Money: Is It Good Or Bad For The Energy Transition?
Energy Terminal Weekly Newsletter
May 29th 2023 | Issue #53 | Subscribe here
Happy Tuesday!
Welcome back to ET weekly, Energy Terminal's weekly newsletter where we cover trends, opportunities, events and updates across the energy industry.
In this issue:
😱 Clean Energy Innovator Fellowship?
🖥️ A part time way to help a clean tech startup
💰 Clean energy investments to make
🔧Building global energy infrastructure through investment
🤖 AI's role in energy!?
🚨 Top 3 Energy Opportunities 🚨
1) Clean Energy Innovator Fellowship, Department of Energy
Innovator Fellows selected for this exciting program spend one to two years with critical energy organizations to advance clean energy and grid resilience solutions. Ideal candidates will already have clean energy related skills and an interest to build them further.
2) Energy Analyst - Renewables and Storage, Ascend Analytics
Ascend Analytics is an innovative "climate tech" software and consulting company focused on energy analytics that are transforming the electric grid to renewables. As part of the Ascend Team, you will perform leading edge decision analysis for battery renewable project development & operation. Ascend is seeking talented individuals with a serious commitment to energy analytics, empirical modeling, and an understanding of the dynamics of today's power market.
3) Content Writer, Climatebase
Climatebase helps talented professionals discover climate job opportunities and transition into the space — and in doing so, we help climate-focused organizations hire the mission-driven talent they need to succeed. The content writer can be a full-time, part-time or very part-time role, click on the job description to learn more!
📣 Episode 30
Brendan Duval, CEO and Founder of the Glenfarne Group, walks us through the importance of equitable investment, especially in the context of the energy transition. The Glenfarne Group LLC, an asset management firm, invests its assets into global energy infrastructure, looking to help decarbonize energy systems throughout the globe. But, investing in the energy transition does not mean just investing in renewables, it means taking a “fully engaged approach”, i.e. investing in coal plants for the purpose of decommissioning them, and looking at other traditional fuel sources more holistically to see how existing infrastructure can be appropriately altered. Brendan is a firm believer that appropriate investment is key in speeding the transition forward, and his insights on this are ones you don’t want to miss!
Keynotes:
Investment’s role in the energy transition
What is conscious capital allocation + why is it important
The importance of supporting and engaging local communities when working globally
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📚 Reading List
Investing money "cleanly", billions for rural America + growth of the green industrial industry . Check out this week’s handpicked reading list to learn more about these groundbreaking energy topics 🔥
🎙️Podcasts:
The Carbon Copy, How will we power all those green factories?
The US manufacturing sector is growing, and this will allow necessary industrial equipment for the energy transition to be built in the US instead of abroad
This change will hopefully prevent supply chain issues from becoming as serious an issue as in the past
By manufacturing more products at home the US can meet more environmental regulations and can also power many of its factories with renewables
The renewables each factory will rely on will depend greatly on the time of the day that the factory must be running
The Energy Gang, AI in energy; evolution or revolution?
AI isn’t new in energy; GE has been developing AI for over a decade and BP invested in an AI company in 2017
Already, AI has been used to optimize power generation, improve grid management, and make energy more efficient.
Two areas where AI has a lot of potential for impact in energy are predicting demand and improving energy storage
However, while there is a lot of potential, challenges cybersecurity concerns, biases in AI algorithms, data quality and availability, etc. need to be better thought through for AI to really have a revolutionary impact
📰️ Articles:
The Hill, Biden administration announces nearly $11 billion for renewable energy in rural communities
The Biden Administration announced that nearly $11 billion will be distributed through programs, such as loans and grants, under the USDA, with the purpose of expanding renewable energy, creating jobs, and building infrastructure in rural areas
This investment should spur economic growth in historically underserved and economically disadvantaged communities, while also contributing the the administrations larger emissions targets
The USDA has committed to implementing and managing these projects in collaboration with other federal agencies, state governments, tribal organizations, and members of the private sector
Zoomer, Clean Money
Three type of sustainable investing: ESG integration (analysis of a company’s environmental, social and governance practices), negative screens (investments that avoid certain industries), and impact investing (investing in companies that have the potential to positively change the world)
It is important to be aware of greenwashing when making sustainable investments - do your research on the company you are making an investment on
Sustainable funds are very similar to traditional ones in terms of structure, the market fluctuates and as such the return on investment does too. But, overall returns on sustainable funds have been slightly better than traditional funds
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