Electricity's make over ⚡
It's been a while friends! 👋 Lets talk about converting grids to renewable, a bit on regular appearances in the Climate Plug newsletter, and an EV battery looking to double the range.
Hey friends,
First, thank you to everyone who has subscribed over the holidays and the last month or so. Your shared curiosity for knowledge in this industry is so great to be around. And the desire to work and support this industry from those of you keen on making the transition is profound!
I took some time away from the newsletter to recharge and regather into the start of the year. It has been an incredibly wet winter here in San Francisco. We saw our second wettest day in 170+ years with 5.46 inches of water in a 24-hour period. We’re still getting our sunny days though.
Before we dive into the content I want to discuss my plan for Climate Plug going forward briefly. You’ll see weekly newsletters covering an important topic in climate. Alongside that, you’ll find our Climate Plug Spotlight section meant to cover innovative organizations in climate.
And in today’s email:
The current and possible future states of electricity
Innovation in energy storage - Our Next Energy
We Love Electricity
As the world embarks on one of our most challenging goals yet, one big piece will be transitioning our energy usage to renewable assets. This will likely look like things we’re already seeing. Solar power, wind power, hydropower, nuclear power, and more. It will also look like things we’ve yet to see. And that is one core part of the Climate Plug newsletter. The innovation, yet seen will support our transition to a carbon-free world.
First, what is electricity? Electricity is a secondary energy source we get by converting to another energy source like natural gas, oil, nuclear power, or coal. These sources are known as “primary sources.” Primary sources can be renewable or non-renewable, but electricity itself is neither.
The current state of affairs
As of 2020, electricity generation contributed roughly 25% of the 5,981 Million Metric Tons of CO2 equivalent. Plugging in will never go away so transitioning to renewable sources will be necessary. We can’t just stop using it. The good news here, electricity might make up 25% of global emissions but it could account for reducing far more than that.
I live in the United States and I honestly forget the complex infrastructure that has been built for me to enjoy flipping on a switch and always having power. San Francisco is home to some 815,201 people and we consume about 18,000-megawatt hours of electricity each day. Below is a rough idea of how much electricity per second is required:
The world: 5,000 gigawatts
The U.S: 1,000 gigawatts
Mid-sized cities: 1 gigawatt
Small towns: 1 megawatt
Average American house: 1 kilowatt
So now thinking back to the infrastructure we need to power 815,201 people’s needs seems a bit wild. We’ll talk about grid infrastructure perhaps another time but for now, I want to focus on the generation of that power. Keep in mind that improvement to grid infrastructure should run in parallel with our transition to renewables.
As of 2021, electricity produced by fossil fuels accounted for two-thirds of worldwide generated electricity.
A natural question to ask is why are we using fossil fuels when we have alternatives. The simple answer is that it is relatively cheap and efficient. I’ll stop there though because the word will likely be here soon. The cost of generating renewable electricity is not as much of an issue anymore, for some countries. For others with less developed electrical infrastructure that cost gets higher.
The transition
So now the more challenging aspects are making renewable electricity affordable for the entire world, dealing with the intermittency of some renewable sources like Solar, and finding the space to build these renewable sources.
The creation of renewables with the space we have
Installing these renewable sources will be challenging and require us to maximize the space we have. For another quick breakdown:
Fossil fuels can produce 500-10,000 watts per square meter
Nuclear can produce 500-1000 watts
Solar: 5-20 watts
Hydropower: 5-50 watts
Wind: 1-2 watts
The innovation we need
Alongside finding the space to install all of this renewable power, we can 100% bank on innovation to help us get there as well. This innovation will help us solve those other two big issues, renewable power intermittency, and cost.
The positive note for reducing cost is that much of the innovation is already there. A few to call out are Nuclear Fission, Geothermal energy, and offshore wind power. The difference between many of these options is location. In certain areas, geothermal energy will be stronger than offshore wind power and vice versa.
Up next is storing electricity from renewable energy. The innovation we need will come from battery technology (being supported now by the IRA - the parallel pressure and work from the private/public sector and the government will be pivotal to all climate innovation), pumped hydro, thermal storage, and cheap, clean hydrogen.
I’m incredibly confident that the transition to renewable electricity will be one of the world’s early wins in fighting climate change. We need to focus on making renewables cheaper, maximizing the space and technologies we have now, and innovating in the areas we are falling short on. All things that we are already doing, and doing well.
Climate Plug Spotlight
In this first publication with our Climate Plug spotlight, I wanted to, at random, find a company innovating in a space relevant to our content. Through some searching, I came across Our Next Energy (ONE).
One is an EV battery producer looking to create a battery capable of doubling the range of EVs with more sustainable raw materials from local supply chains.
ONE has recently raised $300 million in a series B round. Some of their battery techs boast a 600+ miles range while other products might achieve 300+ miles without controversial battery materials like nickel and cobalt.
As an EV driver, range anxiety can at times be concerning. The thought of embarrassment of having my EV towed because I ran out of juice is at times, looming. What excites me the most about this organization is its focus on scaling its organization and subsequently its battery tech with more sustainable material while also innovating on battery tech. While this tech might support longer-range EVs it will likely have a lasting impact on many other aspects of energy storage.
Thanks for reading and have a great week! We’d love to see you back for the next one.
— Brenden