Energy and Grid

It’s been a hot summer and people have been flocking to their air conditioning units for some much-needed cool comfort.

As you’ve likely seen in the headlines, the temperatures in Texas have reportedly reached the second hottest day since 1950 (hello climate change). The organization that is in control of Texas’ electric grid, ERCOT, is requesting that residents conserve their energy usage.

Texas is the only state that operates its own power grid which inherently makes things a little tricky. That being said, as a whole, the United State’s power grids and overall infrastructure remain old and outdated and are not equipped to stay up to date with our changing climate.

Electricity powers our everyday life — from heating to lighting and everything in between. Traditionally, we have met these demands through the use of fossil fuels. According to Project Drawdown, the energy sector accounts for roughly 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions each year.

The challenges in this sector are threefold — we must improve efficiency, change energy production methods, and improve energy systems. Massive reductions can occur through reducing demand, shifting generation to renewable sources, and conducting improvements to the grid.

Climate Tech VC suggests that the keys ingredients to a healthy energy and grid sector are clean power generation, DERs, hydrogen, energy storage, and grid management. The reliability and resiliency of energy systems is the root of virtually every sector and arguably the entire global economy.

With great weakness comes even greater opportunity and companies like Arcadia, Uplight, Autogrid, Enervee, Singularity Energy, WattBuy, and many more are leading the “charge” forward!