is a chronic problem e.g. in the 👔 👚👗 fashion industry, where up to 40% of clothes produced don’t get sold without dramatic markdowns.
Reducing waste There are massive opportunities to reduce waste, which otherwise ends up in landfills (releasing methane), incinerators (carbon and toxic emissions) or the ocean.
Re-use marketplaces Commerce platforms which facilitate products being re-used rather than thrown away (e.g. clothing), ideally locally to avoid shipping.
Right to repair Efforts to force manufacturers to make their products 🛠️ repairable, refurbishable, or re-manufacturable.
Innovation Areas | See Technologies
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity
Thanks!
If you’ve read this far… thanks! Hope you found this useful, and if you did, please share it widely. We’re trying to spread the word about climate solutions, and the importance of going faster. If you’ve seen the original 101 Dalmations, it’s an ‘all-dog alert!’ Everyone can get involved; every single person (dogs are people too) can help change minds and shift dollars and decarbonize the planet.
Suggestions?
See something missing or wrong? Got ideas for how to make this guide more useful? Please let us know (dmargulius at that Google service). Other ways to connect with us include Dave’s LinkedIn and Dave’s Substack newsletter. Thanks!
Sources
Decarb and I used dozens of sources in compiling this guide, plus what we already knew from years of research. Here’s some of our best regular sources… start here if you want to go deeper on climate tech and climate solutions!
Bill McKibben An amazing volume and quality of climate insight [no paywall].
Bloomberg Green Tons of great climate info, data and reporting [paywall].
Canary Media A great non profit publication for the ‘energy curious’ [no paywall].
Catalyst podcast Canary media’s weekly podcast, good stuff [no paywall].
DOE U.S. Dept. of Energy [no paywall].
Energy Insiders podcast The climate tech view from Australia [no paywall].
ETS podcast Geeky deep dives on climate tech and solutions [paywall].
Guardian Environment They’ve been covering climate well for years [no paywall].
IEA International Energy Agency [no paywall].
MCJ podcast Deep dives with climate tech entrepreneurs [no paywall].
New York Times Climate Their coverage of climate is improving [paywall].
NREL National Renewable Energy Laboratory [no paywall].
Utility Dive Industry publication that’s great on grid stuff [no paywall].
Volts podcast Dave Roberts podcast on all things climate… one of the best [no paywall].
Washington Post Climate They’ve really beefed up their climate coverage [paywall].
Technologies
Solar – Wind – Batteries – DERs – Grids – EVs – Charging – Power Electronics – Heat Pumps – Hydrogen – Geothermal – Hydro – Nuclear – Electricity
Innovation Areas
Nature – Carbon – Methane – Buildings – Local – Agriculture – Steel/Cement – Chem/Plastics – Power Generation – Water – Supply Chain – Circularity