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Deliverability requires hydrogen producers to use clean power more or less on the grids that they’re connected to. Most are in agreement that this makes sense. What "Think Like A Climate Investor" topic/question should we look into next?

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May 4, 2023Liked by Intention

Has there been any movement on appointing a new FERC commissioner? They seem to be holding up some pretty important changes.

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Have a good climate investment article, podcast, or other resources to share? Reply below :)

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May 5, 2023Liked by Intention

When is the IRS guidance expected to be released?

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It's expected anytime in the next few weeks.

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Any new investments on your radar? Reply here!

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May 5, 2023·edited May 5, 2023Liked by Intention

Not a company currently accepting investments (AFAIK), but I've recently begun working with the entrepreneur who runs Western Ecology LLC:

https://www.westernecology.com/

As part of their work, they design, manufacture, and sell or rent enhanced versions of the Dixon Land Imprinter, a tractor-pulled roller device for land imprinting.

This device makes funnel-shaped indentations into which it reseeds native grasses, creating an ideal environment for their growth. That, in turn, can help restore robust ecosystems on damaged lands, prevent soil erosion, and yes, sequester carbon:

https://climatechange.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/grasslands-more-reliable-carbon-sink-than-trees

You can see the startling impact of land imprinting on restoring land, via this segment of a vintage video featuring the device's inventor, the late Bob Dixon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ju4mkQAUMI&t=250s

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If you happen to ever come across anyone with a need for land restoration, soil erosion control, or carbon sequestration by converting relatively barren or outright damaged soils (e.g. by aridity, drought, wildfire, flooding, overgrazing, etc.) to productive grasslands, I'd be appreciative if you'd refer them to Western Ecology - thanks!

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Layperson here, so take all this with a grain of salt, but it may also be worth tracking research around materials science work (including nano-scale materials) to advance alternative processes for hydrogen production, in part by establishing and maintaining relationships with researchers working in this field.

From naive Googling, these alternative processes may include:

1. Water electrolysis (also of relevance to the fierce debate about nuclear fission's role in hydrogen production)

Representative examples of materials-related proposals or advances:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319922051667

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214785321056029

2. Photocatalytic production

Representative example of a materials-related proposal:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.8b02984

In turn, this makes companies working with such materials potentially interesting investments, even where not suitable for an Intention-managed fund, at least for individual investors (angel, accredited, Reg. CF ...).

One example is BNNano, a maker of boron nanotubes, which recently closed a crowdfunding round on Netcapital: https://netcapital.com/companies/bnnano (Disclaimer: I'm one of their small investors.)

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We're still in the early stages of understanding how nanomaterials like graphene and boron nanotubes could affect existing industrial processes, perhaps profoundly, or even facilitate new ones. And while much of their impacts may ultimately occur in areas not clearly related to climate change mitigation/reversal, at least some might also fall squarely in that camp.

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