Ammonia production and utilization can be CO2 free, but its use for energy applications remains a relatively new area of research, and the promising technologies enabling its use must be further developed before ammonia can safely and cost-effectively play a significant role in shifting the country away from fossil fuel dependence.

Internal research and development (R&D) funding and external investments are unlocking new tools for energy generation, transmission, and distribution. As utilities curate larger IP portfolios, knowledge sharing and commercialization will play a larger and larger role in creating value across all services -- especially in an industry which typically enjoys more cooperation than competition.

The US is responsible for less than 2% of global lithium production, making the current lithium stock almost entirely imported. Finding and utilizing an extraction technology that can work in the U.S. market is important to not only keep up with demand, but also to take advantage of domestic resources – yet the best method of extraction is still unclear.

Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) and Direct Air Capture (DAC) technologies could offer powerful solutions for removing carbon dioxide from emissions sources and even the ambient atmosphere. But to enable CCUS and DAC to achieve their full potential and tap into the practically limitless supply of incoming and atmospheric carbon, we also need to think about demand for the captured product. Developing new end applications for captured CO2 can spur an external demand shock that drives wide and profitable deployment of the technologies.

On July 1st 2021, ADL Ventures was pleased to have the opportunity to meet with Tom Sanford, owner of Sanford Contracting Inc. in North Billerica, MA. Sanford has been advancing prefabrication for the past 47 years and has an impressive panelized building portfolio, including Foxwoods Hotel and Casino and Assembly Row at Assembly Square.

Comprising over a quarter of annual emissions, the transportation sector is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Of that quarter, light-duty vehicles account for 59%, meaning that consumer vehicles are responsible for more than an eighth of our entire carbon footprint.

1.6 million miles. That's long enough to go to the moon, circle it, come back to the Earth, and circle that too… three times! (With 100,000 to spare, too.)

Call it a crisis or call it an opportunity - but it’s clear that the gas supply chain faces strong winds in its future. The winners in the energy transition will be those who shift their sails early and catch the winds blown by shifting regulations, policies and customer preferences. If you’re curious how ADL can help you leverage innovation to stay ahead of this transition, click the “Schedule a conversation” button at the bottom of this page.

Imagine an alternate world in which you order the car, and a pile of sheet metal and rivets shows up on your driveway. This is how we construct buildings in the US today.

In February 2021, winter storm Uri brought record low temperatures, ice, and snow, devastating unsuspecting regions of the U.S. like Texas. Only a few months before, much of the U.S. endured a rare and extremely active 2020 hurricane season. These recent events, compounded by projections of future weather events, remind us that climate change delivers unpredictable blows.

At the end of 2020, a team of researchers from Princeton University published an interim report on the potential pathways to reaching a net-zero (emissions) America. The main goal is to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Recognizing that Earth’s increasing temperatures are climbing more drastically than initially thought, they encourage a plan for reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Nolan Browne and Diana Fisler represented ADL Ventures at the Advancing Prefabrication conference in Dallas, TX on Wednesday, June 16 and Thursday, June 17. The multi-day event, Advancing Prefabrication, sought to advance prefab and modular construction by connecting industry leaders, designers, contractors, modular firms, and other related stakeholders.

The December 2020 $900B Stimulus Package contained a hidden gem: the Energy Act of 2020 — an extensive funding opportunity for clean energy.

In this article co-authored with Rocky Mountain Institute’s Edie Taylor, ADL Ventures Partner Chris Richardson and Principal Ben Silton describe ways in which utilities and building owners and operators can work together to propagate resilient buildings in the form of Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEBs) and microgrids, especially on the heels of the landmark legislation FERC 2222 released earlier in 2020.

At the current pace, it would take over 300 years to sufficiently harden the US electricity grid. As the climate changes and weather risks accelerate, it’s time to harden the grid faster and better. We need to do better than deploying more field workers for inspection and repair; we must deploy a suite of novel technologies that can scalably protect the grid and the customers that depend on it. Nothing less than the future of the utility is at stake.

The construction industry has been contending with an aging workforce, extended labor shortages, lack of innovation, and narrow profit margins for decades. Since 1947, it has been outpaced in labor productivity by a factor of 16. It’s no surprise then that, on average, large construction projects tend to be 80% over budget and 20 months delayed.

In the article “Biomimicry in Our Electrical Grid”, Ben Silton, Principal at ADL Ventures, discusses the transition to a “distributed” energy system using the human body as a backdrop for the principles of such a change.

The 100+ climate-focused interviews chronicled in Jason Jacobs’ My Climate Journey (MCJ) podcast represent a trove of insights from technologists, entrepreneurs, impact investors, accelerators, and policy-makers. ADL Ventures sees MCJ as a large-scale Voice of the Customer study on the challenges and barriers the climate community faces today. ADL has conducted a robust analysis of over 300 “wishes” outlined by Jason’s interviewees and outlined five major themes that emerged from our analysis.

In light of the mass commoditization of the global solar manufacturing market and the intrinsic difficulty of the hardware innovation, ADL Ventures has been collaborating with other organizations to engage and support U.S. manufacturers and innovators working on differentiated solutions with broad relevance across the industry value chain.

What technical challenges must we solve to transform and harden the power system - both over the long-term and in this year of the coronavirus?