No. 133: Global Energy Shift

I love a good data visualization, so when I saw this one in the New York Times this week I couldn't help but feature it in the newsletter. We're taking a look at the trends in renewable energy and how they have evolved over the past few years, but I'll spoil the plot and give you the conclusion up front: solar reigns supreme, and we need new ways to identify the best places to build.

I'm also sharing a great job opportunity with a public benefit corporation that helps startups get off the ground and pointing you to the B Impact Assessment for the first time. Crazy, I know – how on earth have I not featured the B Impact Assessment in a newsletter that so frequently talks about B Corps? I'm fixing that this week.

~ Greg

What we're reading

Global Renewables Watch, a collaboration between The Nature Conservancy, Planet, and Microsoft's AI for Good Lab, has created a satellite-based tracking system for renewable energy installations that reveals the rapid acceleration of wind and solar technology. (NYT)

• China leads global capacity by a wide margin, but on the domestic front, I'm happy to report that solar and wind combined have surpassed coal for electricity generation.
  • To date, solar and wind installations have largely picked locations considered "low-hanging fruit" based on weather conditions, what the electrical grid can support, and conservation tradeoffs.
  • One of my favorite examples of finding compromise is agrivoltaics. You may remember this topic from last year – the idea is that you install solar panels in partnership with farmland, like sheep grazing beneath the panels to keep the grass from obstructing the surface.
• Globally, solar has dramatically outpaced wind expansion thanks largely to lower costs based on manufacturing advances. Solar panels are 80% cheaper than they were a decade ago.
  • Battery technology improvements have further accelerated solar adoption by enabling power storage for evening use. A few weeks ago, I shared a pilot program in Massachusetts focused on vehicle-to-grid technology. The idea there is that the battery in your electric vehicle can provide resiliency and maybe even make you a few bucks by selling energy back to the grid.
  • In short, solar energy and storage solutions have come a long way, and there's a lot of innovation around the proverbial corner.
• Despite this impressive growth, renewables aren't a done deal:
  • Take emerging economies for example: a USAID program called Power Africa helped Somalia reach 17% solar generation but has largely been shuttered.
  • Fossil fuel usage continues to climb as well – famously, as the Biden Administration pushed hard on renewable energy, it set records for oil and gas production.
• The rate at which we add renewable energy projects would need to double in order to meet the goals established under the Paris climate agreement – which we left again, but that's another story – per the International Renewable Energy Agency.
  • That's a key reason why this satellite monitoring system could be valuable for smarter planning, and why I'll make another nod to the satellite newsletter from a few weeks ago – the final frontier is on the front lines of climate technology as well.

Job of the week

You're probably familiar with crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter or GoFundMe where people can raise money for a project or person, but have you heard of Wefunder? They're a public benefit corporation that helps startups raise money through crowdfunding.

I first came across them when I was working out of a startup hub, and I love the idea – in the best circumstances, it's like the company and its customers partner together to help the company grow. Many of the companies raising money on Wefunder are part of social impact areas themselves: sustainability, healthcare, climate, education, and clean energy for example.

Wefunder is looking for a Lead Designer to join the team in San Francisco, CA. I love the job description they put together because you can get a sense of the type of questions you'd be wrestling with as a designer. If designing isn't your thing, they have a few other opportunities to offer as well.

Community roundup

• A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that would have struck down a New York City ban on natural gas in new buildings. (Grist)
  • Berkeley, CA was the first to attempt this type of natural gas ban in 2019 but had its ordinance overturned in the courts. New York City's approach is slightly different and gives cities a new strategy to make progress on their environmental goals.
• Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which is backed by Bill Gates, has announced that they've installed a key component for their tokamak – the core of a fusion reactor. CFS is considered one of the leading companies in the race to develop a viable fusion reactor as a source of clean energy. (TechCrunch)
  • I've featured their job opportunities in the past. Many of them are highly technical, but you can find some corporate roles on their website.
• West Virginia has become the first state to ban nearly all artificial food dyes based on health concerns. I would not have guessed that West Virginia would be on the front lines for this fight, but the effort is surprisingly popular: at least 20 states are considering some form of restriction on artificial food dyes. (NYT)
• Ben & Jerry's has alleged that its CEO was pushed out by corporate parent Unilever due to his social activism. (AP)
  • That's kind of Ben & Jerry's whole thing and why we're a fan of them, right?
• During the pandemic, the government dumped millions of dollars in relief funding with relatively little oversight due to the urgency of the situation, but that created the opportunity for fraudulent activity. One of the most notable frauds was related to a nonprofit in Minnesota that faked a network of food relief operations, and that nonprofit's leader was convicted last week. (NYT)
• Two weeks ago, I mentioned that Canada was investigating a surge of suspicious rebate activity among Tesla dealers before their rebate budget was set to run out of funding. Canada's transport minister has now announced that the associated $43 million in rebates has been frozen and Tesla has been excluded from upcoming rebate programs. (Electrek)

Civic corner

• New York is having trouble getting reimbursed for $363 million by the Education Stabilization Fund that was set up to help schools recover from the pandemic. Officials have cited the upheaval at the Department of Education as the reason for the delay. (Chalkbeat)
  • This one stands out to me because although the administration is trying to hold back grants in other parts of the government, this doesn't come across as willful intent. It simply seems to be breaking down – although one could argue that's where the willful intent comes in.
• The EPA has weakened regulations against coal ash, a byproduct of coal power whose constituent metals like arsenic and mercury can contaminate groundwater when it is disposed of improperly. The federal regulations helped prevent permitting in Georgia and Alabama; rescinding those regulations puts approval back in states' control. (Fast Company)
• The Office of Long COVID Research and Practice is being closed as part of restructuring in the Department of Health and Human Services. It was established to help coordinate a government-wide strategy for long COVID, which is estimated to affect more than 20 million Americans. (POLITICO)
  • Back when we were just learning about long COVID for the first time, this was the aspect that scared me the most – the idea that you could get sick and suffer a chronic condition that is not well understood and nobody believes you have. I really feel for the people who will be impacted by this move.
• The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal to Juliana v. United States, a case brought by a group of young people against the federal government that challenged fossil fuel policies. The plaintiffs lost in this case, but Juliana helped influence other cases including one in Montana that I wrote about a few months ago. (NYT)

Hot job opportunities

• Product Manager - Situational Awareness – Pano – San Francisco, CA
• Data Onboarding Manager – EveryDay Labs – Remote
• Corporate Controller – Rondo – Alameda, CA
• Mechanical Engineer Intern – Charm Industrial – Fort Lupton, CO
• Senior Product Designer – Arbor – Remote
• Senior Account Executive – Noodle – Remote
• B2B Growth Marketing Sr. Manager / Manager – Opus – New York, NY or CA Remote
• Business Operations Coordinator – thinkPARALLAX – Remote
• Senior Manager, Operations – Pivot Energy – Denver, CO
• Contract Web Developer – Unified – Remote
  • This is the kind of position I don't usually include in the newsletter, but if you have web app experience and don't want to quit your current job, this is a 6-10 hour per week position with good rates that could scratch your social impact itch.

Resource of the week

You know, for all we talk about B Corps around here, you'd think I'd have shared the B Impact Assessment at some point – apparently not!

The B Impact Assessment is a tool that helps companies evaluate their social and environmental performance and is the gateway to becoming a Certified B Corp. That said, you don't need to pursue certification to benefit from using the tool – I used it a few years ago to shape where I wanted to focus my impact when starting a company, and it introduced me to ideas that I never would have considered on my own.

Even if you don't feel like you're in a position to make improvement decisions in your current role, completing the assessment can introduce you to small changes for which you may be able to advocate in the future. Some of the ways to improve are tough, but many are easily achievable and still make a difference.

You may remember that the assessment is undergoing some revisions. We don't quite know what B Lab has in store, but don't sleep on the B Impact Assessment as it stands today – it's still a valuable way to assess and improve your company's impact.

Test your knowledge

Last week's question was about a landmark civil rights case: Brown v. Board of Education. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson. The two cases were nearly 60 years apart.

That distance is significant. I'd put it at roughly three generations of Americans before the culture shifted enough for the Supreme Court to interpret the law differently.

Part of why I wanted to touch on Brown v. Board of Education is because of what we saw recently with Roe v. Wade and Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Members of the current court has indicated that they want to revisit other landmark cases like Obergefell v. Hodges and Hill v. Colorado, and states are teeing up legislation and lawsuits that could land in the Supreme Court in the future. Will precedent prevail? We'll have to see.

This week, let's get thoughtful with sustainable construction:

Which material has seen a resurgence in sustainable construction and can sequester approximately one ton of carbon dioxide per cubic meter when used as a building material?

Email me your guess, and I'll send one lucky winner a couple of One Work stickers!

I came across the term "solarpunk" this week for the first time, and apparently I'm slow on the adoption curve: solarpunk has been around since 2008. If you want to see a vision of what the future of architecture could look like, check out this summary of the style.