Smart Grid

Earlier this month the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $61 million pilot project that will create 10 highly connected communities across the country. The initiative will ​​transform thousands of homes and workplaces into energy-efficient buildings that can interact with the electrical grid to optimize their energy consumption. While not extraordinary in terms of investment or […]

British oil giant BP has acquired US-based building energy technology firm Blueprint Power.  Born in response to the energy regulatory transformation that emerged after hurricane Sandy in 2012, Blueprint’s technology supports the decarbonization of real estate by turning buildings into a flexible power network by connecting them to energy markets through cloud-based software. Blueprint will join the BP Launchpad portfolio, […]

Human activities have caused 1.0°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels and this is likely to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate, reads the highly-referenced IPCC climate report. Two industries have become central to addressing this existential crisis; the power sector that represents almost all of the […]

In 1950 only 30% of people lived in urban areas, now over 56% of people live in increasingly crowded cities – and that is expected to rise to 66% by 2050 as an additional 2.5 billion people join the global urban population. Urbanization creates numerous issues for citizens, including congestion, pollution, and poverty, but our crowded […]

Governments around the world are committing to a green recovery from the economic challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the fact that global energy demand actually dropped by an estimated 5% in 2020, resulting in a 7% drop in total energy-related CO2 emissions, the global nature of this crisis has brought the world together. Understanding […]

California is a unique place, even within the US. It is home to outstanding natural beauty, with snow-capped mountains, dry deserts, scenic beaches, and unique natural habitats, but also some of the worst environmental problems in the world with wildfires, earthquakes, resource extraction, and urban air pollution. California is also home to several of the biggest […]

Buildings and the electricity grid are inextricably linked. The building sector represents up to 75% of all electricity usage and is also a disproportionately large contributor to peak energy demand, according to our recent report. The electricity grid, including power generation, must serve that demand, and to do so efficiently, it must develop a deep […]