Underground Thermal Energy Networks: Becoming Crucial To US’s Energy Future
October 4th, 2023
Via MIT Technology Review, an article examining the growing role of underground thermal energy networks in the U.S.: how Thirteen US states are now implementing underground thermal energy networks to reduce buildings’ carbon emissions as part of a nationwide push to adopt cleaner energy sources. Thermal energy networks use pipe loops that connect multiple buildings […]
Read more »How Efficient Buildings Can Help India Meet Its Climate Goals
October 3rd, 2023
Via India Spend, a look at the role that improved building efficiency can help India meets its climate goals, a sector which currently consumes 37% of the country’s total annual primary energy, which is expected to rise by more than eight times, in the absence of effective energy-efficient measures: The building sector accounts for a […]
Read more »Unlocking the Power of Sustainable Cooling: Energy-Efficient Solutions in Southeast Asia
October 3rd, 2023
Via Clean Cooling Collaborative, a report on sustainable cooling solutions in Southeast Asia: Over the next two decades, there will be an estimated 300 million air conditioners (ACs) installed across Southeast Asia—a sixfold increase compared to today. This growth in demand for cooling is primarily driven by increasingly hot and humid weather and rising incomes. Due to […]
Read more »Blue Water Factories in China: The Future of Wastewater Treatment
October 3rd, 2023
Via The Source, a look at how sustainable wastewater treatment can contribute to China’s resourceful future: Since the 1980s, China’s urban water infrastructure has grown and developed steadily, with wastewater treatment coverage and capacity reaching up to 97.5% and around 190 million m3/d as of 2020. However, China’s wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are also facing […]
Read more »Heat-Proofing India
October 3rd, 2023
Via Science.org, a report on how cities in India are testing measures that could help urban populations worldwide cope with rising temperatures: In Lal Matti, an informal settlement of tin-roofed homes in this coastal city, summer can be unbearable. Before the monsoon rains arrive, temperatures can top 37°C, with humidity at a sweltering 95%. The […]
Read more »New York Needs to Get Spongier—or Get Used to More Floods
September 29th, 2023
Via Wired, a report on how devastating deluges around the world point to the metropolis of tomorrow: the “sponge city.” Think more parks and fewer parking lots. TWO YEARS AFTER the remnants of Hurricane Ian dumped up to 10 inches of rain on New York City in just two hours, the metropolis is once again inundated today by extreme […]
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.