Five Orders of Clean-Tech Innovation with Bill Nussey

In 2022, the US Department of Energy reported that, 

“The United States is a resource-rich country with abundant renewable energy... Every region of the country has access to multiple [clean energy] resources. The available renewable resource is 100 times that of the Nation’s annual electricity need.” 

So, why do renewable resources account for only 20% of the nation’s power today?

What’s getting in the way of the mass adoption of renewable energy?

If you’ve been tuning in for a while, you’ve heard me discuss the wasted energy problem with industry experts. I’m excited to continue this conversation:

In this episode, Soluna CEO John Belizaire talks to John Breckenridge, Senior Advisor (and former CEO) of Arevon Energy.

John has more than 20 years of direct private equity investing experience, preceded by more than 18 years of operations management. 
We’ll learn from John’s expertise in renewables, infrastructure, and sustainability, and dig into the challenges of clean energy development and integration. 

In Spring 2023, Soluna proudly announced a new investment partner at Project Dorothy – Navitas Global.

Navitas Global is a private data center development company that leverages years of experience and deep relationships in the Bitcoin mining industry to provide attractive returns for investors. 

In this episode, CEO John Belizaire talks to Chad Roach, Managing Partner at Navitas, about Project Dorothy.

They discuss what’s happening at the nexus of renewable energy development, Bitcoin mining, investment, and more. 

LEARN more about Soluna by visiting our website.

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In this episode, we’re taking a deep dive into the use of water in AI computing in traditional data center models, and some of the looming questions concerning AI’s sustainability. 

Our guest is Shaolei Ren, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Riverside.

Professor Ren’s research broadly focuses on AI + Sustainability and pushes forward the boundaries of the field by uncovering and addressing water sustainability and environmental equity in networked AI/computing systems.

LEARN more about Soluna by visiting our website.

WATCH our latest updates and insights on YouTube.

FOLLOW us on Twitter and LinkedIn to continue the conversation.

SUBSCRIBE to our weekly newsletter.

In this episode, we're digging into Soluna's carbon emissions. 

An independent study has found that Project Dorothy, our Texas flagship data center, emits 18% less carbon annually than its data center counterparts and the ERCOT West territory. 

John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna Computing and host of Clean Integration, is joined by Soluna’s VP of Corporate Development, Phillip Ng.

Our guest today is Rob Day, a friend of the show and co-founder and partner at Spring Lane Capital. (If you didn't catch our first conversation with Rob, listen here.)

Spring Lane Capital is a private equity firm focused on investments for sustainable solutions in the energy, water, food, and waste sectors. Their investment in data center projects is part of their strategy focused on hybrid project capital for sustainable solutions in the energy industry.

If you've read the news lately or even quickly skimmed the headlines, you've seen the madness concerning FTX and the growing skepticism of the crypto industry at large.

The collapse of FTX and other firms this year bolstered by concerns of crypto mining strain on the world's resources, there have been many misunderstandings, it seems. Especially as it relates to Bitcoin.

Recently, you may have heard CEO John Belizaire say, "Bitcoin is not crypto," and he is not alone in this thought. Many thought leaders and Bitcoiners have taken to Twitter and op-eds to expand on this:

Bitcoin is not crypto. (At least not the version of Crypto FTX was built on.)

"And what does that mean?" You're probably thinking.

In this episode, John Belizaire is joined today by colleagues, Dip Patel, CTO of Soluna, and Phillip Ng, Vice President of Corporate Development at Soluna.

They discuss what's going on in the market, and try to clarify a few things to help you, our listeners, understand how and why Bitcoin is not crypto.

Notable Moments: 

[02:15] First things first, what the heck happened? We woke up one day and there were suspicious Twitter threads, drama, and finally a collapse. How would you explain the FTX situation to a novice?

[12:00] What’s the next market going to look like? What should people expect? And what do you say to them that should be learned here?

[24:50] Briefly, can you explain why Bitcoin is so energy intensive?

[28:10] What’s your pitch to renewable energy developers, and power plant owners? How do you position building a bitcoin data center co-located with their facilities and how it addresses their issues?

[31:20] What prediction for the coming year would you like to see, would you love to see, I would say? And it could be anything, but what would you like to see, particularly around this whole crypto space and Bitcoin space?

To read the transcript of this episode, visit: https://www.solunacomputing.com/podcast/ftx-recap/

Nino Lazariia, a consultant at Cleantech Group,  works with a particular focus on digital solutions to climate change. She has worked in multiple countries on issues ranging from smart cities, the internet of things, AI, digital resilience, and emerging technologies.

Cleantech Group is a research and consulting company that tracks innovation for sustainability across the agriculture, energy, chemical, transportation, and environmental sectors.

Notable Moments: 

[3:05] How would you define Cleantech?

[4:40] What do you see as the major upcoming trends in cleantech, particularly around the growth of the sector and new industries leaning into cleantech? 

[7:21] What's your take on the EV market and its impact on the climate change problem we're facing?

[9:05] One of your clients is UNIDO. Can you tell us a bit about your work for them? 

[12:13] Do you think crypto, AI, IoT, and other digital solutions have a role to play in social good?

[14:09] How do you manage bringing different stakeholders to the metaphorical table? – whether that’s execs, investors, legislators, scientists, etc.?

[15:19] You received dual masters in public affairs and environmental science - how do you think that has shaped your work at Cleantech Group? 

[16:43] You mentioned having a particular passion for smart cities. Can you talk more about what that is for our listeners? 

[18:08] What types of considerations do smart cities take for building or reforming the electrical grid? 

[19:10] How do you stay motivated and/or inspired in the hard fight against climate change?

Links: 

• Cleantech Group  Quarterly Investment Monitor Insight, Q3 2022: https://s3.amazonaws.com/i3.cleantech/uploads/investment_monitor_resource/79651/108012_Quarterly_Investment_Monitor_Q3_2022_-_Slides.pdf
• 2022 Global Cleantech 100 Report: https://s3.amazonaws.com/i3.cleantech/uploads/additional_resources_pdf/60/260/Cleantech_Global_100_2022_Report.pdf
• Nino Lazariia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lazarianino/

The Inflation Reduction Act is at its core a climate bill. 

While it does lower prescription drug costs, make healthcare more affordable, and enable the IRS to do their job, the bill is really the single greatest investment — $369 billion — in climate change in U.S. history.

It was signed into law on August 16 of this year and has been great news to the clean energy industry, particularly the electric vehicle market. 

But we may not have enough battery manufacturing capacity or lithium supply to fulfill these EVs or storage provisions. 

Much of our global lithium refining takes place in China, creating an unnecessarily expensive and time-intensive process. 

We are excited to talk to Max Hickey of Li-Cycle in this episode. 

Max is the Business Development Manager at Li-Cycle. Li-Cycle has several battery recycling facilities in North America, helping to open a new market and increase our domestic supply of lithium. 

John and Max discuss: 

• The current battery manufacturing market and how the IRA may impact it
• How lithium recycling help grow the lithium supply in North America and generally outside of China
• How we make the battery manufacturing process — and the industries that use them — more sustainable

Today, we’re getting a unique perspective on entrepreneurship.

John Dearie joins us from the Center for American Entrepreneurship, a research, policy, and advocacy organization that works with policymakers in Washington and across the country to achieve a policy environment that promotes new business formation, survival, and growth.

John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna Computing and host of Clean Integration, became familiar with John Dearie and the Center for American Entrepreneurship in the fall of 2019 through his friend Bettina Heins (also a member of the board) and he joined the Board of Directors for CAE in May 2020. So, it’s a personal pleasure for John to sit with him today.

They discussed the work they do at the Center, how to build a more diverse, more vibrant future for entrepreneurs in the U.S., and the role that the Center for American Entrepreneurship had in passing the seminal CHIPS Act earlier this year.

Highlights: 

[01:25]: How’d you start CAE? Tell us more about your background in general. You’ve got some big milestones along the way too, we’d love to hear those.

[11:45]: Take us in the car with you as you’re making your way across the country, talking to entrepreneurs. What’s that experience like? What types of companies were you meeting with? What were some of the challenges they were facing?

[19:58]: I want to talk about the increasing awareness of sustainability and climate impact on the policy front, there’s just been incredible, I’d say, seminal series of bills that have gone through and become law recently. The Inflation Reduction Act might be a good place to start. What are its implications from your perspective on entrepreneurship and American innovation at large?

[23:15] We’ve seen big companies like Samsung planning to move some of their chip development back to the US. It’s almost like a massive sea wave of reassuring of chip manufacturing, and that is driven by a law that most people may not know. It’s called the CHIPS Act which was passed recently, and CAE was foundational in getting that act passed. John, can you explain to anyone who might not know the significance of this law? What’s it about? I think I had a different name prior, right?

[37:28]  How do you work to even the playing field across the demographics as it relates to entrepreneurs?

We’re excited to explore a new topic on Clean Integration: sustainable IT. 

Capgemini is an international IT solutions provider with a focus on sustainable, “future-shaping projects.” Capgemini has used AI to protect national parks and oceans and has a deep knowledge of sustainable IT and insurance. 

At Soluna, we are just as interested in the human and environmental impact of technology as we are in the way it works. 

We’re excited to have two of Capgemini’s VPs, Satish Weber and Seth Rachlin, on our show. 

Satish is the Executive Vice President and Head of Sustainability & Financial Services at Capgemini, where she helps clients disrupt their industry using sustainable tech solutions. 
 

Seth is the Executive Vice President of Capgemini’s Global Insurance Industry branch and has consulted with over 50 Fortune 500 and middle-market insurance companies. Seth is also a professor at the University of Chicago, where he teaches about the intersection of risk and technology.

Key Moments: 

[1:38] Introductions to Seth, Satish, and Capgemini

[4:40] What is sustainability? Why is IT at the center of the global sustainability conversation?

[15:58] Capgemini has talked a lot about technology for inclusive progress. What does inclusivity mean in this context? How do you work to facilitate that progress?

[18:24] The financial services industry plays a unique role in the future of sustainability. What does the conversation around sustainability currently look like in that sector?

[20:22] What’s the relationship between sustainability and value proposition? What does resilience look like in understanding sustainability in financial services?

[23:23] What are some of the biggest challenges facing technology companies seeking to adopt sustainable practices?

[27:42] If the shift to more sustainable IT is the trend, then doesn’t it behoove utilities to have a sustainability value proposition?

[30:14] Can we expect that “sustainability” will gain one objective meaning and across industries or will the term/mission always be subjective and industry-specific?

The US passed the largest climate bill in American history this summer: The Inflation Reduction Act. With new energy sources, will come new challenges for our already-struggling grid.

Now more than ever, innovations in AI and machine learning are so important for stabilizing the grid.

Today I’m talking to Sean Murphy, the CEO and Co-Founder of PingThings, Inc., a software platform for high-frequency time series data bringing AI and machine learning to some of the largest utilities in the US.

PingThings is backed by GE Ventures and is also spearheading the Department of Energy’s National infrastructure for AI on the Grid initiative.

Previously, Sean built Full Stack Data Science, a consulting firm that focused on bringing AI, machine learning, and data science into the enterprise space– specifically in government, finance, consumer, education, and healthcare.

He also spent over a decade as a senior scientist at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

With such a wide breadth and depth of experience, we’re excited to speak to Sean today to learn more about his innovative platform.

Highlights: 

• [4:10] How did you get into data science? When did you know you would be a data scientist?
• [07:36] Let’s talk about your current venture and focus. I think it’s very exciting to use data and software to create a more predictive grid. In fact, you call it PredictiveGrid software. How does it work and what problems can it solve for our current grid system?
• [12:40] What is the predictive software doing for the grid?
• [13:51]: How have utilities responded to your software so far? Have you noticed any change to their approach to renewable energy using the software or any insights you can share with us here?
• [19:58]: It looks like your group hosts training and hackathons. And you’ve previously, you did this where you built a whole community of 10,000 plus data practitioners. What led you to realize that community was important and knowledge sharing is important in the work that you do at PingThings?
• [24:08]: What’s the role of open-source data? I noticed that that’s a big part of your approach and platform. Why is that a part of it? I thought you were going after the sensors on the resources.
• [32:54]: You’ve founded four companies. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs?
• [36:05]: How can AI help the grid? What can AI do?