Good Morning
What we’re reading this week:
The Greendicator
Top Deals of the Week
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fda4b2618-d250-48e8-a80f-7bd90f362a43_1080x720.png)
Encina, a producer of circular chemicals from waste materials, raised $55M in financing from IMM Global and SW Recycle Fund (BW)
Heirloom, a CA based direct air capture carbon removal startup, raised a $55M Series A led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and others. (PRN)
Mori, a startup aiming to extend the shelf-life of food to reduce waste and create more sustainable supply chains, raised a $50M Series B1 led by Prelude Ventures (BW)
Validere, a commodity and sustainability management platform for the energy industry, raised a $43M Series B led by Mercuria Energy and BlackRock (BW)
Nautilus Labs, a startup working to decarbonize ocean shipping, raised a $34M Series B led by M12 and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund (BW)
Plantish, a year-old, Rehovot, Israel-based alternative seafood startup that says its plant-based product mimics cooked salmon in taste, texture, appearance, has $12 million in seed funding led by State of Mind Ventures. (TC)
Tender Foods, an 18-month-old, Boston-based developer of plant-based meals, just raised $12 million in seed funding. Lowercarbon Capital led the round. (FBN).
Perch Energy, a year-old, Boston-based community and retail solar startup that helps its customers track their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint, has raised $6.2 million in Series A funding led by Arborview Capital. (P)
Copper Labs, a nearly six-year-old, Boulder, Co.-based outfit that says its wireless energy monitor can deliver real-time, grid-edge intelligence about electric, gas and water usage, with or without smart meters, has raised $5.5 million in Series A funding. Clean Energy Ventures led the round (CL)
Cambium Carbon, a startup building a regenerative wood supply chain, raised a $3.2M seed round led by MaC Venture Capital (PRN)
Green Theory
Spreading out the Sunbutter
One in ten people wakes up without access to electricity every day. Of the other nine, several encounter rolling blackouts or grapple with energy insecurity. Since you’re reading this, chances are you have access to electricity: powering your phone or computer right now. If you couldn’t rely on the wall socket to deliver electrons, your day might have looked dramatically different already.
In post-industrial societies, we employ electricity across a variety of applications, changing the temperature of our homes or our food, or blasting lightbulbs and screens. Entrenched utilities of today capitalized on economies of scale (Costco-sized discount) and built highly centralized energy infrastructure. At a high level, traditional energy utilities generate power in large plants, transmit it across high-voltage (HV) lines, and distribute electricity to consumers (in a building, usually) after transforming the power from HV lines. They face relatively few competitors, even in deregulated markets, as upfront investment for new entrants remains high.
Pursuant of a clean energy economy, leaders agree on curtailing or eventually eliminating coal and gas-burning plants. In retaliation, vested fossil fuel interests scream that their profit uhh pollution err market power wait political power …electrical power (there we go) is keeping people’s lights on. No doubt, many depend on fossil fuels today, but when most people in the US would prefer to protect the environment in determining the energy mix—at the expense of maximum fossil fuel production—it should be obvious no one is calling for insecurity. On the contrary, green energy offers both hope and evidence for more resilient, reliable, and accessible power systems. While some renewables questions remain contentious, the details of specific energy technologies can overshadow a larger question that divides the renewables space:
Should we spread out energy infrastructure?
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ee76f04-9248-4af4-9e53-30d4bb61a107_3456x3456.jpeg)
Putting all of our Eggsnergy in One Basket
On Wednesday, the world held its breath as Japan was struck by another massive earthquake in the vicinity of Fukushima, stranding millions without power. Less than two weeks prior, Russian violence befell the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, sparking a blaze at the Zaporizhzhia site. In building risky operations despite warning markers from the past and neglecting the “potential threat of a full-scale military attack,” these nuclear planners’ corner cutting comes into stark relief. Beyond the immediate impacts of such a disaster, studies find survivors of Chernobyl and Fukushima (2011) disasters developed serious psychological side effects, lowering life expectancy by 7 years in the case of Japanese evacuees.
On the other hand, one nuclear plant can power over 7 million US homes. At about $1000 per household in costs, with a small land footprint and no emissions, nuclear energy presents a compelling option to replace dirty generators. Further, zero-tolerance strategies around this energy source may introduce other risks, such as Germany’s dependence on Russian oil in the wake of its own nuclear plant closures. Regardless of the energy source, large centralized operations pose a risk as a concentrated point of failure.
Gridlocked by the Grid
Though malfunctioning nuclear power draws intense media attention, the predominant centralized power plants (those burning coal, natural gas, and other fossil fuels) quietly destroy the planet in their regular day to day operations. From drilling and pipeline contamination of wildlands to the legacy of industrialized racism choking our skies, the best case for these worst emitters is far from rosy.
In the US, most markets entrust regulated utilities with building and maintaining critical infrastructure. Unfortunately, they get paid guaranteed profit margins on tried and true spending, so capital-intensive projects such as installing unnecessary HV lines get preferential treatment over inexpensive resiliency technologies.
When Hurricane Maria cut off power to over 3 million US citizens in Puerto Rico, their highly centralized energy system—built and crippled by greed on an island largely denied political rights—stood at the center of the problem. In The Battle for Paradise, Naomi Klein outlines one source of hope in the dark nights that followed, rooftop solar systems.
Between bustling co-ops and remote hilltop buildings, distributed, small solar photovoltaic (PV) systems harnessed the unrelenting sun and served as a “pillar of local recovery”. The HV lines were down across the island, and though some solar panels went flying due to improper installation, the surviving modules delivered on their promise—energy from the sun, straight to your building.
Power to the People
Among Drawdown Solutions aimed at slashing energy emissions, two versions of solar technology clock in at #2 and #3: Utility-scale Solar and Distributed Solar. The difference speaks to the scale of the solar PV system: utility refers to massive solar farms you may see by a highway, while distributed PV systems are smaller, most often found on roofs or as parking lot shade structures.
Today, a debacle over a proposed California solar policy has reignited tension between big gas & electric companies and distributed solar advocates. While both sides argue their solution promotes equity for Californians, the decision is ultimately up to an unelected board called the California Public Utilities Commission. Concentrating political power and concentrating energy systems seem to go hand-in-hand. Take, for example, the people of Puerto Rico, still reeling from Hurricane Maria, with no official death count, governed by an unelected board, writ large. In the face of recent fatal wildfires caused by California utilities, one cannot overlook the physical and psychological dangers of dependence on faceless institutional energy; it doesn’t matter if you’re leading the solar adoption curve in California, or fighting to unlock ample sunlight on an island in recovery without just self-representation, skipping HV lines represents some form of freedom.
Whether community solar or DIY car-top jobs, distributed solar gives people a rare opportunity to literally take power into their own hands. To be sure, not all solar farms funnel profits to utilities, and rooftop solar is not without implicit costs and challenges. Stepping back: large, centralized power plants clearly play a key role in society today, and have through recent history. At the same time, their inherent vulnerabilities threaten everyone, and their “peak” performance especially punishes those already most vulnerable. If increasingly violent natural disasters will push more to the brink of survival, and we haven’t evolved past war, distributed solar energy still provides a more democratic, resilient, and straightforward path to energy security in bright markets.