Navy Yard Microgrid in Philadelphia: Sustainability on Steroids

Actress Kerry Washington has made an investment of undisclosed size in direct-to-consumer jewelry startup Aurate. This isn’t the first time Washington has gotten involved in startups — she’s also backed The Wing, Community and Byte. In fact, when we asked her about her dream investment at Disrupt in September, she hinted at a new deal that “feels pretty dreamy.” When I brought up those comments earlier this week, Washington laughed and confirmed that Aurate is exactly what she’d been thinking about. In addition to providing funding, Washington also collaborated with the company to create The Lioness Collection, which features two of Aurate’s bestselling gold chains bonded together as both a necklace and a bracelet, along with hoop earrings and a pendant inspired by the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. Washington was excited about Aurate’s goals of sustainability (its gold comes from sustainable sources) and making fine jewelry more affordable. Plus, she said, “I love working with female founders,” to the extent that she and Aurate founders Sophie Kahn and Bouchra Ezzahraoui have become “our own lioness tribe.” “I was inspired by the themes of what the lioness means, how lionesses operate, how the lionesses hunt together and nurture their cubs together,” she added. “There’s no hierarchy among lionesses … They are fierce and ambitious but they also take care of each other.” And while the average price point of Aurate jewelry is $300, pricing for items in the Lioness Collection starts at around $150, with 20% of the proceeds going to women’s activist group Supermajority. Kahn recalled “countless Zoom conversations” with Washington to develop the collection, while Ezzahraoui said that the team has been talking to her for the past three years — it took a while to make sure everyone was “aligned philosophically” and to figure out the right partnership. “Aurate…

Solar is already in the vanguard of the energy transition, and can similarly lead the world’s transition to a circular economy. Decommissioned PV modules could total 1 million tons of waste in the U.S. by 2030. Yet there are virtually no incentives or regulations to promote its recycling or reuse. In fact, says NREL, most current regulations in the U.S. define it as solid waste, making it difficult to introduce it to a recycling value chain. In some instances the waste, defined as hazardous, is prohibited from reuse. Incentives are so poor that companies that do recover in bulk leave behind high-value materials such as silver, copper, and silicon. The main reason is that, at the national level, statutes or regulations that explicitly address PV module recycling simply don’t exist yet. Fortunately, state and industry models are being created.

Dr Anne Velenturf (Research Impact Fellow in Circular Economy and Offshore Wind at the University of Leeds) explores the findings of a recent workshop discussing new “circular” business opportunities in offshore wind.
The University of Leeds is running the project A Sustainable Circular Economy for Offshore Wind, which is co-funded by EPSRC, the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult and the Department for International Trade. The project aims to start integrating circular economy practices into the design, operation and end-of-use management of offshore wind infrastructure. Dr Anne Velenturf (Research Impact Fellow in Circular Economy and Offshore Wind at the University of Leeds) explores the findings of a recent workshop discussing new “circular” business opportunities in offshore wind.
Read the full article at: www.circularonline.co.uk

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a key area for businesses to address and with climate change getting too obvious to ignore, regulators are becoming stricter as well as customers, employees, and investors.