MISO currently has several job openings for people with backgrounds in economics, engineering, public policy, and programming. We have offices in the suburbs of Minneapolis and Indianapolis, as well as Little Rock, Arkansas.
Hey Volts listeners! I’m an engineering manager for CLEAResult and we’re hiring for about 50 positions for Potomac Edison’s energy efficiency rebate programs. This was my first job out of college and I’ve been here from 6 years and I love it! We’re looking for engineers and account managers to find opportunities at different commercial and industrial sites. Please reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have any questions and see our open jobs at https://clearesult.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CLEAResult_External_Careers?locations=1b596b38079f01af5ff59a5e3630872a
Hello Volts Listeners! My name is Zach Brown and I run Tidelines Institute, a climate leadership nonprofit in Alaska. We have two rad open-enrollment courses coming up this summer. Both will help you take your climate activism to the next level.
Hey Volts community, as with Ali, I'm a longtime listener, first time poster.
I'm a Canadian international energy & climate affairs specialist based in Geneva, Switzerland and in the market for a new job (either Switzerland based, or with a full-time remote option).
Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) is hiring a Program Manager for our Clean Energy Accounting Program (CEAP)!!! Must be based in San Francisco or the greater Bay Area, CA.
Hi all--my company GridStor, a battery storage developer and IPP, has several positions open now: https://gridstor.com/careers/ -- especially exciting options for engineers or senior development folks to get in early on our growth.
The transit tech lab is looking for growth stage companies to apply to its innovation challenge trying to make nyc public transit systems more resilient: https://transitinnovation.org/challenge/resilience
Hey fellow Volts listeners. We are seeking a full stack software developer with 3-5 years experience to work from home and make a big difference on climate. Climate Action Now is publisher of the leading app for citizen advocacy on climate. Our app users have taken over 2 million actions on climate in the last two years. If interested, please send resume to support@climateactionnow.com
Listener, first time poster. Looking for engineering opportunities in microgrid, DER, and EV. I have a masters in renewables with a thesis in microgrid connection. If you would like to talk further (about work or life), please shoot a message below or on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisiddique/)!
The Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI) is hiring a Research Analyst! CETI is an independent research & analysis nonprofit working to accelerate an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest. Position based in Seattle, WA:
I'm a video production and digital marketing professional looking for a marketing role in a climate-related business or organization. If anyone knows of someone looking for that kind of help, please let me know. Thank you!
The MN Efficient Technology Accelerator (ETA), is hiring a commercial construction Outreach Specialist position specializing in Luminaire Level Lighting Controls: https://www.etamn.org/work-us#job-postings
This team will be hiring a couple of dozen more in the coming handful of years. Stay tuned.
MN Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) is also hiring for several more roles (Contracts Manager, Energy Auditor, Energy Counselor): https://www.mncee.org/work-with-us
There are a number of bills making their way through the Washington State Legislature this session that pertain to climate and housing affordability, including one to which I’ve contributed, House Bill 2071.
If passed the bill will allow wall assemblies containing insulation to intrude eight inches into setbacks for both new Passive House residential buildings and existing residential buildings doing deep energy retrofits, including older existing buildings that don’t meet current setback rules. It also changes the way the area of buildings are measured that takes away the penalty for the thicker walls of Passive House, by measuring allowable gross square footage from the inside of drywall instead of the outside of siding. For a 1,000 SF DADU that will mean a gain of 7-8% of usable floor area—an extra room! The bill also allows an extra eight inches of height to accommodate more insulation.
The bill recognizes that housing affordability and climate change mitigation are linked. The 250,000 housing units (I think it is) we need statewide by 2050 will need to radically reduce emissions over current code in order to meet our climate targets.
As Amory Lovins pointed out 30+ years ago, saving energy (“negawatts”!) is much less expensive than generating new capacity. (About a third of the cost I believe.) Passive House buildings use up to 70% less energy for heating and cooling than 2018 IECC, Washington State’s current energy code.
The bill has made it out of committee, with a recommendation to pass. Link to the bill...
Anyone interested in tackling car dependency? I'm exploring a collective approach to it, incl. media, organizing, building resources and tools. You can see details here, along with a contact!
To Rob Harrison's point, here are a couple other interesting, important bills the Washington Legislature is working on:
* HB 1589 just passed the WA House this morning. This is the Puget Sound Energy decarbonization deal. (If this thing passes, I hope we get a podcast with the representatives who made it happen.)
* HB 2131 is Rep. Ramel's thermal energy networks bill. It amends WA's obligation to serve law to say a gas utility can meet this obligation by operating a thermal energy network, creates a grant program for thermal energy network pilot projects, and allows gas utilities to combine their gas and thermal energy networks into a single rate base. Hopefully this gets voted out of committee tomorrow (Jan 23).
Looking for funding/support for STEM non-profit Electrathon America. Teaching high school students how to build super-efficient EV’s since the 1980’s. We’d like to expand the program to include more practical micromobility and minimobility vehicles.
Hi Gary, great to see your comment! We are working on a documentary this summer, crossing the USA (SF to NYC) with solar-powered bicycles. We are looking for partners to help us build the 2 bikes. Should we chat? If so, please email us: travelfortheclimate@gmail.com
I refer to national energy flowcharts produces by Lawrence Livermore National Labs at https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/. They illustrate how much energy is useful and how much is waste.
Hello, its good to be part of Volts community. I am trying to build a DAC CO2 capture test bed. I am still not sure which is better amines or calcium carbonate looping - cost and scaling wise. I would be happy to chat with anyone with expertise or insights in this domain.
At The Green Journey we are on an exciting mission to travel to all continents over the next 3+ years with no planes, with the goal to interview climate leaders on the way who are working on concrete solutions. Feel free to check out our Substack for travel & climate stories. Also, here is our IG: https://www.instagram.com/thegreen.journey/
Thanks Jake! We get this feedback a fair amount, and while I agree that Discord/Slack/Discourse could be ideal, most of Volts' subscribers don't have these apps, and we don't want to fraction the conversation. Furthermore, the content is hosted here and it's best if discussion lives as close to the content as possible. We want as few barriers to discussion as possible. There's no doubt that this platform's comments section leaves a lot to be desired, and some people don't love its public nature, but it seems best for where Volts is at right now. If Volts listeners demand it or if episodes regularly receive 200+ comments a la Slow Boring (www.slowboring.com/p/bidens-media-problem), I think we'd have to consider other options.
For what it's worth put me down as a Volts listener politely requesting (demanding seems too harsh!) a Discord (or Slack, etc.). I think there may be a quality of engagement vs. quantity of engagement trade-off? I would posit that substack's low-quality comment section might pose more barriers to discussion than having a separate Discord? Also for what it's worth, you can access Discord (and these other platforms) in-browser, so I don't think there's that much of a barrier! (And I would hope that the Volts listenership for the most part wouldn't be too intimidated or deterred by the concept of a Discord or Slack!)
Noted! Some listeners have said they won't use Substack's comments section, and others have said they won't use Discord. We're seeing where this goes, monitoring people's preferences, willing to change depending on the Volts community's needs.
I only heard the letters for many pods, but for the last several dozen, I have picked up the "doctor" as well. "Doctor" is fit into one beat, as are each of the letters in volts (so listen for "doctor" in the beat right before the V)
A topic I’d love to hear the pod’s take on (and the Volts community take too): what are the implications and impacts for US energy policy and market structure if the Supreme Court overturns the “Chevron deference” that has enabled administrative agencies to interpret and set regulatory details when Congress did not specifically speak to the issue in question in the associated legislation. (SC case is Loper Bright Enterprises vs Raimondo).
The Climate Reality Project is hosting a training in NYC on April 13th and 14th. These trainings are informative and inspiring, not least because they're a great chance to connect with other climate activists, new and seasoned. The training itself is free, although attendees are responsible for transportation and housing. There will be a particular focus on youth at this upcoming training. You can find more information and an application form here: https://www.climaterealityproject.org/new-york
Washington > Bellevue/Eastside: Short notice, but I'm hosting a small group of folks to talk forestry, climate, startups, and general tech tomorrow, Tuesday Jan 23rd from 4:30-7 at Cascadia Pizza. I look back at how communities of practice were established (various coffee houses and bars during the enlightenment had their own topics and folks could just show up and find like-minded individuals) and think we should have more of those not just online but in meatspace.
You can get to the details here (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7153931752674131969/), or more likely since you'll read this after the event, connect with me on LinkedIn and make sure you see the details on next month's event (we're still venue hopping to see what scene fits / is most accessible to the most people).
At last week's meet-up the topic of AI was popular and I briefly shared my thoughts on what Google and Microsoft had actually done to get written up for novel material discoveries and how this isn't really what it is being pitched as yet. I've written up a slightly longer form of what is going on here and what should be going on here to get a useful system and stop crippling these nascent AIs with a legacy of human imperfections when it comes to understanding the physical world.
The long and short was that instead of finding novel materials we should celebrate the rediscovery of the bronze age by our soon to be AI overlords. This was a 2-pint conversation and should probably be treated as such.
Not sure it's your thing but I'd love to hear about the lawsuits targeting fossil fuel companies and their role in hiding climate science from the general public, what investigations show they did and didn't do, their role in spreading mis-information, what that legal environment looks like around them (civil and criminal), the prospects the lawsuits will ever impact how oil companies behave, what the most interesting cases are here in the US and elsewhere, and when the first verdicts might be expected, realistically, in those cases.
The Drilled podcast covers part of that - it's a pretty detailed breakdown of the fossil fuel companies' misinformation campaign over decades: https://drilled.media/podcasts/drilled
When cold coal froze, wind farms helped Evergy power Kansas through winter weather
Jason Alatidd
Topeka Capital-Journal
Evergy maintained "normal operating conditions for extreme weather," despite coal freezing, thanks in part to high winds powering wind farms through the recent blustery conditions.
"The bottom line is we had enough power over the last week or so and in particular through the weekend when we had the coldest weather to meet demands," said Chuck Caisley, an Evergy executive, about the previous weekend.
He added that with a midweek warming, "I think we are out of the biggest danger of not having adequate supplies."
Caisley told the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee on Tuesday that "the system has held up" and contrasted the current wintry weather with what happened in February 2021 with winter storm Uri.
"Folks are just climbing poles, knocking off ice, heating things up where there's failures," said Chuck Caisley, an Evergy executive. "We've seen what I would call normal operating conditions for extreme weather."
Cold coal froze in Kansas winter
"Probably the biggest difference for us in this storm versus Uri was about a week to 10 days prior to this event, you'll recall, we had sleet, ice, snow and even rain in some parts of the service territory," Caisley said. "And what that means is even though we put sealant on our coal piles, we had a lot of frozen coal — both that's operating within our coal plants but also just lying on the ground, which makes running those coal power plants a lot more difficult.
"For all the great technology that we have when it comes to combating frozen coal and just frozen equipment in general, it's really pretty caveman-type implements that we use. We use fire. We use blow torches. We use jackhammers. We use sledgehammers. We use Bobcats. And we just simply try and break it up.
"But what happens is sometimes it does freeze in the hoppers and in the coal bins. We can't pulverize it. And either we have to take a unit offline, heat that coal up and then get it going again, or we take what's called a derate, which means it's not running at full capacity. You can't get the same amount of power out of it. And that happened periodically to some of our coal plants."
Wind farms benefited from the wind chills
While people who had to be outside may not have enjoyed the sub-zero wind chills, that windy weather helped keep the lights on inside.
"The good news is that unlike Uri where it was really, really calm, the wind has been blowing like blue blazes, which means we have been getting thousands of megawatts from our wind production facilities across Kansas," Caisley said. "The only problem with that is it fluctuates."
The significant fluctuations in wind production means a need for "dispatchable power in order to pick it up, or the lights go out and you can't make things anymore, people lose heat and it's a bad situation."
Join the Official Launch of Third Act Oregon, featuring a conversation with Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, and Third Act Founder Bill McKibben. Learn how you can be a part of our growing Third Act Oregon community and join in the work we are doing together to create a more just and livable planet for future generations.
US Department of Transportation has just announced an award of almost $500 Million for the development of the Northern California Offshore Wind Deep Water Port at Eureka CA.
I'm looking for writing/podcasting work connected to climate/environment. I'm now a consultant based in Italy with Italian/British citizenship.
I was the writing/editorial lead on yesterday's World Resources Institute's annual 'Stories To Watch' presentation. I've worked at and with WRI for 6 years, and launched and present their podcasts. I was a senior journalist and foreign correspondent at BBC for 15 years, and have written a couple of books, written numerous reports/white papers for Economist Intelligence Unit and many others. I was comms director at ECFR (European foreign policy think tank) for four years, and I've degrees from Oxford Uni and King's College London. I've also been writing a small Substack on climate comms (Il Gufo Scorbutico).
Get in touch if you want to know more - nicholaswalton99 - at - gmail.com.
PV currently dominates over CSP (Concentrating Solar Power) for utility solar power but CSP has the big advantage of thermal energy storage (TES), which has dramatically lower cost than any battery technology. An innovative breakthrough that uses even lower cost phase-change salt TES (rather than existing sensible heat TES) and advanced free-piston Stirling engines is described in the Fall 2023 issue of Solar Today magazine. Both that overview article and a 30-page white paper with technical backup detail are available on the home page at https://www.stirlinginnovations.com. This system is modular with about 1-MW increments and is projected to provide the lowest LCOE (levelized cost of energy) utility-scale solar power 24/7/365. Three similar-technology Stirling engines are continuing operation at NASA GRC after more than 16 years of maintenance-free, degradation-free operation. Contact: maury.white@stirlinginnovations.com.
I was waitlisted at Harvey Mudd in '94 and ended up at Caltech for grad school; ending up spending 10 years in the energy conversion neighborhood that you've spent a lifetime exploring. There is probably something I'm missing when it comes to CSP and Stirling converters.
My understanding of molten salt CSP was that the day-night freeze cycle was the killer, thermally cycling the conducting medium causing stress to all the plumbing and containers meant to manage the flow of the molten salt during operation (not to mention the daily Natural Gas fired heating sequence creating fossil fuel emissions just bringing the system up to a ready to generate status). I never understood why, in a configuration already dependent on mirrors, the concentration target wasn't at the bottom of a long shaft where that heat could be protected once the sun set instead of up at a convenient line-of-sight alignment point in the center of the array ensuring that it swiftly escaped.
Stirling engines are great at converting a thermal gradient into a mechanical translation, but they never replaced solid state thermoelectrics in space power generation applications. I worked on the "always losing funding to the new Stirling project" GPHS RTG side of flight mission power back in the early 2000s; the latest Stirling news I can see is the cancellation of the ASRG 2016 effort and the lower TRL KRUSTY tests in 2018. 16 years of function for an earth based test unit is great accomplishment and necessary milestone, but the Voyager mission service lifetimes of 45+ years for those old boring GPHS RTGs in the target operating environment of deep space are a tough act to follow. Being more efficient wasn't enough (we knew Stirling had better raw performance, hence ongoing research into cascade thermoelectrics).
So, if CSP has problems with something that is arguably very dumb, letting the thermal target and circulating mass freeze, how are those facilities going to achieve better outcomes with the additional complexity of a Stirling generator in the mix? Sure the conversion efficiency has a very appealing quality of just being better than the alternatives, but solid state thermoelectrics never kept winning because they were good at generating power, they kept winning because they were stupid simple from a physical configuration of components standpoint. Here, PV is the stupid simple story, just toss them on the ground and you get electrons from the sky. CSP+Stirling has to do a much more complicated thing, that is generally less forgiving, without error, to look better, no? Add in that PV are much better at power generation than solid state thermoelectrics and it looks like a hard pathway for a Stirling system's viability.
Thanks for your thoughtful but critical review Geoff. My goal was to initiate a robust discussion on this subject and this is a great beginning. I agree totally with your assessment of molten salt CSP TES systems. That is why my self-contained single-tank phase-change salt innovation is such a radical improvement. It goes through a full melt/freeze cycle as part of its normal daily storage function with none of the issues you mention. The liquid salt is much less dense than the solid, so if there is any liquid it rises to the top surface, where there is a thin layer of sodium. Regardless of whether there is minimal or total liquid in the tank, the liquid will be near the melt temperature of 680 C. At the surface, the salt freezes and sinks to the bottom as it vaporizes the sodium to create a vapor space with ~680 C sodium vapor. That condenses on the Stirling engine heater head (or any other power convertor) to provide heat input to the engine and return to the liquid pool by gravity. All this occurs in the evacuated tank interior as a passive function with none of the pumps, plumbing, heat exchangers or second tank for molten salt systems. Regarding the central receivers being located at the top of a tower, that is necessary to avoid shadowing of outer heliostats by inner ones. The tower will be much smaller for my ~1-MW modules rather than the typical 100-MW or so cases.
The three 16-year ongoing engines I reference were delivered to NASA for the GPHS RTG project you mention. NASA transitioned to the Sunpower ASRG because it was smaller and lighter, but their gas bearing systems had a lot of reliability issues that don't exist with our flexure bearing approach. A fourth engine was retired after about 12 years to destructively disassemble for detailed evaluation by NASA. They found no reason it should not go another 12 years or much more. If you review the page 2 testimonials in my white paper, you will find a very positive one from Dick Shaltens, who managed the NASA GRC Dynamic Conversion Branch for many years. The new delta Stirling configuration is inherently much simpler, lighter, cheaper and more efficient than any previous Stirling machines. I believe a mature version of it will likely exceed the 45 years of RTG operation you reference.
PV is great when the sun shines, but utility power needs to be continuous. Life cycle cost for this approach is projected to be about 95-98% lower than existing battery technology. It is unlikely any battery improvements will approach those levels.
In my white paper, all these points are clarified with backup detail. As several of the testimonials from relevant experts point out, the potentially huge benefits of this system are too great to not give it a serious demonstration opportunity.
I'm still noodling on this, Maury. I'll need graphics or diagrams at minimum and substack comments aren't a great forum for that.
The recent 4th power podcast hits on some similar notes and challenges here, your grand vision document has two related technologies (thermal storage and thermal-electrical generation) and while the tight coupling makes the system more efficient the product ends up less able to fit current market needs or limitations. I think the home scenario is probably more akin to Fervo's geothermal baseload (which can take in curtailed power to charge future drawdowns of the storage) and the "make it modular to activate a learning curve" scenario falls into a similar bucket as the box-of-hot-rocks companies like Antora, Rondo, or 4th Power. Despite the clear benefits and performance mark exceeding early deployment by Fervo, geothermal doesn't even get a seat at the table with the conversation being dominated by CCS and Hydrogen (you can read that as a desire to preserve existing infrastructure over replacing existing infrastructure).
It is possible to use the datacenter itself as a heat island to drive a chimney for generation and cooling flow, but the move recently has been away from huge installations and towards isolated modular systems that are self contained, hands-off, continuous operation systems. These have large point demands for power but expect to be stand-alone in all aspects, meaning a solar collector (or deep hole in the ground) becomes a liability but the conversion component fits the bill nicely. And that suggests progress would be easier if tackling one side of the problem instead of two sides - something that the crew from 4th power said explicitly when asked why they weren't in industrial heat with such a high quality heat storage solution.
Utilities are making business hard for all large scale generation and storage solutions. Given the immense, and potentially behind the meter, energy demand that AI and Datacenters are producing I bet there is a path to funding and development through Amazon, Google, Microsoft, or Meta directly. Not coincidentally, many of these motivated companies have investment and venture arms that are big into new energy startups.
I am not looking to replace existing infrastructure, but to build out new infrastructure. Your reference to hot rocks or any other existing TES is not comparable because I have the only TES that delivers all its stored heat at a fixed temperature, 680 C for my nominal case using NaF/NaCl salt eutectic. It does have other applications, but I am currently focused only on utility-scale power generation, which could include users such as server farms or aluminum production. My system is indeed modular and stand-alone at around the 1-MW module size. A GW plant would consist of 1,000 independent modules for which the storage and power production are more self-contained and hands-off than any other system I am aware of.
I agree that AI and Data centers are prime targets for early adopters, and my team is exploring in that direction. Thanks again for your interest.
Something that occurs to me with a combined generation and storage facility is that the facility is constrained by its interconnect as to the maximum power it can send to the grid. If you wanted to provide peak power you'd end up with an oversized connection for steady state power (generation + discharge vs. generation or discharge alone). With the thermal mass and Stirling generator in the loop for both generation and discharge you could never double dip - you'd have the Stirling generator limit and the interconnect could/would be sized to that without variation. A similarly sized PV plus Battery installation when co-located would suffer the same interconnect limit, but as separate systems they could sit in different places on the grid and both max discharge at the same time if required.
Location: Northwestern Lower Michigan / Office in Traverse City MI
Reports to: Climate and Environment Program Director
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities is seeking a Climate and Clean Energy Specialist to support our Climate and Environment Program in northern Michigan. The ideal candidate will be passionate and knowledgeable about advancing our local and regional clean energy economy and working with diverse stakeholders including local schools, renewable energy installers, government officials, nonprofit partners and more. Successful candidates will have a demonstrated passion for promoting an equitable and just transition to renewable energy to combat the climate crisis. This position is full-time, year-round, and will report to Groundwork’s Climate and Environment Program Director.
At Groundwork, the candidate will join a driven team of individuals who are advancing policy solutions and projects that are pragmatic, practical, caring, and visionary. We strive to create a positive, collaborative, healthy, and inspired working environment that gives the staff the support to be the leaders in their field.
We are optimistic about Michigan’s future and believe in a thriving local farm and food economy; stronger, more walkable, bike-able, and transit-friendly towns and villages; cleaner sources of energy, and climate solutions that support a more equitable world for all. The researchers, writers, advocates, system-changemakers, and coalition-builders that make up the Groundwork staff are passionately committed to realizing this vision.
Hey Volts Community! The Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy at the University of Utah is now accepting First Round applications for its $500,000 Wilkes Climate Launch Prize. Submissions are due Feb. 29th. This prize is open to innovative greenhouse gas emissions reduction ideas from organizations at all stages, both for-profits and nonprofits – anywhere in the world – to help fund and accelerate solutions to climate change. More details are here: https://wilkescenter.utah.edu/prize/2024-launch-prize/
Hey fellow Volts listeners. We are seeking a full stack software developer with 3-5 years experience to work from home and make a big difference on climate. Climate Action Now is publisher of the leading app for citizen advocacy on climate. Our app users have taken over 2 million actions on climate in the last two years. If interested, please send resume to support@climateactionnow.com
---- CLIMATE JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES ----
PSE Healthy Energy - an energy and climate research institute - is hiring for several positions, including a Data Visualization Designer! https://www.psehealthyenergy.org/about-pse/careers/
MISO currently has several job openings for people with backgrounds in economics, engineering, public policy, and programming. We have offices in the suburbs of Minneapolis and Indianapolis, as well as Little Rock, Arkansas.
https://www.misoenergy.org/meet-miso/careers/
WA State Department of Commerce is hiring 3 program managers for clean energy grant programs: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/washington/jobs/4351607/program-manager-energy-programs-in-communities
Work from anywhere in Washington state!
Hey Volts listeners! I’m an engineering manager for CLEAResult and we’re hiring for about 50 positions for Potomac Edison’s energy efficiency rebate programs. This was my first job out of college and I’ve been here from 6 years and I love it! We’re looking for engineers and account managers to find opportunities at different commercial and industrial sites. Please reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have any questions and see our open jobs at https://clearesult.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CLEAResult_External_Careers?locations=1b596b38079f01af5ff59a5e3630872a
Thank you!
Hello Volts Listeners! My name is Zach Brown and I run Tidelines Institute, a climate leadership nonprofit in Alaska. We have two rad open-enrollment courses coming up this summer. Both will help you take your climate activism to the next level.
• Climate Action Leadership (Aug 2-11) https://www.tidelinesinstitute.org/climate-action-leadership/
• Environmental Rhetoric (July 6-14) https://www.tidelinesinstitute.org/environmental-rhetoric/
Email me or apply if you're interested!
New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Division of Clean Energy is hiring:
https://www.nj.gov/bpu/pdf/about/employment/04-2024%20-%20Deputy%20Director%20Office%20of%20CEE%20-%20Division%20of%20Clean%20Energy.pdf
https://www.nj.gov/bpu/pdf/about/employment/05-2024%20-%20Renewable%20Energy%20Project%20Manager%20-%20Division%20of%20Clean%20Energy.pdf
Hey Volts community, as with Ali, I'm a longtime listener, first time poster.
I'm a Canadian international energy & climate affairs specialist based in Geneva, Switzerland and in the market for a new job (either Switzerland based, or with a full-time remote option).
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcaughey/
Feel free to take a gander at my profile on LinkedIn (above), and shoot me a message if you'd like to learn more!
Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) is hiring a Program Manager for our Clean Energy Accounting Program (CEAP)!!! Must be based in San Francisco or the greater Bay Area, CA.
Join our team!!!!
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3810685810
Hi all--my company GridStor, a battery storage developer and IPP, has several positions open now: https://gridstor.com/careers/ -- especially exciting options for engineers or senior development folks to get in early on our growth.
The transit tech lab is looking for growth stage companies to apply to its innovation challenge trying to make nyc public transit systems more resilient: https://transitinnovation.org/challenge/resilience
Hey fellow Volts listeners. We are seeking a full stack software developer with 3-5 years experience to work from home and make a big difference on climate. Climate Action Now is publisher of the leading app for citizen advocacy on climate. Our app users have taken over 2 million actions on climate in the last two years. If interested, please send resume to support@climateactionnow.com
Hello Volts community,
Listener, first time poster. Looking for engineering opportunities in microgrid, DER, and EV. I have a masters in renewables with a thesis in microgrid connection. If you would like to talk further (about work or life), please shoot a message below or on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisiddique/)!
The Clean Energy Transition Institute (CETI) is hiring a Research Analyst! CETI is an independent research & analysis nonprofit working to accelerate an equitable clean energy transition in the Northwest. Position based in Seattle, WA:
https://www.cleanenergytransition.org/careers/research-analyst-2
Hi All!
I'm a video production and digital marketing professional looking for a marketing role in a climate-related business or organization. If anyone knows of someone looking for that kind of help, please let me know. Thank you!
Greetings and salutations, Volts listeners!
The MN Efficient Technology Accelerator (ETA), is hiring a commercial construction Outreach Specialist position specializing in Luminaire Level Lighting Controls: https://www.etamn.org/work-us#job-postings
This team will be hiring a couple of dozen more in the coming handful of years. Stay tuned.
MN Center for Energy and Environment (CEE) is also hiring for several more roles (Contracts Manager, Energy Auditor, Energy Counselor): https://www.mncee.org/work-with-us
---- SHARE WORK, ASK FOR HELP, FIND COLLABORATORS ----
There are a number of bills making their way through the Washington State Legislature this session that pertain to climate and housing affordability, including one to which I’ve contributed, House Bill 2071.
If passed the bill will allow wall assemblies containing insulation to intrude eight inches into setbacks for both new Passive House residential buildings and existing residential buildings doing deep energy retrofits, including older existing buildings that don’t meet current setback rules. It also changes the way the area of buildings are measured that takes away the penalty for the thicker walls of Passive House, by measuring allowable gross square footage from the inside of drywall instead of the outside of siding. For a 1,000 SF DADU that will mean a gain of 7-8% of usable floor area—an extra room! The bill also allows an extra eight inches of height to accommodate more insulation.
The bill recognizes that housing affordability and climate change mitigation are linked. The 250,000 housing units (I think it is) we need statewide by 2050 will need to radically reduce emissions over current code in order to meet our climate targets.
As Amory Lovins pointed out 30+ years ago, saving energy (“negawatts”!) is much less expensive than generating new capacity. (About a third of the cost I believe.) Passive House buildings use up to 70% less energy for heating and cooling than 2018 IECC, Washington State’s current energy code.
The bill has made it out of committee, with a recommendation to pass. Link to the bill...
https://apps.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=2071&Year=2024&Initiative=false#documentSection
Anyone interested in tackling car dependency? I'm exploring a collective approach to it, incl. media, organizing, building resources and tools. You can see details here, along with a contact!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MIE4c0njZdXNUOmzwvTvKNLEwGDBqHgauIHwE1l_JIA/edit?usp=sharing
To Rob Harrison's point, here are a couple other interesting, important bills the Washington Legislature is working on:
* HB 1589 just passed the WA House this morning. This is the Puget Sound Energy decarbonization deal. (If this thing passes, I hope we get a podcast with the representatives who made it happen.)
* HB 2131 is Rep. Ramel's thermal energy networks bill. It amends WA's obligation to serve law to say a gas utility can meet this obligation by operating a thermal energy network, creates a grant program for thermal energy network pilot projects, and allows gas utilities to combine their gas and thermal energy networks into a single rate base. Hopefully this gets voted out of committee tomorrow (Jan 23).
We live in exciting times!
Looking for funding/support for STEM non-profit Electrathon America. Teaching high school students how to build super-efficient EV’s since the 1980’s. We’d like to expand the program to include more practical micromobility and minimobility vehicles.
Hi Gary, great to see your comment! We are working on a documentary this summer, crossing the USA (SF to NYC) with solar-powered bicycles. We are looking for partners to help us build the 2 bikes. Should we chat? If so, please email us: travelfortheclimate@gmail.com
Thank you!
- Polo
Can someone provide a good source for energy production/consumption by source other than IEA (https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/energy-statistics-data-browser?country=WORLD&fuel=Energy%20supply&indicator=ElecGenByFuel). I was reading Jenny Chase's book (https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/q0219#t=aboutBook), and in it she mentions that IEA calculates primary energy consumption by counting input energy rather than useful energy, thus making oil-fired and coal-fired power plants' energy contribution look larger when the power plant is less efficient. Is the IEA's methodology still the same, and if so, is there an alternative legitimate source for energy consumption/production trends at a global, regional, national level available from another source?
I refer to national energy flowcharts produces by Lawrence Livermore National Labs at https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/. They illustrate how much energy is useful and how much is waste.
Hello, its good to be part of Volts community. I am trying to build a DAC CO2 capture test bed. I am still not sure which is better amines or calcium carbonate looping - cost and scaling wise. I would be happy to chat with anyone with expertise or insights in this domain.
At The Green Journey we are on an exciting mission to travel to all continents over the next 3+ years with no planes, with the goal to interview climate leaders on the way who are working on concrete solutions. Feel free to check out our Substack for travel & climate stories. Also, here is our IG: https://www.instagram.com/thegreen.journey/
Thanks everyone! :)
- Polo
---- EVERYTHING ELSE ----
This sort of discussion may be way more readable (and real time!) in something like a Discord Server.
Thanks Jake! We get this feedback a fair amount, and while I agree that Discord/Slack/Discourse could be ideal, most of Volts' subscribers don't have these apps, and we don't want to fraction the conversation. Furthermore, the content is hosted here and it's best if discussion lives as close to the content as possible. We want as few barriers to discussion as possible. There's no doubt that this platform's comments section leaves a lot to be desired, and some people don't love its public nature, but it seems best for where Volts is at right now. If Volts listeners demand it or if episodes regularly receive 200+ comments a la Slow Boring (www.slowboring.com/p/bidens-media-problem), I think we'd have to consider other options.
For what it's worth put me down as a Volts listener politely requesting (demanding seems too harsh!) a Discord (or Slack, etc.). I think there may be a quality of engagement vs. quantity of engagement trade-off? I would posit that substack's low-quality comment section might pose more barriers to discussion than having a separate Discord? Also for what it's worth, you can access Discord (and these other platforms) in-browser, so I don't think there's that much of a barrier! (And I would hope that the Volts listenership for the most part wouldn't be too intimidated or deterred by the concept of a Discord or Slack!)
Noted! Some listeners have said they won't use Substack's comments section, and others have said they won't use Discord. We're seeing where this goes, monitoring people's preferences, willing to change depending on the Volts community's needs.
I vote against Discord or Slack. Substack's comments are good enough, and it's simpler to have everything in one place.
I strongly agree!
re the music intro to the podcast: about 3 seconds in, is a word being spelled (and autotuned)?
A six or seven letter word? Or am I hearing things?
It's V-O-L-T-S in a robotic voice.
If I'm not mistaken, it's "Doctor V-O-L-T-S"
I don't hear a "Doctor", just "V-O-L-T-S".
I only heard the letters for many pods, but for the last several dozen, I have picked up the "doctor" as well. "Doctor" is fit into one beat, as are each of the letters in volts (so listen for "doctor" in the beat right before the V)
I can hear a sound on the beat before the "V", but I don't hear "Doctor". I think it's just a sound effect.
A topic I’d love to hear the pod’s take on (and the Volts community take too): what are the implications and impacts for US energy policy and market structure if the Supreme Court overturns the “Chevron deference” that has enabled administrative agencies to interpret and set regulatory details when Congress did not specifically speak to the issue in question in the associated legislation. (SC case is Loper Bright Enterprises vs Raimondo).
David recently did a pod on this question: https://www.volts.wtf/p/the-chevron-doctrine-what-it-is-and.
---- DAVID'S NOTES ----
---- CLIMATE EVENTS & MEETUPS ----
The Climate Reality Project is hosting a training in NYC on April 13th and 14th. These trainings are informative and inspiring, not least because they're a great chance to connect with other climate activists, new and seasoned. The training itself is free, although attendees are responsible for transportation and housing. There will be a particular focus on youth at this upcoming training. You can find more information and an application form here: https://www.climaterealityproject.org/new-york
New to Ann Arbor and would love to meet up with fellow listeners!
Washington > Bellevue/Eastside: Short notice, but I'm hosting a small group of folks to talk forestry, climate, startups, and general tech tomorrow, Tuesday Jan 23rd from 4:30-7 at Cascadia Pizza. I look back at how communities of practice were established (various coffee houses and bars during the enlightenment had their own topics and folks could just show up and find like-minded individuals) and think we should have more of those not just online but in meatspace.
You can get to the details here (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7153931752674131969/), or more likely since you'll read this after the event, connect with me on LinkedIn and make sure you see the details on next month's event (we're still venue hopping to see what scene fits / is most accessible to the most people).
At last week's meet-up the topic of AI was popular and I briefly shared my thoughts on what Google and Microsoft had actually done to get written up for novel material discoveries and how this isn't really what it is being pitched as yet. I've written up a slightly longer form of what is going on here and what should be going on here to get a useful system and stop crippling these nascent AIs with a legacy of human imperfections when it comes to understanding the physical world.
The long and short was that instead of finding novel materials we should celebrate the rediscovery of the bronze age by our soon to be AI overlords. This was a 2-pint conversation and should probably be treated as such.
Check it out (https://gstaneff.medium.com/how2ai-4400da6292d2) if interested, and hopefully we'll see more people out next month.
FANTASTIC news about transcripts, yay! I know it's tough to do it that quickly!
Not sure it's your thing but I'd love to hear about the lawsuits targeting fossil fuel companies and their role in hiding climate science from the general public, what investigations show they did and didn't do, their role in spreading mis-information, what that legal environment looks like around them (civil and criminal), the prospects the lawsuits will ever impact how oil companies behave, what the most interesting cases are here in the US and elsewhere, and when the first verdicts might be expected, realistically, in those cases.
The Drilled podcast covers part of that - it's a pretty detailed breakdown of the fossil fuel companies' misinformation campaign over decades: https://drilled.media/podcasts/drilled
Very helpful and kind of you. Thank you!
Phew, good thing that wind power could back up that intermittent coal!
https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/state/2024/01/21/evergy-kept-electricity-flowing-kansas-wind-farms-coal-froze/72259414007/?utm_medium=email
When cold coal froze, wind farms helped Evergy power Kansas through winter weather
Jason Alatidd
Topeka Capital-Journal
Evergy maintained "normal operating conditions for extreme weather," despite coal freezing, thanks in part to high winds powering wind farms through the recent blustery conditions.
"The bottom line is we had enough power over the last week or so and in particular through the weekend when we had the coldest weather to meet demands," said Chuck Caisley, an Evergy executive, about the previous weekend.
He added that with a midweek warming, "I think we are out of the biggest danger of not having adequate supplies."
Caisley told the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee on Tuesday that "the system has held up" and contrasted the current wintry weather with what happened in February 2021 with winter storm Uri.
"Folks are just climbing poles, knocking off ice, heating things up where there's failures," said Chuck Caisley, an Evergy executive. "We've seen what I would call normal operating conditions for extreme weather."
Cold coal froze in Kansas winter
"Probably the biggest difference for us in this storm versus Uri was about a week to 10 days prior to this event, you'll recall, we had sleet, ice, snow and even rain in some parts of the service territory," Caisley said. "And what that means is even though we put sealant on our coal piles, we had a lot of frozen coal — both that's operating within our coal plants but also just lying on the ground, which makes running those coal power plants a lot more difficult.
"For all the great technology that we have when it comes to combating frozen coal and just frozen equipment in general, it's really pretty caveman-type implements that we use. We use fire. We use blow torches. We use jackhammers. We use sledgehammers. We use Bobcats. And we just simply try and break it up.
"But what happens is sometimes it does freeze in the hoppers and in the coal bins. We can't pulverize it. And either we have to take a unit offline, heat that coal up and then get it going again, or we take what's called a derate, which means it's not running at full capacity. You can't get the same amount of power out of it. And that happened periodically to some of our coal plants."
Wind farms benefited from the wind chills
While people who had to be outside may not have enjoyed the sub-zero wind chills, that windy weather helped keep the lights on inside.
"The good news is that unlike Uri where it was really, really calm, the wind has been blowing like blue blazes, which means we have been getting thousands of megawatts from our wind production facilities across Kansas," Caisley said. "The only problem with that is it fluctuates."
The significant fluctuations in wind production means a need for "dispatchable power in order to pick it up, or the lights go out and you can't make things anymore, people lose heat and it's a bad situation."
Let's give some love to local Seattle areas innovators in Green concrete. See Seattle Times recent article: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/northwest-innovators-chase-the-dream-of-zero-carbon-concrete/
Third Act Oregon Official Launch
Join the Official Launch of Third Act Oregon, featuring a conversation with Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, and Third Act Founder Bill McKibben. Learn how you can be a part of our growing Third Act Oregon community and join in the work we are doing together to create a more just and livable planet for future generations.
Register Here:
https://thirdact-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZRSdLEhBRCyxvDAEZNrlvg
EVERYTHING ELSE: News Flash! January 23, 2024
US Department of Transportation has just announced an award of almost $500 Million for the development of the Northern California Offshore Wind Deep Water Port at Eureka CA.
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/feds-provide-nearly-half-a-billion-dollars-toward-construction-of-humboldt/
Hi all.
I'm looking for writing/podcasting work connected to climate/environment. I'm now a consultant based in Italy with Italian/British citizenship.
I was the writing/editorial lead on yesterday's World Resources Institute's annual 'Stories To Watch' presentation. I've worked at and with WRI for 6 years, and launched and present their podcasts. I was a senior journalist and foreign correspondent at BBC for 15 years, and have written a couple of books, written numerous reports/white papers for Economist Intelligence Unit and many others. I was comms director at ECFR (European foreign policy think tank) for four years, and I've degrees from Oxford Uni and King's College London. I've also been writing a small Substack on climate comms (Il Gufo Scorbutico).
Get in touch if you want to know more - nicholaswalton99 - at - gmail.com.
Thanks. Nicholas Walton.
PV currently dominates over CSP (Concentrating Solar Power) for utility solar power but CSP has the big advantage of thermal energy storage (TES), which has dramatically lower cost than any battery technology. An innovative breakthrough that uses even lower cost phase-change salt TES (rather than existing sensible heat TES) and advanced free-piston Stirling engines is described in the Fall 2023 issue of Solar Today magazine. Both that overview article and a 30-page white paper with technical backup detail are available on the home page at https://www.stirlinginnovations.com. This system is modular with about 1-MW increments and is projected to provide the lowest LCOE (levelized cost of energy) utility-scale solar power 24/7/365. Three similar-technology Stirling engines are continuing operation at NASA GRC after more than 16 years of maintenance-free, degradation-free operation. Contact: maury.white@stirlinginnovations.com.
I was waitlisted at Harvey Mudd in '94 and ended up at Caltech for grad school; ending up spending 10 years in the energy conversion neighborhood that you've spent a lifetime exploring. There is probably something I'm missing when it comes to CSP and Stirling converters.
My understanding of molten salt CSP was that the day-night freeze cycle was the killer, thermally cycling the conducting medium causing stress to all the plumbing and containers meant to manage the flow of the molten salt during operation (not to mention the daily Natural Gas fired heating sequence creating fossil fuel emissions just bringing the system up to a ready to generate status). I never understood why, in a configuration already dependent on mirrors, the concentration target wasn't at the bottom of a long shaft where that heat could be protected once the sun set instead of up at a convenient line-of-sight alignment point in the center of the array ensuring that it swiftly escaped.
Stirling engines are great at converting a thermal gradient into a mechanical translation, but they never replaced solid state thermoelectrics in space power generation applications. I worked on the "always losing funding to the new Stirling project" GPHS RTG side of flight mission power back in the early 2000s; the latest Stirling news I can see is the cancellation of the ASRG 2016 effort and the lower TRL KRUSTY tests in 2018. 16 years of function for an earth based test unit is great accomplishment and necessary milestone, but the Voyager mission service lifetimes of 45+ years for those old boring GPHS RTGs in the target operating environment of deep space are a tough act to follow. Being more efficient wasn't enough (we knew Stirling had better raw performance, hence ongoing research into cascade thermoelectrics).
So, if CSP has problems with something that is arguably very dumb, letting the thermal target and circulating mass freeze, how are those facilities going to achieve better outcomes with the additional complexity of a Stirling generator in the mix? Sure the conversion efficiency has a very appealing quality of just being better than the alternatives, but solid state thermoelectrics never kept winning because they were good at generating power, they kept winning because they were stupid simple from a physical configuration of components standpoint. Here, PV is the stupid simple story, just toss them on the ground and you get electrons from the sky. CSP+Stirling has to do a much more complicated thing, that is generally less forgiving, without error, to look better, no? Add in that PV are much better at power generation than solid state thermoelectrics and it looks like a hard pathway for a Stirling system's viability.
Thanks for your thoughtful but critical review Geoff. My goal was to initiate a robust discussion on this subject and this is a great beginning. I agree totally with your assessment of molten salt CSP TES systems. That is why my self-contained single-tank phase-change salt innovation is such a radical improvement. It goes through a full melt/freeze cycle as part of its normal daily storage function with none of the issues you mention. The liquid salt is much less dense than the solid, so if there is any liquid it rises to the top surface, where there is a thin layer of sodium. Regardless of whether there is minimal or total liquid in the tank, the liquid will be near the melt temperature of 680 C. At the surface, the salt freezes and sinks to the bottom as it vaporizes the sodium to create a vapor space with ~680 C sodium vapor. That condenses on the Stirling engine heater head (or any other power convertor) to provide heat input to the engine and return to the liquid pool by gravity. All this occurs in the evacuated tank interior as a passive function with none of the pumps, plumbing, heat exchangers or second tank for molten salt systems. Regarding the central receivers being located at the top of a tower, that is necessary to avoid shadowing of outer heliostats by inner ones. The tower will be much smaller for my ~1-MW modules rather than the typical 100-MW or so cases.
The three 16-year ongoing engines I reference were delivered to NASA for the GPHS RTG project you mention. NASA transitioned to the Sunpower ASRG because it was smaller and lighter, but their gas bearing systems had a lot of reliability issues that don't exist with our flexure bearing approach. A fourth engine was retired after about 12 years to destructively disassemble for detailed evaluation by NASA. They found no reason it should not go another 12 years or much more. If you review the page 2 testimonials in my white paper, you will find a very positive one from Dick Shaltens, who managed the NASA GRC Dynamic Conversion Branch for many years. The new delta Stirling configuration is inherently much simpler, lighter, cheaper and more efficient than any previous Stirling machines. I believe a mature version of it will likely exceed the 45 years of RTG operation you reference.
PV is great when the sun shines, but utility power needs to be continuous. Life cycle cost for this approach is projected to be about 95-98% lower than existing battery technology. It is unlikely any battery improvements will approach those levels.
In my white paper, all these points are clarified with backup detail. As several of the testimonials from relevant experts point out, the potentially huge benefits of this system are too great to not give it a serious demonstration opportunity.
I'm still noodling on this, Maury. I'll need graphics or diagrams at minimum and substack comments aren't a great forum for that.
The recent 4th power podcast hits on some similar notes and challenges here, your grand vision document has two related technologies (thermal storage and thermal-electrical generation) and while the tight coupling makes the system more efficient the product ends up less able to fit current market needs or limitations. I think the home scenario is probably more akin to Fervo's geothermal baseload (which can take in curtailed power to charge future drawdowns of the storage) and the "make it modular to activate a learning curve" scenario falls into a similar bucket as the box-of-hot-rocks companies like Antora, Rondo, or 4th Power. Despite the clear benefits and performance mark exceeding early deployment by Fervo, geothermal doesn't even get a seat at the table with the conversation being dominated by CCS and Hydrogen (you can read that as a desire to preserve existing infrastructure over replacing existing infrastructure).
It is possible to use the datacenter itself as a heat island to drive a chimney for generation and cooling flow, but the move recently has been away from huge installations and towards isolated modular systems that are self contained, hands-off, continuous operation systems. These have large point demands for power but expect to be stand-alone in all aspects, meaning a solar collector (or deep hole in the ground) becomes a liability but the conversion component fits the bill nicely. And that suggests progress would be easier if tackling one side of the problem instead of two sides - something that the crew from 4th power said explicitly when asked why they weren't in industrial heat with such a high quality heat storage solution.
Utilities are making business hard for all large scale generation and storage solutions. Given the immense, and potentially behind the meter, energy demand that AI and Datacenters are producing I bet there is a path to funding and development through Amazon, Google, Microsoft, or Meta directly. Not coincidentally, many of these motivated companies have investment and venture arms that are big into new energy startups.
Thanks for the further comments Geoff. You're requesting graphics but are not specific but are not specific about what area. There are extensive graphics in my white paper at https://www.stirlinginnovations.com/_files/ugd/33075e_c6ed664b37824510ad7e17b0fa1827b1.pdf?index=true, so give me a reference from there about what other detail you are looking for.
I am not looking to replace existing infrastructure, but to build out new infrastructure. Your reference to hot rocks or any other existing TES is not comparable because I have the only TES that delivers all its stored heat at a fixed temperature, 680 C for my nominal case using NaF/NaCl salt eutectic. It does have other applications, but I am currently focused only on utility-scale power generation, which could include users such as server farms or aluminum production. My system is indeed modular and stand-alone at around the 1-MW module size. A GW plant would consist of 1,000 independent modules for which the storage and power production are more self-contained and hands-off than any other system I am aware of.
I agree that AI and Data centers are prime targets for early adopters, and my team is exploring in that direction. Thanks again for your interest.
I meant I needed to provide a graphic to explain myself better about moving the receiver tower in a typical Power Tower array. I've put that here: https://gstaneff.medium.com/bouncing-around-in-the-sun-05e1701c6768
Something that occurs to me with a combined generation and storage facility is that the facility is constrained by its interconnect as to the maximum power it can send to the grid. If you wanted to provide peak power you'd end up with an oversized connection for steady state power (generation + discharge vs. generation or discharge alone). With the thermal mass and Stirling generator in the loop for both generation and discharge you could never double dip - you'd have the Stirling generator limit and the interconnect could/would be sized to that without variation. A similarly sized PV plus Battery installation when co-located would suffer the same interconnect limit, but as separate systems they could sit in different places on the grid and both max discharge at the same time if required.
Act Fast! Deadline to apply: Feb 16, 2024
Climate and Clean Energy Specialist
Salary Range: $52,000-57,000
Deadline to apply: Feb 16, 2024
Target hire start date: March 15, 2024
Location: Northwestern Lower Michigan / Office in Traverse City MI
Reports to: Climate and Environment Program Director
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities is seeking a Climate and Clean Energy Specialist to support our Climate and Environment Program in northern Michigan. The ideal candidate will be passionate and knowledgeable about advancing our local and regional clean energy economy and working with diverse stakeholders including local schools, renewable energy installers, government officials, nonprofit partners and more. Successful candidates will have a demonstrated passion for promoting an equitable and just transition to renewable energy to combat the climate crisis. This position is full-time, year-round, and will report to Groundwork’s Climate and Environment Program Director.
At Groundwork, the candidate will join a driven team of individuals who are advancing policy solutions and projects that are pragmatic, practical, caring, and visionary. We strive to create a positive, collaborative, healthy, and inspired working environment that gives the staff the support to be the leaders in their field.
We are optimistic about Michigan’s future and believe in a thriving local farm and food economy; stronger, more walkable, bike-able, and transit-friendly towns and villages; cleaner sources of energy, and climate solutions that support a more equitable world for all. The researchers, writers, advocates, system-changemakers, and coalition-builders that make up the Groundwork staff are passionately committed to realizing this vision.
https://groundworkcenter.org/careers/
Hey Volts Community! The Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy at the University of Utah is now accepting First Round applications for its $500,000 Wilkes Climate Launch Prize. Submissions are due Feb. 29th. This prize is open to innovative greenhouse gas emissions reduction ideas from organizations at all stages, both for-profits and nonprofits – anywhere in the world – to help fund and accelerate solutions to climate change. More details are here: https://wilkescenter.utah.edu/prize/2024-launch-prize/
Hey fellow Volts listeners. We are seeking a full stack software developer with 3-5 years experience to work from home and make a big difference on climate. Climate Action Now is publisher of the leading app for citizen advocacy on climate. Our app users have taken over 2 million actions on climate in the last two years. If interested, please send resume to support@climateactionnow.com
Hi Brett, this post will get more eyeballs if you post it under the "CLIMATE JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES" section!