Starshot Capital

Google's SolarAPI (formerly Sunroof) launched coverage of hundreds of millions of new buildings, with the potential to cover almost another 2 billion-- most buildings in the world.  https://lnkd.in/d9Pv4XC8 The new coverage is driven by-- you guessed it-- novel developments in ML (which we have published-- https://lnkd.in/dtUzc-t3 ). The new ML and product extensions could help many millions gather up the light that falls from above. On a personal note, I'm quite happy about this, as I started the overall project 10 years ago; and ~2 years ago I helped start and worked pretty hard on the early stages of extending into the Global South. I've more recently shifted focus elsewhere, but I am super proud of the dedicated and talented cross-disciplinary team that made this happen.

I have always felt nurtured by nature and count photosynthesizing as a primary pursuit/hobby. Many of you know that I’ve wanted to find ways to spend a larger part of my life reversing climate change. In an effort to get closer to that aspiration, I'll be joining Brightband as their first product hire. I'm equal parts excited and nervous. Chatting with me about the weather isn't going to be small-talk anymore! 🌤️ Wish us luck and send me your best tips to navigate the PMF rollercoaster. PS: The picture is from the shores of the Kabini river by Nagarhole and Bandipur National parks in India (Nov 2024). This moment was a mighty reminder to preserve this goodness for generations to come

☀ 1st terawatt (TW) of solar, 68 years; 2nd terawatt, 2 years! ☀ We've hit a huge milestone in global installed solar, doubling from 1TW to 2TW of installed capacity in just 2 years. As global leaders head in to #COP29 to have talks about what's possible and what could be next, let's not lose sight of the proven, reliable, cost-effective technology that we know delivers results, today. As the IEA previously estimated, every 1 TW of solar abates approximately 1 GIGATON (one thousand million metrics tons) of air pollution that would have been emitted if that same power had been produced by burning coal and methane ("natural gas"). Every year! Just a year ago at COP28 in Dubai, the call to triple renewables by 2030 to 11TW of installed capacity across all renewables seemed audacious. But solar now looks well on track to achieve and succeed its portion of that target 4.2TW. Hopefully this is just one of many jaw-dropping milestones to come! Sources and links: [] Reuters: "Exclusive: Global solar capacity hits 2 TW on path to climate goal, data shows" (https://lnkd.in/gN_j6t6n) [] Renew Economy: "It took 68 years for the world to reach 1 terawatt of solar PV capacity. It took just two years to double it" (https://lnkd.in/gDceMVQZ) [] IEA: "Annual direct CO2 emissions avoided per 1 GW of installed capacity by technology and displaced fuel" (https://lnkd.in/gUjCJ7Yj) . . . . . . #sustainabilityleader #energytransition #solar #terawatt #solarcandeliver

The LinkedIn Global Green Skills Gap 2024 report is out!! Key findings: 📈 Global demand for green talent grew twice as quickly as supply between 2023 and 2024—with demand increasing by 11.6% and supply by 5.6%. 🕳️ By 2030 — halfway to the deadline for fulfilling nationally determined contributions (NDCs) — one in five jobs will lack the green talent to fill it. By 2050, this gap will balloon to one in two jobs. ☝️ Job seekers with green skills or titles see a 54.6% higher hiring rate than the workforce overall. In the US this rises to 80.3% higher, with Ireland 79.8% higher 💰 Globally, the fastest-growing green skill is Sustainable Procurement—which 15% more people added to their LinkedIn profiles in 2024 than 2023. 😯 Technology sees sharpest one-year spike in green skill demand https://lnkd.in/eDUnwNV3

“There’s such a big value in gathering a community together around solving a specific problem. Much more impact oriented than gathering for the sake of gathering.” Our initiative to fix the climate STEM talent pipeline just hit a huge milestone that I'm really proud of 💚 It proves that Work on Climate approach to workforce systems change is viable, and it gives me goosebumps that it actually worked. So, what did we do and how'd it go? A big bottleneck to climate tech innovation is shortage and lack of diversity in STEM talent - but the STEM talent pipeline is highly complex, no organization can fix it single-handedly. Last year we gathered a large group of powerful organizations all across the STEM talent pipeline in NY/NJ: educators at all levels, government agencies, professional associations, funders, and so on. We've been leading this group over the past 12+ months to conduct necessary research and identify specific bottlenecks in the pipeline, to prepare for building solutions to the bottlenecks. And... 🥁🥁🥁 at Climate Week NYC we got 9 of the organizations to commit to prototyping specific solutions to these talent bottlenecks!! (triple over the goal we set) What does this mean? - For the participating organizations: They are now drastically more ready for what the green economy will need from them. They are at the forefront of the change that all of their peers will need to embrace. - For us and for our funders: Our approach (assembling and leading a group of organizations across the "supply chain" of a specific climate workforce issue) is likely to work, and in the coming months we'll get even more signal. We should be doing more of this. - For climate action in the US: The first systemic effort to fix the climate STEM talent pipeline in the US is, so far, on track to succeed and be replicable. This gives hope, but also means it's time that others start replicating this work - it can't be just us. See blog link in comments!