April Pandemic Lockdown Cleantech Roundup
I thought the shelter in place time might be a slow news period for cleantech, but in some ways, it’s quite the opposite. In light of this, I’ve pulled together a special and possibly recurring Pandemic Lockdown edition of the Cleantech Roundup. I’ll save the non-pandemic news for the regular Cleantech Roundup, which will publish early next month.
What are we going to build? Marc Andreesen wrote a much-discussed blog post recently (It’s Time to Build) with a call to build things in light of the pandemic crisis and welcomed feedback from others. For energy and climate, Shayle Kann assembled a laundry list of what should be built that is a nice pocket-sized plan for decarbonization. Link
Pandemic related Job losses have not spared clean energy. BW Research found that more than 100,000 jobs were lost in the clean energy sector in March, negating 2019 gains. Energy efficiency is the largest clean energy sector and bore the majority of the job losses; advanced transportation was particularly hard hit, likely amplified by the drawback in electric vehicle (EV) sales (after growing more than 80% in 2018 in the US, EV sales fell slightly in 2019). Link
On that note, Wood MacKenzie projects EV sales to drop 43% in 2020 globally. Link
WTI oil prices dipped into negative territory with demand down, storage nearing capacity, and futures contract holders needing to offload their contracts before they’d be required to take delivery. How much does this impact the energy transition? While there’s a lot of uncertainty, Alex Gilbert, the energy analyst quoted in this thorough LA Times article lays it at the feet of the policy response:
“The big question with clean energy is probably what happens on the policy side,” he said. “How much do China, the U.S. and the European Union pursue clean energy technologies as a stimulus method?”
Will the coronavirus cause the world to hit peak carbon? Analysts at Goldman Sachs are speculating that it may. Be extremely skeptical — while we may end up with lower emissions for the next year or two, we’ll need significant decarbonization efforts at a global scale before we can expect that peak to be reached. Peak carbon in the developed world is entirely possible, but we have a ways to go as many other countries industrialize — the manner in which they do it will have a significant impact on when this peak is hit. Link
Looking for more on this front? Carbon Brief developed detailed projections on the emissions impacts of the pandemic: Link
Utilities are feeling the impacts of the crisis. In the near term, this has meant revenue declines, deferrals on large projects, and slowing or halting power shut-offs for people who haven’t been able to pay their bills. Executives have also noted that the full impact of supply chain challenges has not yet been felt, but will become more clear over the next six months. Link
One emerging technology likely to benefit from the crisis? Delivery robots. Link
Seven questions and answers about how the pandemic is affecting the energy transition from Inside Climate News. Link
It looks like there’s a deal on Phase 4 disaster legislation; here’s what the renewables industry is looking for in the next phase: Link
Other
Mary Meeker is out with a Coronavirus trends report. Link
The difficulty of getting disaster relief checks to Americans is highlighting the lack of digital financial infrastructure in the United States. Link
Research suggests that instead of empty shelves driven by hoarding behavior, it is really ‘accidental stockpiling’ that drives these shortages. Everyone is buying a little more, both because they are at home more, consuming more, and to be prepared. Link
