Climate! Listen to the Volts podcast (https://volts.wtf) … I’d say about half of the episodes make me want to quit what I’m doing and beg the guest for job at their startup. Climate solutions is a wide-open field, jammed with entrepreneurs and scientists going head-on with tough scientific, engineering, sociopolitical, and business problems, with pretty much everything on the line. The stuff people are working on ranges from fintech products to full on science fiction. There’s something there for you work-wise and mission-wise.
This! Especially climate tech. One idea I've been noodling around with is a package of components for low income housing. Specifically, a low-cost easily repairable inductive stove to replace gas stoves. A window mount heat pump to replace steam or standalone gas heaters and, balcony solar plus battery. Note the battery would probably be built into the induction stove to handle the extra current induction stoves need one running full tilt.
I've spoken with a few municipal managers of low-income housing, and they love the idea. Then they say, we could probably get it approved in 2 to 3 years.
jfcoar...
I know this is practical because New York State had a design competition and has two window mount heat pumps that run off of 110. They are expensive ($2000), but I expect that price will drop with volume and when Chinese manufacturers say, "Oh that's a wonderful idea, let's steal it"
Induction hot plates are available today for $50-$70 retail. I think they are fairly primitive as cook temperature is controlled by pulsing the induction magnet. I have one in my kitchen, and when I'm making a one-pot meal, I use it in preference to my gas stove, especially in summertime heat.
Balcony Solar exists, and there are approved inverters with safety cut off if the line goes dark. These inverters let you plug your system directly into your wall outlet without any worries about giving a lineman a nasty surprise.
I’m interested in this. But it seems like most of the work is hardware or political or heavily impacted by legislation and integration. It’s daunting like healthcare startups are daunting.
Do you have any good examples on the software side? (Not saying the other things aren’t important, just outside my wheelhouse)
Almost all of these companies’ approaches have a software component, whether it’s modeling, communication, infra, services, etc., even if their product isn’t itself software. It depends on what your skill set is but these are tech startups with lots of seats
for software eng.
