It’s Time for Buildings To Stop Using A Third of US Energy
July 8th, 2023
Via Stateline, an article on the potential for improving building energy efficiency as a key tool in combatting climate change: That building looming on the corner? With a few tweaks, it might help with climate change. States with big commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are beginning to require that the owners of large buildings […]
Read more »Time to Go All In on Heat Pumps
July 8th, 2023
Via RMI, new analysis which shows that – in all 48 continental states, replacing a gas furnace with a heat pump could reduce climate pollution by up to 93 percent: Replacing fossil fuel-burning appliances with high-performing electric alternatives is crucial to meet our climate, health, and economic goals. However, the most recent data shows the United […]
Read more »Joe Biden’s $400 Billion Man
July 6th, 2023
Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, a report on Jigar Shah, who runs the Energy Department’s loan program, and who is trying to hand out a lot of money for green-technology projects, while navigating an unforgiving political environment: Jigar Shah is living an investor’s dream, one with more strings attached than a symphony orchestra. Shah has $400 billion […]
Read more »The Cooling Challenge
July 4th, 2023
Via the Clean Cooling Collaborative, a summary of the challenges/opportunities ahead: As temperatures rise, cooling demand is expected to triple by 2050. Cooling already produces more than 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions and if we don’t transform how we cool, these emissions could double over the same period. However, if we get cooling right, […]
Read more »Massachusetts City Mandates Net-Zero Emissions For Some Large Buildings By 2035
July 3rd, 2023
Via Smart Cities Dive, a report that Cambridge, Massachusetts has mandated net-zero emissions for some large buildings by 2035: Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Monday adopted requirements that all existing nonresidential buildings over 25,000 square feet achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with a more aggressive deadline of 2035 for the largest buildings. Cambridge said in a Tuesday […]
Read more »Carbon Counter: Cool Heads Needed for Air-Conditioning Conundrum
July 2nd, 2023
Courtesy of The Financial Times, commentary on how increasing air-con penetration could have significant impacts on emissions — but there is plenty that can be done to mitigate it: Climate change is full of vicious feedback loops. Take air conditioning. The hotter it gets, the more of it we will need, leading to additional energy […]
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.