Today, every business and individual are encouraged to minimize its carbon footprint to help save the planet from the damaging effects of climate change. Buying a more fuel-efficient or electric vehicle is a prominent part of such plans. Do not drive, if possible, and certainly become more efficient in how you use your vehicle. For businesses with vehicle fleets, buying more fuel-efficient ones, especially purchasing vehicles that meet the needs of the business (do not buy a vehicle larger than necessary), has been a critical ingredient in business strategies, along with operating them efficiently.

Many of us are familiar with the route-planning program begun years ago by UPS, the ubiquitous brown delivery vans. UPS drivers lay out their routes such that they do not make left-hand turns across traffic. Why? Easy. Left-hand turns require sitting until there is a break in the traffic going in the opposite direction so they can cross the traffic lanes. Less time waiting means less idling time and fewer carbon emissions, even if their route is longer. Research has shown that even taking a more circuitous route saves time. Time can lead to greater efficiency, as well as fuel and emissions savings.

Over time, software and computer-assisted devices have arrived to help businesses improve their vehicle fleet logistics. Individuals, however, still rely on onboard vehicle navigation systems, or map-planning programs on their computers, phones, or tablets. But they still may wind up at the wrong location or be blocked because the shortest route shown by their devices did not know about construction or closed entry gates to neighborhoods.

Now, artificial intelligence and machine learning can improve fleet logistics. Not only having a route map but getting up-to-date knowledge of route topography, changing traffic patterns, and weather data can significantly improve driving times. This boosts worker productivity and can reduce carbon footprints, especially if the driver has the necessary information delivered directly to his phone or vehicle app, thus not being forced to manually retrieve the data.

While some might cringe over the thought that Big Brother is watching them, for businesses there is a need to ensure that employees are operating vehicles appropriately, and are not reckless in their driving, or attempting to use the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality to take advantage of their employer’s trust. Trust is a two-way street, and both employer and employee must believe in that relationship.

Fully scoped vehicle mobility systems can significantly improve driver efficiency. That is an economic gain for the business. For the driver, such systems can reduce stress, an important mental health benefit. Both parties gain, and so does society, with a more efficient logistics system that also helps reduce carbon emissions.

For this Company Spotlight, we interviewed Tourmo CEO (Marc Brungger) and CMO (Neil Anderson) about how they provide a mobility workflow automation platform designed for enterprise organizations with business-critical mobile operations. The AI-powered Tourmo platform provides contextualized business intelligence and real-time workflow decision-making to support the critical network of people, vehicles, customers and partners these organizations rely on. For more information on Tourmo, please visit tourmo.ai.

Background & Value Proposition: Tourmo was founded in 2014 to help the transportation industry not just collect data, but actually learn from the data to optimize operations. Unlike telematics and infinitely disjointed single-point products that provide data…. READ MORE

Archaea Energy Inc. (“Archaea”) is one of the largest RNG producers in the U.S., with an industry-leading platform and expertise in developing, constructing, and operating RNG facilities to capture waste emissions and convert them into low carbon fuel. bp’s acquisition of Archaea will be integral to bp’s existing bioenergy business, which has established key positions in the segment and is one of bp’s key transition growth engines, which is anticipated to further Archaea’s growth into international markets. Among other benefits, this transaction provides Archaea access to unmatched, world-class platforms, capabilities, and capital resources for accelerating its growth plans, access to bp’s trading capabilities, and a broad customer base.

Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Electra is a green iron company that has created a novel process to electrochemically refine iron ore into pure iron at 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) using renewable electricity and then convert the iron to steel using the existing infrastructure of electricity-powered arc furnaces. Electra leverages proven electrochemical and hydrometallurgical methods to reach industrial scale with low technical and scaling risks. Electra will complete the build-out of a green-iron refining pilot plant in 2023 at its headquarters in Boulder, CO, and plans to have a commercial-scale demonstration plant qualified by the second half of this decade.

Headquartered in Somerville, MA, Form Energy, Inc. (“Form”) is a technology company developing and commercializing a new class of cost-effective, multi-day energy storage systems. The $450 million Series E financing round is led by TPG’s global impact investing platform, TPG Rise, with GIC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, also joining the series E round. The Series E funding will accelerate Form’s ability to responsibly build a globally competitive U.S. battery manufacturing supply chain and advance American innovation.

Related Press Release: Form Energy Announces $450M Series E Financing

LineVision provides electric utilities with the real-time monitoring and analytics needed to accelerate the net zero grid. LineVision's patented non-contact sensors collect critical information to unlock additional capacity on existing lines, provide insight into conductor health, and detect anomalies and risks. The series C round is led by Climate Innovation Capital and co-led by S2G Ventures, with strategic participation from Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and Marubeni. The proceeds from this round will be used to accelerate the global growth of its Grid Enhancing Technology platform, used by leading utilities around the world to increase the capacity, flexibility, and safety of their transmission grids and accelerate the transition to net zero.

ReneSola Power is a leading global solar project developer and operator. The Company focuses on solar power project development, construction management, and project financing services. Emeren is a developer of utility-scale solar power and battery storage projects with a geographically diversified pipeline in various stages of development. Emeren has over 2.5 GW of pipeline under development (at different development stages), including over 2 GW of solar projects and over 500 MW of storage projects. ReneSola Power’s acquisition of Emeren will increase ReneSola Power’s project pipeline in Europe as well as generate healthy EBITDA immediately.

Related Press Release: ReneSola Power Announces Acquisition of Emeren

Energy Technology Musings

Improving Transportation Logistics and Carbon Footprints