Regenerative Agriculture, Solar Carports, and the Plastics Circular Economy
Energy Terminal Weekly Newsletter
December 6th 2022 | Issue #35 | Subscribe here
Happy Tuesday!
Welcome to the ET weekly, a platform dedicated to building the next generation of energy leaders. In this week's issue we cover:
💻 AI that studies emissions
♻️ The immense benefits of a circular economy
⛏️ Regenerative agriculture
💥 Conflict over the future of EV charging
⭐ Startup Spotlight : Edacious
Edacious is on a mission to build a new food system based on quality and quantity. They are building technology to differentiate food quality from farm to fork with the goal of nourishing both the planet and people.
🎉Apply to be an Energy Terminal Ambassador
Great opportunity for all those interested in growing their personal brand or learning more about the energy transition. Learn more here!
🚨 Episode 19 Out Now
In Episode 19, Michael and Chloe Young, Energy Terminal’s Director of Partnerships, are joined by Dr. Alice Hill, David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Hill is a thought leader, author, and policy maker who has written two books on climate resilience. Previously, she served as special assistant to President Barack Obama and as Senior Director for Resilience Policy on the National Security Council, where she led the development of national policy to build resilience to catastrophic risks. The episode draws on Dr. Hill’s extensive experience in the public sector to identify the most-needed policy developments, how we can succeed in getting pro-energy policies passed, and where students can get involved. We then talk about the specific ways public and private entities can work together to increase our energy system’s resilience to climate threats and how we can combine technical and policy strategies to maximize effectiveness.
💡 Internship Spotlight:
Summer 2023 Intern,
Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) has the fastest, lowest cost path to commercial fusion energy and has raised $1.8B to do so. Summer interns will be based in Somerville, MA working on a variety of technical projects across design, automation, manufacturing, supply chain, safety, and more. Click the link to apply!
Want to learn more about student experiences at energy internships? Check out our student spotlights!
⏰ Missed Episode 18?
Episodes released bimonthly, subscribe to stay updated!
📚 Reading List
Who is responsible for high emissions? How should we enforce labor standards within renewables? Check out this week’s handpicked reading list to learn more about these groundbreaking energy topics 🔥
🎙️Podcasts:
Climate One, What’s in my air?
There is a lack of measurement infrastructure to find out where certain emissions are coming from and a lack of understanding about who is being impacted by such emissions
The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project built a clean-air plan with nearly 100 interventions, from reducing bus and truck idling to using data to identify opportunities
Artificial Intelligence is also being used to gather data on emissions which can provide guidance as to who is emitting what pollutants
POLITICO Energy, Could regenerative agriculture generate a bipartisan Farm Bill breakthrough?
Democrats want agriculture to address climate change directly whereas Republicans don’t want the Farm Bill to become a “climate bill”
Agriculture is responsible for 10% of emissions globally
Regenerative agriculture is a practice that restores soil health and is cheaper for farmers
Farmers who use this practice buy less fertilizer, and fertilizer is expensive more now than ever due to supply chain issues
Regenerative agriculture takes carbon that is/would be released into the air and puts it back into the ground, this naturally restores building blocks plants need to grow
Regenerative agriculture due to its benefits for both farmers and the environment may be a way for Democrats and Republicans to come together over agricultural issues
The Carbon Copy, Gas stations vs. utilities: battle for the future of charging
Growing electric vehicle sales will require billions of dollars of investment into charging infrastructure, both public and private
In most regulated states, only utilities can sell electricity, so gas stations can’t legally sell electricity from vehicle charging stations in those states
Electric utilities and gas stations now come into conflict as gas stations seek to take control of growing EV charging infrastructure while utilities seek to maintain their status as monopoly electricity providers
📰️ Articles:
Canary Media, To get tax credits, clean-energy firms must soon meet labor standards
In order to receive the full 30% tax credit from the IRA, renewable companies must meet requirements for wages and apprenticeship
The requirements include paying at or above the local wage and reaching 10-15% of working hours done by qualified apprentices, incentivizing young and new entrants to the industry
As fossil fuel plants retire, these requirements aim to provide well-paying and stable job opportunities for workers in communities built on fossil fuels
CNBC, Parking lots are becoming as important as cars in climate change efforts
France recently announced that they’re requiring all parking lots with 80+ spaces to be covered by solar panels, and similar design ideas are expected to become more common in the U.S.
Solar carports and rooftop solar are the main solar designs being adopted in commercial real estate
Government initiatives like the 2018 Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target provide funding to incentivize the utilization of solar carports and parking garages with EV chargers
Forbes, Why The Plastics Circular Economy Is The Next Greenfield For Climate Investors
Moving to renewable energy can only tackle 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the circular economy could potentially address the remaining 45%
A circular economy framework in steel, plastic, food, aluminum and cement could reduce around 10 billion tons of emissions a year by 2050
A new tool called PLACES can help us quantify the positive impacts of plastic mitigation solutions, it is designed specifically for use in Asia
An analysis done using this tool found that ~150 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions would be avoided if 100% of plastic leakage was prevented in Indonesia and India by 2030
That is emissions savings equivalent to shutting down 40 coal-fired power plants
And head here to check out previous reading lists !
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