Energy & Utilities
Technological advancement, policy shifts and climate change are interrelated megatrends that will shape the future of the utility. Infrastructure managers are all preparing for what could be a much different role in the coming years without sacrificing safety and reliability for customers.
Build a future-proofed utility
While infrastructure naturally lags behind technological advancement, utility business models face increasing risks ー and rising costs of inaction.
A “future-proofed” utility is not just forward-thinking but nimble, duly able to operate and maintain state-of-the-art infrastructure reliably while evaluating and adopting new technologies on the fly. Couple this discipline with a process for opening new revenue generation opportunities — like technology spin-outs — and you curate a lasting immunity from market and policy threats.
Innovators that trust ADL
Thought Leadership
Adjacent Industries
Clean Transportation
The transportation industry is in the early days of a dramatic and revolutionary transformation. New powertrain technologies and fuel sources from electric to hydrogen to CNG are not only fundamentally reshaping how vehicles are produced but reshaping the infrastructure required to facilitate everyday use in the environment around us.
Buildings & Construction
With 40% of carbon emissions coming from the built environment, increasing political pressure, and the emergence of revolutionary advanced manufacturing technologies, coupled with large financial incentives from governments around the world, the way the world builds is primed to modernize rapidly.
ADL has long articulated the potential of Industrialized Construction (IC) to revolutionize the U.S. construction sector. Industrialized Construction, an advanced manufacturing-centric approach to building buildings, could reverse the construction sector’s declining productivity, satisfy missing middle housing & building supply, bring sustainable employment opportunities to disadvantaged communities, and could help address the sector’s massive impact on climate change.
A recent ADL Ventures run “innovation summit” at PG&E, America’s largest investor owned utility, featured a keynote from Elon Musk and attracted an astounding 600+ applications for their upcoming Pitchfest. How can other corporations unlock the power of start-up partnerships at such a massive scale, and how do start-ups navigate this highly selective and often intricate process?
Methane seeps into the atmosphere from leaks along the natural gas chain, and reducing these fugitive emissions represents one of the least costly solutions for limiting greenhouse gases in the short term. Each cubic foot of leaked gas constitutes wasted value from fixed assets failing to serve consumers. Federal regulations for methane emissions are evolving, and innovators are developing creative new tools for efficient, comprehensive monitoring of natural gas leaks; the challenge now lies with facilitating their deployment.
The Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara” sounds like a made-up business name from an SNL skit or perhaps a cheeky Sunday Night Football intro (like THE Ohio State University), but for much of the weekend this very real and unexpected FDIC receivership entity for the bank formerly known as SVB held the fates and near-term liquidity of over half of America’s start-ups in its hands.
Especially with the unknown potential for gold hydrogen, now is the time for utility companies and hydrogen hubs to step up to create a strong yet balanced hydrogen industry. Investment in a diverse demand chain for hydrogen must happen today to avoid the economic danger of a supply/demand imbalance and a price crash. While research remains ongoing, hydrogen’s wholesale price could fall far faster than was previously expected, and so development of hydrogen offtake infrastructure cannot be delayed.
Beneficial Planned Obsolescence (BPO): The process and/or resulting quality of intentionally becoming obsolete due to the pursuit of maximizing customer and/or societal value.
$27M PV Incubator Funding Opportunity Headlines Key Innovation Opportunities; ADL Continues to Support Multiple DOE / NREL Initiatives
The United Kingdom is facing the worst energy crisis in Western Europe, with no long-term plan to get out. As the British government strives to address this problem, it must look beyond short-term solutions and instead focus on the true root causes of the high prices: fossil fuel dependence and systemic energy inefficiency.