deal architect

More energy innovation

On New Florence

Supercritical geothermal energy

More on carbon capture

Geomechanical pumped storage

Hydrogen-fired train

Relocating farmland to increase carbon capture

More urgency around energy transition

I have been preaching a focus on balanced energy – invest in wind and solar, but also in upgrades to nuclear, hydroelectric, geothermal and other energy sources. And don’t demonize fossil fuels till the others scale up significantly.  My note last year, The road to energy hell…is being paved with good intentions, predicted a bumpy transition away from fossils. The recent crisis in Ukraine and the resulting spike in energy prices are just the beginning and are forcing an urgent rethink of energy strategies.

As one of my New Year resolutions, I promised a lot of focus on energy, carbon reduction and the circular economy on my innovation blog,  New Florence.

Here are 10 recent entries:

The promise of the hydrogen economy

Tesla’s Megapacks in Alaska

Hydroelectric as most popular renewable fuel

Solar energy from the American desert

Exciting progress on nuclear fusion

Creative uses of captured carbon

The complex LNG supply chain

Solar panels covering canals – avoiding evaporation and generating energy

Synthetic biology to create carbon negative chemicals

ML maps nearly 70,000 solar energy sites with capacity of at least 10 kilowatts.

Much more to come.

Analyst Cam: Empower – Digitizing the journey from linear to circular econo

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.

This time it is Wilhelm Myrer, Founder and CEO of Empower.eco, an Oslo, Norway based startup. Empower is the last in the Sustainability cohort introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ).

The US EPA defines a circular economy as one which “reduces material use, redesigns materials to be less resource intensive, and recaptures “waste” as a resource to manufacture new materials and products.”

In many ways, Norway, and Scandinavia broadly, epitomize the growing focus on the circular economy. Norway has an incredibly effective plastic exchange system - 97% of all plastic bottles are recycled, while most countries around the world barely get to 10%. Norwegian company, Tomra, has since inception in 1972, become an icon for the circular economy with its reverse vending machines which collect bottles and cans from consumers. Mark Brewer of IFS had described them here https://bit.ly/2KvjkXg

Wilhelm describes the basic principle which works for Tomra and Norway – reward consumers for each bottle returned with cash or credits and businesses with tax and other incentives. Enpower is helping companies digitize the flow from consumer through the recycling ecosystem using blockchain technology, providing detailed traceability, accountability, metrics and "product passports" along the way. The traceability is showing up in interesting ways to delight customers - he tells the example of how seats from a soccer stadium in Spain are being recycled and the end products will allow consumers to proudly brag about that origin.

While the major focus is on plastics, the concept can be applied to paper, glass, metals and so many other materials. 

Very inspirational conversation below.

Analyst Cam: Specright – making standards and specifications sexy

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.

This time it is Matthew Wright, Founder and CEO of Specright which provides specification data management to Fortune 1000 companies with complex needs.

They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ).

Specright was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year but as you will hear precision in specifications can have an impact in every  process which touches raw materials, ingredients, formulas, packaging and finished goods.

Matthew’s passion comes from a couple of decades in the packaging industry. As he describes in his book The Evolution of Products and Packaging, we have seen an explosion in SKUs and complexity in supply chains. As he says, existing ERP, PLM and other software were designed before complexity grew exponentially, and the lack of focus on specifications is the root cause of many supply chain issues we are seeing. BTW, Gartner identified them as a Cool Vendor in their Supply Chain category in 2020.

He presents on three customers and how they have benefited from better specs – one reduced scrap production, the second reduced spend on corrugate packaging and the third in sourcing a critical ingredient across multiple product SKUs. He also describes how they have helped industries set standards and work with other bodies which are tasked with defining them.

Very nicely done, and I am looking forward to reading his book.

Analyst Cam: Algramo – Redefining CPG plastic packaging

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series. https://bit.ly/34eWDMD

This time it is Carlos Oliveira, CTO of Algramo, which is helping CPG companies rethink packaging and refilling of cleaning, personal care, pet food and other products which are today mostly sold in plastic containers. Based in Santiago, Chile, Algramo translates to “by the gram”.

Algramo’s delivery mechanism is a vending machine dispenser where consumers refill in their reusable smart containers. Carlos says these containers can last up to 250 uses. RFID IDs in the containers and mobile apps help track consumption, container life and reuse patterns and also have a gamification angle. Carlos goes into some of the dispensing and sanitation technology.

The value propositions - Retailers save on shelf space. Producers like Unilever, Nestle, Colgate and Clorox are some of their customers who ship in bulk and save on packaging. Consumers pay for bite-size purchases at their point of need e,g, detergents are sold in public laundromats.  The world benefits from reduced plastic pollution. Carlos presents on data on their plastic, water and C02 savings

Carlos gave me a personal invite to go test his dispensers in Chile! But closer to many of us they are at the following locations if you want to support this creative contribution to sustainable world.

San Francisco

• Target, 115 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

NYC

• 259 Malcolm X Blvd, Brooklyn, NY 11233
• 141 Flushing Ave Building 77, Brooklyn, NY 11205
• 115 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94103, United States
• Brooklyn Navy Yard (Building 77) - 141 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn NY 11205
• Essex Market - 88 Essex St, New York, NY 10002

London

• Lidl, Stalling's Ln, Kingswinford DY6 7BG

They are also represented in Indonesia and soon will have presence in Mexico. Carlos explains how they decide on global expansion.

They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ). Algramo was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year.

Analyst Cam: Limeloop – Circular Economy Logistics

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series. 

This time it is Ashley Etling, co-founder and CEO of Limeloop, which is blending material and computer science to redefine packaging, shipping and reverse logistics for retailers

They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ). Limeloop was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year.

In Limeloop world, products are shipped by retailers in their reusable packaging (in 3 sizes - weatherproof and temperature controlled) instead of cardboard boxes. The fabric is made from recycled billboard vinyl. Consumers use a prepaid shipping label to return the packages to a 3PL which sanitizes and redistributes them. They are designed to be reused over 200 times. In contrast, cardboard boxes can be reused only a handful of times. They supplement the packaging with sensors and a platform to track and trace shipments so the retailers get plenty of data beyond tracking information – package open rates, temperature data etc.

That could potentially eliminate millions of tons of waste in discarded boxes, emissions during recycling and countless hours in dealing with customer calls and returns, not to mention lower packaging costs for retailers – Ashley says 40% in those savings.  

Ashley does a nice job is under 15 minutes covering her customer base, the landscape of other players in the emerging circular economy/reverse logistics space and the pedigree of her management team, investors and advisers.

Analyst Cam: SupplHi Industrial B2B vendor management

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series. 

This time it is Giacomo Franchini, founder and CEO of SupplHi which provides a sourcing and vendor management platform for complex industrial manufacturers and service providers

They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation to me here ). SupplHi was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year.

Giacomo estimates SupplHi’s addressable market at $33 trillion or 30% of global GDP. This includes verticals like shipbuilding, energy equipment makers and various product manufacturing. He is a former Bain strategy consultant and unafraid to tackle complicated challenges which typify that world. As an example, they have built their own standard categorizations by verticals to better classify the nearly 70,000 suppliers across 100+ countries on their platform. As he says, you can drill down into not one, but 70 different types of pumps.

He spends time talking about the sustainability challenge – this segment is estimated to account for 21% of total CO2 emissions. You can measure suppliers on their pollution, energy efficiency and waste management attributes, and other ESG metrics like those on health and safety and governance.

Their supplier base and category filters also position them as useful sourcing tools. He provides an overview on a couple of large customers who use them more broadly like Fincantieri, a shipbuilder with over 12,000 suppliers and Maire Tecnimont, an engineering and construction company with over 30,000 suppliers.

I liked several things about SupplHi. They are tackling direct suppliers in highly specialized verticals. Too many other networks primarily focus on indirect, back office spend. In a separate conversation, Giacomo told me about his global experience while at Bain. We also talked about Italy’s creativity and industrial design aesthetics. The vertical and geographic quotient of this team is impressive, to say the least.    

Analyst Cam: SAP.iO Foundries

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission) as part of my Analyst Cam series. 

This time it is Kange Kaneene, VP, SAP.iO Foundries North and Latin America

SAP.iO is SAP's strategic business unit to incubate startup innovation and drive new business models for SAP. SAP.iO Foundries are SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers. Today, there are SAP.iO Foundries in 10 strategic innovation hubs, including San Francisco, New York, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Tel Aviv, Singapore , Bangalore, Shanghai and Tokyo. Each Foundry runs one to two cohorts/programs a year, incubating 15-20 startups at each location.

Kange does a really nice job summarizing in under 15 minutes their impressive track record (started in 2017, they have incubated/accelerated over 370 startups), the value proposition for SAP customers, the startups and SAP itself. She also profiles some of the recent cohorts. She would also welcome interest from startup entrepreneurs from our audience who meet their filters.

Kange has facilitated presentations for me from several of the startup in the cohorts last year which focused on sustainability. They are presenting to me over the next couple of weeks and I will profile them in this series.

Awesome to see so much global innovation. 

Burning Platform: Flashing Red Lights around Green Policy

In the 57th episode of Burning Platform, we host Kurt Marko of MarkoInsights.  He is an IT analyst, consultant and regular contributor to a number of technology publications including Diginomica and AvidThink. Coming out of Stanford with a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering, he started as an EE developing transistors and fabrication processes, went on to Bell Labs to design integrated circuits, and evolved into an IT architect for HP designing systems and networks.

Kurt has the uncanny knack for demystifying complex technical topics and I thought it would be good to have him on the heels of the recent COP 26 Climate Change summit in Glasgow.

We discuss the slow progress at which renewables - solar and wind in particular - are scaling, Germany's disappointing decade with them (see more in my note - The road to energy hell is being paved with good intentions ) and why the new US administration thinks it can do better. We also discuss why the French model with nuclear, the Iceland (and Kenya) model with geothermal, and the Norwegian hydroelectric model are not getting more attention.

We discuss emissions in Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia China, S.Africa  and other countries which continue with plenty of fossil fuels. Kurt has an interesting perspective on CO2 emissions. We discuss why the West appears to be shackling itself when their investment and progress away from fossils is being nullified by that in the developing world. 

We discuss one bright spot - how companies are learning to design and package products more sustainability and how reuse and reduce waste processes are gaining traction. Finally, we discuss the opportunity for software vendors beyond just the analytics around carbon reporting.

Fascinating and thought provoking session.

Analyst Cam: SAP Industries - Circular Economy Trends

As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission), as part of my Analyst Cam series. 

I have invited SAP to present updates on various verticals as I discussed here 

This time it is Natasha Pergl, Director - Global Circular Economy Lead at SAP.

Under CEO Christian Klein, SAP is re-emphasizing sustainability and has a broad agenda focused on "zero emissions, zero waste and zero inequality". The first is going to be difficult in a world where emissions are closely tied to energy usage and are being opportunistically defined as I wrote here recently. The third is noble but SAP risks being accused of "virtue signaling". I think their best opportunity is around reducing waste in what the WEF calls our “take-make-dispose” approach.

So, it is encouraging to see Natasha focus on the second and discuss how SAP is starting to help customers reduce waste in plastics, textiles, batteries and food. As I point out during the conversation, it is a good start, and should continue to improve as SAP focuses more on operational expertise and process support - more of an OT, not just an IT, emphasis.

I commented last year "SAP tried its sustainability message a decade ago under Peter Graf. Back then, it mostly focused on SAP's internal efforts not much about how SAP was helping customers reduce their carbon footprint. Hopefully, this time it will focus on operational systems and helping customers monitor as an example, methane leaks or wind turbine performance not just on broad carbon reporting."