New Market Opportunities Archives - Green to Black

Nuclear Expansion in the UK: What Sizewell C Means for Energy Investors

Henry Palmer — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 19:37:33 +0000

For the first time since 1995, a new nuclear power plant is set to be built in England. Sizewell C, a giant power station under construction in Eastern England, intends to generate electricity for six million homes, but the massive scope of the project has resulted in sizable opposition. According to an article by Stanley Reed for The New York Times, Sizewell C is pushing forward despite opposition from groups like “Stop Sizewell C” and a massive $51 billion price tag, thanks to proponents including the British government and managing director Julia Pyke. Those in favor of the project argue Sizewell C is essential for providing England with a stable “base load” power that unsteady renewables can’t guarantee. Sizewell C could ensure long-term energy security for the region while phasing out fossil fuels; Critics, however, are skeptical about the claimed cost-effectiveness and proposed decades-long timeline, pointing to the high costs that will be passed on to consumers. This project has significant implications for nuclear energy as a whole. If Sizewell C is successful, it could provide breathe life into the nuclear industry in the West more broadly and secure a role for nuclear power in a stable, de-carbonized grid with a viable financing and construction model. Conversely, if the plant suffers the same major delays and cost overruns as similar projects, it could become a costly distraction that reinforces the global trend of faster and cheaper renewables.

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In the Loop: Turning Food Waste into Food Product

Henry Palmer — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 23:11:18 +0000

A third of all the world’s emissions are a byproduct of the agriculture industry, with wasted food responsible for eight percent. The United States alone produces 60 million tons of food waste each year, much of which is still perfectly edible. An article by Michelle Rochniak published in The Cool Down earlier this month discusses how the company Loop Mission is working to combat this massive yet largely undiscussed issue. Loop saves around 140 tons of food destined for landfills each week, turning would be CO2 bombs into juices, craft beets, energy bites, wellness shots and more. Founder David Côté states that there is still so much innovation to be done in the food waste sector, and with America generating almost $220 billion dollars worth of food waste every year, there is certainly tons of untapped potential. Navigating the potential legal roadblocks that come with selling food nearing its expiration date is the only major barrier between entrepreneurs and billions of environmentally beneficial profits. With America showing no sign of an incoming culture shift away from consumerism and excess, companies like Loop may be our best strategy for combatting food waste.

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Here Comes the Sun: Africa’s Energy Needs Offset China’s Overproduction of Solar

Henry Palmer — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 13:34:35 +0000

In the past year, China has continued to export massive amounts of solar equipment to Africa, shipping 15 gigawatts of capacity to various nations. This nearly doubles the 20 gigawatts installed in 2023. This surge tells two compelling stories that investors and climate watchers should heed. An article published in The New York Times by Somini Sengupta outlines how China is solving two problems at once. Chinese overproduction of solar panels has crashed prices and created a surplus that they desperately need to offload before technology advances. At the same time, Africa has over 600 million people who lack access to electricity, presenting an enormous demand for the excess supply. I recently touched on China’s push into the Latin American automotive markets, and this is quite similar. While Western companies are focused on oversaturated markets, China is continuing to capture the needs of the developing world in the ongoing energy transition. From large markets like South Africa and Nigeria to Sierra Leone and Chad, China is capitalizing on an entire continent hungry for energy. Looking through a climate lens, two-thirds of African energy investments are still funneled into fossil fuels, but cheap Chinese solar has the ability to change the tides. This trend is likely to continue, meaning the question is simply how quickly the excess panels can find their way to African grids and start changing lives.

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Driving Change: How the Chinese are Transforming Auto Markets in Brazil

Henry Palmer — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 17:29:40 +0000

According to a recent article by Somini Sengupta published in The New York Times, multiple Chinese vehicle manufacturers have begun expanding into Brazil in the hope of transforming the automobile markets of Latin America. Companies such as BYD and Great WAll Motor have been making strides in EV technology, developing affordable vehicles with batteries capable of fully charging in just five minutes and with ranges comparable to premium-priced Teslas. This convenience combined with affordability makes these vehicles perfect for Brazil’s hydropower-focused, renewable electrical grid. The environmental benefits of this industrial shift are prominent. EVs charging on clean electricity could cut emissions drastically across Brazil’s 212 million person population. This move began to pick up when BYD took over Ford’s factory near São Paulo, and Great Wall Motors acquired a Mercedes-Benz’s facility. While legacy automakers are struggling with EV development, Chinese companies have invested heavily in groundbreaking technology and are thus gaining control over supply chains. The result is a surplus of affordable yet advanced vehicles bringing clean transportation to markets long dominated by fossil fuels. Given that the U.S. has almost entirely banned the importation of Chinese EVs and the Trump administration is continuing to pull away from EV and clean energy development, America is at great risk of losing its long-held leadership in what is currently the fastest-growing segment of the automotive industry. Chinese manufacturers have now achieved a 20% stake in Europe’s EV market and are continuing to establish manufacturing facilities globally as demonstrated by the factories they are establishing in Brazil. If this trend continues, American competitiveness in the clean energy economy will fall further into jeopardy.

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Tariff Talk: Graphite Mining and American EVs

Henry Palmer — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 18:16:41 +0000

The Trump administration has announced 93.5 percent tariffs on Chinese refined graphite, the typical anode component in electric vehicle batteries. According to a New York Times article by Jack Ewing published on 7/17/2025, this decision, combined with the elimination of tax credits for EV purchases and leases, will likely increase vehicle prices and reduce accessibility for average consumers. This policy has created immediate hurdles for the green energy transition and multiple American businesses. The tariffs will impact American car manufacturers who have EV models, including Ford Motor and Tesla, as well as local battery suppliers like Panasonic and LG Energy Solution. The timing of this announcement is most concerning, however, to Panasonic, as they recently established a new factory in De Soto, Kansas with 4,000 employees whose futures are now in jeopardy. The ultimate effects are slightly more complex, however; while the short-term effect is adverse to both the EV market and American workers, these tariffs, as tariffs are intended to do, could actually result in greater U.S. disconnection from the Chinese supply chain. The policy will likely incentivize American companies to invest in domestic graphite mining or synthetic production using hydrocarbons here in the U.S. If successful, this could create domestic employment opportunities and investment opportunities while also eliminating the environmental costs currently coming from international shipping. The question is simply how quickly American industry can adapt to meet demand while maintaining competitive prices, and whether the inevitable short-term disruption will hinder the administration’s claimed goals of energy independence and domestic manufacturing growth.

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Fossil Nation: How the US is Losing the Bid for Energy Dominance

Henry Palmer — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 19:39:38 +0000

A July 1, 2025 article by David Gelles in the New York Times discusses Trump’s intentional dismantling of the Biden Administration’s green energy initiatives. Biden’s policies directed billions to Republican-led districts and positioned the United States to compete with China in the rush to embrace renewable power, a process necessary due to the energy needs of artificial intelligence. Regardless, the Trump administration appears bent on steering the country further toward dependence on fossil fuels. America continues to lag behind in a field we once dominated with inventions like silicon photovoltaic cells and rechargeable lithium-metal batteries, costing both economic potential and technological superiority. Estimates show current fossil fuel reserves to have around a 50-year supply, but international energy consumption continues to grow. The renewable energy field has huge profit potential, which the administration seems willing to surrender to foreign nations and potential enemies. Regardless of the motivation, the approach to fulfilling our energy needs risks America losing future economic gains to rival nations and compromising its position in the global energy revolution.

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“Dawn or Dusk”: First Episode of Climate Docuseries Profiles Opportunity and Inspires Hope

Henry Palmer — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 14:51:17 +0000

“Dusk or Dawn,” the first episode in the 2024 Bloomberg Original series An Optimist’s Guide to the Planet, features Danish actor, film producer, and climate activist Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as he travels to four continents to cover people and companies who are both combating, and innovating ways to capitalize upon, climate change. By showcasing revolutionary new techniques as well as the existing actions of inspiring communities, Coster-Waldau aims to counter climate doomism and inspire optimism for the future. Despite some potential structural flaws in terms of the chronology of presentation, the episode successfully demonstrates that hope should not be lost and that innovation will lead the way to both a greener tomorrow and novel business opportunities.

A popular notion regarding climate change is that the Earth has reached a point of no return and that the problem has grown too large for humanity to handle. To counter this trend of doomism, Coster-Waldau explores multiple new technologies that could potentially play a major role in restoring climate balance. One innovator of such technologies is Twelve, a San Francisco-based company pioneering solutions to tackle both the excess amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and society’s endless desire for petroleum-based plastics. By transforming excess carbon into new consumer products, Twelve has the potential to greatly aid in the battle against global warming while serving as inspiration for entrepreneurs focused on sustainability worldwide. Using carbon dioxide as a limitless free resource, they have created a system that can aid in the climate crisis while being highly profitable, resulting in practically zero material costs and potentially yielding a high gross profit, if they can improve their process and scale up production. Given that the increasing level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is by far the largest problem related to global warming, Twelve’s achievement of scale economics could be one way to address the problem. Additionally, because the production of petroleum-based plastics releases over a million tons of carbon dioxide per year, Twelve’s innovative plastic production method could have a substantial impact on carbon emissions from this source.

Another pioneer Coster-Waldau showcases to effectively express his message of hope is Minik Rosing from Greenland. Rosing is developing a way to convert melting glaciers into fertilizer that can be used to feed people worldwide. While this solution does not address Greenland’s problem of increasing temperatures, it demonstrates how humans can adapt to our changing climate and use it effectively for the betterment of the world. Rosing plans to export the silt collected from melting glaciers to countries in Africa, potentially offering a solution to Africa’s long-standing problem of food insecurity.

In addition to the exploration of companies like Twelve and problem-solvers like Rosing, Coster-Waldau and his team highlights scientists creating products like carbon-neutral jet fuel and protective strategies such as using human-engineered clouds to prevent the lethal warming of coral reefs. All in all, they do a great job exploring how a wide variety of groups and individuals are bolstering the fight against climate change and showing that hope is still alive. They end the episode, however, with what is arguably the least revolutionary and most intimidating example. The final segment takes place in Kamikatsu, a sustainable Japanese community that goes to great lengths to reduce its environmental footprint. It features Osamu Nakamura, a resident of the village. Coster-Waldau learns about how community members spend extensive amounts of time sorting their waste for proper recycling and visits Nakamura’s house, where he collects his own water and uses minimal electricity. While this focus on the Kamikatsu community and Nakamura shows the extent to which an impressive few people go to help the climate, placing this segment at the end could potentially daunt viewers. The majority of people in developed societies are content with their consumerist lifestyles and may be opposed to living like the people of Kamikatsu. Ending the documentary with the most extreme example of net-zero living suggests that this way of life is what people need to strive for in order to make a difference, potentially discouraging an interest in sustainability among less ascetic viewers.

Coster-Waldau successfully addresses the climate doomism outlook and effectively conveys his message that people should maintain optimism for the future. He demonstrates that modern technologies and businesses can contribute to creating a greener tomorrow with relevant examples. He shows viewers that it is not too late for humanity to rectify our mistakes, making “Dusk or Dawn” a compelling episode with which to launch the larger series.

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