Insider's Guide to Energy

100 - Celebrating our 100th Episode with Green Town Labs

December 04, 2022 Chris Sass Season 3 Episode 100
Insider's Guide to Energy
100 - Celebrating our 100th Episode with Green Town Labs
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

Today we celebrate our 100th Episode by speaking with Lara Cottingham of Greentown Labs.  Described as “climatetech pioneers” working to design a more sustainable world, Greentown Labs has incubators in Boston and Houston.  With many IGTE guest connections to Greentown Labs, we discuss what Greentown is all about, their connection to academia, trends in funding and the latest ideas.   

10:53.28 

chrissass 

Welcome to Insider's guide energy I'm your host Chris sass and with me as always is co-host Johan Oberg on what's happening. 

  

10:57.50 

Johan 

Hey Chris great to be on another week great to see you online again. I was hoping to get this in person but we'll do that next time. And you can tell the winter is starting coming to Switzerland it's getting cold which obviously now right now this time of year connects into the energy. 

  

11:17.36 

chrissass 

It absolutely does this year in particular, it's going to be interesting so far the weather's been mild and it hasn't the European energy prices haven't had the impact that people could be having it could get much worse. Um. But you know I'm pretty excited about this episode in particular because this is our hundredth episode for the main show. That's a pretty good milestone for insider's guided energy. 

  

11:36.22 

Johan 

Could you imagine you know what when I was your first guest on the first show when we're sitting there and recording the first episode with them. What is it two something years ago a hundred episodes. That's fantastic. 

  

11:49.99 

chrissass 

It's amazing I mean I think content wise we've done well over a hundred because we have so many shows these days. But for the main show that that we've gotten to a hundred is there and what's kind of cool is the guest that we've lined up for this hundredth episode is great because the platform that they do or what they do. Has brought a number of guests to our show over the last couple of years that we've really enjoyed happening you know having on board. So we're going to talk to Greentown labs today and if you remember guests we had in the past they came through their companies came through Greentown labs and it was really some great interviews so I'm excited to hear about. Kind of the mothership so to speak are where these folks started their and their adventures. 

  

12:25.83 

Johan 

And not only the not only the companies that came out of this one but the whole ecosystem that they're ah that they're working with I'm extremely curious to hear on how the setup is because ah it's 1 thing about the companies that comes out of which are fantastic and we had few of them on the show. But it's also all the rest of the work that I'm really interesting to see what they're working on and driving the sustainability which well looking forward to the Hundredth episode. 

  

12:48.73 

chrissass 

Well, we could sit here and talk about the Hundredth episode or we could make the Hundredth episode I vote for make it. So let's invite Larry Cottenham to the programmer welcome to the program. 

  

12:54.96 

Johan 

Um, let's make it. 

  

12:58.49 

Lara 

Hello and congratulations a hundred episodes that is amazing I think the average podcast makes like 6 so you guys have lapped like most folks out there. 

  

13:08.99 

chrissass 

Yeah, well I think it becomes a passion we build it with a team There's a team of volunteers that helped us get here. It's not just Johan and I there's a number of graduate students and students behind the scenes that help produce and release the content and it's been an amazing journey and like I said in my intro. Greentown has been a part of it whether you realize it or not now I've you know, met you at trade shows and we spoke on panels and seen each other but from the podcast point of view. It's been great because the companies that you guys have started have joined the podcast and they've been some of our best guests so we really appreciate what you're doing and we're looking forward to today's conversation but for our audience. They probably don't have the advantage of knowing as much about you in Greentown as Yohan and I do so what? I'd ask is maybe you could introduce yourself and talk about a little bit about what you do. 

  

13:56.90 

Lara 

Absolutely so I'm Laura Cottingham and I am the chief of staff at Greentown labs so Greentown labs is the largest climate tech incubator in North America um our mission is to build an inclusive community. That convenes and connects and inspires entrepreneurs and ecosystems to solve the climate crisis. So at the end of the day where we're an incubator we support startups that are working specifically in climate tech and. Any type of technology that can help reduce those carbon emissions or help build community resilience in the face of climate change. 

  

14:33.70 

chrissass 

And in our introduction you gave a couple statistics that were kind of interesting. So maybe you could share that with the audience what kind of impact you've had with the statistics you shared before from Greentown to the greater community. 

  

14:48.28 

Lara 

Yes, and um, we're very proud of our startups our member community and I am excited that they will. We will keep sending startups to your podcast so Greentown was founded about eleven years ago I'm in Boston. Um, right now we have a hundred and forty Thousand Square feet of lab space in Summerville Massachusetts and then as of ah about a year and a half ago Houston Texas since we were a founded we have supported over five hundred and fifty climate tech startups those startups have. Raised over $4000000000 and they've created about 9000 jobs and and I think that speaks itself alone to like the impact of what we've been doing. 

  

15:35.35 

Johan 

So one of the things you mentioned it started off in Massachusetts ah, you're not in Massachusetts if I understand it correctly or in Houston Texas we had a few guests coming on from Texas being the European on the call. Maybe you can help me. Understand a little bit or share a little bit of light. Why is so much happening in Houston when it comes to this energy transition. 

  

16:03.39 

Lara 

Yes, so this is one of my favorite questions and Houston calls itself. The energy capital of the world. We are proud to be the energy capital of the world and but that is that is a ah, very heavy responsibility right now when we think about climate change when we think about. Um, which you guys are facing in Europe and so Greentown labs was founded eleven years ago and I joined about a year and a half um prior to being a Greentown labs I was the first chief sustainability officer at the city of Houston and so as part of that role I did our first. Climate action plan and energy transition strategy and so to decarbonize Houston Texas which is the fourth largest city in the United States and much of the strategy is the same that you would see in in pretty much any city. um you where you think about buildings you think about um transportation but because we are this energy capital. It really takes on a larger meeting and what I saw very early on was that that innovation and entrepreneurship plays a huge role because it is 1 thing to have been the energy capital of the past but to be the energy capital of the future. We really need. To be developing the new technology that's going to help us provide energy. That's clean and affordable and available and reliable and but also meet our climate goals and so I set out to find who was leading an energy innovation in climate tech and Greentown really was just and the biggest and the best and so. 

  

17:37.78 

Lara 

I met them in about 2019 and it took a while but we managed to convince our Ceo Emily who is one of my personal heroes and I am so lucky to get to work with her and the entire Greentown team every day to open Greentown's first and. First second location in Houston Texas and so from a Greentown perspective at the same time. The ipcc reports coming out and Greentown has a beautiful campus in Boston that's just about full and they were saying how can we expand our climate impact. And there is no better place to go if you are working in climate tech than the belly of the beast that is Houston right? We have so many of the world's leading energy companies. Um, they are doing a lot of good things. They have a lot of emissions then hard to abate industries and they need a lot of help so Greentown can really help bring. The pieces together bring all of the right ingredients together in Houston and to build what we say is a Texas size climate tech ecosystem. 

  

18:41.85 

chrissass 

So Greentown you have 2 locations you have the Houston location now. What about affiliations to universities. So is there a university affiliation with Greentown. 

  

18:52.15 

Lara 

So universities play a huge role in the ecosystem that we talk about around innovation and entrepreneurship that the reason Greentown was founded and this is this is a bit interesting for folks who know about incubators and accelerators and about all of the different types of programs. In the United States and internationally Greentown's a bit unique because we were founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. They were coming out of mit and the amazing universities are in Boston and they needed a place to go. They couldn't stay in the university lab. Ah, property was expensive. They're using a lot of power a lot of chemicals things. You don't want folks doing in a garage or in a dorm room and so that's how Greentown was founded here in Texas we have some of the biggest universities in the country if you think about the University Of Texas if you think about the university of Houston rice university Texas a and m prairie review a and m there are so many and so that's one of the things I'm working on at Greentown is how do we get all of our universities involved. How do we get those future leaders interested in climate tech. 

  

20:01.14 

Johan 

So one of the things I'm always curious about I am a big fan of these ecosystems I'm a big believer that you won't be able back in the days you can do it on your own through your corporations and through sort of to a limited numbers same as the energy it was one producer and 1 source kind of a thing this is changing. 

  

20:03.58 

chrissass 

Are. 

  

20:20.68 

Johan 

But the 1 thing that I came across when I did a lot of work in an ecosystem were the challenges between the startup community the educational or the academia and the corporates. So. How do you balance this because it timelines a difference inputs is difference. There's politics and not politics and as kind of you guys sitting in the middle of this. How do you How do you balance all this. 

  

20:48.28 

Lara 

It is definitely a balance. Um, and I also want to just like go back to what you said that it's not something anyone can do alone right that when you think about climate change like being the biggest challenge that we're facing. Um, everyone has a role to play. Everyone being if you are a middle school student or if you are a multinational corporation and everything in between and so Greentown you know we are member driven. We want to help our startups be as successful as they possibly can be get that technology out there raise money. But. Get it to the communities that need it most and so what we found along the way is we have to spend a lot of time ecosystem building because that is what helps our members and that means universities because that's where the new startups are going to come from but that's also where there's ongoing technological research happening. Um. 1 of the biggest challenges startups fees is talent right? that you may have a great founder but to scale their company. They need to bring in a lot of new employees. Um, and then you've got the corporate side and so when we're talking about climate tech and I'll talk a little bit about that too. We look at. Hardest to Decarbonize Industries so that's buildings that's transportation that's manufacturing that's agriculture. That's um, energy and power and then community resilience most of those industries are not b two c so they're not selling technology to you and me they need a corporate partner. That's gonna. 

  

22:20.51 

Lara 

Invest That's going to buy their product. It's going to buy their company and they can be incredible Mentors. There's so many roles to play and so Greentown tries to match make right? We have a startup that has a need. We see a corporate partner that has a goal can we bring those two together. And the technology that will be developed from those kind of organic interactions is going to be bigger and better and stronger. Um than anything they could do on their own. 

  

22:45.73 

chrissass 

So in your answer you gave an interesting statement. You said you know a lot of your talents going to come from students and you know working in the Angel funding round and being a startup guy myself I know statistically the outlier are students to develop. The unicorn company. It's usually someone that's got a little bit more industry experience that goes in that becomes a founder develops that So What mix your startups are folks like right out of mit or right out of one of the schools. You mentioned they go out and become a founder and then what mits or maybe people that come with some industry experience and then are coming in and trying to. To do something different. 

  

23:26.35 

Lara 

So I can tell you that historically um, the majority of startups that came to Greentown were coming recently from university also 2020 the pandemic happened and basically everything changed right? We put the world in a blender. And all of the same things came back out but maybe not in the same order that they were before and so using Texas as a really good example and a bit of a proxy for the energy industry as a whole. We're now seeing startups like you said who are um on their second or third career and maybe they've. They have industry experience like several decades and for any number of reasons now is the time that they are breaking out on their own and they're taking that knowledge and expertise that they've had and to create new technology to improve on what they've been doing. We see a lot of traditional oil and gas technology that's being applied to renewables. It's being applied to climate tech and so I think also with a lot of like tech layoffs and like everything they're going to see a lot of cross-pollination that is different um different is good. Sometimes we think different is bad. No. Um, actually that kind of diversity will make the climate tech industry stronger. 

  

24:47.69 

Johan 

So in terms of in terms of the if I understand it right? We have the an engineer I'll put it as an engineer look a little bit ah from the energy industry and you have somewhere an investor that they're looking for. And sometimes there's a direct match. You will find it through some your a round so you go through different forums in terms of where you go to get your money at how to maybe this is a stupid question but I'll ask it anyways, where do you sit in this. So. So you have this this. Startup gang of on their third career. Fourth career. Whatever it is have this brilliant idea that would actually drive towards a sustainable goal help us reduce the carbon emission. And they're looking for money investment I can understand and there's a lot of investment companies out that we had a few women on the show. There are vacuuming for finding these ones but maybe help me understand a little bit. What role do you play here in in terms of this one. 

  

25:44.86 

Lara 

Absolutely so typical Greentown company comes to Greentown right before right after they've got their seed funding. They maybe have ah 1 or 2 employees. So. It's a pretty so pretty small early stage company. Um, and they have on average stay two or three years until they have their series a so Greentown. We're an incubator so we offer prototyping and wet lab space some of our facilities and just office and co-working space. And that is that gets them access to the community and so part of that community like you said is access to our investor network because and everyone is raising money and there are so many new technologies coming forward and it is a great way to kind of get on their. On their radar and there are certain places that and investors know to go to look for the next big thing and Greentown has an amazing brand and that is very strong and to people just automatically like associate it with um, a lot of up and coming climate tech companies and we have a lot of them. We. Today we have over 200 companies across Boston and Houston we also offer just general programming to help those startups build their company. So for the folks who are coming right out of school. 

  

27:14.64 

Lara 

They have incredible technology that they're developing but they've probably not hired a lot of people before right? There's just kind of general abcs of how you start a company and how you how you build that? um Greentown can help with um, access to. Iep and patents attorneys um help with practicing your pitch deck helping with just an incredible amount of networking um nationally internationally locally helping bring those mentors and corporate partners together. We have an incredible amount of events. You guys ever need somewhere to go and you find yourself in Boston and Houston and all of your listeners like please come to Greentown. We truly take that convene and connect and inspire in our mission theory seriously and so you get um, kind of. Managed chaos right? Collisions happening left and right and that's like you were saying that you know that's how you make that first and that second connection that can be so important to build your business. 

  

28:16.80 

chrissass 

You mentioned that you have 200 companies maybe you could share a little bit of the range and the type of interesting success stories or types of companies or technologies that have come through the labs that you're willing to share with us in their audience. 

  

28:30.17 

Lara 

So I've. 

  

28:31.85 

chrissass 

So you know we're Energy-centric So I get all the clean tech but let's see if some of the energy companies are things that have done some innovative things and energy that maybe've gone through or recently or ones that you can talk about that are going through. 

  

28:44.42 

Lara 

Um I I've only been here a tiny part of Greentown's history right? So the companies that I would point to that are maybe you all have heard of um form energies is pretty famous of Greentown company I think they. Just raise a I don't want to say the number in case I get wrong, very large um next ah round and they're doing amazing things dandelion energy and is a geothermal startup that it just raised. 70000000 I believe and that's looking at home geothermal energy. We have we have startups that are in just about anything that is good and I hesitate to try to point out too many names because I we have 200 of them and I don't want to leave anyone out. And we have a lot of companies that are in any type of battery storage any type of long duration storage. We have flywheel and iron and zinc based and we have an entire program around low carbon hydrogen. Um hydrogen is. Very popular in a community like Houston but also with that the federal hydrogen hub competition that's happening um at cities all across the United States are looking into hydrogen we have a lot of interest around carbon tech so carbon capture. 

  

30:11.80 

Lara 

Is another buzzword right Now. Although it's been around for a long time and but everyone kind of has settled upon the idea that we must capture the carbon that we are emitting right now as quickly as possible and can we sequester it all perhaps but also are there other ways to use that carbon that would be helpful in the meantime. So you see a lot of companies in that space some of the companies that I think are most interesting that people don't think about it's because it's not all energy. Agriculture is a huge um area of Sustainable agriculture. How can we. Ah, reduce emissions but create food we have companies that are working to make plant-based milk chocolate um that it's the holidays and one of the things everybody likes to do or at least I like to do is eat as much chocolate as possible and the milk fats. Is what makes milk chocolate tasty. And so if you can find a way to replicate that in a more sustainable manner and we have a company called Bucha Bio that is making clothing material out of kombucha. Now I am not an engineer and I will preface this with that. That's like a gross over simplification of what they do and that it gives you a good idea of the Breadth and the depth of the type of companies that we're working with. 

  

31:32.13 

chrissass 

And then how does one become ah a member company and do you have a committee that decides What makes my battery technology worthy of Greentown which makes me as a founder worthy of Greentown. 

  

31:43.78 

Lara 

So we have a very um intricate and um I'll say I will say purposefully intentionally like labor intensive selection process because part of Greentown's. Brand and part of what makes us successful is that we help de-risk new technology and that starts from day one from the interview process and that we have an entire kind of committee structure in Miaska we have go through a lot of interviews with companies and founders to make sure that they are the right fit for that community. Um, we make sure that the kind of the company isn't and like you and your brother or your sister or your wife or your children that you have employees because that will ultimately probably cause trouble down the road and we make sure that you have. Um, raised funding. You're not completely self-funded. We make sure that your technology is valid. Um, now we don't go through and try to um, do your carbon calculations for you. Although that's something that might be coming but we do like a gut check to make sure that the technology is. 

  

32:38.25 

chrissass 

Then. 

  

32:54.92 

Lara 

Sound We make sure that that there's not the exact same company already because while our entrepreneurs are incredibly collaborative. You. You don't want ah a direct competition if that would cause a problem and that doesn't happen very often and the only times I can think of. The companies have been okay with it Maybe they aren't in the same location maybe aren't they aren't right next door to each other but they benefit from being in a place that is known as um, one of the locations that specializes in that type of technology. 

  

33:29.50 

Johan 

So if I move a little bit to the ecosystem I'm coming back to the ecosystem time and time again. So this kind of where I go but obviously there's a number of things we we went through the academia we went through the startups but we also have a big part of this one as you mentioned as well as the investors. And we've had a few of the investors that are very clear. Maybe a smaller shop or very driven towards sustainability investments but coming out of Houston and not just where you are today. But also your background in the city of Houston. How do you see investments from let's call it the traditional. Industry of energy in Houston which is obviously even as a European one of the biggest ones with your oil and gas into how much of they are involved in this transformation or are they not. 

  

34:19.70 

Lara 

It is a trans it is a transformation like you said we call it the energy transition. It is not a light switch right? So um, the good news is there is more interest in climate tech right now than ever before. So we mentioned that Greentown companies have raised about $4000000000 and if about half of that came from last year alone um tells you just like also Greentown is growing very quickly but the interest from the investment community around climate tech and in terms of the location. Of where the funding is coming from that is it is a dance and it is ongoing and it is hard to really pinpoint why because it does come down to like that investor's individual thesis and then the technology that they're looking for and where that company is located. Um. When you look at Houston has an incredible amount of capital that is waiting to get into the energy transition. There are some great investors in Houston that are incredibly climate focus already. But there's more work to be done that. We see that maybe the very early um, early stage investors are more used to other things that climate tech is still new to them. Houston also has an incredibly robust like medical innovation and biotech community and so. 

  

35:46.36 

Lara 

That that is a bit more common sometimes and so um, there's investor education that needs to happen. Also we have a lot of corporate and private equity that is not used to early stage startups. That you can see them kind of like lining up and like looking in and they're waiting for um, bigger companies. They're waiting for something that fits exactly what they're looking for and so but you also seeing that Change. You're seeing folks getting in wanting to get in early stage. You're also seeing the early stage investments getting bigger and bigger and so um. There's like a push and pull that's going on Also every time we talk about this um investors in other parts of the country are starting to I won't say realize but like pay more attention and start thinking more about hey there are companies in other parts of the country if you think about climate change it impacts. Everyone everywhere. 

  

36:36.52 

Johan 

Count. Oh. 

  

36:40.19 

Lara 

If You think about entrepreneurs they exist smaller businesses exist everywhere I mean so you wouldn't expect them to only be found in certain parts of the country but that's just how it's been and it's easy to think about that. But again climate change being this. Enormous challenge that is really causing us to rethink systems across the board. It also includes rethinking about where technology is going to come from. 

  

37:07.60 

chrissass 

Now when a company goes through is accepted. Um, how does Greentown fund itself. Do you take a piece to the company. Do you get equity in these companies and the successful ones help you grow is that how come you've grown to multiple locations and going bigger with those numbers or how's that work. 

  

37:22.89 

Lara 

So because Greentown was founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. We don't invest in our companies. We don't take equity. We know how hard it is for early stage companies that they are um. Fighting to raise money but not give too much away and so instead we do everything we possibly can to support our companies so that everyone else wants to invest in them and that also kind of makes us a neutral party between other investors. To bring them to our startups as quickly and easily and collaboratively as possible. So how we how we fund ourselves what our business model looks like and it is a combination of member fees right? So there's a membership fee to be ah a member of Greentown. Um, and then it can go up and down depending on the number of employees that you bring on um the amount of square feet the amount of lab space and what type of lab space you take and then corporate partnerships and so we have a ah curated group. Corporate partners that we don't just you know take their take their name and put it on a wall but we truly put them to work that we look for global leaders who are in those same industry categories of buildings and manufacturing and transportation. 

  

38:53.36 

Lara 

And energy and agriculture and everything in between um, who have ambitious climate goals who are having challenges meeting them who are interested in looking for new technology and we bring them into the space as much as possible. And it's a bit of you get you get what you put in back out. Um, but we have some amazing partners who are in our space all the time some of them like it so much they actually take up space in Green time. 

  

39:24.83 

Johan 

So One of the things. Obviously what's going on in in the Us Now when we talk about investments and we're talking about the energy shift is also regulations and driven by government incentives and for the Us of course is the investment reduction act where obviously we'll have a big impact. And we all believe that I think in terms of investments into this one for I can understand when it comes out from government that there's a lot of big investments in in existing big companies and existing big funds etc in terms of electric vehicles, etc. But.. Where do you sit and how do you see the opportunities around the the investment reduction act for you guys. 

  

40:10.32 

Lara 

This is one of the most common conversations I think people are having I'm definitely having right now about like what does the ira mean for climate tech for Houston for Boston and for our startups. The short answer is none of us entirely know yet. Um, and that's because it is an enormous piece of legislation and that I am so excited about also by the way I'm really proud of the Biden administration and how they have found creative ways innovative ways to craft policy around climate action which is. Incredibly difficult? Yeah, um, and that it is new and there are programs that are still being written right? There's a lot of tax laws and things that we're so waiting to see how that comes about um in general the. Ira is pushing for the deployment of technology as quickly as possible over 10 years and it provides a lot of certainty um in all of those text provisions 2 of my favorite things are that it's a tenure timeframe so we're not. Um, seeing the kind of roller-coaster cycle of pushing to do as much investment as possible to wait to run down the clock and then there'll be a hole to see if they renew again and then start over and also then that they don't pit the different types. 

  

41:38.90 

Lara 

Technology. It's not solar versus wind versus hydrogen um that they just have it all as clean and that is beautiful because we are all in this together and you don't want to be robbing Peter to pay Paul um, kind of like. We want to have this feeling that we're all working toward an energy transition together and from a startup perspective. It goes back to that issue of much of the technology that we need to be able to reach the goals that the ira is targeting either doesn't exist yet. Or needs to be tweaked and refined and developed to get it to scale and so and it's a huge signal to those corporate players that are best suited to really take advantage of those mega tax incentives that they need to have the best technology. And if they don't have it yet where are they going and how are they making sure that it fits. 

  

42:38.35 

chrissass 

So I guess what comes to mind to me is I totally get the legislation I agree. It's exciting times and I think it is transformative at least in North America what will happen talk about hydrogen and other emerging technologies to make them viable at scale. But the same time we're going through an economy and there's inflation like people haven't seen. Um I've heard that you know getting deal size and tickets written is getting harder for some There's still plenty of deals getting done at certain size larger ones I think are still getting done some the smaller deals I'm hearing is it's getting a little harder for energy startups. How's that. From your perspective and the companies in your ecosystem. How are they dealing with the current economy and how is funding going for companies that want to do energy tech today. 

  

43:22.10 

Lara 

So that is definitely a concern and it is on everybody's radar. It's something you see in the newspaper every day but it is not something that we are seeing happening at Greentown companies yet I mean that's a bit just the nature of. Deals that are in play right now versus what companies are planning for next year and the year after that in the year after that and that it is incredibly inspiring and I hope this sticks is that climate tech seems to be the thing the light at the end of the tunnel where everything else is. And slowing down a bit that because we have this international energy crisis because we have a daily climate crisis and because you have states and countries and international policies being put in place and we must do these things. It has an additional level of security. But you know as y'all know the energy industry is prone to risk so it is a it is a roller coaster ride that we are on and we are just kind of waiting to see how it. Will pan out but we're not seeing and any major differences. 2022 was a stellar year. So everyone I think has ah is kind of holding their breath but is cautiously optimistic because there are so many. 

  

44:51.89 

Lara 

Ah, forces pushing us in the right direction. 

  

44:57.61 

Johan 

I guess that comes a little bit also with what we discussed on the ira in terms of it might be in the perfect if it could be a perfect 1 but perfect timing of this once is starting to get rolled out because you have the money coming in no matter what? so not only boosting these. The energy transition but actually starting to do that when you come into a recession. So hopefully well I certainly hope so that that will actually help the fundings to drive this but coming back a little bit to the startups and and the 10 year period that you discussed. Ah. 

  

45:21.90 

Lara 

Okay. 

  

45:33.90 

chrissass 

Are. 

  

45:35.44 

Johan 

There's technologies out there that you're working with today that that comes from literally on the drawing table or might be a prototype or might be a little bit further down but it's a proof of concept that may be at best 10 years is it's not a massive amount of time. It sounds like a long time but and some and you look at the energy industry. Traditionally ten years is nothing. Ah so how do you see? How do you see this in terms of ensuring that these companies actually get. Deployed get the investment and also get that partnership with ah maybe a slow moving energy or utility to hit this in 10 years because that and probably means that they need to start testing it within a year or 2 probably needs to scale it within 2 3 4 years and then up to the 10 years 

  

46:24.51 

Lara 

Yes, no, and this is this is what makes climate tech really interesting but also challenging and where you where I appreciate talking to people who understand the nature of the energy industry because. 

  

46:24.64 

Johan 

So long question maybe but how do you see that. 

  

46:41.16 

Lara 

We have a dual challenge of getting technology deployed today right? Communities are facing climate risk every day. Um, energy prices are changing every day. 

  

46:48.74 

chrissass 

Um. 

  

46:53.73 

Lara 

Um, utility grids are unstable. We have incredible environmental justice challenges associated with just about every um type of system that we have and so and there is technology available today that can be deployed and Greentown has startups that are developing technology that is that is ready. Also at the same time we know that you interview should never stops think about iPhone right? Um, where we're in a what like iPhone I don't even know what generation we are like I think I have an iPhone I don't even know 11. 

  

47:31.58 

chrissass 

Um, I think they're at 14 or more already. 

  

47:32.60 

Lara 

Um, and yeah, okay like I think that I had so many generations before and we're going to have so many to come and that the iPhone 2 like nobody uses today but was incredibly important in making whatever kind of iPhone I have now. And the twenty more iPhone that I will have in my future and so we have to also be supporting the companies that are just starting out that are if you think about it in the terms of the difference between innovation and invention right? I am tweaking a solar panel. 

  

47:51.69 

chrissass 

Are. 

  

48:08.94 

Lara 

So that it is more efficient so that it is cheaper to build so that it uses different types of materials versus I am creating a I am inventing a new way to create chemicals that uses light instead of heat something that is truly um, did not exist until this. Came forward and might change something completely but will take a very long time to be tested because you're talking about the folks that are working in the lab and science says 1 thing should happen and they find out that something else happens that is amazing to me. And that is part of why I love coming to work every day is the idea that if just one of the folks who we're working with has that um inspiration and like finds that thing and it sticks but we have to be pushing both at all times and the ira does. 

  

49:02.84 

Lara 

It ah gets to that. But I think it's much more focused on like what can we do in the next ten years understanding that it's going to be really hard to do anything in the next like 2 years so we're going to have a couple of years down the road where we're going to have an incredible pressure to do a whole bunch of stuff in a short period of time. With more money than we've ever been trying to deploy. Um, but think that the amount of funding in the ira is similar to the amount that we invested in oil and gas like globally this past year so it is completely possible to the folks who say oh my goodness this is more than we've ever done before. Um. It is possible. The other thing that really helps startups is the ira has what I call like triple scrabble word. Score. So there are lots of things that you can qualify for and 1 of them can be if you're an energy community. Um, another can be if you use local. 

  

49:47.71 

chrissass 

Um. 

  

49:55.77 

Lara 

Local labor and workforce and trades and trade skills and different types of community programs and Justice forty and so that really helps entrepreneurs and small businesses who can um maybe they're partnering with a corporation but they help meet those goals. 

  

50:12.77 

chrissass 

Um. 

  

50:16.11 

Lara 

And there are a lot of energy communities. Houston is one of them and that are going to become prime spots for innovation because we have all of those ecosystem components that we were talking about and the ira kind of helps supercharge that. 

  

50:35.32 

chrissass 

Ah, lots going on. Um I think we're getting towards the top of the showre we're about to towards the end of our time but for me like you said I'm excited to hear more about what you're doing to find out a little bit more about the vision of what Greentown's doing the kind of success you've had. I think our audience so we generally target you know mid to senior managers in the energy industry. We certainly have a number of founders in private equity and group that follow the show. So I think it's going to be eye-opening for those that don't know Greentown lab I encourage them to follow I. I've really enjoyed the show. Johan do you have any final thoughts as we bring this to a close. 

  

51:09.50 

Johan 

Now I likewise I thought it was a really interesting discussion. But maybe if I may a last little question I have a notebook here of more questions but 1 more I'll squeeze in 1 more. You have an opportunity in your role. 

  

51:23.10 

Lara 

Um, is easy. 

  

51:26.30 

Johan 

Both previously if I understand it correctly, but especially with your role now to meet so many different kind of companies that are willing some will succeed some will not to actually be part of this energy transition. Ah in a short if it's possible where. 

  

51:43.12 

Johan 

What is the? what is the coolest. What is the new things that we haven't seen that you come across. You know that that is in the is part of you know the tweaking a solar panel might not be that we've seen that but is there anything specific that you see this is cool. 

  

51:51.39 

chrissass 

You want to disrupt her. 

  

52:01.87 

Lara 

I would I would go back to the idea of the folks that are coming up with the way to change the way we make chemicals and the way that we use power I like the idea of. Part of power to x. Um, that that we kind of think about electrons and molecules and that things have to be the exact way. They've been done and while like I am I myself am not an entrepreneur but I help those that are and. I get excited by the folks who are not afraid to say let's do it completely different and coming up with a way where you're like I try to think of every reason why that wouldn't work and I can't come up with one and so we have. Have some companies and there are some technologies out there that are really turning things upside down and saying what if we didn't have to have mega refineries like we do in Houston which is something that as a Houstonian who has worked on the on the city and the community side of things that. My heart is in it to make our communities safer but also have clean and affordable and reliable power at the same time and so when I when I hear and I see Houstonian's faces light up when they talk about hydrogen right? and that that gets to me as the cool thing because. 

  

53:29.87 

Lara 

For a community like Houston to really be excited about making a technology that sort of exists and taking it worldwide that is the kind of change that we need at the scale that we need to reach our climate goals. 

  

53:44.77 

Johan 

I Thought I was a brilliant answer. Thanks for having you thanks for coming on the show or. 

  

53:50.48 

Lara 

Um, well thank you so much and congratulations on your hundredth episode. 

  

53:54.11 

chrissass 

And to our audience. We hope you've enjoyed this episode as much as we had doing this first hundred episodes has been a great stark insider's guide energy. We enjoyed the content. We hope you do if you do please subscribe follow us forward us onto France and don't forget to like us and we look forward to to. Speaking to you again next week Bye. 

Introduction to Greentown Labs
University Connections
Innovative Energy companies that have been with Greentown Labs
The Energy Transition and Funding
Climatetech and Product Deployment
The Latest Ideas