David Crane

ExSPACly So: Reflections on an Interview with Climate Pioneer David Crane

Will Baker
No, it has nothing to do with GameStop. A SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, allows legitimate up-and-comers whose profits lie in the future to tap cash for building climate solutions now. David Crane, a veteran of climate-transition management, explains SPACs' potential to steer capital to a necessarily risky group...
What isn't in these numbers?

Delivering clean energy should mean delivering equitable health effects, says a researcher. 

Policy Memo: An Environmental Justice Analysis Can Accelerate Carbon Progress in Pennsylvania

Nikita Naik
The case for joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which Pennsylvania's governor embraced in 2019, asserts that trading carbon credits can marshal market discipline to achieve policy goals for broad decarbonization. In this example from the policy-memo segment of our online Financing and Deploying Clean Energy program, our writer argues...
Solar financing? Don't look down...

(Courtesy Sol Systems.) The world will turn ever more to solar, but steep complexities lie ahead. 

Sites and Insights: Sol Systems Grows Before Your Eyes

Alec Appelbaum
Krisztina Pjecska’s been advancing on a mission to extend solar energy’s reach, to the point that she and her colleagues at Sol Systems have started reckoning with a twist in the path. Solar has become economical, reliable and more popular. It’s also become harder to site and insure. “The more...
Courtesy of Norfolk Solar

(Courtesy of Norfolk Solar) If dollars are flowing into under-served neighborhoods and staying there for as long as they throw off tax savings, why not channel some of them to improve energy justice? Plenty of opportunity remains. 

Where Investors See a Tax Savings, She Saw a Pathway to Clean Energy Equity Goals

Pari Kasotia
The federal Opportunity Zones designation forgives capital gains taxes on investments in neighborhoods that have withstood economic isolation. One Norfolk, Virginia entrepreneur found dollars from investors looking for the tax break, found sites ready for solar development, and found a way to create jobs and increase solar market share in...
The partners raising Raise Green

For these two capitalists, finding unicorns matters less than helping community leaders find solutions to their specific climate and health challenges. 

Update: Raise Green Rises From Crowdfunding Concept to Operating Platform. What's Next?

Bennett Hall
Crowdfunding has operated for a while, and community solar has emerged as a category for investors and developers. For Raise Green, a financing platform that aims to bring crowdfunding to community solar projects, the past year has brought evolution and discovery. Our reporter brings the team's ambitions and methods up...
The lights in this landmark shine sustainably

Investors who enter purchase power agreements, like the landlords of the Sydney Opera House, can use hedges to avoid high drama. 

Navigating Risk: A Corporate PPA Guide

Noah Lerner
Corporate buyers who learn to weave power purchase agreements into their finances have drawn on research and hedges to manage electricity's risk. With the Covid-19 disaster roiling electricity markets and project schedules, we survey risk management strategies and test their resilience. Some new takes on risk- and takes on new...