Sector Insights
A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
CTG Insights September 2016
Building on the success of the June pilot edition, this issue covers topics such as augmented reality, grid cybersecurity, corporate co-investment and industrial drones.
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A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Home Decarbonization
- CONTENTS
The residential sector accounts for approximately 25% of global emissions, detached homes are particularly difficult to displace emissions from. Technologies have reached a high level of maturity, now OEMs, flexibility providers, and utilities need to embrace new business models to accelerate deployment of residential decarbonization devices. Relevant innovation includes: • heat pumps • "soft cost" reduction software • solar + storage • comprehensive home energy management systems. New innovations are aiming at CAPEX reduction for consumers in order to own the next "wave" of market uptake.
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Biobased Plastics and Alternatives (Bioplastics)
- CONTENTS
Bioplastics are materials derived from biomass, typically waste or lab-grown, and are intended to replace conventional plastics with a similar or identical function even if they are not an exact bio-derived alternative at the molecular level. Bioplastics exist for nearly every conventional plastic product and its respective application. In fact, bioplastics like PLA/PHA are in commercial production with technology readiness level (TRL) 8-9. Next-generation bioplastics are naturally biodegradable, approaching cost-parity to conventional plastics, don't shed micro-/nano-plastics and may even improve soil nutrients once broken down.
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Synthetic Fertilizers
- CONTENTS
The energy-intensive nature of traditional nitrogen fertilizer production accounts for somewhere in the region of 1-2% of total global energy use and 1-2% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, to achieve the economies of scale needed for mass production, the industry is highly centralized. Long-distance transportation is required to get fertilizer to farms, stacking further emissions and leaving the industry deeply sensitive to supply chain shocks. These energy consumption issues, emissions, and supply chain inefficiencies have spurred innovation around distributed fertilizer production models that aim to minimize transportation needs and enhance sustainability.
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Plastic Recycling
- CONTENTS
Plastic production is expected to double by 2050 while plastic-related emissions are set to double by 2060. Advanced recycling is a set of physiochemical approaches that improve scope and efficiency of plastic recycling. While recent commercialization has focused on narrow feedstocks (PET depolymerization) and fuel offtake (pyrolysis), solvent dissolution's high value products, low energy requirements, and applications alongside the recycling incumbent (mechanical recycling) make it the most promising of the advanced recycling technologies. Plastic recycling market maturity is still low requiring greater corporate interest in waste sorting and posttreatment refining.
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Maritime Sustainability
- CONTENTS
Maritime sustainability encompasses vessel optimization and electrification, operations and logistics, alternative fuels, and port decarbonization. A wide range of solutions are currently commercially available, while significant alternative fuel infrastructure build-out is expected in the next 5 years. • Innovation in fuel optimization, autonomy, hydrogen, methane, and ammonia production and storage • Demand driven by decarbonization mandates and corporate sustainability targets • International Maritime Organization decarbonization and alternative fuel targets supported by local and international emissions monitoring and reduction mandates and carbon taxes • Technology developments and infrastructure build-out to scale alternative fuel production
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Wildfire Risk & Resilience
- CONTENTS
Unlike most natural disasters, wildfires represent a hazard that is primarily influenced by humans and thus to a degree can be predicted, controlled, and in many cases, prevented. Government misallocation of investment budgets into firefighting response over prevention (2/3 response vs.1/3 prevention) has created a scenario of huge economic loss, stifled deployment of technologies and increases of wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change. However, the case for preventative strategies is clear. Wildfire detection and prevention technology could save up 2-4% of the United States’ GDP. Learn which solutions need to be stacked to address a full wildfire lifecycle.
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February 2024 Update: DER Management & Grid Flexibility
- CONTENTS
The flexibility and distributed energy management (DER) market landscape is rapidly changing. Compared to the last DER management spotlight, market opportunities to new innovators are narrowing as established flexibility markets are already saturated with software solutions. Some opportunities remain in hardware plus software solutions that create operational efficiency and layering on flexibility rather than leading with flexibility. As there are now even fewer market entry points for flexibility-first offerings, competitive advantage needs to come from direct cost savings on-site for users
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AI for EV Charging
- CONTENTS
Electric utilities, EV charging networks, and EV charging station operators need to deploy more public charging stations, but are facing challenges from slow grid interconnection and need to compete on charging price. Incumbents who engage the AI technology today will gain a competitive advantage today, those who do not will find themselves behind in a future market where AI-enabled charging is a table stakes capability to compete. Technologies examined in this spotlight include AI for: Charging network management, Vehicle-to-grid (V2G), Demand prediction & management, Charger deployment
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Low Impact Mining Exploration
- CONTENTS
Exploration technologies will accelerate the search for new critical materials, alleviating supply bottlenecks. For mining majors, these technologies reduce opex and capex in exploration; open new revenue streams, and help them adapt to declining ore grade/difficult-to-access ore. Technologies include: Advanced, remote sensing e.g. Muon, LiDAR, and Hyperspectral sensors to map and visualize assets; AI and ML analysis software, to process and utilize the decade of mining data, and better predict future sites, and precision extraction and drilling tools - reducing environmental impact and unlocking uneconomic, difficult-to-access minerals
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Biochar
- CONTENTS
Biochar can increase the carbon content, nutrients and water retention capacity of soil, resulting in improved crop yields, and overall, more resilient crops. Long equipment manufacturing lead times, increased operational expenses and a lack of standardization are slowing down biochar's wide-scale adoption. Revenue-stacking value-add products and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits are encouraging investor engagement.
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Cultivated Meat
- CONTENTS
Cultivated meat technologies enable the production of meat without the need to farm and slaughter animals, eliminating emissions and environmental harms associated with livestock agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, and meat processing.
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Sustainable Aviation Fuels
- CONTENTS
The aviation industry makes up approximately 2% of global CO2 emissions, drawing attention to the industry’s significantly faster rate of emissions growth compared to rail, road, or shipping. As the aviation industry grows exponentially, the pressure is on for country and industry leads to put in place-net-zero aviation goals, with the largest opportunity for reduction being via the scaling up of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). SAFs are alternative fuels, made from non-petroleum feedstocks, which reduces emissions from air transportation by more than 10% compared to traditional jet fuel. This research delves into where innovation in various SAF pathways is headed and what policies and investments are driving the shift.
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Small Modular Reactors
- CONTENTS
As the demand for firm and stable power generation grows, small modular reactors are poised to provide a unique solution to the problems users such as chemical manufacturers, data centers and industrial energy have when it comes to decarbonizing industry and providing heat for specific processes. Innovative designs for small modular reactors leverage new coolants and fuels to improve power output and develop enhanced safety systems .Innovative models discussed include molten salt reactors, high temperature gas cooled reactors, and liquid metal cooled fast reactors. While light pressurized water reactors have been some of the first small modular reactors to enter the market only one has yet been installed in China while others are planning new projects across the globe.
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Residential Heat Pumps
- CONTENTS
Heat pump's ability to heat and cool homes at rates 3-4x more efficient than industry standard appliances make them the key candidate to curb residential emissions. However, high installation costs create sticker shock for ground source consumers while air source heat pumps struggle in cold environments and large homes. This research details how ground source can enter the residential market through new business models while drilling costs decline and the technical innovations in air source that will increase efficiency to lower operating costs.
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Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal
- CONTENTS
The ocean has absorbed around 25% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions since the Industrial Revolution and continues to have enormous potential for capture and storage. While the market is very nascent and approximately 5 years behind its main competitor, direct air capture, in terms of technical maturity and investment, marine carbon dioxide removal technologies appear to be the promising next frontier of the ever-expanding CDR portfolio. This spotlight analyzes the potential opportunities and risks of biotic approaches such as seaweed sinking and newer abiotic pathways like alkalinity enhancement, electrochemical, and fertilization techniques. Discover what you need to believe, to believe that the next wave of marine CDR technologies has the capability to more effectively remove carbon and at lower prices:
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Ammonia Cracking
- CONTENTS
Ammonia’s properties and available transport and storage infrastructure make it an attractive energy carrier and fuel. However it's use is constrained by availability of effective technology for the direct use of ammonia. This research details how ammonia cracking technologies can broaden potential application of this molecule, and how innovations including low temperature thermal cracking and membrane reactors can address challenges around efficiency and cost.
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Biodiversity & Ecosystem Monitoring
- CONTENTS
Over half of the global GDP is dependent upon functioning ecosystems, while nature loss risks reducing the global economy by $2.7T annually by 2030. Incoming reporting regulations, and compounding nature risks are creating a market for reporting and verification tools for corporates and investors. Corporations are also seeking cheaper and faster testing and monitoring solutions for specific problems or geographies to monitor restoration efforts. While, monitoring technologies are also supporting the development of new nature-based asset classes, unlocking the estimated $830B required annually to bend the curve on nature loss and start to restore degraded landscapes.
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Hydrogen for Heavy-duty Transport
- CONTENTS
Heavy-duty transport is responsible for a quarter of all transport related emissions, with heavy-duty trucks being some of the highest emitters. Long-distance, heavy-duty trucking is a difficult to abate sector, namely due to range and payload obstacles for battery electric solutions as well as charge time and charging station power requirements. Hydrogen provides a potential solution to decarbonize this sector and innovators are engaging across the supply chain not only to provide hydrogen-powered vehicles but also develop refuelling and hydrogen storage solutions to get vehicles on the road and establish the necessary fuelling infrastructure.
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Smart Waste Collection
- CONTENTS
The world generates 2.1 B tons of municipal solid waste annually, and this amount is expected to increase by 70% in the next 30 years. Traditional waste collection leads to inefficiencies whereby excess emissions are emitted and recycling rates are low. Smart waste collection technologies includes sensors, AI, and software and/or behavior change and consulting services to streamline waste collection, provide actionable insights to reduce waste, optimize collection resources, and improve sorting and recycling rates. The spotlight analyzes key drivers incentivizing innovation in smart waste, market insights, and indicators for success.
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Low-carbon Hydrogen
- CONTENTS
Low-carbon hydrogen could play a significant role in industrial grid load shifting and heavy industry decarbonization. Supportive policy environment in the U.S., the EU and other geographies, including financial incentives, and contracting structures, help drive demand for low-carbon hydrogen, but low-carbon hydrogen costs still 2-3X more than alternatives, uncertainty in policy, end use cases delay investment decisions. Innovation is emerging in all segments of the supply chain, with a focus on production and midstream solutions.
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Materials Innovations in Direct Air Capture
- CONTENTS
Direct air capture (DAC) is the use of chemical or physical processes to extract carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air. There is significant potential of long-term demand for capture for 1) CO2 removal and 2) synthetic fuels. This spotlight uncovers the materials innovations of the technology while concurrently highlighting how the nascent DAC market is benefiting from massive tailwinds, such as a $3.5 billion scale up funding in the US, a first billion $ acquisition, and a fast-growing market for CDR credits and carbon negative products (e.g. concrete).
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Plant-based Proteins
- CONTENTS
Plant-based alternative proteins offer significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions as well as land degradation, water use, and eutrophication when compared to conventional animal products. As the plant-based protein market matures, several issues around economies of scale have emerged. Addressing high production costs will require the optimization of ingredients, including genetic engineering, and adoption of improved manufacturing techniques.
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Marine Energy
- CONTENTS
Marine energy - energy generated from tidal, wave, ocean thermal conversion and other novel technologies - has the potential to produce up to twice the global electricity demand. However, many of these promising technologies are early stage and the sector has seen quite a few companies fail. While the potential for energy generation is immense, start ups in this space must carefully and strategically develop, prove and scale their technologies in close collaboration with corporates, off shore industries and governments.
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Crop Robotics
- CONTENTS
Robots and autonomous solutions can address rising agrochemical costs, labor shortages, and climate impacts on land management in crop agriculture. Crop inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides are increasing in price, while the negative environmental impacts of these chemicals are drawing pressure from regulators, investors, and consumers to optimize usage. At the same time, farm labor is becoming more costly and is in shorter supply. The resultant urgency to apply agricultural inputs more efficiently is driving a greater focus on precision agriculture tools, including robotics.
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Electrolyzers
- CONTENTS
Electrolyzers are made of electrochemical cells that split water into hydrogen and oxygen, with new innovations set to enter manufacturing in 2024. Demand for electrolysers is increasing, especially for industrial off takers in cement, steel and ammonia production, and competetiveness will increase as renewable energy costs fall. In the near term roll out of technoligeis benefits from policy initiatves including incentives provided as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. This research details different electrolyser technologies including alkaline, proton exchange membrane, anion exchange membrane, solid oxide and capillary fed.
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Cathode Manufacturing for Lithium Batteries
- CONTENTS
Cathode active materials (CAM) are by far the largest part of lithium-ion battery cost (30%+) and the bottleneck to scaling the energy revolution, especially electric vehicle deployment. Production capacity of 5 million additional tons of CAM will be required by 2032, and application of conventional production technologies would consume 75 billion litres of water and produce huge amounts of waste sulphates. The report examines how innovations in cathode manufacturing simplify the process, reduce CAPEX and water usage, and eliminate waste sulphate stream, while coating technologies improve battery performance and reduce use of critical materials.
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Immersion Cooling for Data Centers
- CONTENTS
Cooling comprises 40% of data center energy use; immersion cooling technologies can reduce energy consumption by ~40%, can eliminate water used for heat rejection, and cost 1/3 less, while providing more higher heat rejection capacity. The industry is actively growing with companies raising more funds and increasingly active acquisition environment. Immersion cooling innovations, like single-phase, two-phase and direct-to-chip approaches, are gaining traction, with over 20 innovators on the market. Direct-to-chip technology is still novel but most efficient, likely to continue to be the main disruptors, with the highest CAGR expected in the next few years.
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Direct Lithium Extraction
- CONTENTS
Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) is disrupting traditional lithium mining and refining due to improved speed, recovery rate, and reduced resource inputs. DLE is already cost-competitive and is entering commercial pilot phases with commercial-scale production expected in 2025. However, the market is highly competitive, with limited lithium deposits, multiple DLE approaches, and strong incumbents. This spotlight assesses emerging DLE technologies and business models; outlines the competitive dynamics and external factors which will shape the industry. It's clear DLE is forging a space in the critical materials supply chain but who will be winners and losers along the way?
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Grid-Interactive Fleets
- CONTENTS
Electric vehicles are projected to be the single largest new energy demand for the grid. As millions of new EVs hit the road, electric fleets can play a crucial role in both meeting vehicle electrification targets and meeting the global EV charging energy demand. Electric fleets face several challenges, including meeting charging demand of large and heavy-duty fleets, managing onsite energy resources including chargers, storage, and renewables, and integrating logistics and mobility operations with energy and charging management. A solution to both the mobility-related and energy challenges of fleet electrification is through fleet-to-grid integration (F2G). F2G allows fleets to respond to grid signals and discharge energy back to the grid when needed- providing energy storage and grid flexibility services. Although the technology to enable F2G is proven and market ready, challenges regarding standardization, heavy-duty vehicles, and market mechanisms for grid services remain.
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Carbon-Fixing Soil Inputs
- CONTENTS
Carbon has a critical role to play in the cultivation of crops. Soils with suboptimal carbon content have a weaker physical structure, meaning they are less able to retain water and nutrients, and are at higher risk of erosion – leading to less fertile land with which to feed the world’s rapidly expanding population. Carbon-fixing soil inputs are an emerging tech category, including biological and mineral products, that can be added to soil to enhance its carbon content and boost crop yields. Innovators in this space are also beginning to build carbon credits programs on top of their core product offering in order to tap into emerging agricultural carbon markets.
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Sustainable Aviation Fuels: eJet
- CONTENTS
Sustainable Aviation Fuels provide a method to radically decarbonize the aviation industry with electrojet fuel, or eJet, achieving the goal of net zero flight through recycling carbon emissions and renewable electricity. While the technology to achieve this ambition is now a reality, scaling and deploying solutions in the two primary production pathways, Power-to-Liquids (PtL) and Alcohol-to-Jet (AtJ), requires specific innovation. Producing these fuels requires ample supply of renewable electricity and electrolyzers. Both these technologies are being deployed rapidly but require time to coordinate production with demand. Similarly, eJet producers must optimize their production techniques to reduce energy demands through experimenting with production size, carbon capture techniques, and catalyst/reactor compatibility. The path forward requires rapid commercialization of AtJ while PtL addresses technological and pricing issues. On top of this, Sustainable Aviation Fuels like eJet are reliant on policy support pushing renewable electricity generation and driving down commercial price through subsidies or tariffs. If eJet production continues alongside renewable electricity scaling and government support, over half of all jet fuel will be sourced from eJet by 2050.
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Critical Metal Sustainability
- CONTENTS
The relationship between critical metals and climate change is multifaceted, with mining serving as both a contributor to the issue and a potential solution. As we strive to construct a low-carbon economy and globalize energy electrification, the demand for critical materials is projected to increase by 50% for each new unit of power generation capacity by 2040. However, this surge in demand threatens to outpace the available supply, as diminishing ore grades, processing dominated by China, stricter ESG regulations, and low investment constrain production, causing supply chain vulnerability and price fluctuations. Countries and companies committed to transitioning to a low-carbon economy are looking at sustainable and efficient ways to mine and produce critical metals. Technologies like remote exploration, precision drilling, efficient refining, and enhanced recycling of batteries. This insight explores these macro trends and how technology is being utilized to solve challenges in critical metals sustainability.
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Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs)
- CONTENTS
Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries VRFBs have long lifetimes, are durable, and more cost effective than Lithium-Ion batteries at longer energy durations. They have also had the reputation of being costly and dependent on a supply of vanadium that is prone to extreme volatility. However, as needs for 4 - 10 hour energy storage requirements emerge from an increase in renewables penetration, VRFBs stands to grow quite rapidly in markets outside of China where they are already fairly commercial. Business model innovations, like electrolyte leasing, and material innovation are capable of substantially driving down costs for end users. Although there have been multiple investments in new vanadium mines and VRFB projects, LCOS costs must continue to go down for VRFBs to remain competitive against other novel battery chemistries that are rapidly developing and commercializing cheap and efficient medium to long duration energy storage systems.
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Stationary Thermal Energy Storage
- CONTENTS
Innovations in materials and closed loop systems are successfully storing heat at high temperatures (1300-2000°C), unlocking industrial process heat markets. High-heat industries (cement, steel, iron) that have historically relied on fossil fuels as an energy source, are slowly becoming markets for thermal energy storage (TES), as technologies reach higher temperatures. Following over nine successful thermal storage pilots completed over the last few years, we expect to see a wave of new projects in 2023-24, including commercial plants.
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Long duration energy storage
- CONTENTS
As renewable penetration across the globe increases, so does the need for long duration energy storage (LDES), which will displace fossil fuel generation in grid balancing and help make renewable power generation fully dispatchable. Technological innovations over, such as closed loop systems, new heat storing materials, replicating pumped hydro in closed loop systems, have helped innovators reduce costs and to come up with systems that are modular as well as scalable. With more than 19 demonstration plants successfully completed, commercial scale LDES solutions are only a few years away.
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Innovation in iron and steelmaking
- CONTENTS
The steel industry is under pressure from shareholders as well as customers to reduce emissions, while policy makers are looking to encourage emissions mitigation and enable deployment of green steel production technologies. Industry has already begun adopting measures to reduce emissions, but these are constrained by availability of input materials, infrastructure requirements, and additional cost. This report details how innovators are responding to these constraints, and developing technologies which can enable broad deployment of low carbon steel production.
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Soil Carbon Measurement, Reporting & Verification
- CONTENTS
Measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) technology is unlocking carbon markets for farmers, connecting soil carbon sequestration “supply” to “demand” for offsets and insets by quantifying and verifying carbon farming results. Monitoring soil carbon with MRV tech also helps to realize co-benefits including enhanced soil fertility, improved moisture retention, and greater yields.
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Digital Water
- CONTENTS
Inaction on water risks is costly, estimated to be over five times more expensive than taking action. These risks include water scarcity, loss and quality, as well as climate risks like flooding. Demand for digital water technologies is expected to grow at an annual rate of 8.8%, driven by corporate water stewardship, stricter regulations, and confidence in digitization. These technologies, which include stacked sensors and analytics software, are digitizing water infrastructure for better management. This spotlight explores the transformative technologies in the water sector, their drivers, challenges, and market context.
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Silicon Anodes
- CONTENTS
Silicon has been demonstrated to improve the performance of the anode, a critical component in lithium-ion batteries, resulting in overall improved battery performance. The shift to silicon-based anodes in electric vehicles will allow batteries to hold more charge without adding more weight or size (up to 10X thinner) – extending range without sacrificing vehicle performance. Cost-competitive processes and drop-in manufacturing that enable OEMs to incorporate silicon anode materials utilizing existing manufacturing equipment means no fundamental change to current manufacturing processes, and consumers receive better battery performance.
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Flood Resilience
- CONTENTS
Flood resilience technology focuses on adapting current infrastructure to flooding events in the context of increasing pluvial flooding, coastal erosion, and decaying infrastructure. Current strategies combatting flooding focus on directing water and preventing damages four hours before a flood and throughout the flood event. This strategy leaves urban areas, particularly in North America and Western Europe, severely underprepared: damaging property, infrastructure, and leading to deaths. New innovations in software, sensors, and physical solutions provide opportunities to mitigate preventable damage through stormwater asset analysis, improved coastal defenses, and digital mapping technology, providing high-impact insights. The outcomes from incorporating these proactive flood resilience technologies improve financial savings from flood damages by over 500% while reducing loss of life and other social externalities related to extreme weather events.
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Nuclear Fusion
- CONTENTS
Nuclear Fusion has the power to provide limitless, virtually carbon-free baseload power and avoids the hazards of nuclear fission which can include the production of radioactive waste and the potential for meltdowns. The recent influx of private funding and the development of key enabling technologies have allowed private fusion companies to overcome key scientific and technical challenges encouraging further investment into the sector to close the gap in reaching net energy gain within the decade and the potential to reach commercial scale by the 2030s.
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Perovskite thin film solar
- CONTENTS
Solar PV is a key technology to meet renewable energy generation targets required for a net zero energy transition. In order to meet 2050 decarbonization goals, global solar deployment must reach an estimated 25% annual CAGR and constitute 35% of global energy generation by 2050. Silicon PV currently makes up over 90% of the global solar module market, but several physical challenges currently inhibit the exponential increase in solar deployment needed to meet net zero targets. Perovskites, an innovative thin film solar technology, has the potential to complement crystalline silicon PV and boost global solar deployment. A cost-effective, lightweight and flexible material with high light absorption and power extraction, perovskite solar cells can be deployed in areas where silicon PV is not feasible due to low light, or size and weight constraints. Tandem perovskite silicon modules, the layering of perovskites on to conventional crystalline silicon PV, can significantly increase conversion efficiency and meet increasing renewable power demands from electrifying sectors.
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Carbon Farming
- CONTENTS
Carbon farming is the capture, storage, and monetization of carbon in the context of agricultural operations, achieved through sustainable farming practices and technologies. The primary mechanism for carbon farming is soil carbon sequestration. Agriculture is a major emitter of carbon and other greenhouse gases, including through soil erosion and land use change. Existing soil carbon stocks can be maintained (avoidance) while additional carbon can be sequestered (removal) and monetized as carbon credits. The co-benefits of optimal soil carbon levels include lower erosion risk, better water retention, improved soil health, enhanced yields, and greater biodiversity.
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Advanced geothermal power
- CONTENTS
Geothermal power currently supplies less than 1% of the world's power, with production limited to areas with good geothermal resources. Innovations in this sector, such as fracking, closed loop systems and deeper drilling promise to unlock geothermal power in new geographies. Geothermal developers aim to achieve "geothermal everywhere" with advanced technologies to unlock hot rock geothermal and supply up to 15% of global power demand. The US is likely to be a hotbed for geothermal power innovations, boosted by policy support from the central government, but some key issues such as prohibitively high drilling costs are yet to be addressed.
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Carbon Offsets & Markets
- CONTENTS
Carbon offsets are not material reductions in emissions, they compensate for emissions emitted elsewhere or historically. The past few years have seen significant growth in offset markets, primarily led by corporates seeking cheap and easy net-emissions 'reductions' tools, while regulators are looking to grow domestic emissions trading schemes which include offsetting. However, offsets have significant challenges with transparency, additionality, greenwashing risks, slow certification, and lack of oversight. In response to high demand and complex challenges, Innovators are developing new project types, monitoring, and verification tools, points-of-sale, and trading to create higher quality projects, hold buyers to account and create fair and effective carbon markets. This insight looks at these market dynamics and what it means for innovation and sustainability.
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Cement
- CONTENTS
Cement is a primary material in concrete as well as mortars, blocks and plaster. It already accounts for around 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions and with global production set to increase up to 2050, addressing the emissions of the cement industry will be critical in addressing climate change. This spotlight gives an overview of the cement industry, investment trends and innovation which will address cement's emissions challenge.
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Anaerobic Digestion for Biogas Production
- CONTENTS
As corporates and governments look for alternative energy sources such as renewable natural gas, anaerobic digestion facilities that produce biogas by processing waste are becoming an increasingly attractive solution to meet energy demands while also providing food and organic waste diversion solutions. This insight looks at the growing demands for biomethane including the policy incentives supporting the growth of the anaerobic digestion sector and the innovator and incumbent solution providers that will support and operate the facilities needed to increase biogas production.
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Corporate Sustainability Monitoring
- CONTENTS
Corporate action on climate has an integrity problem, with many companies only committing to decarbonize by 40% on average. However, sustainability goes beyond carbon emissions, companies should also consider metrics like water, waste, and biodiversity. Feeling pressure from investors, regulators, and consumers, corporates are seeking quantifiable tools to understand their impact, map, and meet sustainability goals. This insight looks at the tools available for corporate sustainability monitoring, how companies are engaging innovators, and assesses the challenges and drivers along the way.
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Intelligent HVAC
- CONTENTS
Buildings are responsible for 30% of global energy use and 15% of global emissions. One of the most effective approaches to reduce building-related energy and emissions is the optimization or retrofitting HVAC systems which account for roughly 35% of overall building energy use. Intelligent HVAC solutions include software-enabled hardware, autonomous data collection, and connectivity hardware that consistently offer customers energy savings of over 20%. In recent years the intelligent HVAC space has developed from the monitoring and control of disparate devices to full-building automation and control. Currently, cutting edge innovators are disrupting the market with smart alternatives to high energy usage components such as motors. This spotlight explores the technology landscape, key market drivers and challenges, and future milestones of the Intelligent HVAC space.
A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Management Tools
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Distributed energy resources (DERs) assets – solar, battery storage, electric vehicles (EVs) – are rolling out at scale. Software that aggregates DERs creates value streams for owners of assets, and creates value for utilities to predict loads and enable grid stability
A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Electric Mobility Services
- CONTENTS
Over half of global CO2 emissions from transportation comes from on-road two- and three-wheelers, light duty vehicles and buses. In 2020, there were just over 18 million vehicles in ride-hailing fleets globally, and that number is predicted to increase to 35 million by 2025. Electrifying vehicles used in mobility services, including ride-hailing, car sharing, car rental, car leasing and micromobility, could help reduce emissions from on-road vehicles, as vehicles in mobility service fleets are driven more miles, on average, than privately owned vehicles. This Sector Insight explores the state of electrification in the sector currently, and innovative technologies and business models are helping to accelerate electrification.
A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Recirculating Aquaculture Systems
- CONTENTS
Conventional aquaculture is unable to meet the growing global demand for seafood. Facing sustainability and environmental challenges and rising costs, aquaculture is simultaneously moving into the deep ocean and onshore. One aquaculture key innovation trend is recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), in which marine animals are raised in closed-system tanks either onshore or in floating facilities. This insight examines innovative technologies and systems designs as well as market trends and challenges facing RAS innovators.
A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Seaweed
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The production of cultivated seaweed has more than tripled since 2000, reaching over 35 million tonnes in 2019. Seaweed is an exceptionally fast-growing source of biomass that requires minimal resources in comparison to terrestrial plants. Once processed, seaweed can be converted into inputs for dozens of markets, including human and animal nutrition, bioplastics biofuels, agriculture products such as bio-stimulants, and pharmaceuticals. These end markets are looking to seaweed to develop low-carbon alternatives to conventional products such as packaging and single-use plastics, or to address specific sustainability challenges such as high fertilizer dependence or livestock methane emissions. This spotlight explores the technology innovations, end markets, and key drivers and challenges facing the seaweed cultivation industry.
A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Aquaculture
- CONTENTS
The global protein demand is projected to increase by up to 70% by 2050 and with increasingly strained natural resources to support terrestrial agriculture, national governments are turning to the oceans for sustainable protein sources to support the growing population. From 1990 to 2018 global fish consumption increased 122%, and aquaculture production is on track to reach 109 million tonnes in 2030, an increase of over 30% compared to 2018. Fish have a significantly lower carbon footprint and more effective feed conversion rate than beef and pork and do not compete with terrestrial agriculture or livestock for land. This report is an update of our previous research on aquaculture, and explores the innovation in the industry to address the challenge of sustainably scaling the aquaculture to both meet global protein demand and stay on track with decarbonization goals.
A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Water
- CONTENTS
The number of people affected by water scarcity is expected to double by 2050 if global attempts to keep global warming under 2°C fail. Meanwhile, growing populations will require significant agricultural and industrial growth - water demand is estimated to increase by 55% by 2050. This insight identifies critical macro trends in the water sector that are driving utilities, consumer goods, and wastewater treatment operators to engaging technologies for digital water management, potable water, and wastewater treatment efficiency.
A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Green Ammonia
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Ammonia is an industrial chemical with around 200 million tons per year of production. This contributes to around 2% of global emissions. In response to policy measures and corporate commitments, producers are looking to address these emissions. Furthermore, there is a large future potential market, possibly in excess of the current market, for application of ammonia as an energy carrier and transportation fuel. This report gives an overview of the key dynamics, challenges and innovation approaches which are pursued to address both current and future markets.
A REVIEW OF KEY TRENDS AND UPDATES,
FROM ACROSS OUR GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY
Residential EV Charging
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Availability of public EV charging will help enable continued uptake of EVs by reassuring consumers that charging will be available if needed, but early data shows that as much as 85% of charging is done at home. However, there are still major challenges for installing EV chargers at single family homes and in multi-unit buildings, such as insufficient existing electrical capacity to handle the additional energy demand from chargers. Long-term value to owners and users of EV charging systems will come from hardware-enabled and software-driven solutions that minimize charging costs and act as a ‘brain’ to intelligently manage and optimize electrical load. This Spotlight covers how innovation in charger installation, smart panels and sub-panels, inverters, outlet splitters, smart charging and energy management, IoT retrofits and metering and billing can solve some of the key challenges of residential EV charging.