One company focusing on overcoming these challenges, with a somewhat new and innovative approach, is Seattle, Washington based Zap Energy. This week the 2-year-old start-up got a financial boost from petroleum giant Chevron in the form of a Series A funding investment.

If it seems ironic that one of the world’s largest producers of fossil fuels is investing money into a company at the other end of the clean energy spectrum, its nothing new.

Chevron, and other companies like it, understand the limited nature of fossil fuel resources. The energy sources of tomorrow are evolving and the company is making these strategic investments to make sure that they remain a leading producer of energy in the future.

“We see fusion technology as a promising low-carbon future energy source,” said Barbara Burger, president of Chevron Technology Ventures. “Our Future Energy Fund investment in Zap Energy adds to Chevron’s portfolio of companies we believe are likely to have a role in the energy transition.”

Current nuclear energy power plants rely on a process of nuclear fission. This process takes the heat released by splitting the atoms in heavier elements, like uranium, into smaller ones. The heat energy boils water, and produces steam, which is used to turn electrical generators. The downside to this process is that it leaves behind tons of radioactive waste.

Nuclear fusion is a much different process. In the core of every star, including our Sun, the lightest element (Hydrogen) is compressed by the enormous gravitational forces until the atoms combine to produce Helium. As hydrogen atoms are squeezed into heavier helium, they also give off a lot of heat energy as a byproduct.

This process however, does not product any radioactive materials. It’s a very clean and efficient process which uses the most plentiful resource in the universe to create energy.

The challenge of recreating the power of the stars in a controlled environment is keeping the reaction contained at such high temperatures. Current approaches rely on using incredibly powerful electro-magnets, lasers or ion streams to contain the reaction. Each of which has its own problems.

So far, no one has been able to maintain a sustained fusion reaction that produces enough energy to off-set the amount of energy needed to power the containment method to create the reaction in the first place.

Zap uses a new approach: “By stabilizing the plasma with a sheared flow—that is, with plasma flowing at different velocities at different radii—the high-temperature, high-density reactive medium can be confined long enough for the fusion reactions to occur.”

The company believes they are on track to achieve an energy ‘break even’, and eventually positive output with their approach.

Zap will be using the money from the investment to continue to refine its approach to solving the challenges ahead, and add members to its research efforts.

This round of funding by Chevron into Zap Energy, is actually the 10^th time in the last 2 years that the company has helped to fund research and development of alternative energy.

Other clean energy areas which have received financial help from the Chevron fund include wind, solar and geothermal.

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In a press release, the company said that they have received the go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to proceed with its Leidy South Project. The project will enable additional pipeline to provide enough natural gas to serve the equivalent of more than 2.5 million homes.

Additionally, the expanded pipeline will help the company as it continues to convert from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas power plants.

The pipeline will be used to deliver natural gas, produced in parts of Pennsylvania, to homes and businesses along the Atlantic Seaboard to use as heating fuel in time for the 2021-2022 winter season.

“As the United States switches to clean power to energize our electric grids, Williams is excited and proud to be the backbone that connects the best supplies of dry gas with our country’s largest demand centers,” said Alan Armstrong, president and chief executive officer of Williams.

The company says that it is aware of 80+ coal powered plants in many of their states which could be displaced by clean-burning natural gas power.

As an additional economic plus, the project is expected to have an estimated $100 million impact on Pennsylvania by supporting 680 jobs worth about $28 million in pay to workers along with $1.3 million in state tax revenue.

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Energy Sage (https://www.energysage.com/ )is online marketplace for consumers and solar panel companies. It provides a way for the consumer to learn about going solar without any pushy sales people or pressure.

Once the consumer has enough information and wants to move forward, the Energy Sage will obtain bids from qualified companies and get them to the consumer – acting as a buffer for the weary consumer until they are ready to meet with a specific company.

So back to Aggarwal ‘s question about the timing of a carbon-free grid. Here is what the CEO had to say,

“When it comes to progressive climate plans or 100% clean energy targets, there’s often a bit of pushback. Skeptics often argue that these efforts are not only costly, but unrealistic. Just last week, Vice President Joe Biden received those same rebuttals after announcing his $2 trillion climate plan – are the naysayers right?”

“A recent study out of UC Berkeley suggests that it’s not only possible, but actually feasible to reach 90% carbon-free electricity by as soon as 2035. This future clean electricity grid is reliable, and provides power that’s less expensive than today’s wholesale electricity costs. Most importantly, the study found that achieving 90% clean electricity by 2035 can help us avoid $1.2 trillion in health and environmental damages, preventing an estimated 85,000 premature deaths.”

“However, while the study suggests this progress is possible, it also warns that we can’t reach this level of decarbonization by 2035 without new, strong clean energy policies in place – without them, the researchers forecast that we’ll only achieve 55% carbon-free electricity by 2035. This is a cleaner electricity grid than we have today, but in the fight to protect our climate, we shouldn’t settle.”

“If you’re curious about clean energy targets in your own community, the Sierra Club’s Ready For 100 campaign is a good place to start – their map tool shows communities and states across the country that have already committed to 100% clean energy, and provides action steps for those who want to advocate for change.”

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