Pitching Progress

Keeping California Running on Renewable Diesel with Vince Godfrey, CEO of Olympus Terminals

Today’s guest runs the most important piece of infrastructure that Californians have never heard of.Vince Godfrey is the CEO of Olympus Terminals, a company that operates a massive fuel storage facility at the Port of Long Beach. Olympus specializes in the offloading, blending, and storage of fuels shipped from overseas, including renewable diesel and biodiesel.Vince’s facility plays a vital role in Southern California, where refinery capacity is decreasing, and imported fuels will be needed to keep the people and economy moving during the transition to renewables.So how robust is the demand for renewable diesel in California? What makes the state’s energy market so idiosyncratic? And why is Olympus so well positioned to capitalize on all of it?Let's find out.—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------To learn more about Olympus, you can check them out at: https://olympusterminals.com/If you have any feedback on today's episode, shoot us an email at: PIPE@bcg.comFor more information on BCG’s commitment to sustainable investing, and to stay updated, visit our website at: https://www.bcg.com/industries/principal-investors-private-equity/sustainability-in-private-equity

How Lab-Grown Silk could Change the Fashion Industry with Ulrich Scherbel, CEO of AMSilk

What started as a group of Spider Man enthusiasts, is now a company capable of producing synthetic silk on a commercial scale. And not only does their silk feel and perform exactly like the natural material, but it can be modified to suit the needs of virtually any industrial application. Ulrich Scherbel is the CEO of AMSilk, a Germany-based company that specializes in the creation of lab-grown silk products. Their products are now in use in a range of industries, including shampoo, home care, and luxury textiles. The focus on performance and sustainability has attracted the attention of several large luxury fashion retailers, including several stores where you’ll be able to find AMSilk products this holiday season. So what makes silk such a sought-after material? Will consumers accept a synthetic alternative for a fabric that’s become synonymous with luxury? And what applications for silk exist beyond the luxury market? Let’s find out. —----------------------------------------------------------------------------To learn more about AMSilk, you can check them out at: https://www.amsilk.com/If you have any feedback on today's episode, shoot us an email at: PIPE@bcg.comFor more information on BCG’s commitment to sustainable investing, and to stay updated, visit our website at: https://www.bcg.com/industries/principal-investors-private-equity/sustainability-in-private-equity

Using 'Flexibility' to Solve AI's Energy Bottleneck with Varun Sivaram, Founder and CEO of Emerald AI

Billions of dollars are being spent on new CapEx to satisfy the growing energy needs of AI data centres. But one firm is convinced that the answer isn’t building new capacity, but being smarter in utilizing the power we already have. Varun Sivaram is the Founder and CEO of Emerald AI, a company whose software aims to make data centres more ‘flexible’, by intelligently modulating their computational load, and avoiding demand spikes that could overload the grid. So what does a truly flexible data centre look like? How much capacity could Emerald’s software actually hope to free up? And what happens to everyone who bet big on an explosion in power demand that may never materialize?Let’s find out. -------------------------------------------------------To learn more about Emerald AI, you can check them out at: https://www.emeraldai.co/If you have any feedback on today's episode, shoot us an email at PIPE@bcg.comFor more information on BCG’s commitment to sustainable investing, and to stay updated, visit our website at: https://www.bcg.com/industries/principal-investors-private-equity/sustainability-in-private-equity

Navigating a Transitional Time for Renewables with Mark Noyes, CEO of TerraForm Power

After years of skyrocketing investment, the renewables industry seems to have lost some of its lustre. With tax credits that once supercharged new wind and solar development being rolled back, and general enthusiasm waning, are we witnessing the bubble burst on renewable energy? Mark Noyes definitely doesn't think so. He's the CEO of TerraForm Power, a fully integrated renewables business with 3 gigawatts of existing capacity and 6 more currently in development. Despite shifting political and economic winds, Mark remains confident that renewables will play a pivotal role in meeting America's exploding energy demands.So how have policy shifts impacted the viability of solar and wind development? Will battery storage fix the intermittency issues that have limited adoption? And how much of the supposed spike in demand from AI data centers will actually materialize? Let’s find out. -------------------------------------------------------To learn more about TerraForm Power, you can check them out at: https://www.terraform.com/If you have any feedback on today's episode, shoot us an email at PIPE@bcg.comFor more information on BCG’s commitment to sustainable investing, and to stay updated, visit our website at: https://www.bcg.com/industries/principal-investors-private-equity/sustainability-in-private-equity

Forging a Low-Carbon Future for Steel with Parker Meeks, President and CEO of Utility Global

To build the low-carbon economy of the future, we’re going to need a lot more steel. But right now, most steel is produced from high-carbon-emitting blast furnaces, and there’s nowhere near enough recyclable steel to meet global demand. So how do we make more steel, without pumping more carbon into the atmosphere? Parker Meeks is the President and CEO of Utility Global, a company leveraging their revolutionary tech to decarbonize global steel production. Utility’s platform can be incorporated into existing facilities, requires relatively minimal capital expenditure, and here’s the kicker: no new energy infrastructure is needed, because the whole process powers itself. So how does it actually work? What are its advantages over other methods of producing ‘green steel’? And most importantly, can global steel producers be convinced that Utility is the way to go when it comes to decarbonization? Let’s find out. ------------------------------------------------------------------To learn more about Utility Global, you can check them out at: https://www.utilityglobal.com/If you have any feedback on today's episode, shoot us an email at PIPE@bcg.comFor more information on BCG’s commitment to sustainable investing, and to stay updated, visit our website at: https://www.bcg.com/industries/principal-investors-private-equity/sustainability-in-private-equity