#Cleantechers, Tigercomm hosts/moderates three quarterly convenings of cleantech players. These groups of journalists, podcasters and investors bring fascinating perspectives that help us stay current on trends within clean energy. This series was inspired by Tigercomm's 16 quarterly convenings of cleantech editors, reporters, and podcasters, including from the main stage at last year's RE+ trade show in Anaheim. 
 
We like to say that our editors give us a breadth of view, while our podcasters give us a depth of view. But the investors you’ll hear from have perhaps the deepest expertise of any group we assemble. They see our sectors through the lens of our financial aspirations, expressed through the hundreds of pitches they hear and evaluate.
 
A special thanks to my friend, Andrea Luecke, the Executive Director of the Cleantech Leaders Roundtable – or “CTLR,” for short. CTLR is the official sponsor of this convening, and as the “First Member” of CTLR, it’s a particular honor for her to ask me to moderate this series. I know co-founders Jigar Shah and Jacob Susman are proud of this milestone as well.

These folks are very smart and worth the time to hear. Thanks to our panelists Amy Francetic, Matt Cheney, Nancy Floyd and Dave Kirkpatrick. It was fun to talk with you.

#Cleantechers, The New York Times’ David Wallace Wells is out with a fascinating piece, “Clean Energy Is Suddenly Less Polarizing Than You Think.” The headline writer should have swapped in “Surprisingly” for “Suddenly,” to better reflect the writer's views. But I quibble.

I think Mr. Wallace-Wells is correctly spotting the trend line, but I fear he sees it as longer than it really is. We're still a long way from pulling clean energy back from the culture wars into apolitical, mainstream business. Then again, 10 years of working on this frustrating problem might have infected me with too much skepticism. Only time will tell. 

Mixing both insights from the piece and some personal observations, here’s what seems certain in the home stretch of Q1 ’23: 

1.) The party-line vote on the landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was not heavily weaponized in the 2022 election cycle.

2.) Much of the IRA’s spending is in the form of tax credits, designed to resist unwinding by hostile, headline-seeking politicians carrying water for the fossil fuel lobby.

3.) Despite some early chest pounding by now-Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, House conservatives have not gone after the IRA via the DOE Loan Guarantee Program – at least not yet.

4.) #Renewableenergy factories and power plants are being largely built in politically conservative, “red” areas. People in those communities heavily associate clean energy with President Biden, whom they despise.

5.) Building #wind and #solar farms is increasingly difficult.

6.) A handful of anti-clean energy operatives are working to stoke local opposition. They're a significant but supplemental factor. Each has past and/or present ties to the fossil fuel lobby.

7.) Clean energy has spent the last 10 years under-investing in its public case making, particularly in rural communities.

There’s a growing recognition that we have to change that last point. Speed and scale will go a long way in determining our collective fate.

The good news is that more and more, it’s our hands on the steering wheel. Let’s drive forward, and fast.

https://lnkd.in/eD7ngWyV

#Cleantechers, one of the best things about my job is getting a close look at technologies with world-changing potential. Rondo Energy's "Heat Battery" is one of them.

The Heat Battery is the brainchild of past and current client, John O'Donnell. For a decade, this brilliant inventor has patiently evangelized that the world can store #renewableenergy-generated heat much more cost effectively than electricity from wind and solar.

By using basic bricks to store heat, Rondo's opened a path to rapidly decarbonizing heavy industries that traditionally require lots of heat, steam and power – creating a massive carbon pollution footprint.

As John told David R. Baker of Bloomberg in this story: "If you want to get to scale fast, it had better be boring — you’d better not have material science to prove.... We’ve combined stuff the world knows how to make at scale.”

Let's roll.

#Cleantechers - Few electrons in the universe will move differently because I'm named as a finalist with honorable mention for the Cleanies' "Trailblazer" award.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy I got that far. My mom will be thrilled. My kids might nod their heads (Ashlyn Casey). Maybe my wife will say "good job" this weekend before telling me to clean out the dog run.

But I think there's bigger significance here that's worth pointing out. I remember when clean economy was so nascent that an awards program would have been laughable.

We know times have changed because:
1.) This award program actually exists.
2.) There's enough momentum and growth in our sectors that companies and people apply/submit others for consideration. Lots of them.
3.) People actively compete to win.

It's super gratifying to see clean economy continue to expand. Bigger trade shows, increased association budgets and award programs are all leading indicators. That is what's worth celebrating.

Congrats to winners Marion Hill, Chris Perron, Michael Eckhart and co-honorable mention Janani Ramkumar.

Also, John Engel and Julia Pyper for winning their respective categories.

Episode 1: The Journey from Garage to Nasdaq: A Discussion with Brad Mattson

Just before the holidays, we hosted a year-end episode of the Cleantech Podcasters Roundtable. Our lineup changed a bit, with the happy addition of John Belizaire.

Here are our “B3Ps,” or Big 3 Points from that episode. You can read the full transcript below.
 
1. At the risk of sounding like a broken record: The Cleantech sector needs to invest more time and resources into messaging. Fossil fuel front groups are still working the mainstream media refs, spreading misinformation about the Inflation Reduction Act, painting ESG investing as “woke capitalism,” and the messaging that next-generation nuclear fission will be our climate savior. We have the tools to accelerate the energy transition, and our industry conversations should reflect that confidence I our public communications.

2. Expect grid resiliency, distributed energy resources, retrofitting, and workforce employment to be big topics for the new year — and more stories about people leaving “dirty” jobs for clean ones.
 
3. Let’s celebrate the people and organizations that helped prevent a pro-fossil fuel wave in the recent elections. Our participants gave laurels to: the Environmental Voter Project, Governor Kathy Hochul, Governor Gavin Newsom, and the California Public Utilities Commission.

Listen to the full episode on the SunCast Podcast:

Hello #cleantechers! Listeners of Scaling Clean know our show is designed to bring you management and leadership wisdom from experienced company leaders in the clean technology industry. Today, we are bringing you perspective from Jing Tian, who co-founded her own company early in her career and also led the U.S. presence for three different international cleantech firms. And Jing Tian is also Dr. Tian, who earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Drexel University and served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Chemistry Department at Princeton University.