JUNE 19, 2024

Wishing everyone a meaningful Juneteenth!

In our latest edition:

• In the first of a new series, Cat profiles an expert flying under the radar while doing big things in climate tech.
• Amena has a surprising find about hydrogen in our latest Data Dive.

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Send your energy photos, story tips and more to news@ciphernews.com.

Yet-Ming Chiang in his lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts in June 2024. Photo courtesy of Yet-Ming Chiang.

Meet the MIT professor who is a secret star of climate tech innovation

BY: CAT CLIFFORD

If you’re not deeply enmeshed in climate tech innovation, there’s a good chance you don’t know the name Yet-Ming Chiang. But if you are, you probably do — or you know about the companies he has helped launch.

Chiang is a material science and engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and he’s also an entrepreneur and a co-founder of two of the buzziest climate tech companies right now: Form Energy, which is developing long duration energy storage systems and is currently valued by financial data firm Pitchbook at $2.06 billion, and Sublime Systems, which is commercializing cement made with electrochemistry and is currently valued by Pitchbook at $90 million.

That’s not all.

Chiang is 66 years old, and in just the last year he co-founded three new companies, all of which are still in relative stealth mode. One of the companies, called Propel Aero, is focused on electric aviation. Chiang declined to share the names of the other two but did share their general focus areas: lithium extraction from hard rock resources and the stimulation of geologic hydrogen.

“Climate is the biggest problem that I could think of tackling with the skill set that I have,” Chiang told me in one of three interviews with him for this story. “And why not do that?”

To understand what it’s like to work with and for professor Chiang, I am going to have to learn the story of stone soup, Leah Ellis, the CEO of startup Sublime Systems told me.

A hungry beggar comes to a town and announces to the villagers that he can make soup out of a rock. The villagers protest, and the beggar, who is charismatic and charming, says he will prove it to them. They give him a pot of water and some fuel. And he stirs the rock in a pot of water, all the while cracking jokes and engaging with the townspeople. A villager asks why it is taking so long. And the beggar says the soup would come faster if someone gave him an onion and a carrot.

The prevailing interpretation of this story is that the beggar’s charisma brings out the best in the villagers and inspires them to collaborate.

This is Chaing’s superpower, Ellis said. “He’s the person saying ‘What if?’ and he’s setting the vision of the soup. And he’s really the architect of the soup,” Ellis said.

To read more about Chiang’s entrepreneurial journey, read part one of this story here.

And to learn more about how Chiang thinks about what companies to start and how, read part two of this story here.

Lunchtime Reads and Hot Takes

Bonn climate talks: Key outcomes from the June 2024 UN climate conference — CarbonBrief
Anca’s take: Nice thorough roundup on several key issues, from adaptation to mitigation, with one main takeaway: disputes on climate finance cast a shadow over the proceedings.

Oil and corn groups team up against Biden’s tailpipe emissions rules — Reuters

Amena’s take: Interestingly, the oil and ethanol industries don't see eye to eye over U.S. biofuel mandates. But they are joining forces against electric vehicles in favor of combustion engines.
 
Could low-carbon cement and steel be cheaper than we think? — Sustainability by numbers

Amy’s take: Although clean cement and steel are more expensive than current versions, when factored into final products — like a house or a car — the price increases are minimal. This is such an under-appreciated point, though I also think a factor holding things back is resistance from incumbent companies in these sectors.

Dozens of Groups Push FEMA to Recognize Extreme Heat as a ‘Major Disaster’ — The New York Times

Cat’s take: The technical designation would unlock federal funds to support state and local governments, which are struggling to pay for necessary emergency response measures. What a sign of the times.

Carbon Removal Fund Backed By Meta, Alphabet Agrees Europe Deal — Bloomberg

Anca’s take: It will pay a Swedish utility to burn biomass (like woodchips and logging waste) at power plants and then trap the CO2 using carbon capture and storage. The goal is to create demand for the technology.

Deadly heat waves in Mecca and Greece underscore climate crisis — Axios

Amena’s take: Human-induced climate change have made these heat waves "at least five times more likely" in these regions, per Climate Central's analysis.

PG&E’s power demand could double by 2040 — E&E News (subscription)

Cat’s take: Interesting that CEO Patti Poppe says PG&E's plans to meet rising demand include some new generation but also getting more out of existing infrastructure.

Shanghai’s Solar Carnival Belies Fight for Survival in China’s Flagship Clean Energy Industry — Bloomberg

Bill’s take: The industry, awash in factories with capacity far beyond domestic demand, is looking to the Chinese government to lead a consolidation. Not clear when, or even if, that will happen.

Minnesota takes rare step to allow power lines alongside highways — Canary Media

Amy’s take: I see power lines along roads frequently, so I’m surprised many states ban it. Perhaps a reconsideration is in order to weigh the safety concerns with the benefits of more electricity.

Navajo Summit Looks at History and Future of Tribe’s Relationship With Energy — Inside Climate News

Amena’s take: While solar energy is being installed across Navajo Nation, the article notes there is still no "reclamation plan" for addressing the legacy of orphaned oil and gas wells and abandoned uranium sites.

Deadly and Wildly Profitable, Uranium Fever Breaks Out — Bloomberg

Cat’s take: This fascinating feature takes readers to the uranium mining camp in Saskatchewan of NexGen Energy, which has a market value of $4 billion even though it isn't expected to sell uranium until 2028.

More of what we're reading:

• U.S. Senate passes bill to support advanced nuclear energy deployment — Reuters

• New Report: Progress on Basic Energy Access Reverses for First Time in a Decade — United Nations
• China Is Testing More Driverless Cars Than Any Other Country — The New York Times

We denote ‘(subscription)’ when publications don’t provide any complimentary articles, but many others may ultimately allow you to read only a limited number each month before subscribing. We encourage those who can afford it to support the journalism you love most!

U.S. could surpass China as clean hydrogen leader

Source: BloombergNEF: Hydrogen Supply Outlook 2024 • Clean hydrogen refers to production from electrolysis of water using renewable energy and from natural gas equipped with carbon capture and storage technology.

BY: AMENA H. SAIYID

The United States could surpass China as the world’s leading clean hydrogen producer as early as next year, according to BloombergNEF’s latest projections shared exclusively with Cipher.

Governments including the U.S. are pouring large sums into making clean hydrogen, which is seen as one of the most viable replacements for carbon-intensive fossil fuels in hard-to-abate industries like steel, cement, shipping and long-distance hauling.

Producing clean hydrogen — either from electrolysis (splitting water with renewable energy) or from natural gas equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) — continues to attract the most investment in the U.S. among emerging clean technologies, according to Cipher’s Cleantech Tracker.

Even though the U.S. is projected to become the world’s largest producer of clean hydrogen as soon as next year, BNEF says the country still isn’t on track to meet the Biden administration’s annual goal of producing 10 million metric tons by 2030.

“In our outlook, the U.S. undershoots the goal by getting to 6 million metric tons by 2030,” Adithya Bhashyam, BNEF hydrogen analyst and one of the report’s authors, told Cipher.

With its robust project pipeline, the U.S. is responsible for 87% of the clean hydrogen supply coming out of North America in the next six years. BNEF analysis projects U.S production could surpass China’s next year even though China currently makes three times as much clean hydrogen. By the decade’s end, the U.S. could be producing twice as much as China.

However, BNEF cautions China has not yet set a target for hydrogen production in 2030, so there’s a chance the country could ultimately deploy more hydrogen than currently expected.

Moreover, Bhashyam said BNEF projections for the U.S. are dependent on final federal guidance for tax credits in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act for clean hydrogen. The guidance was proposed in late December and is expected later this year. These guidelines will determine how the government will award credits for hydrogen made with electricity from the grid and from natural gas equipped with CCS.

Nearly 80% of forecasted U.S. supply is expected to be made from natural gas with CCS as these projects have reached the advanced planning stages, supported by generous CCS tax credits, BNEF said. This includes projects by chemical companies Air Liquide and CIF Industries.

In contrast, the announced pipeline of projects making hydrogen with renewable-powered electrolysis is significantly smaller because companies are waiting for final government guidance.

BNEF says its forecast could change if ExxonMobil finds the tax credit unfavorable and withdraws its clean hydrogen project in Texas representing 14% of the total U.S. projected supply.

AND FINALLY...
Power running

On a recent run in Deception Pass State Park north of Seattle, I got a view of one perfectly aligned strip of roadway and power line. This is common, though some states ban such lines in highway rights of ways due to safety concerns. Clean energy advocates argue those bans should be dropped so more transmission can be built. Power lines are all over this park, named Deception because early explorers thought Whidbey Island was a peninsula before realizing it was an island. The energy infrastructure doesn't make it any less beautiful!

Each week, we feature a photo that is somehow related to energy, the thing we all need but don’t notice until it’s expensive or gone. Email your ideas and photos to news@ciphernews.com.

Editor’s note: In addition to supporting Cipher, Breakthrough Energy also supports and partners with a range of entities working to tackle climate change, including nonprofits, corporations, startups and research firms. For more information on Cipher’s editorial policy, click here.