The document discusses the differences between an extractive economy based on fossil fuels versus a clean economy based on renewable energy sources. An extractive economy relies on depleting resources like oil, gas, and coal for energy, plastics, fertilizers, and transportation needs. In contrast, a clean economy utilizes replenishing resources like solar, wind, and biomass. The document argues that the extractive economy faces rising costs as supplies dwindle over time, while a clean economy based on renewable ideas and technologies could see increasing returns. It presents the growth of the clean energy economy through innovations in technologies, policies, and markets as a major market opportunity to fill the gap left by declining fossil fuel resources.
How research and innovation in advanced energy technologies can make energy more reliable, affordable and sustainable.
Presentation as part of a panel at Michigan Conservative Energy Forum, March 10 2016, Lansing. MI
The document discusses the suitability of exporting solar energy products from India to Egypt. Egypt has a hot desert climate and relies on renewable energy sources like solar due to limited wind and nuclear power. The Egyptian government is working to increase the use of solar power and has set a target of generating 20% of its energy from renewables. Solar panels are in high demand in Egypt from industries, businesses, and households. Exporting solar panels and components to Egypt has good market potential due to Egypt's climate conditions and growing solar industry. The document analyzes factors like Egypt's energy consumption, landscape for large solar plants, and existing solar manufacturing industries that indicate solar exports would be suitable for the Egyptian market.
Clean technology includes various methods of recycling, renewable energy sources like wind, solar, biomass and hydropower, green transportation, information technology, more energy efficient electric motors, lighting, and appliances. It also includes technologies like biofuels and systems that reuse greywater. Clean technology aims to provide environmentally friendly and sustainable alternatives across many industries.
Jannuzzi, G. M. 2013. “Desafios Das Fontes Limpas No Brasil: Algumas Considerações” presented at the Fernando de Noronha Iniciativa Carbono Zero, Recife. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ta892ufl4z58oxf/20131031-Recife.pdf.
The Research paper ‘Resource Efficiency: a missed opportunity’ launched at the Manufacturing Leaders' Summit 2018. It highlights the good news that improving resource efficiency (energy, materials, waste and water) is a massive (and currently missed) opportunity for cutting costs and improving competitiveness and productivity – as well as being essential for tackling climate change. And the accompanying highly convenient truth is that it doesn’t require significant capital expenditure.
This document provides an overview of microeconomics and macroeconomics. It discusses key microeconomic concepts like supply and demand curves, consumer behavior theory, and the relationship between price and quantity. It also touches on macroeconomic topics such as factors of production, market equilibrium, and the definition of economics as the study of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. The document presents economic principles in a clear, structured manner using definitions and diagrams.
Gavin Starks founded AMEE, a company that provides environmental data and analytics through SaaS applications and tools. AMEE's platform offers comprehensive and timely environmental intelligence to help answer millions of questions. It features a rapid development toolkit, explorer applications, and tools to access trusted environmental data on topics like energy, buildings, materials, agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation. AMEE also examines social and consumption data through initiatives like its Social Energy Graph and efficiency heatmap of appliances.
How research and innovation in advanced energy technologies can make energy more reliable, affordable and sustainable.
Presentation as part of a panel at Michigan Conservative Energy Forum, March 10 2016, Lansing. MI
The document discusses the suitability of exporting solar energy products from India to Egypt. Egypt has a hot desert climate and relies on renewable energy sources like solar due to limited wind and nuclear power. The Egyptian government is working to increase the use of solar power and has set a target of generating 20% of its energy from renewables. Solar panels are in high demand in Egypt from industries, businesses, and households. Exporting solar panels and components to Egypt has good market potential due to Egypt's climate conditions and growing solar industry. The document analyzes factors like Egypt's energy consumption, landscape for large solar plants, and existing solar manufacturing industries that indicate solar exports would be suitable for the Egyptian market.
Clean technology includes various methods of recycling, renewable energy sources like wind, solar, biomass and hydropower, green transportation, information technology, more energy efficient electric motors, lighting, and appliances. It also includes technologies like biofuels and systems that reuse greywater. Clean technology aims to provide environmentally friendly and sustainable alternatives across many industries.
Jannuzzi, G. M. 2013. “Desafios Das Fontes Limpas No Brasil: Algumas Considerações” presented at the Fernando de Noronha Iniciativa Carbono Zero, Recife. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ta892ufl4z58oxf/20131031-Recife.pdf.
The Research paper ‘Resource Efficiency: a missed opportunity’ launched at the Manufacturing Leaders' Summit 2018. It highlights the good news that improving resource efficiency (energy, materials, waste and water) is a massive (and currently missed) opportunity for cutting costs and improving competitiveness and productivity – as well as being essential for tackling climate change. And the accompanying highly convenient truth is that it doesn’t require significant capital expenditure.
This document provides an overview of microeconomics and macroeconomics. It discusses key microeconomic concepts like supply and demand curves, consumer behavior theory, and the relationship between price and quantity. It also touches on macroeconomic topics such as factors of production, market equilibrium, and the definition of economics as the study of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. The document presents economic principles in a clear, structured manner using definitions and diagrams.
Gavin Starks founded AMEE, a company that provides environmental data and analytics through SaaS applications and tools. AMEE's platform offers comprehensive and timely environmental intelligence to help answer millions of questions. It features a rapid development toolkit, explorer applications, and tools to access trusted environmental data on topics like energy, buildings, materials, agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation. AMEE also examines social and consumption data through initiatives like its Social Energy Graph and efficiency heatmap of appliances.
Energy CIO Insights, an online/print technology magazine which provides knowledge network to the community of technology professionals facing challenges to leverage technology for their organization. Here senior technology executives from various businesses share their experience, advice and astuteness on energy sector that constitutes the very bedrock of nation's economy.
This document summarizes information about vertical farming. It defines vertical farming as producing food in vertically stacked layers indoors using controlled-environment agriculture. The global vertical farming market is expected to reach $9.9 billion by 2025 due to increased use of IoT sensors and automation. Common pitfalls for vertical farms include taking on too many tasks, overlooking high labor costs, and not treating farming as an efficient process. Major players in vertical farming include General Hydroponics and Aerofarms. Vertical farming is being introduced in remote communities in Canada to grow affordable fresh produce locally.
This document discusses the circular economy and how businesses can adapt. It notes that the circular economy is inspired by nature's principles of recycling resources and energy. It advocates for businesses to focus on performance and service-based models rather than ownership models in order to better embrace circular economy principles of reducing waste and closing resource loops. The document provides examples of how businesses can rethink their strategies and business models to transition towards a more circular economy.
This document discusses renewable energy sources like solar, hydroelectricity, and wind. It also discusses electric cars and their environmental and cost issues such as air pollution emissions and battery-related problems. More employers are aware of their workplace's environmental impact and want to promote greener work environments for employee safety and public outreach through using energy saving posters.
Using data as a weapon to tackle climate change.
I describe some of AMEE's journey: through open data aggregation and distribution, accessibility, provenance, and structure.
But better data isn't enough - no one (well, few) really cares about the science or the technology we need to engage with stakeholders to provide meaningful insight and relevance to their business.
Esg myth mining companies will be last to embrace esg may2018Petra Daroczi
Have you heard of a company called Rio Tinto? Surely. Have you heard of a company called Alcoa? Maybe not. And have you heard of a company called Apple? I bet you have. How do these three distinct companies come together in the ESG space?
The US wind energy capacity has hit a new high of over 100 gigawatts as of Q3 2019, enough to power 30 million households and hundreds of factories. This milestone was achieved after the addition of nearly 2 gigawatts of new capacity to the grid in Q3. There are currently over 55,000 operating wind turbines across the country, and developers are working on various onshore and offshore projects that will add tens of thousands of megawatts of additional renewable energy.
The document discusses the formation of the Research Triangle Solar Fuels Institute by Duke University, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and RTI International to work together with energy companies to develop sustainable liquid fuels from solar energy that can replace oil and power vehicles, planes, and other transportation without needing to change infrastructure by converting sunlight into clean gasoline or other fuels.
This document provides an overview of solar energy technology and the state of the solar industry globally and locally. It discusses the basic functioning of photovoltaic cells, the difference between silicon and silicone, how net metering works, and the current state of the solar industry in China, Germany, California, New Jersey, and Colorado Springs. It also recommends ways for Colorado Springs Utilities to better promote their solar rebate program and solar energy more broadly.
How Changes to Time of Use (TOU) Rates are Impacting Commercial & Industrial ...Jim Dodenhoff
The significant penetration of solar energy in the electricity supply mix, especially in Western U.S. states, has resulted in profound changes to the shape of electricity system load curves. In the past, utility electricity suppliers with summer peak demand generally found their load peaking from mid-day to late afternoon. These same geographic areas have also been the most attractive candidates for solar implementation. The net effect has been a shifting of system net daily peak period to later in the day: spanning mid-late afternoon to early-late evening.
A guiding principle behind most ratemaking is to have electricity rates reflect real-time system costs. This provides higher pricing signals to the customer when the system has less available supply of electricity. Many utility tariffs are now either incorporating Time-of-Use (TOU) tariffs and/or moving their peak periods to later in the day to more accurately reflect net system peak and the impact of significant solar supply. These changes can have large cost impacts on Commercial & Industrial end users who have significant load in the evening hours.
This presentation will model these TOU tariff changes in California and other Western geographic areas. Energy management technologies such as energy storage and advanced controls will be analyzed as potential solutions to mitigate increased costs from TOU tariffs.
Finally, the carbon-intensity of unique utility electricity grids will be analyzed in the context of TOU peak periods. The author will present findings showing whether purchase of utility electricity during daily peak periods buys into a higher carbon emitting generation fleet, and to what degree.
Recycled Energy: Is the Future In Front of Us?recycledenergy
The document discusses opportunities for increasing energy efficiency in the United States through capturing wasted heat from industrial processes and power plants. It notes that other countries achieve 20-25% efficiency in energy usage compared to 12-13% in the US, and that policies in the US have discouraged investments in efficiency. Recycling wasted heat and implementing policy changes around electricity markets and environmental regulations could significantly increase energy supplies while reducing costs and pollution.
This document lists various power generation system projects including dynamic tunable PID for solar systems, waste to energy systems in real-time, and AI models for predictive maintenance. It also outlines hybrid power generation projects involving compressive air with PV cells, scalable wind, and bio-mass fuel cells. Finally, it provides the tools and their versions useful for these projects, including SimScale, RETScreen, Matlab and Simulink, Homer Pro, and PowerSim.
Nepal as an agricultural country- having seemingly large domination of cultivation of paddy-, can be bountifully benefitted through rice husks as it could prove to be a valuable energy resource for industries. Rice husk, which accounts for 20% weight of rice, comes as by-product from rice milling process; and it is identified as an important and potential energy resource. Generally, a large amount of rice husk is dumped as waste and that result in waste disposal problem and emitting methane. Moreover, the low density of rice husk can easily result in causing air-borne breathing problems, if inhaled. Nonetheless, rice husk can be converted into a useful form of energy to meet the thermal and mechanical energy requirement for the mills themselves, if endeavored. This helps to minimize the waste problem in addition to healing accruing energy crisis through converting rice husk to a potentially renewable energy resource. This paper charts out the prospective utilization of rice husk as a potential energy resource in Nepal. The 2011 CBS data as that 15, 32,000 hectares of rice cultivation, 50, 72,000 metric tons of paddy production and 10,14,400 metric tons of annual rice husk production shows the potential of generation of energy from rice husk in Nepal. The need of capitalizing this energy potential into renewable energy and electricity generation is more pressing at this time given the country has huge power deficit.
Towards a Sustainability Index for Artificial Intelligence
Many hopes are put onto AI systems regarding sustainability efforts. While AI certainly has immense potential for contributing towards protecting our planetary boundaries, questions regarding the sustainability of AI are less prominently addressed. That is worrisome because the development, implementation and use of AI systems often comes with huge energy consumption, unfair working conditions and intransparent as well as biased applications. In order to move from mostly abstract discussions of the sustainability of AI, in our project “SustAIn” we are thus developing a sustainability index for AI systems to serve as a rating system.
The document discusses future trends in technology-led economic development over the next 20 years. It outlines three forces that will shape the future, including uncertainty around how much proximity will cost, whether biotech will become profitable, and how universities will evolve. The document also presents three scenarios: an evolution of science and technology parks; dematerialized, virtual innovation; and research clouds. It concludes by discussing challenges around remapping industry clusters and rethinking real estate models.
The document discusses the Eco World Styria region in southern Austria, which has a population of 1.2 million people. It has strong knowledge production in cleantech, mobility, and health industries. The region has a 4.6% R&D quota, which is the highest in Europe, and a history of 100 years of innovations in cleantech. The Eco World Styria cluster supports 170 companies in cleantech that generate 14 billion dollars in annual sales and initiates over 20 new innovation projects per year. The cluster has doubled the concentration of cleantech in the region's economy over 5 years and created over 7,500 new green tech jobs.
How the US makes electricity…and wastes energy recycledenergy
1) The US electric grid has seen stagnant efficiency levels for 50 years, with only 12-13% of fuel converted to useful work, compared to 20% in other countries like Japan and the UK.
2) Improving energy efficiency, especially in the electric grid, is the most cost-effective way to reduce primary energy use and carbon emissions. Denmark has shown that following an efficiency-focused policy can reduce energy use by 28% while still achieving economic growth.
3) However, US energy policy tends to only focus on increasing supply or reducing demand, ignoring the potential to improve efficiency of energy conversion in the electric grid and other sectors.
The document discusses the transition from an extractive economy based on declining energy resources to a clean economy based on renewable energy sources. It outlines how 21st century tools like information and communication technologies, social media, and innovations in finance can help develop clean economic growth. It also discusses how principles from biomimicry, which studies nature's designs to solve human problems, could provide a model for sustainable economic reform that fits within natural systems.
The document discusses the need for a transition to a more sustainable economy that limits resource depletion and environmental degradation while still allowing for economic prosperity and job growth. It outlines some key features a new sustainable economy may have, such as fewer durable goods, more services, shorter work weeks, and policies that encourage renewable energy, energy efficiency, and investments in human and natural capital over energy-intensive manufacturing. Macroeconomic solutions proposed include incorporating sustainability into indices of national income, investing in public goods, and equalizing income.
This document discusses Greencubator, an organization that promotes sustainable energy innovations and entrepreneurship in Ukraine. Greencubator connects energy professionals through events like TeslaCamps and supports green startups. It works on initiatives to develop energy-efficient universities, communities, and media while advocating for behavioral changes to reduce energy use and waste. Greencubator's goal is to empower people to become advocates, investors, and drivers of the energy revolution.
The document discusses sustainability and the green economy from a historical perspective. It argues that we need to move from a quantitative focus on money and material accumulation to a qualitative focus on well-being and regeneration. A key aspect is redefining wealth and the economy to focus on human and environmental needs through approaches like extended producer responsibility, the service economy, and building community-based local economies.
The document provides an overview of the waste-to-energy market in the United States. It discusses key facts about waste generation and processing. It also reviews the costs of different thermal technologies and notes that some major urban areas have run out of landfill space. Additionally, the document examines opportunities for investors in areas like upgrading facilities to produce end-use products and notes several barriers that obstruct investment in the waste-to-energy industry.
Energy CIO Insights, an online/print technology magazine which provides knowledge network to the community of technology professionals facing challenges to leverage technology for their organization. Here senior technology executives from various businesses share their experience, advice and astuteness on energy sector that constitutes the very bedrock of nation's economy.
This document summarizes information about vertical farming. It defines vertical farming as producing food in vertically stacked layers indoors using controlled-environment agriculture. The global vertical farming market is expected to reach $9.9 billion by 2025 due to increased use of IoT sensors and automation. Common pitfalls for vertical farms include taking on too many tasks, overlooking high labor costs, and not treating farming as an efficient process. Major players in vertical farming include General Hydroponics and Aerofarms. Vertical farming is being introduced in remote communities in Canada to grow affordable fresh produce locally.
This document discusses the circular economy and how businesses can adapt. It notes that the circular economy is inspired by nature's principles of recycling resources and energy. It advocates for businesses to focus on performance and service-based models rather than ownership models in order to better embrace circular economy principles of reducing waste and closing resource loops. The document provides examples of how businesses can rethink their strategies and business models to transition towards a more circular economy.
This document discusses renewable energy sources like solar, hydroelectricity, and wind. It also discusses electric cars and their environmental and cost issues such as air pollution emissions and battery-related problems. More employers are aware of their workplace's environmental impact and want to promote greener work environments for employee safety and public outreach through using energy saving posters.
Using data as a weapon to tackle climate change.
I describe some of AMEE's journey: through open data aggregation and distribution, accessibility, provenance, and structure.
But better data isn't enough - no one (well, few) really cares about the science or the technology we need to engage with stakeholders to provide meaningful insight and relevance to their business.
Esg myth mining companies will be last to embrace esg may2018Petra Daroczi
Have you heard of a company called Rio Tinto? Surely. Have you heard of a company called Alcoa? Maybe not. And have you heard of a company called Apple? I bet you have. How do these three distinct companies come together in the ESG space?
The US wind energy capacity has hit a new high of over 100 gigawatts as of Q3 2019, enough to power 30 million households and hundreds of factories. This milestone was achieved after the addition of nearly 2 gigawatts of new capacity to the grid in Q3. There are currently over 55,000 operating wind turbines across the country, and developers are working on various onshore and offshore projects that will add tens of thousands of megawatts of additional renewable energy.
The document discusses the formation of the Research Triangle Solar Fuels Institute by Duke University, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and RTI International to work together with energy companies to develop sustainable liquid fuels from solar energy that can replace oil and power vehicles, planes, and other transportation without needing to change infrastructure by converting sunlight into clean gasoline or other fuels.
This document provides an overview of solar energy technology and the state of the solar industry globally and locally. It discusses the basic functioning of photovoltaic cells, the difference between silicon and silicone, how net metering works, and the current state of the solar industry in China, Germany, California, New Jersey, and Colorado Springs. It also recommends ways for Colorado Springs Utilities to better promote their solar rebate program and solar energy more broadly.
How Changes to Time of Use (TOU) Rates are Impacting Commercial & Industrial ...Jim Dodenhoff
The significant penetration of solar energy in the electricity supply mix, especially in Western U.S. states, has resulted in profound changes to the shape of electricity system load curves. In the past, utility electricity suppliers with summer peak demand generally found their load peaking from mid-day to late afternoon. These same geographic areas have also been the most attractive candidates for solar implementation. The net effect has been a shifting of system net daily peak period to later in the day: spanning mid-late afternoon to early-late evening.
A guiding principle behind most ratemaking is to have electricity rates reflect real-time system costs. This provides higher pricing signals to the customer when the system has less available supply of electricity. Many utility tariffs are now either incorporating Time-of-Use (TOU) tariffs and/or moving their peak periods to later in the day to more accurately reflect net system peak and the impact of significant solar supply. These changes can have large cost impacts on Commercial & Industrial end users who have significant load in the evening hours.
This presentation will model these TOU tariff changes in California and other Western geographic areas. Energy management technologies such as energy storage and advanced controls will be analyzed as potential solutions to mitigate increased costs from TOU tariffs.
Finally, the carbon-intensity of unique utility electricity grids will be analyzed in the context of TOU peak periods. The author will present findings showing whether purchase of utility electricity during daily peak periods buys into a higher carbon emitting generation fleet, and to what degree.
Recycled Energy: Is the Future In Front of Us?recycledenergy
The document discusses opportunities for increasing energy efficiency in the United States through capturing wasted heat from industrial processes and power plants. It notes that other countries achieve 20-25% efficiency in energy usage compared to 12-13% in the US, and that policies in the US have discouraged investments in efficiency. Recycling wasted heat and implementing policy changes around electricity markets and environmental regulations could significantly increase energy supplies while reducing costs and pollution.
This document lists various power generation system projects including dynamic tunable PID for solar systems, waste to energy systems in real-time, and AI models for predictive maintenance. It also outlines hybrid power generation projects involving compressive air with PV cells, scalable wind, and bio-mass fuel cells. Finally, it provides the tools and their versions useful for these projects, including SimScale, RETScreen, Matlab and Simulink, Homer Pro, and PowerSim.
Nepal as an agricultural country- having seemingly large domination of cultivation of paddy-, can be bountifully benefitted through rice husks as it could prove to be a valuable energy resource for industries. Rice husk, which accounts for 20% weight of rice, comes as by-product from rice milling process; and it is identified as an important and potential energy resource. Generally, a large amount of rice husk is dumped as waste and that result in waste disposal problem and emitting methane. Moreover, the low density of rice husk can easily result in causing air-borne breathing problems, if inhaled. Nonetheless, rice husk can be converted into a useful form of energy to meet the thermal and mechanical energy requirement for the mills themselves, if endeavored. This helps to minimize the waste problem in addition to healing accruing energy crisis through converting rice husk to a potentially renewable energy resource. This paper charts out the prospective utilization of rice husk as a potential energy resource in Nepal. The 2011 CBS data as that 15, 32,000 hectares of rice cultivation, 50, 72,000 metric tons of paddy production and 10,14,400 metric tons of annual rice husk production shows the potential of generation of energy from rice husk in Nepal. The need of capitalizing this energy potential into renewable energy and electricity generation is more pressing at this time given the country has huge power deficit.
Towards a Sustainability Index for Artificial Intelligence
Many hopes are put onto AI systems regarding sustainability efforts. While AI certainly has immense potential for contributing towards protecting our planetary boundaries, questions regarding the sustainability of AI are less prominently addressed. That is worrisome because the development, implementation and use of AI systems often comes with huge energy consumption, unfair working conditions and intransparent as well as biased applications. In order to move from mostly abstract discussions of the sustainability of AI, in our project “SustAIn” we are thus developing a sustainability index for AI systems to serve as a rating system.
The document discusses future trends in technology-led economic development over the next 20 years. It outlines three forces that will shape the future, including uncertainty around how much proximity will cost, whether biotech will become profitable, and how universities will evolve. The document also presents three scenarios: an evolution of science and technology parks; dematerialized, virtual innovation; and research clouds. It concludes by discussing challenges around remapping industry clusters and rethinking real estate models.
The document discusses the Eco World Styria region in southern Austria, which has a population of 1.2 million people. It has strong knowledge production in cleantech, mobility, and health industries. The region has a 4.6% R&D quota, which is the highest in Europe, and a history of 100 years of innovations in cleantech. The Eco World Styria cluster supports 170 companies in cleantech that generate 14 billion dollars in annual sales and initiates over 20 new innovation projects per year. The cluster has doubled the concentration of cleantech in the region's economy over 5 years and created over 7,500 new green tech jobs.
How the US makes electricity…and wastes energy recycledenergy
1) The US electric grid has seen stagnant efficiency levels for 50 years, with only 12-13% of fuel converted to useful work, compared to 20% in other countries like Japan and the UK.
2) Improving energy efficiency, especially in the electric grid, is the most cost-effective way to reduce primary energy use and carbon emissions. Denmark has shown that following an efficiency-focused policy can reduce energy use by 28% while still achieving economic growth.
3) However, US energy policy tends to only focus on increasing supply or reducing demand, ignoring the potential to improve efficiency of energy conversion in the electric grid and other sectors.
The document discusses the transition from an extractive economy based on declining energy resources to a clean economy based on renewable energy sources. It outlines how 21st century tools like information and communication technologies, social media, and innovations in finance can help develop clean economic growth. It also discusses how principles from biomimicry, which studies nature's designs to solve human problems, could provide a model for sustainable economic reform that fits within natural systems.
The document discusses the need for a transition to a more sustainable economy that limits resource depletion and environmental degradation while still allowing for economic prosperity and job growth. It outlines some key features a new sustainable economy may have, such as fewer durable goods, more services, shorter work weeks, and policies that encourage renewable energy, energy efficiency, and investments in human and natural capital over energy-intensive manufacturing. Macroeconomic solutions proposed include incorporating sustainability into indices of national income, investing in public goods, and equalizing income.
This document discusses Greencubator, an organization that promotes sustainable energy innovations and entrepreneurship in Ukraine. Greencubator connects energy professionals through events like TeslaCamps and supports green startups. It works on initiatives to develop energy-efficient universities, communities, and media while advocating for behavioral changes to reduce energy use and waste. Greencubator's goal is to empower people to become advocates, investors, and drivers of the energy revolution.
The document discusses sustainability and the green economy from a historical perspective. It argues that we need to move from a quantitative focus on money and material accumulation to a qualitative focus on well-being and regeneration. A key aspect is redefining wealth and the economy to focus on human and environmental needs through approaches like extended producer responsibility, the service economy, and building community-based local economies.
The document provides an overview of the waste-to-energy market in the United States. It discusses key facts about waste generation and processing. It also reviews the costs of different thermal technologies and notes that some major urban areas have run out of landfill space. Additionally, the document examines opportunities for investors in areas like upgrading facilities to produce end-use products and notes several barriers that obstruct investment in the waste-to-energy industry.
This document discusses the concept of a circular economy through three main points:
1. Economic strategies for a circular economy focus on preserving resources and managing flows rather than maximizing production and consumption. This includes producer responsibility and addressing externalities.
2. The principles of a circular economy emphasize maintaining the value and usability of resources for as long as possible through reuse, repair, refurbishment and recycling. This decouples economic growth from finite resource use.
3. Transitioning to a circular economy could generate significant economic benefits including material savings, new business and investment opportunities, additional jobs, and improved trade balances for countries that adopt circular strategies.
This document provides an outline of key concepts in ecological economics, including:
1) It compares classical, neoclassical, and ecological economic worldviews and their treatment of natural resources.
2) It discusses concepts like carrying capacity, limits to growth, and natural capital accounting.
3) It examines population issues, scarcity, and tools like cost-benefit analysis and emissions trading to incorporate environmental costs.
Portugal CE Roadmap Vision 2030 - Circular Economy: Concept & Trends - Nov'17Alexandre Lemille
Upon invitation from the Portuguese Government, Alexandre gave an overview of current circular economy concept and trends.
The aim was to discuss and fine tune the Circular Economy Portugal Vision 2030 road-map.
The document presents a vision for building a sustainable world over the next 500 years through developing renewable energy and clean technology infrastructure, implementing sustainable systems and values, and transitioning to an "electron economy" powered by renewable sources like solar and wind. Key aspects of the vision include developing renewable energy generation and storage, electric vehicles and transportation, green building standards, water recycling, and aligning economic models with environmental and social sustainability.
The document presents a vision for building a sustainable world over the next 500 years through developing renewable energy and clean technology infrastructure, implementing sustainable systems and values, and transitioning to an "electron economy" powered by renewable sources like solar and wind. Key aspects of the vision include developing renewable energy generation and storage, electric vehicles and transportation, green building standards, water recycling, and aligning economic models with environmental and social sustainability.
Circular Economies Case Studies - Softmatter VenturesAishah Avdiu
One of the most impactful ways to deploy capital is to direct investment toward disruptive technologies which reduce waste. In this white paper, we explore case study startups in waste-to-energy, consumer software, and bio-fabrication industries and their potential to continue the path toward total sustainability.
Softmatter Venture Capital, 2018
softmatter.vc
The Future Of Renewable Energy And RE Policy MechanismsSheri Elliott
The document discusses renewable energy policy mechanisms and the future of renewable energy. It notes that renewable energies can compete with fossil fuels if subsidies are leveled between the industries. Currently, fossil fuels receive over 85% of energy subsidies in the US. Investments in wind energy, stimulated by the production tax credit, have significantly lowered costs and increased domestic manufacturing jobs. For renewable energies to effectively replace fossil fuels, policies need to incentivize their growth and competitiveness.
Technology is both a driver of economic change and responds to economic conditions. While classical growth theory treated technology as an exogenous factor, more recent theories recognize it as endogenous and driven by investments in human capital, knowledge, and research and development. These investments help create dynamic comparative advantages for countries. Technological innovation carries risk but can be very profitable, and investments in innovation respond to economic incentives like prices, policies, regulations, and government demand.
Ecological economics differs from mainstream economics in several key ways:
1) It views the economy as a subsystem of larger ecological systems, not separate from the environment.
2) It focuses on the throughput of resources and adheres to the laws of thermodynamics, concerned with resource depletion and waste assimilation.
3) It considers the scale of the economy relative to ecosystems and believes uneconomic growth can occur when scale becomes too large.
These slides cover briefly the concept of circular economy, how it aims at reducing waste to a minimum. When a product reaches the end of its life, its materials are kept within the economy wherever possible. These materials would then be productively used again and again, thereby creating further value. Circular economy has enormous benefits when compared against the traditional linear and recycling economies.
The document discusses several themes related to urbanization and sustainability including globalization, urbanization, centers of agglomeration and sprawl, new inequalities, and crises from globalization in reverse. It also covers topics like the increasing global temperatures, challenges of urbanization and sprawl, sustainability in cities like Vancouver through practices like green building and smart growth, and strategies used in cities like Stockholm, Curitiba, and Hammarby-sjostad to pursue clean energy, clean water, zero waste and become "eco-towns".
This document provides an overview of key economic concepts including:
(1) Economics is the study of how societies use scarce resources efficiently; (2) Scarcity and efficiency are the central themes as resources are limited but wants are unlimited; (3) The production possibility frontier (PPF) shows the maximum output combinations an economy can produce given scarce resources.
Energy drives the economy, and high oil prices can lead to recessions as more money must be spent on fuel, leaving less to spend elsewhere. An extractive economy based on declining resources leads to shrinking jobs and prosperity, while a clean economy powered by renewable sources can create new jobs and increasing prosperity. Transitioning to a clean energy economy represents a huge market opportunity that can be realized through innovations in technology, policy, and markets.
Climate-tech: how techies can make a difference in the fight against climate ...Speck&Tech
ABSTRACT: Climate change may be the most important challenge facing humanity within our lifetime. A growing number of tech start-ups are addressing this crisis, so-called climate-tech companies. In my talk, I will give an overview of the most important fields of work and the companies out to save the world. I will also give tips on how as a tech person you can get involved.
BIO: My name is Moritz Walther. I am a German / American fintech geek looking to make a difference in the world. I work as a Product Manager at ecolytiq, a Berlin-based climate-tech that calculates carbon footprints based on banking data.
3. Extractive Economy vs. Clean Economy Extractive Energy Economy Plastics, fertilizers, pesticides Transports all goods (including food) and people, “runs” the global economy
10. Clean Increasing returns, not diminishing returns Ideas as “base” for economy means a “sustainable” source; as the base increases, value and opportunity increase Clean
13. The Clean Economy: Huge Market Opportunity This “gap” can be “filled” by energy efficiency and clean energy solutions “Peak Oil” is not a question of “if” but “when…”
14. The Clean Energy Economy Innovations can occur in all three areas: Tech, Policy, & Markets Technologies Reducing Risk Mobilizing Capital Clean Energy Economic Growth Policies Markets Source: NREL
15. The Clean Energy Economy: Silver Buckshot Clean Energy Markets: Megawatts & Negawatts Finance Generation: How do we create value propositions for increasing CE megawatts? Distribution: How do we accelerate the flow of CE megawatts through the grid? How do we increase the flow of clean fuels to end users? How do we build the market for clean energy vehicles? Efficiency: How do we build business models for marketing “negawattage?” How do we retrofit physical infrastructure to optimize energy usage?
A bit academic and “wonky,” but this visual shows that as a percentage of our “budget” is spent on our energy needs, this impacts our ability to spend on other things. So, you see that when oil is expensive a bigger part of our budget goes for that necessity and we have less to spend on other things that drive our economy. Thus, you see recessions correlated with high oil prices.
You will most likely be a grandparent when oil runs out; we should be thinking about what our grandchildren’s life will be like if we are not building our clean economy now…The folks that will make more money as the extractive resources become more scarce will most likely be projecting more potential future reserves and/or greater timeframes for availability, but if we know a better way of doing things now, shouldn’t we be thinking about our kids and our grandkids now too?
The North Pacific gyre is a concentration of plastic waste in the ocean that is the size of Greenland. The beauty of a clean economy is that this waste can create a potential profit for a business that uses this as a feedstock for energy needs….Right now, in our extractive global economy, this mess is just a mess.
The visual in the bottom right-hand of the slide is the “core” principle in sustainability. Maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing waste creates increased product and thus increased profits. As an added “bonus,” waste itself can be converted into energy with the right systems and technology. The overall beauty of a cyclical approach to business production models is that they mirror the cyclical way that the earth “functions,” making us a responsible part of our planet.
Deutsche Bank is a pretty well respected global institution. They are very interested in the potential risks associated with rising oil prices as they are so tied to economic health.
We have a better way to do things…if you had the choice to ride across country in a horse and buggy or to ride across country in a horse-less carriage (what we called cars back when autos were the competition) which would you pick? “Alternative” energy is a recognition that clean, renewable sources of energy are the competition for extractive energy, but it is a choice that an informed person will likely make when given the options. This movement towards clean energy is so important when we realize that as oil and other extractive energy feedstocks decline, there will not be enough available to meet growing demand. This gap between available resources and need can be made up by providing other sources of non-extracted energy and energy efficiency measures (getting more “bang for our buck” from the energy we are using).
Technology: Innovation usually occurs in the lab, more efficient solar cells, better designs for wind power (jet stream), etc.Policies: Innovation example: Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) where up front costs are paid for by the city, and paid back through property taxes (like property assessments that goes towards the public good of streetlights and sidewalks)Markets: Innovation example: Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) where a company (manufacturing factory, for example) would agree to purchase power from the solar company that installs the building’s solar system at a set rate for a set number of years, and the solar company finances the up-front costs of the system itself. WE DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT FOR “TECHNOLOGY” DEVELOPMENTS TO ADDRESS THE “HIGH COST” ISSUE….Would you pay for your $250K house in cash up front? There is a better way to do things… All of these working in synergy together accelerates the development of the clean energy economy
Clean Energy is complex and there is no “silver bullet” it is “silver buckshot.”Most big energy companies have a minute fraction of their business that they invest in clean energy sources, but many have speculated that these companies are simply waiting to see what clean energy will be the “silver bullet” and that then they will acquire it. The problem is that in the meantime, these same companies from the extractive industry don’t really have much “skin in the game” yet and it could be argued that they therefore still are protecting their extractive resource strategy as this is where their profits come from. When added to a very real perspective that there will never really be a silver bullet solution, it becomes increasingly difficult to expect that extractive energy interests are going to change their business model. We are asking horse-and-buggy manufacturers to “play nice” with Henry Ford. The great opportunity in this complex landscape is that each of these types of businesses can create demand for jobs….and if we can figure out how to re-train, or “retrofit” the extractive energy professionals and technicians, we can have a win-win…while the CEO at BP might not be able to do what he does in this new economy, many hard-working employees could potentially have a “new relationship” with energy (aside, we are already talking with folks from oil & gas who are interested in Ecotech programs…individuals are smart, “people” sometimes aren’t….) We know that the many people already employed in this new, clean energy economy are within much smaller companies than transnational extractive corporations. This is another win-win in terms of the great opportunity in this space, which such diversity…and we also have large corporations like GE and others that are actually growing their divisions for CE within their organizations. On a broad scale though, it is still a “David vs. Goliath” picture when comparing PNLs…(profit and loss statements)…as an aside, because of the $5B that just U.S. extractive energy companies get in “subsidies” every year, when one looks at BP’s books, for example, their reporting of their profits is not actually representative of their fiscal value…CE Markets= finance in the form of investments, etc…CE Technology = finance in the form of R&D grants, etc…CE Policy= finance in the form of political contributions, etc….
Each of these elements of the modern, or “smart,” grid creates demand for experienced workers…
Walk through the concept of a wind farm, locate on the CEE Gateway map, etc…Example of facility manager description:
Solar jobs landscape; outline the way visualization tools are being used to enhance the intuitive understanding of complex data. This translates into wider ability to discuss the opportunity with decision-makers in communities.