Europe’s Heat Pumps Put America’s to Shame
September 25th, 2024
Via The Atlantic, a look at Europe’s heat pump adoption and trajectory: In the United States, home heat pumps have been gaining traction (and government subsidies) as highly energy-efficient replacements for gas-fired boilers and furnaces. They vary in size, but most of the units being hyped by environmentalists and installed nationwide measure just a few […]
Read more »A Chicken In Every Pot, A Battery In Every Garage?
September 24th, 2024
Via Steel for Fuel, commentary on the growth in residential battery storage: Today’s chart comes from Sunrun’s August investor presentation: In the span of a single year year, the share of Sunrun’s rooftop solar customers who opted to “attach” a battery system tripled. Notes: Sunrun points out that there is extremely high geographic variation behind these numbers. […]
Read more »Barcelona Is Turning Subway Trains Into Power Stations
September 24th, 2024
Via Grist, an article on how Barcelona is using the regenerative braking of its subways to power trains, stations, and neighborhood EV chargers. Could New York do it too? Most of the passengers emerging from the station in Bellvitge, a working-class neighborhood outside Barcelona, have no idea just how innovative the city’s subway system is. […]
Read more »Personal Cooling Device Overcomes AC’s Flaws
September 18th, 2024
Via Anthropocene Magazine, a look at a low-cost gadget that absorbs heat radiating from skin could be an energy-efficient, quiet way to keep cool with windows open for fresh air: In a world facing increasingly hot summers, cooling technologies can be life-savers. But cranking up air-conditioning only adds more planet-warming gases to the atmosphere. Researchers […]
Read more »Electric School Buses: The Future We Deserve
September 6th, 2024
Via Vox, a look at how the largest mass transit system in the United States – school buses – is overdue for an upgrade: Riding an electric school bus seems like it would be an uncanny experience. As a kid, I remember the bus being a loud and smoggy place that left me smelling like […]
Read more »Climate Change Can Cause Bridges to ‘Fall Apart Like Tinkertoys,’ Experts Say
September 5th, 2024
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how extreme heat and flooding are accelerating the deterioration of bridges, engineers say, posing a quiet but growing threat: On a 95-degree day this summer, New York City’s Third Avenue Bridge, connecting the Bronx and Manhattan, got stuck in the open position for hours. As heat […]
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.