Time’s summer 2024 Top 100 Most Influential Companies included these companies with significant environmental benefit: Brightline, BYD, Envision Energy, Hanwa Group, Intel, Powin, Saildrone, and Spiro. Also of note from later in the summer was a “cool paint” for cars from Nissan that goes on thick and lowered vehicle interior temperatures by 9 degrees in tests.
Brightline, a high-speed rail line, who launched a service between Miami and Orlando in late 2023 (130 mph) and broke ground in April 2024 for Brightline West, which will be all electric and run from Los Angeles to Las Vegas at 200 mph, finishing in time for the 2028 Olympics in LA.
BYD (“Build Your Dreams”), a Chinese electric car company who is selling its well-crafted cars at bargain prices (compact starting at $10,000 in China). They sold 3 million vehicles last year from Brazil to Thailand and may set the trend for cheap, clean transportation all over the world, even though their success caused the Biden administration to quadruple US tariffs on Chinese EVs.
Envision Energy is the world’s largest producer of wind turbines, with a focus on energy storage and green hydrogen solutions, as well as sponsoring the fastest electric car racing team. They built the world’s first net-zero industrial park in Inner Mongolia by transforming a former coal plant to provide clean energy to a broad range of different industries. Their goal is to reduce global carbon emissions by 3 million tons a year by 2025 and generate 100,000 green tech jobs.
Hanwha Group received approval from the American Bureau of Shipping for the world’s first carbon emission-free liquid natural gas carrier, equipped with an ammonia-fueled gas turbine that is expected to significantly reduce carbon emissions from the ship. Since 90% of goods are traded across the ocean, this initiative could usher in a future of more sustainable supply chains.
Intel is aiming to restore the company to its former glory while helping reshore US computer chip manufacturing. They received $20 billion in grants and loans from the Biden Administration for its domestic plants and also struck a deal in June to build a plant in Germany and is in talks about another in Ireland.
Powin, Oregon-based maker of utility-scale batteries, works with utility companies worldwide to smooth the clean energy transition. Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium is powered by renewable energy thanks to their utility scale battery system that stores power created during the day for use after sundown. Powin’s Waratah Super Battery being built near Sydney on the grounds of a decommissioned coal-burning plant, will be one of the world’s largest battery systems when it comes on line in 2025. It will store wind and solar powered energy to shield over 8 million residents from outages triggered by severe weather and wildfires.
Saildrone, maker of unmanned surface vehicles, which sail the earth’s seas powered mostly by wind and solar, collecting atmospheric and ocean data. They collect things from dangerous weather events to saving the whales from harm by construction and ships. their fleet of 50 or more can sail around unmanned for up to a year. Their “maritime domain awareness” partners include law enforcement and the military, and recently they partnered with Seabed 2030 to map the entire ocean floor, which can be helpful for climate modeling, weather forecasting, cable and pipeline routing.
Spiro, an African electric scooter and battery-swapping company, is now in Togo, Benin Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria and promises to be in 4 more African countries by 2024. They are betting on the needs of congested cities there. They are partnering with Ugandan government to replace its fleet of emission-heavy moto taxis with electric two-wheelers.
(Sources: Time: June 10 and August 26, 2024)