Climate tech is the overarching theme of ClimateTechReview. However, climate tech is HUGE. It is an umbrella term for many technologies that specifically focus on addressing climate change. In this guide, I ranked and reviewed the top 5 sectors in climate tech.
- Sustainable energy
- Energy storage
- Energy efficiency
- Carbon capture and storage
- Mobility and transport
All of these sectors are related to greenhouse gases (GHG) like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The innovations in these fields all deal with GHG directly or indirectly by completely eliminating the emissions of GHG, reducing the emissions of GHG, or capturing the GHG that has already been released into the atmosphere.
What are the Top 5 Sectors in Climate Tech?
My top picks are sustainable energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, carbon capture and storage and mobility and transport.
1. Sustainable Energy
Sustainable Energy falls under the “eliminating the emissions of GHG” sub-niche. For decades, we have been using fossil fuels for practically everything in our lives, from how we make things and how we grow things to how we move around and how we heat and cool. Fossil fuels are not a bad thing per se. In fact, they usually have high energy densities and are very easy to extract energy from (you just burn them). However, the GHG that they emit are bad for the planet because they cause climate change.
Sustainable Energy aims to produce energy that is cleaner and does not emit GHG in the process, while making sure the comfort and convenience that we now enjoy and take for granted are not compromised. Solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal, hydropower, tidal and other renewables all fall under Sustainable Energy.
More articles on Sustainable Energy you may be interested in:
2. Energy Storage
After generating sustainable energy, we need somewhere to store the energy for when we need to use it because the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Excess energy can be kept in batteries, and batteries can come in many forms. The most common batteries are alkaline batteries and lithium batteries, but gravity batteries, which store gravitational energy, are also viable energy storage devices. Researchers are coming up with new forms of energy storage every day, and they are getting better and better.
More articles on Energy Storage you may be interested in:
3. Energy Efficiency
By improving the efficiency of how we use the energy that we produce, we can also contribute to the reduction of GHG and achieve net zero. Besides the obvious things like turning on the lights only when we need them, there are also software applications that help us better manage the way we use energy. For example, some Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) startups provide software that intelligently help you decide when to charge your EV.
More articles on Energy Efficiency you may be interested in:
4. Carbon Capture and Storage
Because we are just beginning to take climate change seriously now, which we should have started earlier, a lot of GHG has already been released in the atmosphere and will stay there for thousands of years if we don’t do anything. These gases will trap heat and cause the planet to warm up. Therefore, besides trying to eliminate and reduce our GHG emissions, we also need to clean up our own mess and pull those carbon out of the air. Technologies like Direct Air Capture (DAC) fall under Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
More articles on Carbon Capture and Storage you may be interested in:
5. Mobility and Transport
Technically Mobility and Transport falls under Energy Storage, since electric vehicles (EVs) are practically batteries on wheels, but it is a sector that is so big that it deserves to be its own niche. Ultimately, EVs still use energy from the grid because you need to charge them at charging stations or at home, and if the grid is powered by fossil fuels, those EVs are still using dirty energy. This is the reason why we need both EVs and power plants that generate electricity from sustainable sources. However, the efficiency of EVs are higher than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, so they are still always the better choice.
More articles on Mobility and Transport you may be interested in:
- 5 Best All-Electric Cars in 2022
- 5 Best Electric Motorcycles in 2022
- 5 Best Electric Buses in 2022
- 5 Best Electric Vans in 2022
- 5 Best Electric Pickup Trucks in 2022
Summary
In a nutshell, net zero is a grand goal that cannot be achieved by focusing on any one of these niches alone. We must work on all of them together if we are to have any hope of successfully avoiding a climate catastrophe.
