☢️ A Breakthrough for Fusion
Scientists are one step closer to recreating the sun’s power on Earth, according to an announcement made by MIT this week. Unlike fission nuclear reactions, which power nuclear reactors today, fusion power generates electricity by combining two atomic nuclei and capturing the resulting energy in a reactor. Such a reactor would be virtually carbon-free, and would be, as MIT’s vice president for research Maria Zuber put it, “in a lot of ways is the ultimate clean energy source.”
Researchers measures a field strength of 20 teslas from there high-temperature electromagnet, long seen as a crucial goal for the viability of fusion reactions as an energy source. With a working magnet in hand, the researchers will now move their experiment into a lab where they believe they can capture the power of the sun where so many likeminded projects have failed before.
⬇️ Gravity for Sale
California-based Energy Vault became the world’s first gravity storage startup to go public this week, after it was acquired through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Novus Capital Corporation.
The company offers a long-sought after alternative to the lithium-ion batteries that have so far dominated the large-scale battery market. Gravity storage takes a variety of forms, but each approach uses excess renewable energy to lift heavy objects, either uphill or in the air, that produce electricity on their way down with the help of gravity.
Energy Vault’s first installation in Switzerland is a six-armed tower that directs a delicate choreography of specialized bricks that can store 10-35MWh of electricity, with an output of roughly 5MWh when they’re brought back to earth. The company has yet to build its biggest model yet, if successful could give the world an option for energy storage that takes energy off the ground rather than from it.
🤖 AI, a Climate Solution?
If the robots don’t conquer us, they may just help us solve the climate crisis. That is the conclusion of a study published by the World Economic Forum this week, which outlines recommendations for how artificial intelligence can contribute to making the renewable energy sector drastically more efficient between now and 2050.
It’s a comprehensive breakdown that recommends employing AI along the lines of nine principles, organized by three categories: design, enabling and governing. The end result of these changes would be more than a trillion dollars of added value for every 1% of additional efficiency the energy sector alone. But for all the savings, the report states clearly that these systems will be complex and that above all, the “future power system looks highly decentralized.”
💨 Wind Power Windfall
Wind power capacity is predicted to explode globally after a lull during the first year of the pandemic, according to a report by the Global Wind Energy Council. The international group foresees more than 12 gigawatts (GW) coming online in 2021, doubling the 6.1GW added to global supply last year in the midst of the pandemic.
That number would easily beat the record for annual wind installation set in 2019, but still represents a drop in the bucket compared to the 2,000 GW that the International Energy Agency estimates we need by 2050 to keep warming in check.
Acting on the trend, this week the state of California passed a bill directing state regulators to chart a course for meeting the Biden Administration’s stated goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind nationally by 2030, and to established goals for 2045. The bill’s language is still light on specifics, but represents a response to on one of the report’s key conclusions: that governments must cut red tape tying up new turbines.
🔋 The Circle of (Battery) Life
Sometimes energy storage solutions aren’t all big business and breakthrough innovations, as one California startup has set out to prove in the Mojave Desert.
This week, Canary Media produced a video tour of B2U Energy Solutions’ pilot facility, where the company has connected stacks of used Nissan Leaf batteries to a modest one mega-watt solar plant. The company hopes to contribute a solution to the infamous duck curve by storing solar power when the sun is out, and releasing it at night when users go home and energy demand spikes.
At the same time, the project offers an answer to the thorny issue of where electric vehicle batteries end up when they have to be replaced. As many as 95% of all electric vehicle car batteries go unrecycled at the end of their life powering cars, throwing a wrench into the sustainability goals of fully electric cars when their batteries end up in landfills. The company is currently bidding to enter California’s power market, and believes it will only become more profitable as the supply of used batteries picks up.
New Climate Jobs
VitroLabs - We cultivate authentic materials without compromise,by harnessing science and nature responsibly by partnering the most innovative minds in science and technology with the finest craftspeople to accelerate the use of cellular agriculture for good. Our first product is slaughter-free, real leather.
- Executive Assistant (Milpitas, California, United States)
- Pilot Manufacturing Manager (Milpitas, California, United States)
- Bioprocess Engineer (Milpitas, California, United States)
Numina - Numina makes a hardware and software platform that uses computer vision to help urban planners and municipal governments design better (safer) streets and public places. We sense bicycle, pedestrian, and other street traffic, and convert this data into real-time intelligence — without surveillance — to enable all sorts of partners in automation, autonomy, and development in the public right-of-way.
- Computer Vision Engineer (Remote)
WattTime - WattTime is a nonprofit with a software tech startup DNA, dedicated to giving everyone everywhere the power to choose clean energy. We invented Automated Emissions Reduction (AER), which allows utilities, IoT device and energy storage companies, and any end user to effortlessly reduce emissions from energy, when and where they happen.
- Senior Software/Data Engineer - Python and SQL (Remote)
Cambium Carbon - Cambium Carbon is a circular economy platform for trees in US cities. We are working to connect the broken supply chains in the urban forestry industry through tech, and are creating a new, highly desirable, class of wood called Carbon-Smart WoodTM.
- Director of Marketing and Communications (Remote / Washington DC, USA)
Flair - Flair was founded to solve a problem that almost every house or apartment has: the room that doesn't heat or cool evenly. Its temperature is out of sync with the rest of the house. It's either too hot or too cold. Flair fixes that. We built a suite of products that give you room-level temperature control at an affordable cost. We want you to be comfortable and to save energy. It's as simple as that.
- Marketing Manager (Remote / San Francsico, CA)
AlliedOffsets - AlliedCrowds has a unique mission: combine technology, data, and finance to bring radical transparency to carbon offsetting. We do this by creating innovative data products that help to unlock capital for entrepreneurs and project developers in emerging markets, enabling them to grow their businesses, hire new employees, and contribute to the global economy and UN SDGs. We have also created AlliedOffsets, the first aggregated database of carbon offsetting projects globally, providing transparency to the market.
- Carbon Market Business Development Lead (London, UK)
Mapistry - Mapistry’s SaaS platform provides industrial companies with the compliance data tracking and analytics they need to make better environmental, health, and safety (EHS) decisions.
- Enterprise Customer Success Manager (Remote)
- Senior Product Manager (Remote)
Tezza - Tezza is an early-stage public benefit corporation focused on climate change and sustainability. Our vision is a world where on every menu, grocery shelf, and table, the most exciting foods are also the most sustainable. To achieve this, our mission is to use modern, high-throughput science to discover cultured foods that tap into the diversity of the microbial world. We are starting with a new category of aged, hard cheeses—that happen to be made from plants. The dairy industry produces more than 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions—more than aviation—and poses further sustainability as well as animal-welfare challenges. We provide better, more affordable, and healthier products that bring people together around a shared love of food.
- Scientist, microbiology (Oakland, CA)
- Product developer, cheese (Oakland, CA)
Pique Action - Pique Action is a climate solutions media company. Our mission is to tell stories that matter in order to effect change. We are the opposite of doom scrolling.
- Director of Social Media (Remote / Los Angelos, CA, USA)
Build a Climate Startup - We are a climate tech venture studio and investor based in Europe, on a mission to eliminate at least one gigaton of CO2eq from annual emissions.
- Venture Science Associate - Climate Tech (Remote / Paris, France)
- Talent Analyst - Climate Tech (Remote / Paris, France)
Inspire - Inspire is a clean energy technology company on a mission to transform the way people access clean energy and accelerate the world toward a net-zero carbon future. Through a subscription model, Inspire allows customers to access 100% clean energy for one flat monthly price. Customers enjoy a seamless billing experience while supporting a more sustainable future. They are hiring for dozens of roles in the following departments in multiple U.S. cities:
- Commercial Operations
- Finance & Accounting
- Growth & Analytics
- Legal
- Marketing
- Communications
- Finance & Accounting
- Operations
- People
- Sales
- Technology (Software Engineering)
Forerunner - Forerunner builds intelligent tools that help communities adapt to the impacts of climate change. We empower government agencies to access, understand, and mobilize local-level flood risk data at scale. This data, in turn, allows them to better communicate potential futures to residents and plan for a dynamically changing world.
- Mid-level Full-Stack Software Engineer (Remote)
ActionECO - ActionECO will educate Atlantans on sustainable practices through conversations, tours, and turning supporters into environmental advocates. Organizations across all different sectors -- fashion, food, and transit, to name a few -- are working to reshape the sustainability practices in their industries, and ActionECO will connect individuals with these nonprofits, so each person can find their passion in the work.
- Executive Director (Remote / Atlanta, GA, USA)
Clarity - At Clarity, we strive to empower the world in their mission to fight air pollution. We do it by making it accessible for cities and industries to measure and understand and take effective action against air pollution.
- Environmental Project Manager - Air Quality (Remote)
Sofar Ocean Technologies - Our goal is to create a data-abundant ocean and provide critical insights to science, society, and industries. As a first step, we deploy and grow the world’s largest real-time ocean weather sensor network which provides the most accurate marine weather information and forecasts to power industry-specific solutions.
- Boat Operations Intern (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Data Infrastructure Engineer (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Embedded Hardware Engineer (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Marine Weather Modeller (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Production Technician (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Senior Software Engineer, Route Optimization Engine (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Embedded Software Intern (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Senior Software Engineer, Fullstack (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Senior Frontend Engineer (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Marine Weather Modeller (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Technology (Software Engineering) (San Francisco, SA, USA)
ClimateAi - ClimateAi is on a mission to accelerate resilience in food, water, and energy. The company has launched the first of its kind Resilience-as-a-Service platform in agriculture to help supply chains adapt to climate change.
- Sales Agronomist (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Chief Product Officer (San Francisco, SA, USA)
- Customer Success Manager (Remote)
- Head of Software Engineering (Remote)
- Climate Data Scientist (Remote)
- Head of Sales (Remote)
Ambrook - Ambrook is building a financial management platform for agriculture, starting with tools that help farmers and ranchers automatically discover and apply to farm assistance (e.g. disaster relief, conservation programs, and climate incentives). We’re launching the first version of our full platform later this year.
- Software Engineering (Remote)
- Growth Marketing (Remote)
Deep Science Ventures - DSV has built and invested in 30+ ventures across, healthcare, energy and other sectors with over £130m of value created in just 3.5 years. 100% of DSV’s recently launched ventures have gone on to raise further funding within 12 months.
- Talent Associate: building founding teams and community engagement (London, UK)
That's it for this week! Remember, you can always view thousands of more jobs on Climatebase.org.
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