HN Explorer

Ask HN: Best companies working on climate in 2020?

24 points by vikoonishmoog ↗ HN
Best here is likely defined as "has a sensible expected value of actually affecting the problem", so includes things useful today like credit marketplaces as well as exploratory like frontier carbon capture.

17 comments

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giantg2
I don't see any company actually affecting the problem meaningfully in the short term. There are plenty of renewable, cooling, carbon capture companies out there that may be investigating future tech, but not at the scale that will make a real impact.
anonengineerer
Aren't wind and solar marginally the least expensive power and outpacing the growth of things like coal?

I think the technology to solve climate change exists, deployment is the issue and many companies are working on it actively (e.g. SunPower), installing GW of renewable power and/or storage. Even if scale isn't where it needs to be, that's all the more reason to work in the sector because marginal effort will return actual GHG emission reductions since it's not just research anymore.

giantg2
Yeah, renewables can bid the lowest to the grid. They are gaining traction, but it will still take decades to replace the existing infrastructure. Even then, it won't fix the issue. We'd have to make similar changes to other infrastructure like vehicles and capture existing carbon. Then there's a bunch of other contributors, such as landfills, asphalt surfaces, even things like heat pumps and refrigerators when looking at local issues cities. So it will keep the issue from getting worse, but it won't fix it.
anonengineerer
I agree there's a lot of work to be done! What do you suggest folks who are interested in helping to solve the problem do if not researching solutions or trying to economically scale existing ones by working at the companies which are doing that?
giantg2
I'm just saying that there aren't any companies that I know of that currently can meaningfully affect the issue. Working for companies that are researching future tech is probably the next best thing.
anonengineerer
Ah got it. I guess I disagree, I think there are probably over a thousand companies actively working on the issue with the potential to massively reduce GHG emissions. Lots of examples in this thread. General categories are:

- EV manufacturers (eg Tesla) - Solar OEMs (eg SunPower) - Battery makers (eg Avalon) - Battery operators (eg Geli, AMS) - Wind providers (eg Vestas) - Large utilities which are focused on renewables (eg Enel) - Distributed generation companies (eg Sunrun)

The list goes on! GTM is a good news site with the pulse on each industry (https://www.greentechmedia.com)

I also agree that fundamental research (either towards an energy storage breakthrough or a next-gen nuclear breakthrough) are necessary. I think this is a "yes and" situation.

jwitchel
Here are a bunch of promising software companies worth joining, competing with, partnering with:

https://www.aurorasolar.com/ https://utilityapi.com/ https://www.folsomlabs.com/ https://www.sighten.io/ https://www.energytoolbase.com/ https://home.alsoenergy.com/

Climate change is (often/best seen as) an economic problem. Companies that cut the cost of renewable energy are the ones that matter. Soft cost reduction (as opposed to silicon wafers, transformers, etc.) is the best place for software to make a difference.

idoh
How about this:

- Change the way we commute: Tesla

- Change the way we work: Zoom and other remote work enablers

- Change the way we eat: Beyond / Impossibe and other meat substitutes

ploika
I don't think you can credit Tesla with changing the way we commute if that still involves loads of people driving their own car to work. If far fewer people really needed a car at all, that would be a big positive change for the environment.

That involves a long grind of unsexy stuff like urban planning, public service procurement and mapping bus and cycle routes. It does get to the front page of HN every once in a while, but it's not particularly flashy stuff.

illyism
We at XR global are always looking for developers to work on internal / external tools. But besides dev-work there are many other ways to contribute, be it copywriting, marketing, design work, ... Globally or in your local group.

https://rebellion.global

pknerd
How as a programmer and data guy I can help?
pknerd
I am a developer. If any One needs help then just contact me via my profile. I am into Python, data and a few other things. Happy to work on challenging tasks.