Good Morning
A big congratulations to Aurora Solar for the huge Series D raise! Shoutout to Josh Kaplan (the best cowriter in the world) and our many dear Aurora-employed readers - thanks for the work you do to transform our energy grid.
Headline roundup:
Panama joins a host of other countries recognizing natural resources with unique legal rights
Jeep plans line of fully electric SUVs (WSJ)
Scientists and artists capture album of threatened Australian bird calls
The Greendicator
Top Deals of the Week
Palmetto Clean Technology, a home solar and energy company, raised about $375 million in a funding round led by Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital. (Bloomberg)
Aurora Solar, a software platform for solar sales and design, raised a $200M Series D co-led by Coatue and Energize Ventures (PRN)
Aspen Power Partners, a distributed generation platform focused on decarbonization, raised $120M in funding led by Ultra Capital, Redball Power, a global Swiss asset manager, and more (BW)
Climate tech and environmental assessment startup Project Canary raised a $111M Series B led by Insight Partners (PRN)
GridPoint, an energy management and optimization startup decarbonizing commercial buildings, raised a $75M strategic investment from Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Shell Ventures (BW)
Biomason, a 10-year-old, Durham, N.C.-based building materials startup that's using microorganisms to produce cement tiles, has raised $65 million in Series C funding led by 2150. Other investors include Celesta Capital and earlier investors Novo Holdings and Martin Marietta Materials. (FC)
Michigan-based energy storage tech startup ONE raised a $65M round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (PRN)
Aether, a startup creating diamonds from atmospheric carbon, raised an $18M Series A led by Helena (PRN)
Stämm Biotech, an eight-year-old, Buenos Aires-based company that's developing a desktop-sized bioreactor, which can be used for developing cultivated meat, has raised $17 million in Series A funding from a long list of new and earlier backers, including Decarbonization Consortium. (TC)
Summit Nanotech, a sustainable lithium extraction startup, raised a $14M Series A led by Xora Innovation and Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund (BW)
EV charging software provider ev.energy extended its Series A to $12.8M led by ArcTern Ventures (PRN)
Green hydrogen production startup H2U raised an $11M Series A led by Jericho Energy Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, and Hess Corporation (PRN)
Nori, a nearly five-year-old, Seattle-based carbon removal marketplace, just raised $7 million in Series A funding led by M13, with participation from Toyota Ventures and Placeholder. (GW)
TruCircle, a less than a year-old, London-based computer vision startup aiming to improve plastic recycling, has raised a $5.5M pre-seed round from Lowercarbon Capital and others (TC)
Green Theory
Don't Wait to ‘Sleep When You’re Dead’
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the world today, maybe you’d like to hit snooze on reality, freeze your corporal form, and wake up when things are cheerier. Cryonics could one day present a 'long sleep', but it’s also a long way off. What if you could bring yourself closer to a greener, cleaner future today, from the comfort of your own home? Better yet, this potential climate solution is free.
Knock out for Climate
Jayson Porter posits “sleep for climate justice.” As Porter portrays, encouraging US citizens to sleep 1-2 more hours per night might have the environmental impact of a small country going green. How is that possible? Let’s think back to our writers' highschool nights. While Mack slept responsibly (by comparison, at least), Josh burned the midnight oil. Cruising around in a gas car, buying high-carbon burritos–he could have been catching Zzzzs instead!
When more than 1 in 3 US adults can’t get the minimum recommended amount of sleep, the benefits of a bit more rest extend beyond avoiding late-night drives and other emission-demanding night owling. Insufficient sleep is associated with increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, COPD, and more. Better protecting our bodies and the planet by passing out earlier or sleeping in a little more, we also stand to elevate our mental state.
Stronger for Snoozing
Everyone–we hope–can recognize the clarity and fullness of a day fueled by proper sleep. Just take it from his holiness the Dalai Lama, who’s credited with saying “sleep is the best meditation.” Interrupted deep sleep, and daytime symptoms of restless nights present “leading contributors to emotional dysregulation.” With more sleep, and more resilience in our waking time, perhaps we can better build bridges of empathy, and close gaps of cognitive dissonance.
As PBS explains: “No one wants to believe their daily activities are responsible for a global disaster that has already turned millions of people into climate refugees and killed scores of others. So people change their minds about the issue rather than changing their habits because it’s an easier way to cope.” Coping gets even more difficult when disrupted sleep cycles “precede and contribute to the onset of disorders like depression,” as Cloonan, et al. write. Though daily demands may push you to squeeze more waking hours out of your day, sleeping more helps enrich the rest of the day's hours.
Fighting Back, from the Comfort of Bed
Porter’s rallying cry for sleep isn’t a first strike against climate change–it’s a resistance. As the globe warms, and weather events intensify, scientists are tracking how climate change is truly keeping us up at night. Between the direct impact of temperature increase, and the insidious role of stress from catastrophe after catastrophe, we’re sleeping less and less. What’s worse–and should come as no surprise–the link between warming and sleep disruption is even more dire in low-income communities and the US elderly population.
Most people in the US live paycheck to paycheck, and 4 in 5 consume caffeine daily. These conditions stand in the way of better sleep, and cutting back on caffeine is a lot easier than finding a new way to make ends meet. As Michael Pollan explores in This Is Your Mind on Plants, drinking less coffee may have another green impact outside of drifting off better: slowing down the excesses of capitalism accelerating full climate catastrophe. Even just maintaining current levels of sleep serves a victory against the tides of climate change. Spare your adenosine receptors and pass on one morning’s mug, or simply endeavor to pass out for a little more time.
Just Rest’s Justice
Competition for sleep is fierce, but the impact of societal striving to sleep more may help heal the planet and elevate how we relate. With hotter nights, and more dramatic weather year by year, proper sleep “should be emphasized as part of climate adaptation, including in the context of humanitarian response.” With any luck, more people will wake up to the climate reality each day, and perhaps we can all rest a bit easier.
The Closer
Great video of a very elusive, very cool creature. So precise it looks almost robotic…