How To Make Climate Risk Good Business
August 28th, 2024
An interesting TEDx talk examining h0w – by leveraging massive data stores that can be parsed and used predictively in the same way investors rely on these insights for stocks and interest rates – climate risk can turn into financial opportunity: The risk profiles of many real estate markets are rapidly increasing globally. Insurers and […]
Read more »EVs Will Power Buildings In Colorado City’s Transformative Pilot
May 31st, 2024
Via Smart Cities Dive, a report on an innovative pilot project which will inform how vehicle-to-everything charging technology can be used in areas at high risk of prolonged outages due to natural disaster or emergency events: Xcel Energy and Fermata Energy — working with the city of Boulder, the nonprofit Colorado CarShare and Boulder Housing Partners […]
Read more »Why Heat Pumps Are the Future, and How Your Home Could Use One
April 14th, 2024
Via the New York Times, a report on heat pumps, highly efficient devices considered by many to be powerful tools in combating climate change: Heat pumps, which both warm and cool buildings and are powered by electricity, have been touted as the answer to curbing greenhouse gas emissions produced by homes, businesses and office buildings, […]
Read more »Inside the Rise of Groundwater-Based Geothermal Heat Pumps
April 12th, 2024
Via Utility Dive, an article on the rise of groundwater-based geothermal heat pumps: The technology, which is cost-effective across 75% of the U.S. landmass and ideal for space-constrained users, could eventually displace utility gas service, proponents say. A few steps from the front door of Rochester, Minnesota’s city hall, two newly drilled wells plunge hundreds […]
Read more »Combining Heat Pumps with Smart Tariffs, Solar and Batteries
February 6th, 2024
An insightful LinkedIn analysis on potential to combine heat pumps with smart tariffs, solar and batteries: There has been a lot of interest recently looking at whether heat pumps should be left on all the time – and how this works with time of use (ToU) tariffs. Over the last year I have had the […]
Read more »The Problem With Heat Pumps
January 30th, 2024
Via The New Statesman, a look at heat pumps – which have been the norm in Sweden for 40 years – but have not had the same success in the UK? My parents are getting the hang of sustainable living. From their home in Cumbria, they drive a hybrid car, which they charge regularly in […]
Read more »'Black Swans' are highly improbable events that come as a surprise, have major disruptive effects, and that are often rationalized after the fact as if they had been predictable to begin with. In our rapidly warming world, such events are occurring ever more frequently and include wildfires, floods, extreme heat, and drought.
'Green Shoots' is a term used to describe signs of economic recovery or positive data during a downturn. It references a period of growth and recovery, when plants start to show signs of health and life, and, therefore, has been employed as a metaphor for a recovering economy.
It is my hope that Black Swans / Green Shoots will help readers understand both climate-activated risk and opportunity so that you may invest in, advise, or lead organizations in the context of increasing pressures of global urbanization, resource scarcity, and perils relating to climate change. I believe that the tools of business and finance can help individuals, businesses, and global society make informed choices about who and what to protect, and I hope that this blog provides some insight into the policy and private sector tools used to assess investments in resilient reinforcement, response, or recovery.