Field notes The Energy Transition for the Rest of Us

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AI applications

19 notes · Catalyst 10 · Critical Capital 1 · Steel For Fuel 8

  1. Critical Capital · 18 Aug 2026 AI is disrupting services. What does that mean for power demand? with Jake Saper, partner, Emergence Capital; enterprise software and AI infrastructure investor who began his career developing solar in India. The transcript renders his surname as both “Saper” and “Saber”; this note uses the dominant rendering. If AI starts to change how services such as law, accounting and insurance are actually delivered, what does that imply for how much compute, and how much power, the economy will end up needing?
  2. Catalyst · 16 Jul 2026 When will quantum computing have its breakout moment? with Bob Sorensen, chief analyst for quantum computing, Hyperion Research How close is quantum computing to being genuinely useful, and what exactly does useful look like?
  3. Catalyst · 7 May 2026 Has Humble Robotics cracked the code on autonomous trucking? with Eyal Cohen, founder and CEO, Humble Robotics Why is there still no Waymo of trucking ten years in, and does starting from a clean sheet, both the vehicle and the software, change the answer?
  4. Steel For Fuel · 21 Apr 2026 Be greedy (for electrons) when others are fearful by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners With American electric vehicle sales falling sharply after the federal tax credits expired, is this the moment to retreat from the electric vehicle supply chain and from charging?
  5. Steel For Fuel · 13 Mar 2026 The robots are coming by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Why should anyone building energy infrastructure care about robotics, and how far has the field actually got?
  6. Catalyst · 8 Jan 2026 The VC case for ‘full stack deeptech’ with Ian Rountree, founder and partner, Cantos Which hard technology startups are actually investable at venture pace, and which ones are structurally set up to fail no matter how good the technology is?
  7. Catalyst · 2 Jan 2026 How AI is changing weather forecasting with Peter Battaglia, senior director of research, Google DeepMind sustainability program Everyone assumes AI will improve weather forecasting. Through what mechanism, exactly, and what would better forecasts actually unlock?
  8. Steel For Fuel · 16 Jul 2025 On linemen, robots, hands, and brains by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Can robots relieve the shortage of skilled manual workers, such as utility linemen, that is starting to constrain the energy transition?
  9. Steel For Fuel · 28 May 2025 An Ode to “Physical AI” by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Which branch of artificial intelligence will actually move the physical things that energy and climate depend on?
  10. Catalyst · 1 May 2025 Catalyst Live at SF Climate Week with Nick Chaset, chief executive, Octopus Energy US; Mike Schroepfer, founder and partner, Gigascale Capital (former chief technology officer of Meta) What is climate tech over-hyping and under-hyping right now, and why does Kann think consumer products account for so many of its few big wins?
  11. Catalyst · 4 Apr 2025 Specialized AI brains for physical industry with Sam Smith-Eppsteiner, partner, Innovation Endeavors Do physical industries need their own specialized AI products, or will the big general-purpose models eventually get good enough to do the job?
  12. Catalyst · 20 Mar 2025 The coming robotics wave with Andy Lubershane, partner and head of research, Energy Impact Partners Robots are not new and neither is the labor shortage, so why has robotics suddenly become interesting in energy and climate, and where would it matter most?
  13. Catalyst · 13 Mar 2025 An ode to electrochemistry with Yet-Ming Chiang, professor of materials science and engineering, MIT, and co-founder of Form Energy, Sublime Systems and other electrochemistry companies What is electrochemistry actually good at, and how do you tell which industrial problems are worth pointing it at?
  14. Steel For Fuel · 27 Feb 2025 Autonomy is real now by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Have autonomous vehicles actually arrived, and what would that mean for the energy system?
  15. Steel For Fuel · 4 Oct 2024 From SaaS to Robots by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners If the software playbook that defined the last fifteen years no longer works, where should climate tech look for its software opportunities?
  16. Catalyst · 19 Sep 2024 Can AI revolutionize materials discovery? with Ekin Dogus Cubuk, research scientist working on materials discovery, Google DeepMind Is materials discovery the killer application for artificial intelligence in climate tech, or is it much harder than it looks?
  17. Steel For Fuel · 19 Aug 2024 Direct Air Capture and (machine) learning curves by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners What does Climeworks’ first real-world direct air capture plant missing its design targets tell us about the technology?
  18. Catalyst · 8 Mar 2024 Will AI deliver the promise of a digital grid? with David Groarke, managing director, Indigo Advisory Group The last wave of smart grid investment did not deliver what it promised. Is the current wave of AI in the power sector any different?
  19. Steel For Fuel · 6 Jul 2023 Some “complete bullshit” about AI and energy by Andy Lubershane, Partner and Head of Research, Energy Impact Partners Would pursuing human-level AI break the energy system, and does the energy industry actually need models that big?