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Ask HN: Best companies working on climate in 2020?

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Re: Ask HN: Best companies working on climate in 2020?

#11

Post by ploika »

idoh wrote: post #8

How about this: - Change the way we commute: Tesla - Change the way we work: Zoom and other remote work enablers - Change the way we eat: Beyond / Impossibe and other meat substitutes

I don't think you can credit Tesla with changing the way we commute if that still involves loads of people driving their own car to work. If far fewer people really needed a car at all, that would be a big positive change for the environment.

That involves a long grind of unsexy stuff like urban planning, public service procurement and mapping bus and cycle routes. It does get to the front page of HN every once in a while, but it's not particularly flashy stuff.

Re: Ask HN: Best companies working on climate in 2020?

#12

Post by anonengineerer »

giantg2 wrote: post #10
anonengineerer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't wind and solar marginally the least expensive power and outpacing the growth of things like coal? I think the technology to solve climate change exists, deployment is the issue and many companies are working on it actively (e.g. SunPower), installing GW of renewable power and/or storage. Even if scale isn't where it needs to be, that's all the more reason to work in the sector because marginal effort will retu…

Yeah, renewables can bid the lowest to the grid. They are gaining traction, but it will still take decades to replace the existing infrastructure. Even then, it won't fix the issue. We'd have to make similar changes to other infrastructure like vehicles and capture existing carbon. Then there's a bunch of other contributors, such as landfills, asphalt surfaces, even things like heat pumps and refrigerators when looki…

I agree there's a lot of work to be done! What do you suggest folks who are interested in helping to solve the problem do if not researching solutions or trying to economically scale existing ones by working at the companies which are doing that?

Re: Ask HN: Best companies working on climate in 2020?

#13

Post by giantg2 »

anonengineerer wrote: post #12
giantg2 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, renewables can bid the lowest to the grid. They are gaining traction, but it will still take decades to replace the existing infrastructure. Even then, it won't fix the issue. We'd have to make similar changes to other infrastructure like vehicles and capture existing carbon. Then there's a bunch of other contributors, such as landfills, asphalt surfaces, even things like heat pumps and refrigerators when looki…

I agree there's a lot of work to be done! What do you suggest folks who are interested in helping to solve the problem do if not researching solutions or trying to economically scale existing ones by working at the companies which are doing that?

I'm just saying that there aren't any companies that I know of that currently can meaningfully affect the issue. Working for companies that are researching future tech is probably the next best thing.

Re: Ask HN: Best companies working on climate in 2020?

#14

Post by anonengineerer »

giantg2 wrote: post #13
anonengineerer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree there's a lot of work to be done! What do you suggest folks who are interested in helping to solve the problem do if not researching solutions or trying to economically scale existing ones by working at the companies which are doing that?

I'm just saying that there aren't any companies that I know of that currently can meaningfully affect the issue. Working for companies that are researching future tech is probably the next best thing.

Ah got it. I guess I disagree, I think there are probably over a thousand companies actively working on the issue with the potential to massively reduce GHG emissions. Lots of examples in this thread. General categories are:

- EV manufacturers (eg Tesla) - Solar OEMs (eg SunPower) - Battery makers (eg Avalon) - Battery operators (eg Geli, AMS) - Wind providers (eg Vestas) - Large utilities which are focused on renewables (eg Enel) - Distributed generation companies (eg Sunrun)

The list goes on! GTM is a good news site with the pulse on each industry (https://www.greentechmedia.com)

I also agree that fundamental research (either towards an energy storage breakthrough or a next-gen nuclear breakthrough) are necessary. I think this is a "yes and" situation.

Re: Ask HN: Best companies working on climate in 2020?

#16

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

ploika wrote: post #11
idoh wrote: post #8

How about this: - Change the way we commute: Tesla - Change the way we work: Zoom and other remote work enablers - Change the way we eat: Beyond / Impossibe and other meat substitutes

I don't think you can credit Tesla with changing the way we commute if that still involves loads of people driving their own car to work. If far fewer people really needed a car at all, that would be a big positive change for the environment. That involves a long grind of unsexy stuff like urban planning, public service procurement and mapping bus and cycle routes. It does get to the front page of HN every once in a…

I'd agree on Tesla, one could argue that Toyota hybrids have had more of an impact simply by 2019 sales figures [0].

[0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimcollins/2020/01/15/toyotas-r...

Re: Ask HN: Best companies working on climate in 2020?

#17

Post by pknerd »

illyism wrote: post #15

We at XR global are always looking for developers to work on internal / external tools. But besides dev-work there are many other ways to contribute, be it copywriting, marketing, design work, ... Globally or in your local group. https://rebellion.global

How as a programmer and data guy I can help?
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