Source: Oceanbird
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It has been hard to get away from the energy side of things lately.
$100 oil and high gas prices have spurred an absolutely ridiculous global policy response that aims to cushion consumers from high prices, thus perpetuating high demand.
From the US to Europe, politicians are cutting gas taxes and even just straight up giving money to people with cars, when policy should actually look pretty much the opposite.
If there’s a common theme in this newsletter beyond the ocean, it’s letting economics do its thing.
Markets and consumers are really adept at adjusting to prices.
Innovation happens when prices of goods or commodities move beyond what the market deeps to be an acceptable level.
Prices will induce the change we say we want - using less stuff, using what we have more efficiently - but we have to let it happen.
Here’s an interesting parallel from the agricultural world.
As fertilizer prices have exploded, farmers are shifting to crops that require less of it.
“The United States will give its latest 2022 acreage forecasts on Thursday. Analysts polled by Reuters estimated corn acreage to fall by 1.6 million acres, or 1.7%, from last year and soy plantings to increase by 2 million acres, or 2.3%. Soybeans require less fertilizer than corn or wheat.”
There’s got to be a SUV metaphor in there somewhere…
The Einstein of Energy Efficiency
So, if we let demand destruction happen, where does efficiency fit in?
Amory Lovins, an energy efficiency expert and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute highlights how efficiency is the “largest, cheapest, safest, cleanest way to address the (climate) crisis”.
Using less is so much easier than changing the whole system. The knock on effects trickle through the entire system.
He’s been preaching the efficiency religion since the 60’s, and even used his own home to prove it.
Despite living in the mountains “by designing it to collect energy and to need no heating, it saves 99% of the space- and water-heating energy, and 90% of the electricity. “And it’s cheaper to build and saves construction costs,” he adds.”
Wild.
Efficiency and the Ocean Economy
This all got me thinking, instead of commenting on this week’s news I thought I would attempt to showcase where efficiency is being developed in the ocean economy.
Here goes.
Shipping - Harnessing Wind Power (how novel).
Airseas
Airseas is a French company that is developing massive, 500 square-meter (or larger) kites that pull cargo ships.
They predict that this solution could lead to fuel savings of up to 20%.
As Amory Lovins would point out, this shift in efficiency would make the adoption of new, cleaner fuels for shipping easier, faster, and cheaper.
Oceanbird
While we’re on the subject, sail driven cargo vessels are probably coming in the future as well.
Of course, these sails won’t look like the schooners of old, slowly drifting across the seas.
They sail tech looks more like the vertical fixed-wing sails that began to emerge in sailboat racing about 10 years ago (see pic at top of article).
Seafood
Scaling food systems to meet a growing global population requires aquaculture.
Wild fishery catches have been stable for decades, while all growth in fish production now comes from this segment.
Aquaculture is not without its issues, but research and technology advancements are working together to ensure this critical source of protein is moving rapidly in the right direction.
Sources of efficiency here include using less feed and antibiotics and the content of the feed (using less fish in fish feed).
Additionally increasing the yield of aquaculture operations reduces the land required (which is often associated with mangrove destruction).
“Fish don’t require fish meal,” says Barrows. “They require nutrients. We’ve been feeding mostly vegetarian diets to rainbow trout for 12 years now. Aquaculture could get out of fish meal today if it wanted to.”
+How to farm a better fish - National Geographic
Not to mention what is known as ‘Zero Input Aquaculture’.
“This is especially true for bivalves and seaweed, which are near-zero input forms of farming—their production requires almost no feed, freshwater or land and results in minimal greenhouse gas emissions.”
+Restorative Aquaculture for Nature and Communities - The Nature Conservancy
Cell-based Seafood
The most efficient seafood production may end up being in a lab.
In February, Wildtype Foods, a startup making cell-based sashimi-grade salmon, secured a massive $100 million Series B financing round.
Get ready for seafood that has never been in the sea.
Offshore Renewable Energy
When it comes to ocean-based renewable energy, offshore wind is really the only game in town.
In this space, efficiency comes down to scale.
The first of three 1.2 GW phases has begin on Dogger Bank (total 3.6 GW), the world’s largest offshore wind farm.
Just for reference, the US only has one fully operational offshore wind farm, the Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island, which only has a 30 MW capacity.
We’ve got some catching up to do!
What happens when an island community goes from diesel power generation to wind power?
“Suddenly you could hear the leaves rustling, the waves breaking, and the birds”
+This historic community is pushing the nation toward a wind power revolution - Smithsonian
Coastal Tourism
Efficiency in coastal tourism requires a little help from every segment - food, energy, transport, even shipping.
Of course, it doesn’t help if we show up to that beautiful beach and the ocean is devoid of life and full of plastic.
So here are a couple of companies working to ensure our oceans stay healthy and clean.
Coral Vita
Coral Vita is a Bahamas based startup that is working to regrow healthy reefs.
Coral reefs take a long time to grow. Coral Vita is speeding up the process while simultaneously identifying coral strains that are more resistant to rising sea temps.
[Disclosure: I am a very small investor in this company and am excited to see how they grow.]
So, who pays for coral restoration?
Obviously, tourism and hospitality companies are invested in the health of the oceans and reefs that attract their customers.
Additionally, as the benefits that reefs and mangroves provide to communities in the form of storm resilience are quantified, they become an investable and insurable asset.
The AXA Ocean Risk Initiative is a fascinating effort to quantify the benefits that these natural assets provide.
They have a great website for people looking to geek out on this aspect of the ocean economy.
Seaweed-based Bioplastics
FlexSea is an early-stage start up I had the opportunity to connect with during the last Economist Ocean Summit.
It is amazing to see the brains and passion these young guys are bringing to solve the plastic crisis that previous generations created, and they certainly aren’t the only ones.
There’s a lot of investment and innovation moving into this space, which is super exciting.
You can dig into this more on the amazing seaweed industry database being created over at Phyconomy.
Plastic made from seaweed seems like a solution every coastal hotel brand should be investing in.
Listen, read, or just zone out.
Podcast - Scaling Up Energy Efficiency
Book - Why Sharks Matter
Is this book about efficiency. Well, no. Not as far as I know.
But I follow this guy on twitter and I think publishing books on sharks is a cool thing worth sharing.
And Zone Out…
Thanks, as always, for reading. Be sure to give it a like or share it with a friend if you are enjoying the newsletter.
Also, be sure to let me know how you liked this thematic format versus the previous news-based one.
Have a great weekend!
Doug