Insights

The Gist is the monthly newsletter of The Ad Hoc Group that covers everything at the intersection of climate tech and policy. Subscribe at the link here to have The Gist mailed to your inbox each month.

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The Ad Hoc Gist: One State’s Climate Firewall

With all the focus on the presidential election, it can be easy to lose sight of how aggressively several states are advancing a climate agenda. Washington State under Governor Jay Inslee – perhaps the most climate-forward governor in the country – stands out.

In this month’s Gist, we dig into Inslee’s legacy and leadership on climate and equity with his Senior Climate Advisor (and my former Opower teammate), Anna Lising. She talks about what Washington is doing on climate and energy policy that other states should follow. I’ll also be interviewing Anna and other state leaders at NYC Climate Week.

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The Ad Hoc Gist: 531 Electric Miles to Maine

Our first Gist came out four years ago this month and was about the potential slowdown in EV sales due to Covid. In 2020, U.S. drivers purchased 330,000 EVs. They purchased just as many in Q2 of this year alone. We still have a ways to go, but it’s progress.

In late July, I took a road trip with my family in our new silver Rivian RS1 from Virginia to Maine to test out the Tesla Supercharger network, newly opened to Rivian drivers. In this month’s Gist, I share the tale and what it means for the EV market.

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The Ad Hoc Gist: Is Winter Coming for Climate Tech?

Without some meaningful financial exits soon, I’m worried we’re heading for a climate tech winter. The planet can’t afford that.

I wrote a three-part series for Latitude Media with my friend Michael Sachse on the current climate tech landscape and what investors and startup founders should do about it. Part one is about the impending climate tech liquidity crisis, and part two is about what the industry can learn from biotech.

The final installment, out today, is our advice for climate tech founders. We’ve distilled it for this month’s Gist below. But we encourage you to read the full series here.

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People as Moat – Ad Hoc Expands into Search

In climate tech, we talk a lot about, well, technology. But talk with most CEOs and they’ll share that the hardest part of their job is figuring out how to hire and retain the right people. In my experience, a company’s ability to hire and effectively onboard the right people is what differentiates successful businesses from those that falter. Because, as a CEO, you can have a great vision, but if you don’t have the right people, you can’t execute it.

A Conversation with Vida and Devin

We invited two leaders, Devin Hampton, CEO of UtilityAPI, and Vida Asiegbu, principal at Energy Impact Partners, for a candid conversation on equity and representation in the energy transition.

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Climate Disasters are Revealing a Blind Spot

Where Angelo Campus grew up in northern California, evacuations and power outages caused by wildfires were routine. At college, he worked in a lab developing small solar-powered electric grids for places hit by natural disasters or high fire-risk areas to reduce the odds of an errant spark from a conventional transmission line. After graduation, he founded a startup called BoxPower to commercialize the technology, setting up his first system in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Read More @ Semafor

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Anti-China Fervor Casts a Dark Cloud Over Solar and U.S. Climate Goals

In Congress, there is sudden bipartisan momentum to reinstitute tariffs on Chinese components. The U.S. solar industry is alarmed.

Read More @ Washington Post

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Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Could Slow the Transition to Clean Energy

The bank cast a wide shadow over climate tech, with half the start-ups in the sector doing business with it.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has created new challenges not just for the nation’s banking system, but also for the Biden administration’s climate agenda, following a harrowing weekend in which many major clean tech companies faced insolvency.

Read More @ Washington Post

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