The Moisture-Sucking Materials That Could Transform Air Conditioning
July 26th, 2023
Via MIT Technology Review, a look at how desiccants that pull water out of the air could help cool buildings more efficiently: A surprising set of materials could soon help make more efficient air conditioners that don’t overtax the electrical grid on hot days. As extreme heat continues to shatter records around the globe, electricity […]
Read more »New York City Has America’s Worst Heat Islands
July 26th, 2023
Via Gothamist, an article on New York city’s heat island effects: When it comes to blistering metropolitan temperatures, New York has the worst existing conditions — known as urban heat island effects — relative to any other major U.S. city. That’s the takeaway from a new analysis by the research nonprofit Climate Central, which looked […]
Read more »Extreme Heat Shows the Need for Another Kind of Climate Investment
July 25th, 2023
Courtesy of The New York Times, an article on the need to shift climate finance from mitigating climate change to helping people adapt to the effects of global warming: As heat waves gripped three continents this week, venturing outside for even a few minutes in Phoenix, Rome or a town in northwest China at times meant risking heatstroke or […]
Read more »How Cities Can Prepare For Underground Climate Change
July 24th, 2023
Courtesy of Fast Company, an interesting report on a new study showing that soil is getting hotter, and our buildings are paying for it: The urban heat island effect has been thoroughly documented: Heat from the sun gets reflected and absorbed by buildings and roads, which heat up during the day and release heat at night, […]
Read more »Maine Increases State Heat Pump Goals After Hitting Milestone Two Years Early
July 24th, 2023
Via Maine Public Radio, a report on Maine’s quick success with heat pump deployments: Gov. Janet Mills has made heat pumps a cornerstone of her climate plan, as a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money on heating. Four years ago, at Kennebec Valley Community College, Mills pledged to have 100,000 heat pumps […]
Read more »Beyond the Yuck Factor: Cities Turn to ‘Extreme’ Water Recycling
July 22nd, 2023
Via Yale e360, a report on how San Francisco is at the forefront of a movement to recycle wastewater from commercial buildings, homes, and neighborhoods and use it for toilets and landscaping. This decentralized approach, proponents say, will drive down demand in an era of increasing water scarcity. In downtown San Francisco, in a cavernous […]
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.