Hello!

Welcome to The Saturday Morning Newsletter, a concise and casual digest of current events, optimistic news stories, and other interesting tidbits to round out your week. The concept is simple: 19 articles, essays, companies, ideas, podcasts, videos, or thoughts that caught my attention this week for their potential to significantly impact our future.

I want this to be a collaborative effort, so if you see examples of things that truly impact our future, let me know here. I’ll give you credit for sharing them.

If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it with friends, colleagues, and family.

Let’s get started.

---

#1: X-Energy

Description: X-Energy is a developer of small modular nuclear reactors.

Why Is This Company Interesting?? X-Energy recently raised a round of $500M in venture capital funding. Amazon was a large investor in the round as they plan to use nuclear energy to power their extensive data center network. Their design, the Xe-100 is a gen-IV high-temperature gas-cooled reactor and is slated to be one of the furthest-along small modular reactors.

#2: King Energy

Description: King Energy is an installer of solar panels on commercial buildings.

Why Is This Company Interesting?? King Energy recently raised a round of $10M in venture capital funding. King Energy is a leading provider of solar energy solutions to multi-tenant and commercial properties. Their model is simple: King Energy pays rent for unused roof or parking lot space to install solar (fully at their expense). They’re expanding the reach of solar energy across prime, unused real estate.

#3: OroraTech

Description: OroraTech is a startup using satellites to monitor wildfires.

Why Is This Company Interesting?? OroraTech recently raised a round of $27M in venture capital funding. Active across 6 continents, OroraTech’s software assists professionals with early wildfire detection. Complete with risk assessments, real-time monitoring, and damage analysis, OroraTech is the next generation of wildfire prevention—powered by satellites.

#4: Form Energy

Description: Form Energy is a developer and manufacturer of long-duration batteries.

Why Is This Company Interesting?? Form Energy recently raised a round of $405M in venture capital funding. Their battery technology is capable of storing electricity for up to 1000 hours, critical for energy capacity loads. To run the grid reliably and affordably, we need new, cost-effective technologies capable of storing electricity for multiple days (if not weeks or months). Form Energy is bringing cutting-edge solutions to the market, innovating the next generation of battery technology.

#5: Koloma

Description: Koloma is a hydrogen energy startup building the next generation of renewable energy.

Why Is This Company Interesting?? Koloma recently raised a round of $50M in venture capital funding. Vast repositories of hydrogen are present below the Earth’s surface. Geologic hydrogen production is part of the next generation of renewable energy technologies and has a vast potential to be a large player in the future of global energy consumption.

Wall Street Journal: Used EVs Sell for Bargain Prices Now, Putting Owners and Dealers in a Bind

Electric cars that were previously expensive are now being sold for cheap as resale values for electric vehicles have dropped significantly. The average price of a 3-year-old electric vehicle is around $28k, a 25% drop from the start of 2023. This is cheaper than equivalent gas vehicles on the market of that age.

CNBC: Amazon Goes Nuclear with Plans to Invest More Than $500M to Develop Small Modular Reactors

Amazon, specifically AWS, announced an agreement with Dominion Energy to explore the development of a small modular nuclear reactor in Virginia. As cloud computing and AI continue to expand, there is an increasing need for large amounts of clean energy. Amazon continues the trend of large tech companies buying into nuclear power to fuel the growing demands from data centers.

Department of Energy: Biden-Harris Administration Announces 6 Contracts to Spur America’s Domestic HALEU Supply Chain as Part of Investing in America Agenda

The United States Department of Energy awarded contracts to 6 companies to increase the building of the domestic supply chain for advanced nuclear reactor fuels. Many advanced reactors will require HALEU fuel to achieve smaller designs, longer operating cycles, and increased efficiencies over current technologies. This development will hopefully revive some of the nuclear supply chain in the United States.

University of Cambridge: The Cost of Solar Power: How Low Can We Go?

In the last 10 years, the cost of solar cells has fallen by over 90%. There is still much further to go. To implement and expand solar energy worldwide, we need to make it cheaper and more efficient. One way to do this is to make solar cells from materials that can use more of the solar spectrum than silicon can, which would make them more efficient. Researchers at the University of Cambridge are developing new materials that are cheaper to manufacture and more efficient.

World Economic Forum: Advanced Nuclear Technologies and Their Role in the Energy Transition

Nuclear energy has been experiencing growth recently, but there still exist concerns about safety and cost. Advanced nuclear technologies can help address these concerns but only a few are in the early stages of realization. As energy demand is projected to increase, particularly the demand for 24/7 clean power, nuclear energy is undergoing large growth as countries and industries realize that renewable sources alone won’t be able to meet this demand.

Reuters: Renewable Energy to Fall Short of UN Goal to Triple by 2030

Renewables are estimated to meet nearly half of the world’s electricity demand by 2030. However, this growth in the renewables market is not enough to meet the triple capacity target set at COP28. Renewables are often the cheapest option, yet even that isn’t enough to spur the necessary growth. There’s hope that given the exponential growth curve, renewables will become an overwhelming majority of our energy capacity by 2040 and beyond.

Reddit: SpaceX Catches Rocket Booster on Return to Earth

If you haven’t seen this video on the marvel of space engineering, it definitely deserves a watch. SpaceX has single-handedly exponentially progressed humanity’s space prospects over the last decade, and it’s far from done. The math and physics behind this feat are astounding, as some of the brightest minds choose the private sector as a way to advance space commercialization and exploration efforts.

Interesting Engineering: Gravity Can Exist Without Mass and Dark Matter Could Be Myth

For decades, scientists have believed that dark matter is the invisible mass within galaxies that helps hold galaxies together. However, a new study claims that gravity can exist even without mass, potentially eliminating the need for dark matter altogether. The alternative theory is that the gravity needed to hold some galaxies together might come from “shell-like topological defects.” It’s just a theory at this point, but it could be an interesting discovery in the grand scheme of space science.

Independent: China Unveils Ambitious Plans for Manned Lunar Mission and Moon Research Station

China announced its plans for a manned lunar mission that includes building an international space station and exploring potentially habitable planets. China’s timeline has them putting a person on the moon by 2030. This program aims to “achieve high-quality development in space science, drive breakthroughs in space technology innovation, upgrade space applications, rank among the world’s leading space nations, and establish China as a global leader in space science.”

Wall Street Journal: Historic NASA Mission to Jupiter Moon Blasts Off

NASA has begun a historic journey to Jupiter’s moon Europa. The uncrewed spacecraft, following a 1.8 billion-mile journey, is expected to settle into orbit around Jupiter in 2030. The goal is to help scientists assess whether Europa has the conditions necessary to sustain life. We’ll see in a few years whether or not there are life prospects on Europa.

Wall Street Journal: Nobel Prize for Economics Awarded to Authors of ‘Why Nations Fail’

The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson for their work on understanding economic disparities among countries. The main point of their study: “Why do some nations prosper while others are poor? To boil down this year’s economics Nobel to a single sentence: ‘Institutions matter’.”

Pitchbook: Startup Investor Ranks Have Fallen Another 25% - Can They Come Back to Life?

25% of the VC investors active in 2023 have paused new investments. This dip in VC players signals a significant consolidation of the venture market may be underway. So-called zombie funds can’t raise money from limited partners or write checks to new startups. By overseeing their existing portfolio and collecting management fees, these firms can operate for years as zombies.

Cornerstone Research: Intellectual Property Meets Artificial Intelligence

As artificial intelligence grows exponentially, its integration into creative and inventive processes raises critical questions regarding intellectual property rights and infringements. This article focuses on the patentability of AI-assisted inventions, the copyrightability of AI-generated works, and potential copyright infringement of content for training AI models and AI-generated outputs. The complex dynamics behind artificial intelligence and intellectual property rights can create large impacts on the future of AI implementation in society.

From Reddit: “People today recognize fewer than 10 plants but over 1000 corporate logos.”

Honestly, this totally makes sense. When was the last time you actively noticed the plants around you? If you’re like me, you have not spent a lot of time recently in nature. Maybe it’s time to go do that - appreciate the fall colors, the snow (potentially), the green earth, etc.

And maybe recognize a plant or two while you’re out :)

See you Wednesday for Brainwaves,

Drew Jackson

Twitter: @brainwavesdotme

Email: brainwaves.me@gmail.com

Submit any interesting articles/links for The Saturday Morning Newsletter here.

Thank you for reading The Saturday Morning Newsletter by Brainwaves. Please ask your friends, colleagues, and family members to sign up.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this content are my own and do not represent the views of any of the companies I currently work for or have previously worked for. This content does not contain financial advice - it is for informational and educational purposes only. Investing contains risks and readers should conduct their own due diligence and/or consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Any sponsorship or endorsements are noted and do not affect any editorial content produced.