Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 03.18.2020
So far, e-planes can carry only a few people on board. Now, the easyJet airline has started working with California startup Wright Electric to develop an engine for a 186-seat electric aircraft called Wright 1. From 2030, the first flights will already be available, and 186 passengers can be transported with zero emissions. Wright […]
Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 03.11.2020
Mercedes-Benz is embarking on a sweeping cost cutting plan to free up cash to build electric and self-driving cars, a step which could see entire engine families and platforms eliminated, Daimler board member Markus Schaefer said on Tuesday. “We will review our current lineup and the idea is streamlining the portfolio,” Schaefer said in a conference […]
Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 03.04.2020
by David Houle Last week I wrote about the climate change conference that The Sarasota Institute – A 21st Century Think Tank was presenting. Called “A Leap Year Look at Climate Change” it was unique in the sense that in the morning was the 2020 updated reality of what the climate crisis now looks like. […]
Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 02.26.2020
A research team led by scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has recently developed a new form of droplet-based electricity generator (DEG). It features a field-effect transistor (FET)-like structure that allows for high energy-conversion efficiency, and its instantaneous power density is increased by thousands of times compared to its counterparts without FET-like structure. This […]
Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 02.19.2020
A landmark study by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) titled Global Futures has used cutting-edge modelling to explore the global economic impacts of natural capital depletion, and shows how any chance of resilient economic growth on the planet is tied to the restoration of natural resources. It warns of potential risks to the world’s future economic […]
Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 02.12.2020
When Patrick Goddard managed boutique hotels in Miami, Mexico, and the Virgin Islands, no detail was too miniscule for him to fuss over. “Like I don’t want to crawl under the bed to find an outlet to plug in my phone,” he says. He’s still obsessing over the fine points of comfort; now […]
Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 02.05.2020
Portuguese oil company Galp Energia will become one of the biggest players in Europe’s booming Spanish solar market after closing a €2.2 billion ($2.4 billion) deal for the solar assets of Spanish construction firm ACS. The deal includes 900 megawatts of operational assets and a pipeline expected to yield a further 2 gigawatts […]
Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 01.29.2020
When businessman Howard Bisla was tasked with saving a local shop from financial ruin, one of his first concerns was energy efficiency. In June 2018, he approached his local electricity provider in Sacramento, California, about upgrading the lights. The provider had another idea. It offered to install an experimental cooling system: panels that could stay […]
Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 01.23.2020
Fossil fuel companies facing climate-related litigation are starting to acknowledge in their financial disclosure forms that these legal challenges could harm their business. Dozens of companies have been named in more than a dozen climate liability lawsuits filed by communities across the country. Those lawsuits seek to recover climate-related damages and attempt to hold […]
Bob Leonard - Climate Risk Manager • 01.16.2020
California is one giant experiment in combating climate change. The state is trying all sorts of policies to choke off emissions in time to hit a series of ambitious, self-imposed goals. If it is successful, the other 49 states will have a model as they find their way. But California is not on […]