TRENDS IN GREEN TECH AND ENERGY
BY JUSTIN CHAPMAN
The Pacific Council recently hosted a webcast featuring Mark Kellaher and Tracey Evers of M.A. Mortenson and moderated by Samantha Pettigrew of the International Council on Clean Transportation, focusing on the latest trends in renewable energy, energy storage, and electrification.
Here are takeaways from the discussion:
“We’re moving away from the centralized fossil fuel energy into more decentralized integration of renewable energy into the grid and that is across the globe,” Evers said. “No two markets tend to be the same, country to country. Trends are emerging from these trends. Data are playing a much more important role. Being able to predict energy use comes from data. This has led to a push for more machine learning to help utilities create a more predictable pattern to reshape the way they’re engaging with the market.”
“Trends in the information space are also impacting the power space, such as the emergence of 5G,” Evers said. “This will shift business models of the utilities. Another trend we’re seeing is electrification. Transportation sector is the next place where we’re seeing huge growth in electrification, personal cars, public transportation, delivery vehicles, planes, trains, and autos to public sector where we see more and more cities and towns adopting electric vehicles as part of their long-term city planning and their own efforts to reduce carbon footprints.”
“Social responsibility was part of the push for green energy emergence, it continues to be a big activator,” Evers said. “But it just isn’t limited to our generation is green and we’re being climate friendly, but it’s also about equity and access. As you go across the globe, you see variations of that. In places like Africa, you can see the huge different access to energy makes in people’s lives and their ability to create a profession from which they can have a sustainable income for themselves sand create some level of wealth for their family, and you start to understand how impactful access to electricity and energy is.”
“There are a number of challenges to the clean energy transition,” Kellaher said. “None of these challenges are insurmountable, they’re being addressed every day throughout the world. In many parts of the world, the regulatory framework of the energy markets and policy is not as well developed as it is in the United States or Europe or certain other areas. The certainty of that framework allows capital to flow into certain projects and industries.”
“Although clean energy has benefits to it, some of these technologies are still developing and are not yet part of the circular economy,” Kellaher said.
Watch the full conversation below:
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The views and opinions expressed here are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.
