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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 29 (ANI): The Power Transmission &amp; Distribution (<keyword id="21574285" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="PTD" source="keywords">PT&amp;D</keyword>) business of <keyword id="19975888" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Larsen-Toubro" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Larsen &amp; Toubro" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="Larsen &amp; Toubro">Larsen &amp; Toubro</keyword> (<keyword id="19963313" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="LT" source="keywords">L&amp;T</keyword>) has secured new orders both domestically and internationally for the construction of substations and <keyword id="21017821" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="transmission-lines" source="keywords">transmission lines</keyword>. According to an exchange filing, these projects are integral to the vast, interconnected electricity network, aiming to accelerate the <keyword id="20596535" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="clean-energy-transition" source="keywords">clean energy transition</keyword> and ensure a reliable, resilient power supply. In India, L&amp;T's PT&amp;D has been entrusted with two 765kV double circuit transmission line projects. These projects are vital for the evacuation of power from the Jaisalmer/Barmer <keyword id="21873922" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Renewable-Energy-Zone" source="keywords">Renewable Energy Zone</keyword> in Rajasthan, channelling it to substations in Madhya Pradesh for further distribution. This initiative is a step towards harnessing and utilising renewable energy resources efficiently within the country. On the international front, Saudi Arabia continues its pursuit of sustainable and efficient power supply by bolstering its 380kV network in the central region. L&amp;T's PT&amp;D has secured orders to construct a 380kV substation and 380kV overhead line segments. These developments are crucial for enhancing the region's <keyword id="21644086" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="electricity-infrastructure" source="keywords">electricity infrastructure</keyword> and ensuring a stable power supply. In the United Arab Emirates, L&amp;T's PT&amp;D has been awarded contracts to build a 220kV substation and three 132kV substations. These substations will be pivotal in meeting the growing electricity demand in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, supporting the utilities in maintaining a robust and reliable power network. Larsen &amp; Toubro, a USD 27 billion Indian multinational, is a prominent player in EPC projects, hi-tech manufacturing, and services with a global footprint. Renowned for its customer-focused approach and relentless pursuit of top-quality standards, L&amp;T has maintained leadership in its major business domains for over eight decades. The recent orders won by L&amp;T's PT&amp;D fall under the 'Large' category, with values ranging from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 crore.

L&T wins multiple orders worth Rs 2500 to 5000 crore to build grids for clean energy transition

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Abaxx is a new commodities exchange that aims to stabilize prices and aid the energy transition.</li><li>"Trade and network keeps the world at peace," Abaxx's CEO told BI.</li></ul>The race to clean-up the global economy is on.Investment in the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-renewable-energy-transition-solar-electric-vehicles-hit-records-2024-2">energy transition</a> — a broad shift from fossil-based energy production systems to renewable resources like wind and solar power — hit $1.8 billion in 2023, with countries like China and the United States leading the charge, according to BloombergNEF, an energy research company. The International Energy Agency says total investment in clean energy could reach $2 trillion by the end of the year.But the shift to a cleaner, lower-carbon world doesn't depend solely on the work of government officials, legislators, or even major businesses. It also hinges on players working behind the scenes to secure the prices of key commodities like liquefied natural gas, essential for electricity generation and heating, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fund-carbon-removal-corporates-avoid-bad-credits-2023-2">carbon offsets</a>, which help companies counteract the impact of their carbon emissions.A new Singapore-based commodities exchange called Abaxx, which launched in June, is working to do that by providing companies, governments, and project developers with a transparent marketplace for their trades. Commodities markets help stabilize prices by helping suppliers and consumers figure out fair prices, hedge against volatile price changes, and execute efficient and transparent transactions.Exchanges like Abaxx play a role in this because they help lock in prices and mitigate drastic fluctuations in the future. Abaxx deals in futures contracts, legally binding agreements to buy or sell commodities at a specified future date. Three regionally deliverable liquified natural gas contracts and two carbon offset contracts are already trading on the exchange. It's working on launching futures contracts for gold and battery metals, like lithium, a component in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-cheaper-electric-vehicle-battery-technology-lithium-shift-2023-3">batteries that power EVs like Tesla</a>.Josh Crumb, the CEO and founder of Abaxx, says unclear pricing can lead to higher and more volatile prices for consumers while also forcing commodity producers to navigate turbulent investment cycles."If we look at the battery supply chain, nickel sulfate, lithium, cobalt, these things have gone through huge swings of boom and bust over the last couple of years," Crumb told Business Insider. "The main reason why is we don't have a lot of market transparency so that people can forward plan, price, hedge, all of that."Crumb first realized that the commodity industry needed more innovation when he was working as a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rip-goldman-sachs-wall-street-investment-bank-dead-2023-11">strategist at Goldman Sachs</a> in the years following the 2008 financial crisis. That coincided with the end of the commodities boom of the 2000s, during which the prices of many commodities, from food to oil to chemicals, had drastically surged.Now, with trading in full swing, Crumb hopes Abaxx will play a role in stabilizing what he sees as the next commodity investment cycle — marked not just by a need for new commodities to facilitate the energy transition but also a surge in electrification."When people speak of the energy transition to a lower carbon economy, they are usually speaking of replacing internal combustion engines with electric vehicles, with electricity supplied by low carbon renewables, hydro, and nuclear power. This will lead to a dramatic increase in electricity consumption," a representative for Crumb wrote to Business Insider by email. Between 2022 and 2050, global electricity generation is expected to surge at a faster rate than it did over the past decade, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.Most importantly, though, exchanges like Abaxx could play a critical role in geopolitics, Crumb said. "You want more transparency; you want more markets because we think that leads to more peace," he said. "We think trade and networks keeps the world at peace."

Founder of new commodities exchange explains how it can fuel the green energy transition

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Firebricks have been around for thousands of years.</li><li>Industries use them to store heat from burning <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-acquisition-permian-basin-pioneer-fossil-fuels-energy-transition-2023-10">fossil fuels</a>; newer versions conduct electricity.</li></ul>Industrial manufacturers make materials like aluminum and glass for everything from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy02osti/32135.pdf">beverage containers</a> to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2238785423024006">aircraft parts</a>. They're also responsible for 17% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to recent research published in <a target="_blank" href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae274">PNAS Nexus</a>.That's a problem. Countries are struggling to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-emissions-2022-record-renewables-growth-solar-wind-iea-2023-3">cut CO2 emissions</a> as the climate crisis worsens. And switching these major manufacturers to cleaner sources of energy, like wind and solar, would help significantly.But when the sun isn't shining or wind isn't blowing, these manufacturers need to rely on stored energy. Batteries are one option, but some scientists think an ancient technology, firebricks, is a cheaper and easier solution.<h2 id="4d66210e-a897-4885-9d6c-45b833a3fd2c">Firebricks are cheap and effective</h2><div type="image" title="A hand holds a thin grayish brick with white speckles" height="683" width="1024" msid="112508425" hostid="261" sizebytes="28908"></div>If you have a brick fireplace, you might notice the bricks stay warm for a while after the fire goes out.People have used bricks to<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X23000287"> help keep</a> kilns and ovens hot since the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bronze-age-lost-tomb-ireland-rediscovered-photogrammetry-2024-1">Bronze Age</a>. Even modern industrial manufacturers use firebricks in daily operations.They stack the bricks in tall rows, heat them up to extremely high temperatures, and then blow air through channels to harness the heat for melting glass or metal, for example.Heating up the bricks causes carbon emissions since manufacturers typically burn fossil fuels to do it.However, a few new companies think they've figured out how to use electricity from the grid to heat up the bricks instead.Electrified Thermal Solutions and other companies make firebricks that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/power-grid-transmission-renewable-energy-nimby-states-ferc-2024-5">conduct electricity</a>."A normal firebrick is an insulator like rubber. Electricity just doesn't go through it," MIT professor Charles Forsberg, an advisor to the company, said.However, when you add compounds like chromia and nickel oxide the firebrick becomes an electrical conductor.Forsberg said these conductive bricks function similarly to an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gas-stove-debate-cooking-induction-electric-kitchen-2023-1">electric oven</a>, except the firebrick can handle heat that would melt your oven's wires."It's a way to heat firebricks to a blazingly hot temperature," he said. It can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/25/science/race-clean-up-heavy-industry-heats-up/">reach</a> 3,270 degrees Fahrenheit, more than hot enough to melt steel, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/25/science/race-clean-up-heavy-industry-heats-up/">The Boston Globe reported</a>.Instead of storing the electricity like a battery, the bricks would store heat. So, a steel mill, for example, could take <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/modernize-us-electric-grid-what-it-will-take-2024-5">electricity from the grid</a>. The high electrical current would heat up the oxides inside the firebricks, and the bricks would retain the heat, which the manufacturer could then use to melt metal.Of course, there's still the issue that electricity from the grid often comes from fossil fuels. But eventually, as more renewable energy feeds the grid, this could help major manufacturers drastically reduce carbon emissions, and also save a lot of money.Mark Jacobson, a professor at Stanford University, estimated in the PNAS Nexus study that transitioning 149 countries entirely to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-renewable-energy-transition-solar-electric-vehicles-hit-records-2024-2">renewable energy</a> by 2050 would cost about $59 trillion. He and his colleagues used computer models to examine two options: one where industries used firebricks and one where they relied on technologies like electric furnaces and boilers and stored energy in batteries.Implementing firebricks saved over $1.2 trillion dollars worldwide, he told Business Insider.The savings partially come from the bricks' cheap cost, which are about a tenth of the price of traditional storage batteries, Jacobson said. "When we use firebricks, we reduce the cost of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-was-battery-powered-twice-last-week-2024-4">batteries</a> because we need fewer batteries," he said.<h2 id="518d0dd9-00e6-4e75-b1be-eeb5884abf76">Making small changes for big emissions savings</h2><div type="image" title="Two people stand in front of a device that looks like a large refrigerator" height="683" width="1024" msid="112508428" hostid="261" sizebytes="72432"></div>Forsberg said early adopters of conductive firebricks might still use <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/natural-gas-biden-exports-pause-energy-costs-less-predictable-2024-2">natural gas</a> or oil if they run out of stored heat."Someday in the future, it may all be electric," he said, "but my guess is in the near term, most of the people who need high-temperature heat are going to buy a cheap <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-ban-gas-stoves-in-new-buildings-emissions-reduction-2023-4">gas burner</a>."It's also going to take a while to get these new firebricks installed. Jacobson said the first adopters might be companies that need to replace their equipment or newcomers starting from scratch. Once they do, though, "I think they'll find that it's actually much more beneficial," he said.Electrified Thermal Solutions is working on one of its first industrial applications, <a target="_blank" href="https://electrifiedthermal.com/kentucky-governor-announces-ets-available-for-doe-funding-to-help-electrify-chemical-plant/">replacing</a> gas boilers in a Kentucky chemical plant.Another company, <a target="_blank" href="https://rondo.com/calgren-case-study">Rondo</a>, has installed its technology in a biofuel company in California. Rondo said its system reduces CO2 emissions and lowers the cost of energy because it requires less electricity than hydrogen fuel.Having a few successful example projects might help change some minds in other industries, Jacobson said.Forsberg said one of the biggest benefits of the newer firebrick technology is that it updates processes many industries have in place. "The goal is minimum change," he said. "If you want to cause a revolution in technology, don't change anything you don't have to change."

Researchers want to combine an ancient technology with clean energy to save over $1 trillion worldwide

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Biden administration unveiled a rule linking clean energy tax breaks to worker pay.</li><li>Projects must hire apprentices and pay prevailing wages to qualify for increased tax breaks.</li></ul>The Biden administration wants to ensure businesses are paying their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-climate-manufacturing-work-best-places-georgia-carolinas-2024-1">clean energy workers </a>well — and it's using a new tax break to push for it.The Treasury Department, alongside the Internal Revenue Service, announced a final rule on Tuesday that stipulates how clean energy projects can get their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-inflation-reduction-act-means-finances-tax-health-climate-democrats-2022-8">tax break</a> from the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/house-passes-inflation-reduction-act-sending-it-to-biden-2022-8">Inflation Reduction Act</a> multiplied by five by paying workers more."No developer will leave that money on the table," John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, told reporters.To qualify, projects have to hire <a target="_blank" href="https://www.apprenticeship.gov/employers/registered-apprenticeship-program">registered apprentices</a>, who are paid for their work and earn credentials while doing it, and pay the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prevailing-wage-law-solve-labor-shortage-great-resignation-government-contracts-2022-1">prevailing wage</a> to their workers, a level of minimum pay generally set for workers on government contracts. While prevailing wage has "long applied" to federal projects, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, this is the first time it's been applied to clean energy tax incentives."This is a major step to put American workers at the center of the clean energy economy. It will help to attract and strengthen a skilled workforce in partnership with our nation's labor unions and private sector companies, and it'll help make sure this workforce is well paid," Yellen said in a call with reporters.The rule gets at one of the big issues facing the clean energy economy: It doesn't pay as well as jobs in more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22914487/clean-energy-fossil-fuels-salaries-unions">carbon-intensive fossil fuel energy</a>. For instance, a 2021 paper from the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute <a target="_blank" href="https://peri.umass.edu/images/CA-CleanEnergy-6-8-21.pdf?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Recode%202.2.2022&amp;utm_term=Recode">found</a> that while clean energy work in California pays $86,000 — above the average national wage of $65,000 — fossil fuel work pays, on average, $130,000.Of course, there is now more opportunity for clean energy work as the industry grows, and some jobs have robust pay — but many roles <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-jobs-career-grow-pay-well-high-salary-2024">require a bachelor's degree or apprenticeship experience</a>, underscoring the importance of hiring apprentices.Sean McGarvey, president of North America's Buildings Trades Unions, told reporters that in the past, the average solar worker earned less than a quarter of NABTU members' total wage and benefits package."That's why we were so reluctant without these rules that are being put in place to embrace the clean energy transition; we were always talking about a just transition," McGarvey said. "In the fossil fuel industry, our experience has been for the last hundred years that they pay top wages and fringe benefits, and, in the renewable industries that burgeoned over the last several decades, that has not been the case."The new rule could open up the type of federal tax support for clean energy that fossil fuel companies have enjoyed for decades."With these new rules in place, there will be huge increases for many, many people that are existing in this industry right now and the opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people to join this industry with middle-class family-sustaining wages and with good healthcare and post-retirement benefits," McGarvey said.Are you considering going into clean energy for higher pay? Contact this reporter at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:jkaplan@businessinsider.com">jkaplan@businessinsider.com</a>.

There's a huge pay raise on the way for clean energy workers 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Renewables can offer cheaper energy than fossil fuels, but the grid isn't designed to handle them.</li><li>We explore the places in the US making progress on this front. </li></ul>Think about the last time your <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackouts-power-outages-more-common-climate-change-electric-grid-infrastructure-2023-3">power went out</a>.Maybe a car hit an electricity-distribution pole or a falling branch took down a power line <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-from-texas-power-outage-ercot-energy-grid-winter-storm-2023-12">during a storm</a>. It probably took at least a few minutes, maybe hours, before your power turned back on.Most likely, that's because workers at your local utility first had to assess how to restore your power. Then dispatchers had to drive to the nearby switches that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-winter-storm-power-cuts-white-house-emergency-declaration-2021-2">control the flow of energy</a> and manually flip them until everyone's lights were back on.Not in Chattanooga, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moving-to-tennessee-pros-cons-nashville-memphis-chattanooga-2023-2">Tennessee</a>. Instead, software automatically sends commands to smart switches throughout the system, rerouting the flow of electricity to restore power in seconds.The electric utility in Chattanooga, EPB, has invested $280 million in creating one of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/power-smart-grid-electric-investment-save-money-prevent-blackouts-2024-4">smartest power grids</a> in the country. It has this self-healing system and manages energy more efficiently than traditional grids, reduces carbon emissions, and saves customers money on their electricity bills."They are an example of people who are looking forward to say: We see technology coming," Kevin Schneider, the chief engineer studying power systems at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, told Business Insider. "It is a challenge. It will be expensive, but we view it as less expensive and less challenging than doing nothing for the next 10 years and then trying to catch up."Nationwide, our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/power-grid-strain-home-vehicle-electrification-ai-startups-2024-3">power systems are in trouble</a>. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-laws-us-infrastructure-invest-funding-2024-3">infrastructure is aging and outdated</a>, costing consumers billions a year in higher energy bills. Moreover, the aging grid is not ready for the barrage of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-migration-where-moved-escape-natural-disasters-extreme-weather">increasingly severe weather</a> that the climate crisis is bringing, nor the incoming surge of renewable energy and battery storage as the US moves toward the Biden-Harris administration's goal to achieve a carbon-pollution-free grid by 2035."Much of our grid infrastructure is 40, 50, 60-plus years old," Joe Rand, an energy policy researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, told BI. "And so it is in need of upgrading and maintenance."Smarter grids, like Chattanooga's, are just part of what it will take to modernize the American grid in the coming decades. They can deliver electricity in a "cleaner, more efficient, faster way," Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist studying smart grids at the University of Texas at Austin, told BI.However, getting that electricity in the first place from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-green-power-energy-america-economy-wind-oil-solar-prices-2023-11">wind, solar, and other renewables</a> is where the challenge begins.<h2 id="69b81dd9-e41b-4840-b480-f88f0bf2481c">A troubled transition to renewable energy</h2><div type="image" title="giant wind turbines standing in water" height="1414" width="2121" msid="110091236" hostid="261" sizebytes="187698"></div>Last year was record-breaking for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-renewable-energy-transition-solar-electric-vehicles-hit-records-2024-2">clean energy in the US</a>. Renewables, including wind, solar, and hydropower, represented about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wri.org/insights/clean-energy-progress-united-states">25% of the electricity generated</a> in the US in the first half of 2023.And this year is off to a solid start. South Fork Wind — New York's first offshore wind farm — began powering homes in March. And the Edwards &amp; Sanborn project, the US's largest solar energy and energy storage project in California, came online in January.Renewable energy is not only cleaner than fossil fuels but also often less expensive."In many parts of the United States, wind and or solar are basically the cheapest ways that we can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-panel-industry-electricity-generation-us-eia-tariff-prices-trade-2024-2">generate electricity</a>," Rand said.But we have a long way to go to reach 100% clean electricity by 2035. Renewables are intermittent energy sources. Unlike fossil fuels, the amount of energy they generate fluctuates. But <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-betting-electricity-power-grid-congestion-trading-2024-3">our grid system wasn't designed</a> to handle that variation.Plugging intermittent energy sources into this outdated grid network can cause problems, such as energy imbalances that exceed capacity and trigger outages, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.stevens.edu/profile/podonkor">Philip Odonkor</a>, an assistant professor in the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology, told BI.So what's happened is a bottleneck: Renewable projects are generating energy but with limited ways of getting it to towns and cities. At the end of 2023, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-04/Queued%20Up%E2%80%A6But%20in%20Need%20of%20Transmission.pdf">930 gigawatts</a> of power — enough to power <a target="_blank" href="https://www.seia.org/solar-industry-research-data">roughly</a> 171 million homes — were waiting to connect to the grid.To achieve zero-emissions electricity by 2035, the US needs to revamp the grid with up to 10,100 miles of new transmission lines that can transport renewable energy from point A to point B. The Midwest grid operator, Midcontinent Independent System Operator, has approved the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nrdc.org/bio/toba-pearlman/midwest-grid-operators-inching-forward-miles-go-0">country's largest transmission investment</a> to date, totaling $10.3 billion, to improve how it delivers electricity to 45 million people across the Midwest.But in general, construction on new high-voltage transmission has slowed to a trickle over the past decade, Rand said. In 2013, the US <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05/dec-energy-infrastructure_3.pdf">completed</a> over 3,000 miles of transmission projects. Last year, it <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.ferc.gov/media/energy-infrastructure-update-december-2023">completed</a> 251 miles.It's not economic or technology barriers holding these projects back, Rand said: "It's institutional, regulatory, and social issues."<h2 id="ed839077-604c-48e7-a55c-f3e216767d9a">Breaking down barriers</h2><div type="image" title="A man walks through a power station" height="1937" width="3000" msid="110091239" hostid="261" sizebytes="1045202"></div>When South Fork Wind began operations in March, it was a major milestone but also years behind schedule. Economic headwinds struck in 2020 with the Trump administration's moratorium on offshore wind, which stalled progress for two years."The clearest delay for South Fork was losing those years of progress," said <a target="_blank" href="https://wrisenergy.org/about-wrise/leadership/board/">Julia Bovey</a>, the director of external affairs for offshore wind at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eversource.com/content/residential">Eversource Energy</a>, which co-owns South Fork Wind with <a target="_blank" href="https://us.orsted.com/?gad_source=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwir2xBhC_ARIsAMTXk84wQN2zsVWYlPKJurVNpM-v2sPcNdUtPeJL5HMpCMOYQ9fYAfdwwnwaAu_mEALw_wcB">Ørsted</a>.Other obstacles stand in the way of clean energy — the biggest being the lengthy permitting process and interconnection queue delays. The permitting process for renewable-energy projects involves massive amounts of paperwork and can take <a target="_blank" href="https://www.osc.ny.gov/press/releases/2024/04/dinapoli-renewable-energy-projects-taking-years-become-operational-nys#:~:text=On%20average%2C%20the%20permit%20application,permit%20process%20is%20not%20improved">three or more years to finish</a>.In the end, about <a target="_blank" href="https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/Queued%20Up%202024%20Edition_1.pdf">80%</a> don't make it to completion, and those that do can get stuck in the clogged interconnection queue for as long as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2024/03/01/the-energy-sector-and-ai-unplugging-the-interconnection-queue-backlog/?sh=4932ad4162f4">five more years</a>. By the end of 2023, almost <a target="_blank" href="https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/Queued%20Up%202024%20Edition_1.pdf">12,000 projects</a> were in the queue, waiting to be connected to the grid."It's a seriously complex process with so many stakeholders," Bovey said.South Fork Wind was the first utility-scale offshore-wind project in the US to make it through this process. In doing so, it revealed a lot of issues that could be fixed through standardization and better agency coordination, Bovey said. But it also proved that bringing offshore wind online was possible."Every hope is that this has paved the way for future projects to be cheaper, bigger, faster, and just as responsible — just as well sited," Bovey said.On the whole, Paul Denholm, a principal analyst and senior research fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is more skeptical of the country's prospects. We'll be closer to a 50% renewable-power grid by 2035 with the way things are going, he told BI.Right now, we lack the federal policy necessary to solve regulatory and permitting delays, clear the interconnection queue, and drive rapid infrastructure upgrades and technology implementation, Denholm said.For example, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator's transmission investment, while noteworthy, took 11 years to get approval, and its next series of approvals have been delayed."So from that standpoint, it's pretty clear that we're not on a path to get to 100%," Denholm said.<h2 id="a55db279-156b-40fd-940e-ba037839bbdf">There's no going back</h2><div type="image" title="An electric vehicle charges in California" height="683" width="1024" msid="110091241" hostid="261" sizebytes="41490"></div>Regardless of how quickly the US gets there, we're headed for a clean-energy revolution. The federal government has invested nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.energy.gov/infrastructure/clean-energy-infrastructure-funding-projects-and-programs">$100 billion</a> in clean energy through its Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.Old infrastructure must be modernized across the country because the production and use of energy are going to get much more complicated.Nationwide, the grid draws power from about 12,000 power plants. Over the next 20 years or so, it will have to balloon to incorporate millions of small, distributed energy-generation resources, from hydropower dams to offshore wind farms to rooftop solar panels.Then there will be the batteries, which store wind and solar energy until a rainy day. Meanwhile, newly electrified cars and heating systems will increase energy demand.Eventually, home appliances may tap into data from the grid — how much people are drawing energy from it, how much carbon it's emitting, and how much electricity costs at any given hour — to help you make smart decisions about when to wash your dishes or heat your house."Historically it was meant to go one way," Schneider said of the grid. "Now we've got solar that pushes power back in. We've got EVs. We've got new loads like heat pumps. So the edge is getting so much more complicated with a lot more stakeholders in there."Smart grids are essential for integrating all that new stuff. The rollout of smart-grid technologies, renewable projects, and new transmission lines will happen piecemeal across the country, at different paces in different places, depending on policies, utility finances, and the economy — high up-front costs can be a major deterrent. However, the return on investment can be even greater.Take Chattanooga. EPB spent $280 million to refurbish its power system with smart technologies. In its first 10 years, the project generated $2.7 billion worth of economic value by creating jobs, attracting businesses, and reducing customers' electricity bills, an EPB-funded <a target="_blank" href="https://assets.epb.com/media/Lobo%20-%20Ten%20Years%20of%20Fiber%20Infrastructure%20in%20Hamilton%20County%20TN_Published.pdf">study</a> found.MISO foresees a similar return on its $10.3 billion investment. It estimates that investment will bring <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/sam-gomberg/midwest-transmission-system-investments-will-be-a-game-changer-for-a-clean-energy-future/">$37.3 billion of value</a> for customers by transporting cheaper, more reliable power. So the benefits can outweigh the cost."As we move forward, things are becoming more complex," Schneider said. "And we need to find ways to work together collaboratively. Because no one group or organization has all the answers, it's going to be a lot of different things coming together."

What it will take to modernize the American grid and usher in the clean-energy revolution

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft are striking nuclear power deals for their AI data centers.</li><li>The nuclear power resurgence is driven by clean energy demand and AI's soaring power needs.</li></ul>The nuclear power industry <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-google-microsoft-openai-big-tech-investment-nuclear-ai-race-2024-10">is undergoing a renaissance</a> as demand for clean power soars across the country, partly driven by the soaring energy needs associated with artificial intelligence data centers.Mega-cap technology companies, including <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amzn-stock">Amazon</a>, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/msft-stock">Microsoft</a>, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/googl-stock">Alphabet</a>, have inked nuclear power deals to feed their growing energy needs as AI becomes a bigger part of their businesses. One utility company is even restarting the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant after inking a 20-year deal to sell the power to Microsoft.Three Mile Island, located on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, was the site of the country's worst nuclear accident in 1979.Meanwhile, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-nuclear-power-strategy-ai-2024-10">Amazon has led a $500 million financing round</a> for a company developing modular nuclear reactors and purchased a nuclear-powered data center in March for $650 million."One of the fastest ways to address climate change is by transitioning our society to carbon-free energy sources, and nuclear energy is both carbon-free and able to scale—which is why it's an important area of investment for Amazon," Amazon Web Services CEO, Matt Garman, said in a press release.Analysts on Wall Street are encouraged, too. "The nuclear energy projects involve the construction of several Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), a compact, advanced type of reactor that can be built closer to grids and completed faster than traditional reactors. SMRs also offer the potential to reduce carbon emissions, paving the way for cleaner, more sustainable energy," CFRA analyst Arun Sundaram said in a note last week.He added: "With the full power of AI dependent on both data centers and energy infrastructure, these investments further help AMZN secure its positioning as a leading cloud/AI provider."The resurgence in nuclear power has led to big moves on Wall Street, with some stocks more than doubling in just a few days this month.From utility companies to uranium miners to small-scale nuclear developers, these stocks are soaring amid the revival of America's nuclear power industry.7. Cameco<div type="image" title="CCJ stock" height="568" width="671" msid="114593576" hostid="261" sizebytes="23410"></div>Ticker: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/ccj-stock">CCJ</a> Market value: $23.6 billion YTD Performance: +25%6. BWX Technologies<div type="image" title="BWXT stock" height="595" width="682" msid="114593572" hostid="261" sizebytes="21428"></div>Ticker: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/bwxt-stock">BWXT</a> Market value: $11.3 billion YTD Performance: +62%5. Oklo<div type="image" title="OKLO stock" height="590" width="674" msid="114593573" hostid="261" sizebytes="18650"></div>Ticker: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/oklo-stock">OKLO</a> Market value: $2.4 billion YTD Performance: +88%4. Constellation Energy<div type="image" title="CEG stock" height="610" width="680" msid="114593579" hostid="261" sizebytes="23222"></div>Ticker: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/ceg-stock">CEG</a> Market value: $83.5 billion YTD Performance: +128%3. Vistra<div type="image" title="CEG stock" height="570" width="676" msid="114593574" hostid="261" sizebytes="22818"></div>Ticker: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/vst-stock">VST</a> Market value: $43.0 billion YTD Performance: +224%2. Nano Nuclear Energy<div type="image" title="NNE stock" height="588" width="677" msid="114593578" hostid="261" sizebytes="21170"></div>Ticker: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/nne-stock">NNE</a> Market value: $589.6 million YTD Performance: +272%1. NuScale Power<div type="image" title="SMR stock" height="567" width="676" msid="114593570" hostid="261" sizebytes="21064"></div>Ticker: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/smr-stock">SMR</a> Market value: $1.8 billion YTD Performance: +481%

Nuclear power stocks are soaring amid an AI energy push. Here are 7 names to watch.

<ul><li>Experts believe that the market has mostly priced <keyword id="19894848" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bjp" source="keywords">BJP</keyword>’s win as a single party as well as a BJP-led coalition.</li><li>If BJP gets a single-party majority, progress could be seen in clean energy, and higher infra spending, says <keyword id="19996294" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ubs" source="keywords">UBS</keyword>.</li><li>Women-centric policies have been improving, especially after female turnout was higher than that of males in 2019. </li></ul>As <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="india" source="keywords">India</keyword> marches towards elections, research firms are projecting various scenarios based on possible outcomes. As per a report by the multinational investment bank UBS, if the ruling BJP gets a single-party majority, there could be policy continuity, which can bode well for business sentiment. Even the elusive private capex recovery might also receive a push. “Further progress in supply-side reforms could be seen, including the clean energy transition, higher infrastructure spending - both digital and physical, a manufacturing push and other targeted policy initiatives towards the youth, poor, women and farmers,” says UBS. Alternate scenarios Experts believe that the market has mostly priced BJP’s win as a single party as well as a BJP-led coalition. If a scenario where the BJP fails to get a majority on its own and a BJP-led coalition comes to power, reform momentum could broadly remain similar. However, some tough policy decisions may not progress and/or are likely to be put on hold, including disinvestments, the land bill, and a uniform civil code. “However, comfort about fiscal discipline could be less of a concern for investors in this scenario,” says UBS about a BJP-led coalition winning. The third outcome could be a weak coalition led by the INDIA alliance. Even in the third case, the economic policy approach would be largely aligned. However, in such a scenario, markets could have concerns about fiscal discipline and a less decisive government, leading to lags in implementing supply-side reforms. “There could also be a delay in the private corporate capex recovery due to weaker business confidence caused by the surprise political outcome,” opines UBS. Rural economy on backfoot Even as the broader economy’s growth has been on track — GDP is expected to grow at 7.6% as per government forecasts — the rural economy has been on a backfoot. Based on FMCG companies’ quarterly earnings, rural market recovery has remained elusive for most of the financial year, barring a few short-lived upticks. Apart from tepid rural wage growth and the government's supply-side measures to contain inflation, rural demand was also impacted by weather-related uncertainty, including the subpar rainfall last year due to El Niño conditions. “However, the Modi government did not announce any substantial pro-rural populist schemes in the run-up to the 2024 elections to entice voters. Instead, the government focused on inclusive growth (partly to cover pandemic shock) with expenditure on rural-focused schemes (including drinking water, employment support, housing and rural roads) up 16% CAGR over FY19-24,” said UBS. Women-centric approach Moreover, the BJP-led government has been focussing on women with policies centred around them, since 2023. This could be also due to the rising percentage of women in the electorate. Particularly, in the 2019 election, female voter turnout was higher than that of males. India has around 970 million people who are above 18 years of age and eligible to vote. Based on the 2019 election turnaround, it’s expected to have 317 million women voters and 340 million men voters in the 2024 election. “The growing inclination of political parties to offer targeted welfare benefits to women (cash support, free bus travel, cooking gas subsidies, women-centric legislation amongst others) is closely linked to the rising percentage of women participating in the electoral process over the years,” says the UBS report. The <keyword id="19895876" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="election-commission-of-india" source="keywords">Election Commission of India</keyword> has recently announced that the 2024 general election will be held in seven phases between 19 April and 1 June. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.

Political continuity could bode well for clean energy & infra spending: UBS

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Fed needs to cut rates to help the struggling clean energy sector, Elizabeth Warren said in a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell.</li><li>Along with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Warren said that high interest rates have "completely tanked" major renewable infrastructure projects which are heavily debt-financed.</li></ul>High interest rates are hurting the clean energy sector, and the Fed needs to do something about it, Elizabeth Warren said.In a <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-whitehouse-to-federal-reserve-chair-powell-high-interest-rates-are-blocking-clean-energy-progress-increasing-energy-costs">letter</a> written to Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday (before the Fed's March meeting), Sen. Warren said that the central bank's extreme rate hikes have stymied progress in the energy transition."Your decision to rapidly raise interest rates beginning in 2022, and the potential that they may remain too high for too long, has halted advances in deploying renewable energy technologies and delayed significant climate and economic benefits from these projects," Warren, along with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, wrote to Powell.Clean energy projects are an incredibly debt-reliant sector of the economy, and the Fed's elevated rates have pinched those companies by jacking up the cost of borrowing money. Last year, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/renewable-energy-stocks-climate-change-outlook-performance-interest-rates-markets-2023-11">clean energy stocks</a> were some of the worst-performing companies in the S&amp;P 500, and they're still limping along. Amid a record-setting stock market, the <a href="https://www.ishares.com/us/products/239738/ishares-global-clean-energy-etf#chartDialog">iShares Clean Energy ETF</a> is down almost 12% this year alone.In their letter, Warren and Whitehouse noted that the high interest rates have buffeted progress in areas including electric vehicle production, clean energy projects, and offshore wind. They highlighted that EV makers have pushed out plans to increase manufacturing, underscored by announcements like Tesla's lower production forecasts because of "higher borrowing costs."Several clean energy projects have taken a hit, too, with companies backing out of offshore wind projects. Battery storage developers are concerned about meeting their goals in the high-rate environment, they said.Finally, they added that the elevated rates are beginning to impede the Biden administration's goals to increase the 41 megawatts of current offshore wind capacity to 30,000 megawatts by 2030. Because those projects are financed by debt — as much as 85% to 90% of capital expenditures — high rates have in some cases "completely tanked" major renewable infrastructure projects across the country. "Your interest rate increases have jeopardized the IRA's opportunities to create new green jobs and cut electricity costs, despite the Fed's mission to 'promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in the U.S. economy,'" the senators wrote to Powell.They added: "We urge you to cut interest rates throughout 2024 to allow for continued progress on clean energy projects and the climate and economic benefits these projects provide."

The Fed needs to cut rates to help the struggling clean energy sector, Elizabeth Warren says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Burning <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fossil-fuel-companies-spend-millions-to-promote-individual-responsibility-2021-3">fossil fuels</a> is a huge health hazard. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/types-of-pollution-health-effects-2019-3">air pollution</a> alone causes 1 in 5 deaths annually.</li><li>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-approval-alaska-drilling-could-be-big-oils-last-surge-2023-3">rapid transition to green energy</a> sources would prevent a lot of disability and early death, researchers say.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackouts-power-outages-more-common-climate-change-electric-grid-infrastructure-2023-3">The world's energy choices</a> between now and 2050 will determine so much about the future. Climate change, natural ecosystems, and economic development are all on the line. Add to that list 181 million years of healthy human life — annually.That's how many years can be saved from death or disability by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/speed-up-transition-green-energy-leaders-davos-2023-1">quickly ramping up</a> renewable energy and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clean-energy-transition-net-zero-businesses-leadership-trust-pwc-2023-1">dialing back fossil fuels</a>, according to a new assessment published on Friday, from the nonprofit <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/building-a-nature-positive-energy-transformation--2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Wildlife Fund</a> and the Boston Consulting Group.<div type="image" title="workers install solar panels using a drill" height="1707" width="2276" msid="105080516" hostid="261" sizebytes="298220"></div>The report compares two futures: one in which the world rapidly transitions to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-emissions-2022-record-renewables-growth-solar-wind-iea-2023-3">renewable energy sources</a> like solar, wind, and bioenergy; and one in which the world continues business as usual by relying largely on fossil fuels."The rapid-transition future is not only essential to mitigating climate change, but it's also quantifiably better for ecosystems, wildlife, and our well-being," Stephanie Roe, WWF's lead scientist on climate and energy, and a lead author of the report, told Insider.<h2>Millions of people's lives are on the line</h2><div type="image" title="dozens of people walk between cars stuck in traffic on a street" height="1498" width="1998" msid="105080517" hostid="261" sizebytes="423152"></div>Disability-adjusted life years, or DALYs, capture years of life affected by disability and years lost to premature death. The metric allows scientists to do a global, lifetime assessment of health risks due to air pollution or <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-climate-change-crisis-extreme-weather-is-costing-you-2023-9">climate change</a>, for example.That's what the WWF and BCG used to calculate the toll of the two futures on the table.If the world rapidly transitions to renewables, they found, the energy system will still hurt human health enough in 2050 to lead to early death and disability that affects 30 million years of human life.<div type="image" title="Wind turbines pictured at sunset." height="5091" width="6788" msid="105080518" hostid="261" sizebytes="229948"></div>That is to say that the impacts of the energy system in one year, 2050, would cause about 30 million people to live one year less or have one extra year of disability, or would cause 15 million people to live two years less, for example.Those health impacts would mostly come from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/types-of-pollution-health-effects-2019-3">air pollution</a> and climate change, but also from other toxicity and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/radioactive-fallout-from-nuclear-bomb-surprising-facts-2023-3">radiation</a> associated with nuclear energy.In the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exxon-acquisition-permian-basin-pioneer-fossil-fuels-energy-transition-2023-10">fossil-fuel future</a>, though, the researchers estimate that in 2050 alone the energy system would cause 211 million years of human life to either be lost or lived with a disability. That's 181 million more years than the green-energy scenario for 2050.<h2>Fossil fuels are terrible for human health</h2>Fossil fuels like gasoline, coal, or diesel are so deadly because burning them releases heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That's raising average global temperatures and driving <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-alter-human-life-un-ipcc-report-2022-2">increasingly extreme weather</a>.Fossil fuels also release toxic gases and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/does-the-us-have-the-cleanest-air-in-the-world-2018-10">particulate matter</a> — minuscule, toxic flakes that can increase the risk of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-least-toxic-countries-pollution-environment-2017-2#-1">asthma</a>, lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke.<div type="image" title="bird flying through dark orange skies above the london skyline" height="1500" width="1999" msid="105080519" hostid="261" sizebytes="42820"></div>Car exhaust and gas stoves are day-to-day sources of exposure to these pollutants, according to the American Lung Association. Mines, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-air-pollution-levels-in-2015-2015-12#china-has-a-lot-of-coal-power-plants-which-spew-out-large-amounts-of-a-pollutant-called-pm-25-a-type-of-particulate-matter-thats-found-in-soot-smoke-and-dust-those-coal-mines-when-combined-with-car-exhaust-are-responsible-for-the-smog-that-makes-it-almost-impossible-to-see-the-cars-pictured-here-4">coal-burning plants</a>, and other fossil-fuel facilities also emit poisonous substances.In 2018 alone, more than 8.7 million premature deaths could be attributed to air pollution from burning fossil fuels, according to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013935121000487" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harvard scientists.</a> That's one in five deaths worldwide."We knew this, but it's nice to have some numbers on it," Jonathan Buonocore, an assistant professor of environmental health at Boston University School of Public Health, told Insider.The report also assessed 2022, and concluded that the current energy system already enacts a heavy toll, to the tune of 159 million healthy life-years with each year that passes.<h2>How researchers measure years affected by disability or early death</h2>The researchers made their projections based on groundwork laid in a 2017 study, which had calculated DALYs per kilowatt-hour of energy from solar, wind, coal, and more.The WWF and BCG researchers applied those DALYs-per-kilowatt-hour calculations to the energy profiles of both scenarios for 2050.This may even be an underestimate of the human life and health that's at stake, Buonocore said, since the calculations in the 2017 study didn't include the impacts of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/countries-with-the-worst-air-pollution-2016-9">smallest particulate matter in the air</a>.<h2>What global green energy means</h2><h2><div type="image" title="a crane installs a massive wind turbine in the water" height="3708" width="4944" msid="105080520" hostid="261" sizebytes="692114"></div></h2>As of 2019 , 80.9% of the world was powered by fossil fuels, 5% of the world was powered by nuclear energy, and 14.1% of the world was powered by renewables, according to the <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-balances-overview/world">International Energy Agency</a>. To meet the projections laid out in the WWF report, we'd need to reduce global dependency on fossil fuels to 15% and scale up our renewable energy use to 85%."I think it's important to think about energy as a determinant of health," Buonocore said. "People need energy to do everything."That means building solar panel fields and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-powers-on-16-megawatt-offshore-wind-turbine-taiwan-strait-2023-7">wind farms</a>, ramping up mining <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/north-american-rare-earth-minerals-supply-hunt-domestic-clean-energy-2022-4">rare earth minerals</a> to make more batteries, and shutting down coal mines and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-gas-prices-rising-energy-fracking-boom-ending-oil-shortage-2022-6">fracking operations</a>. So a shift into a green future would require a massive investment, upending many corners of our current operating system, from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-ban-gas-stoves-in-new-buildings-emissions-reduction-2023-4">individual kitchens</a> to national power grids. In 2022, <a href="https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/Articles/I/145Country/22-145Countries.pdf">Stanford scientists</a> estimated that the transition could require $61.5 trillion in funds. But, the researchers who ran the report say that the investment would be worth the returns. "A fossil-fuel future is just so many orders of magnitude worse than this transition," Roe said.

A rapid clean-energy transition could save 181 million years of healthy human life annually by 2050, report finds

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Getting companies and consumers to be sustainable will require transparency, cooperation, and trust.</li><li>The transition to clean energy isn't a choice, executives told Insider.</li></ul>The US is about a decade behind where it should be to reach some of its <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/22/fact-sheet-president-biden-sets-2030-greenhouse-gas-pollution-reduction-target-aimed-at-creating-good-paying-union-jobs-and-securing-u-s-leadership-on-clean-energy-technologies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">net-zero goals</a>. To make progress, business can't wait for the government to fix the problem.That assessment came from Joan Motsinger, the senior vice president of sustainability and transformation at Seagate, a data-storage company, in a recent discussion with Insider at PwC's Trust Leadership Institute. Getting boards, employees, and, finally, consumers to agree to and then implement strategies, adopt new technologies, and use more-sustainable products isn't easy and will require a high level of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trust-is-currency-ceos-need-to-be-using-pwc-exec-2022-12">trust</a>, transparency, and cooperation, Motsinger and two other executives told Insider.Motsinger and Kevin Fitzgerald — the chief utility officer at Energy Impact Partners, a venture-capital firm focused on sustainable energy with more than $3 billion in <a href="https://www.energyimpactpartners.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assets under management</a> — had a conversation at the Trust Leadership Institute with <a href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en/contacts/j/jamie-gamble.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jamie Gamble</a>, a PwC managing director, on shaping strategies around sustainability and the importance of transparency. The professional-services firm runs the Trust Leadership Institute — which aims to help C-suite and senior-level executives and directors think about the evolving and increasingly complex role that trust places in business, including public policy, data and technology, cybersecurity, workforce management, governance, and sustainability. The institute is part of PwC's $300 million commitment to push leaders to embed trust-based fundamentals into their day-to-day and long-term management styles and business practices. Motsinger said the move to sustainable business practices, infrastructure, supply chains, and products couldn't wait for the government to mandate such moves."Businesses are going to have to lead in the collective," she said.<h2>Some investments in the economic transition will be home runs</h2>Gamble told Insider that leaders should think of the shift to net zero not in terms of cost but of investment. Fitzgerald agreed: "We're investing, not driving up costs," he said, adding that sustainable products and services had to be "affordable, safe and reliable, and clean." Of course, a change of this scale will be costly. Fitzgerald pointed to <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/the-net-zero-transition-what-it-would-cost-what-it-could-bring" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one estimate that it would take $9.2 trillion in annual investment</a> to transform the global economy to net zero by 2050.Motsinger is concerned that many people are taking too long to understand the threat posed by the climate crisis. Fitzgerald added that it's key to develop trust among all sides so that businesses could roll out new technology. Gamble noted that in any industry or transition, such as what's needed to tackle the climate emergency, there will always be investments that fail. Yet that risk might not put off some investors. Fitzgerald said there were hundreds of billions of dollars that venture firms wanted to invest in sustainable startups, projects, and technology. Some of these investment areas are proven, while others aren't ready to be commercialized and are higher risk, such as zero- or low-emitting aviation fuel."It's worth the bet because if it works, it's a game changer, but it's a high-tech risk. If it goes to market and fails, then they need to move on," Fitzgerald said.VC funds are looking at sustainability projects and startups for one to two home runs out of 20 to 30 swings, Fitzgerald said. Many of these technologies have to be deployed by 2030, and some, like clean electricity across an upgraded grid, are high priority. Once we have safe, reliable, and affordable options in those areas, Fitzgerald said attention might turn to areas considered harder to decarbonize — processes like steelmaking, cement production, and construction. <h2>Technology is key to progress in sustainability</h2>There are bellwether industries that will help tell the world how well things are going, Fitzgerald said, citing transportation. In the future, electric vehicles will likely dominate the roads, yet there are many questions about how we'll get there.The US electrical grid will require a major overhaul to deliver sufficient power for charging EVs. Fitzgerald said a passenger plaza along a highway serving cars and trucks could require <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-charging-stations-power-grid-energy-small-town-2022-11">enough electricity to power a small town</a>."How much capacity do we have on the grid for that?" he said. "What kind of infrastructure needs to be built around that? What kinds of chargers do we need? And can we roll those out quickly?"While the transition of transportation to electrification is in its infancy, it's a great space to watch to see how the implementation of clean energy is going, Fitzgerald said. He added that investments in areas like battery-storage tech and even software for battery storage would serve as indicators of how quickly the US might reach its climate goals."It may be bumpy," he said.Fitzgerald said the technological evolution of many of Energy Impact Partners' companies and how far they'd come, and what'd been deployed for wider use, "shows that this can be done." But he added that as the world accelerated the clean-energy transition, issues would arise. There needs to be a continued focus on reliability and affordability for this to work."I have faith in innovators and faith in technology," Motsinger said, particularly because investors are putting money into more sustainable technologies and standards.Gamble said the transition wasn't a choice: "The world has moved, and leaders have to react to it in a positive way and creatively think."

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