By Kevin Chin, CEO and Founder of VivoPower

The climate crisis is arguably the most pressing issue of our time, the urgency of which has only been strengthened by a global pandemic that has laid bare how vulnerable we are in the face of global threats. A study by Climate Dynamics suggests that the threshold for dangerous global warming will likely be crossed between 2027 and 2042, so it is clear we must be doing everything we can to ensure decarbonisation is occurring – not only in our homes but on a corporate scale, too.

VivoPower is pioneering Cleantech for corporate decarbonisation
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To this effect, governments around the world have been announcing policies with ambitious decarbonisation goals. Take, for example, Boris Johnson’s announcement of a ’10 point’ net zero plan to prompt net-zero emissions by 2050 in the United Kingdom, driven by a £12bn initial investment. This is all well and good, but more must be done to avoid global climate change reaching a point of no return and I believe that the onus is on businesses to fully commit to decarbonisation.

Corporate cleantech is the answer, but how can leaders and CEOs implement this profitably and minimise disruption to their businesses? What does a corporate decarbonisation strategy look like across different industries?

The role of CEOs in driving corporate decarbonisation

Clearly, it is vital that CEOs and board members all buy into decarbonisation to ensure that companies are run with sustainability in mind, but also to drive efforts to reach net zero emissions globally.

Indeed, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) is at the top of the agenda for CEOs. A recent outlook study by KPMG among CEOs found that besides talent risk, ESG tops the list of CEO concerns amid the COVID-19 crisis. While many may have thought that the pandemic would have toppled ESG and decarbonisation from the priority list, as businesses clamour to survive the economic threat posed, this has not been the case.

While climate change remains top of mind, it is vital that CEOs and leaders in business continue to not only drive and strengthen their ESG credentials but also to encourage a business environment that focuses on reducing carbon footprint and greenhouse gases. The same study by KPMG also found that 71 percent of CEOs say they want to lock in climate change gains that have been realised during the pandemic – a trend we hope continues as we begin to emerge from the global crisis.

Environmental, Social, and Governance is top of the agenda for CEOs
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Kevin Chin is the CEO and Founder of cleantech company VivoPower

Cleantech matures

Today, Cleantech has developed to such an extent that fossil fuels can be replaced for a huge number of corporate uses cases in a way that actually saves money as well. Solar power currently makes up around 2% of total energy production in the US – but we expect that to rise as the cost per watt continues to fall. In the early 2000s, the average US solar system cost was $10/watt – today, the price hovers around the $2-3$ mark. Similar price falls in wind and hydroelectricity present an ever-weakening argument for the renewed usage of carbon-based power. Indeed, companies are now able to access purpose-built solar power and battery storage systems, as well as microgrids, to reduce costs and emissions – all managed to maximum efficiency through the collection and analysis of various usage and demand data.

Solar power makes up around 2% of energy production in the US
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One example of this is Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur, recently named the Premier League’s greenest Club. It partnered with VivoPower earlier this year to provide the club with a range of Cleantech solutions. VivoPower will supply a large, solid state battery with capacity of more than 3 MW at the stadium to balance and guarantee the venue’s power supply. A full-suite solution – including rooftop solar panels, battery storage, custom microgrid controls and electrical infrastructure – will also be designed for the club’s training centre.

Yet decarbonisation strategies can be applied across a whole host of industries – even traditionally ‘hard-to-decarbonise’ ones such as mining. Tembo, a specialist battery-electric and off-road vehicle company that focuses on designing and building ruggedized light electric vehicle solutions has made it possible for mining firms to reduce their footprint without hurting their operational capabilities. In December 2020, VivoPower announced a US$250 million distribution deal to distribute Tembo’s all-electric utility conversion kits in Australia, the biggest known conversion kit deal to date. The firm also recently announced a proposed $120m distribution deal with Tembo and Acces Industriel Mining Inc. in Canada, as well as a deal to become Toyota Australia’s exclusive partner for Landcruiser electrification.

Tottenham Hotspur was named the Premier League's greenest Club
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The electrified vehicles provide firms with an economically viable proposition to the petrol or diesel alternative. Mining is an industry that has come under intense scrutiny from an ESG point of view, and whilst merely electric vehicles will not prompt complete carbon neutrality, they highlight a position from which companies can make environmental progress in an industry that contributes between 4-7% to greenhouse gas emissions globally.

Such examples across the mining and football industries show how decarbonisation goals are logistically and economically feasible for businesses across a range of sizes.

Cleantech as catalyst for corporate decarbonisation

While VivoPower is pioneering Cleantech for corporate decarbonisation, the sector will have to sustain rapid growth in order to keep up with demand as more CEOs look to make decarbonisation a priority. Indeed, this will be pushed further by investor interest in ESG compliant companies. Four in five companies plan to introduce ESG measures, according to a global Willis Towers Watson report, and one could infer that this is partly driven by the desire not to be left behind by a global investor shift towards ESG funds, which more than doubled over 2020 – capturing $51.1 billion of net new money from investors.

The climate crisis is arguably the most pressing issue of our time
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With the pandemic helping accelerate the trend towards corporate decarbonisation, I expect that CEOs and leaders in business will continue to push the ESG agenda forward. However, it is critical that business leaders – from top to bottom – prioritise ESG and sustainability to help meet net-zero carbon emission targets.

The post Cleantech Coming of Age appeared first on Tech Trends.

As our reality becomes increasingly hard to deal with, is virtual escapism the answer?

The late screenwriting legend William Goldman famously said; “nobody knows anything” so predictions – specially about technology – always run the risk of making people look silly in the not-so-distant-future.

That said, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that in the next few years we’re going to see more people becoming “Virtual Reality Refugees.” By which I mean that immersive technologies will provide increasingly attractive alternatives for those wishing to escape the dreamlike madness that has overtaken our real world.

We’re going to see more people becoming 'Virtual Reality Refugees'
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2018 has been a remarkable year for immersive technologies
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2018 has been a remarkable year for immersive technologies (which include the whole spectrum of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality). We’ve seen compelling use cases emerge for AR, VR and MR across education, industry, retail and training, as well as the increased acceptance of it as an art form, with festivals all over the world dedicating space to showcasing VR strands. The Raindance Film Festival, for example, received 600 VR submissions this year, including the first feature-length feature in the format. There’s little doubt that the medium is growing up fast.

Social VR companies like Sansar, High Fidelily, AltspaceVR and others have continued to develop their platforms and build up their user base. Hardware, too, has evolved significantly this part year, with the long-awaited launch of Magic Leap and the release of the Oculus Go, which means that it is now possible to have untethered, six degrees of freedom experiences in a headset costing under $200. And although these technologies haven’t quite yet reached the equivalent tipping point that we’ve seen with the web or mobile, there is steady growth and predictions that the market will continue to grow.

Meanwhile, in the real world…

Scientists agree that we’re about to face increasingly dire consequences from climate change, and NGOs argue that only radical action can hope to avert the next mass extinction. But while nature burns, democracies large and small, old and young, from Brazil to Italy and many more, have chosen to elect populist governments that deny climate change is even real, and who openly advocate racism, misogyny and intolerance, as well as a general contempt for institutions such as a free press. Even countries like Sweden, Germany, and Holland have seen far-right parties make significant gains in recent elections.

Social VR companies like Sansar, High Fidelily, AltspaceVR and others have continued to develop their platforms and build up their user base
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But although this is certainly upsetting – in my case I’ve got four nationalities (U.S. Brazil, U.K. and Italy) and have watched as each of the countries where I have a right to vote have swung towards such candidates – the underlying causes of the phenomenon are the most worrying thing.

People everywhere are angry, they feel let down, cornered, hopeless. And that’s a dangerous position for nations to find themselves in. The global trend unequivocally points towards mass revolt, a lashing out in anger at institutions to make a point (regardless of whether the results harm everyone), and an almost gleeful willingness to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

People everywhere are angry, they feel let down, cornered, hopeless. And that’s a dangerous position for nations to find themselves in
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The situation has got so dire that over the past year I have found almost impossible to watch the news. I can take about 15 minutes before starting to shout at the TV like a mad person, and end up switching over to Netflix. And I’m certainly not alone. Many of my friends report similar behaviour, and it is a fact that in times of crisis there is always a surge in demand for novels, blockbuster movies, videogames, and anything else that offers a way out from a reality that’s become too painful to face on a regular basis.

The situation has got so dire that over the past year I have found almost impossible to watch the news
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In turbulent times, people crave easy answers, and unscrupulous players – From the irresponsible Brexiteers who think nothing of pushing the UK into economic collapse for their shot-term political gain, to the “strong men” such as Brazil’s Bolsonaro and Duterte in the Phillippines, all the way to Trump’s relentless attacks on the checks and balances systems that sustain democracy in the United States – are always poised to take advantage.

In turbulent times, people crave easy answers
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Troubled times also bring heightened demand for escapism. The Romans – who knew a thing or two about building empires and keeping people in check – understood this all too well, a concept known as panem et circenses (the idea that you need to provide people with bread and circus in order to keep them under control) so it’s no coincidence that some of their greatest infrastructure projects (such as the Colosseum) were temples dedicated to the concept of mass distraction. It’s basic human nature, after all, and we’ve never stopped doing it. The only difference is, that our future Colosseums are likely to be virtual spaces.

Troubled times also bring heightened demand for escapism. The Romans understood this all too well, a concept known as panem et circenses
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As part of my job I spend a fair amount of time in simulated worlds, trying out virtual experiences, and I’m always struck by how powerful they are in relation to even the best movies or videogames. The sense of presence you get with VR really is something else. I believe that once more people have the chance to experience just how powerful that sense of presence, of truly “being” somewhere else both physically and psychologically can be with these technologies, the consumer demand for it will be overwhelming.

Which got me thinking that the scenario conjured up by Ernest Cline in Ready Player One – which was made into a Steven Spielberg film in 2018 – might not actually be that far off. Sure, the novel/film at first seems to depict a far-fetched futuristic dystopia, but the elements of that universe are all too familiar. In the story, mankind has damaged the environment to the point where natural resources have basically ran out, causing economic collapse and – consequently – political uncertainty and war.

Once more people experience just how powerful the sense of truly being somewhere else both physically and psychologically can be with immersive technologies, the consumer demand for it will be overwhelming
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At the same time, technology has advanced sufficiently so that it is possible for most people to access highly detailed and sensory-rich virtual worlds on a semi-permanent basis. A bit like that scene in the Matrix where Cypher is eating a juicy steak, and tells Agent Smith that he knows it isn’t real, but doesn’t care.

Think about the last time you looked around and noticed – really noticed – all the people around you checking their phones
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The pace of development with immersive tech has been remarkable
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Although we’re not at the Matrix stage quite yet (unless you subscribe to the theory that we’re already trapped in a Matrix) the pace of development with immersive tech has been nothing short of remarkable. In the past year alone, I’ve gone from mostly experiencing VR in short bursts to comfortably watching a feature-length film without a hint of nausea or discomfort. I believe it’s pretty much inevitable that the technology will continue to advance exponentially, driving quality up and prices down, shrinking hardware to the point where it will effectively become invisible.

Think about the last time you looked around and noticed – really noticed – all the people around you checking their phones. The ones that weren’t were probably just done checking – or just about to. We have become thoroughly dependent upon the stream of digital information that plugs into our daily lives through those mobile devices.

We have become thoroughly dependent upon the stream of digital information that plugs into our daily lives through those mobile devices
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Already that technology is nearly invisible, but fast-forward five or ten years into the future (if we make it that far without the red button being pressed) and I’m willing to bet that most of us won’t be using a screen-based device you need to carry around, take out of your pocket or fish around in your bag for, hold or touch in order to interact with that data stream. It will all be done through wearables, gaze, voice, predictive AI, all integrated into the Mixed Reality spectrum.

As HoloLens inventor Alex Kipman has said, this is nothing short of the next revolution in personal computing, and it will make the disruption caused by the Internet and mobile pale in comparison
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There is a huge vaccuum for someone to build the equivalent of the OASIS described in Ready Player One – a massive alternative universe where people can effectively live out their virtual lives and forget all about the crazy mess that humans made for themselves in the real world. Somewhere which allows people to build their own safe spaces and inhabit them without ever needing to interact with troublesome “others”. It’s an extrapolation of the patterns we already see emerging in social media, where algorithms aid us in constructing bubbles which perpetually reinforce our beliefs – and often our misconceptions and prejudices too.

Will 2019 be the year this VR escapism really starts to take off?
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Will 2019 be the year this VR escapism really starts to take off? I believe we will certainly hit a lot more significant milestones over the next twelve monhts, but whether the long-awaited consumer boom comes in a year or five is not actually that relevant. What’s clear to me is that it is coming, and we should probably prepare for it. Although if humanity’s attitude towards climate change, or Brexit, is anything to go by, we probably won’t.

This article was originally published on The Next Web

2018’s political mess is a boon for VR escapism in 2019 https://t.co/wOkzSsWeIl

— TNW (@thenextweb) December 24, 2018

For companies looking to get into Immersive technologies our Consultancy service offers support in strategic leveraging VR/AR/MR/XR

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Escaping Into Virtuality appeared first on Tech Trends.

As Donald Trump pulls out of the Paris climate change agreement, China seizes the opportunities of Renewable Energy Technology

Donald Trump pulling out of the Paris agreement might turn out to be good news for the planet
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There’s are strict etiquette rules around gift giving in China. Traditionally it’s during Chinese New Year when one exchanges generous and often extravagant gifts. It’s not uncommon for people to get large quantities of cash, for example – usually presented in red envelopes for good luck. Choosing the wrong colour gift-wrap or giving “unlucky number” money amounts can cause serious offence.

Cultural sensitivity has never been Donald Trump’s forte, however, so it’s hardly surprising he overlooked the fact that these celebrations happen in January/February (depending on the Lunar calendar). Yet considering the size of the red envelope that America just handed President Xi Jinping they’ll probably let that slide.

By pulling out of the Paris agreement Donald Trump has gifted China with the opportunity of a lifetime
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By pulling out of the Paris agreement, the US President has gifted China with the opportunity of a lifetime: To save the planet from climate change, while making lots and lots of money in the process. And the strangest twist of all isn’t that Trump has done this at the expense of the US economy, but the fact this bizarre turn of events might not turn out to be such bad news for the planet after all.

China might not be the hero Gotham expected, but it’s the hero it needs right now. Because the country which four years ago was burning almost as much coal as the rest of the world combined is now the country which has just overtaken Germany to become the world’s biggest producer of solar energy. If anybody can show us how to meet ultra-ambitious targets and pull off projects on a massive scale, they’re probably it.

By pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, US president Donald Trump has gifted China with the opportunity of a lifetime: to save the planet from climate change—and make lots and lots of money in the process. This bizarre turn of events might not turn out to be such bad news for the planet after all.

China might not be the hero Gotham expected, but it’s the hero it needs right now
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The fact that you need to invest in order to get a return is a cornerstone of successful business thinking—and therefore also a concept that Trump should both understand and embrace. Instead, the golden economic opportunity that green energy presents will likely be lost, or at least severely diminished, for America. In the new world order, leaders that don’t understand this will become as much of a fossil as the fuels they so stubbornly peddle.

Trump seems to build his policies on the premise that doing the right thing is diametrically opposed to economic growth. This may have been true in the very early days of green technology, where it was prohibitively expensive and relatively inefficient. But to make that same choice nowadays is a bit like refusing to buy a smartphone now because you once used a Motorola MicroTAC in the early ‘90s and it didn’t really do it for you. We’ve moved on since then.

Achieving true global-warming reduction goals requires significant commitment and investment, both of which China has in spades. And if any country can show us how to meet ultra-ambitious targets and pull off projects on a massive scale, it’d be China. Four years ago, China was burning almost as much coal as the rest of the world combined. But in 2017, it also overtook Germany to become the world’s biggest producer of solar energy. As Simon Chadwick of Salford University in Manchester explains, “China likes to be omnipotent and successful in everything it does”—and that attitude gets results.

Job creators, money makers

Trump dedicated a significant chunk of his Paris-agreement-leaving speech to demonizing developing countries such as China and India for their “unfair advantage” in being allowed to burn coal to their heart’s content while spending the crippling subsidies paid for by industrialized nations. It is ironic, then, that pulling out of the Paris agreement deals such a fatal blow to the very thing his supporters trusted him to safeguard: American jobs.

 The golden economic opportunity that green energy presents will likely be lost, or at least severely diminished, for America. In the US, green energy creates jobs 12 times faster than the overall economy, and these are exactly the sort of well-paying, blue-collar construction and manufacturing jobs that those voting for Trump were hoping to “get back.” The president’s decision will likely mean that green-sector jobs that could have been created in the United States may instead go to Chinese workers. Of the 8.1 million renewable-energy jobs that exist globally, 3.5 million are in China, compared to less than 1 million in the US. This latest investment by the Chinese government is expected to create a further 13 million jobs.

Evidence shows that when green-energy initiatives are well-planned and properly supported, they also do well financially
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There’s nothing soft and fuzzy about China’s green-energy strategy; like in everything they do, they mean business. With the cost of building large-scale solar plants dropping by as much as 40% since 2010, it makes economic sense for it to phase out coal burning and increase solar production capacity fivefold, adding another 1,000 major solar-power plants to its infrastructure. This is part of a broader program to invest $360 billion in renewable power by 2020.

Steven Han from securities firm Shenyin Wanguo says that as those costs continue to go down, China may actually exceed those targets. The country is looking on pace to over-deliver on the 2020 carbon-intensity commitments it set out in its last five-year economic plan, and all this without compromising their economic growth—quite the opposite, in fact.

There’s nothing soft and fuzzy about China’s green-energy strategy; like in everything they do, they mean business
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Evidence shows that when green-energy initiatives are well-planned and properly supported, they also do well financially. Take, for example, the bike scheme started back in 2008 in the city of Hangzhou in southern China. In less than a decade, the number of daily hires in the city grew from 5,000 to 315,000. That’s a cumulative 774 million rides, 96% of which were entirely free. By the end of 2010 the scheme was already breaking even, with advertising revenue coming from the posters on the bikes paying not only for the running costs, but also funding expansion. The scheme, which was awarded the Ashden Award for Sustainable Travel, became a blueprint for many of the other 400 cities across China running similar initiatives.

“The Chinese economy is already transitioning from a reliance on manufacturing to prioritizing innovation. This timing means that China can seize opportunities available in spaces like green technology,” says Samantha Deave, corporate services manager at Asia House, an independent center for commercial policy expertise based in London.

A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) found that China is cementing its dominance in renewables, rapidly accelerating its foreign investment in renewable energy, and supporting technologies. In 2016, there was a 60% rise in large-scale (over $1 billion) Chinese foreign investments in the sector for a combined total of $32 billion. These projects were spread across the globe and included buying power from wind and solar farms in Australia, spending $1.6 billion on a waste-to-energy development in Germany, and buying a 25% stake (worth $2.5 billion) in a Chilean lithium miner and processor, which will ensure supply of the lithium essential for electric-car batteries, for example. Tim Buckley, director of energy-finance studies at the IEEFA, says US isolationism provides China with the perfect opportunity to establish a long-term political, economic, and strategic leadership globally.

Article originally published in Quartz

Trump just helped make China great againhttps://t.co/7ZYjIh1EJO

— Quartz (@qz) June 28, 2017

For companies looking to gain a competitive edge through technology, Tech Trends offers strategic Virtual Reality and Digital Transformation Consultancy services tailored to your brand.

Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post China Leading the World in Green Tech appeared first on Tech Trends.