Happy Friday
What we’re reading this week:
Reddit’s ex-CEO: Bill Gates is wrong about trees (FC)
Rivian Loses $33K On Every Truck It Sells (J)
The Rise of Innovation in Wildfire Detection and Response (Q)
The Greendicator
Top Deals of the Week
![Folding bicycle Folding bicycle](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff62a142d-a84a-4db6-b40f-a35566b50297_730x486.jpeg)
Quinbrook, a specialist investment manager focused exclusively on the infrastructure needed to deliver the energy transition, raised $750M for its UK-focused Renewables Impact Fund (BW)
Green hydrogen production startup Electric Hydrogen raised a $380M Series C led by Fortescue, Fifth Wall, and Energy Impact Partners (BW)
Amperon, an AI-powered electricity forecasting platform, raised a $20M Series B led by Energize Capital (PRN)
Qube Technologies, a global leader in cost-effective and accurate continuous emissions monitoring technology, raised a $15M Series B from Riverbend Energy Group (BW)
EV drive-brake startup DeepDrive raised a $15M Series A led by Continental (EU)
Osmoses, an industrial separations technology company that purifies gases, raised an $11M seed round led by Energy Capital Ventures (BW)
Bastille, a French startup aiming to challenge Brompton’s folding bike market, raised $10.5M in funding from Eutopia and Ankaa Ventures (TC)
Cultivate Power, a distributed solar and storage project developer, raised $10M in equity funding from Generate Capital (PRN)
Peak Energy, a startup developing low-cost giga-scale energy storage tech for the grid, raised a $10M funding round led by Eclipse (PRN)
Pow.Bio, a startup developing intelligent continuous fermentation tech, raised a $9.5M Series A led by Re:Food and Thia Ventures (BW)
Irrigation management startup Treetoscope raised a $7M seed round led by Champel Capital (PRN)
Green Theory
Putting Lightning in a Bottle
Electricity’s value varies dramatically across time and space. On the supply side, The Economist explains:
“The difficulty of bottling electricity makes its economics unusual: it is a question not just of “how much” but also “when”.
The demand side is no simpler: the 99th percent of phone charge is worth far less than your last 1 percent of juice, and energy demand surges in concentrated periods of the day and year. With the rise in major weather events, and an aging electrical grid, more in the US are learning the pain of losing access to the power we expect, and rely on.
In response to utilities shutting off power, and climate events shutting it off for us, homeowners are searching for ways to improve their energy independence and resilience.
Gassed up on Resilience
Take one climate tech software leader in California, who discussed his family’s difficulty repeatedly losing power in Marin County over recent years. Last time an outage dragged on, though his home was without electricity for the fridge, lights, and kitchen, his neighbors were inviting the neighborhood over for hot breakfasts on their gas stove. To ensure he’ll be able to offer his family and community the same experience, he’s installing a brand new gas stove.
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Across the country, a homeowner in Iowa recently shared her desire for protection from power outages. Whether to power heating or medical equipment, she was looking for a way to have off-grid backup electrical capacity. Citing safety concerns about gasoline-burning machines, she explained her fully electrified suite of home appliances, from heat pump to lawn mower. Opting for a propane-burning generator, rather than a home battery, the less expensive, more familiar emergency option won the day.
What do these stories tell us about home electrification and energy security?
First, electric appliances continue to be falsely seen as downright unreliable. A new electric induction stove can, in fact, come with its own energy storage (see Copper and Impulse), and help back up other appliances, too. Electric devices don’t need an integrated battery: they can be fortified with whole-home batteries for emergencies, instead.
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Second, even for an enthusiastic home electrifier, the electric options cost more upfront. A fuel-fed portable generator is around 50-75% the price of a similar battery storage setup. Despite the fact many batteries can save consumers money over time (using smart charging features to draw power when it’s cheap, so you can use it when it’s costly), the initial price tag pushes away homeowners.
For a Rainy Day
To win over reliability-sensitive US consumers, home electrification companies need to put storage options front and center. If a consumer is worried about power shutting off, the idea of going electric can induce fear, leading to rejection. A backup electricity supply (whether gas or battery), can put electric appliances back on the table, but sticker shock at the upfront price of energy storage serves as another significant barrier to the residential energy transition.
A financial product that lowers initial battery cost in exchange for a share of savings over time would unlock tremendous growth in home batteries, and more households could access clean appliances with peace of mind.
Just as utility-scale energy storage will be needed to clean up the grid, home energy storage covers essential electrification gaps, while slashing residential emissions and utility bills. The battery could be in your stove, garage, car, cupboard, or community energy storage system, shared by your neighbors. As the cornerstone of electrical resilience, storage clears the way for clean home electrification galore.
The Closer
For the first time since reintroduction into the wild, the population of Mexican wolves in Arizona and New Mexico has surpassed 200! - USFWS