Five (of the fifteen) most interesting software tools to help reduce emissions
Worst case, you can showcase these apps on your home screen to look extra eco-conscious for your next date
IN THIS ISSUE
Many of the best emissions reduction tools are available on your computer or phone. We got excited about over fifteen solutions, so this will be the first of three updates. This is a global collection of tools, and we hope to highlight some that you may not have heard of. Hopefully, this also inspires entrepreneurs to build solutions for their local markets or to accelerate solutions to some of the problems being solved below.
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SELL IT9 offers you cash for old tech. Electronics disposal worldwide produces emissions and puts valuables (critical metals, etc.) in landfills. You select your device, and they will pick it up or send you a prepaid label. They provide cash or e-transfer in return. SELL IT9 competes with the current customer experience, where people look up electronics disposal regulations, get overwhelmed, and pretend they knocked the device into the garbage. We are hopeful they can win.
HappyCow lets users find vegan food. Consuming lower-emission food has a big impact at scale (they have over 3 million downloads). This type of tool sounds simple, but people need to pay more attention to the strategic footprint of these platforms/communities as they are uniquely positioned to accelerate what their customers care about. For example, if you run an app helping people find vegan food (or anything else), you know where the most app users are to the least supply. This helpful data can now be used by vegan restaurants to accelerate entries into the places that need them, a dynamic that compounds the benefits these platforms can have.
The Think Dirty app lets you learn the ingredients in your household products. We are scared to use it. Scan the product barcode, and it will provide you with the ingredients and cleaner options if needed. These tools will become increasingly important as people live longer and try to reduce long-term health risks often driven by toxins.Â
When people use the Ecosia search engine for free, it provides the company with revenue to plant trees. That’s pretty neat, and over 200 million trees have been planted to date (and they are a tiny fraction of search volume, which makes it clear why search companies are some of the largest businesses in the world). We hope their model will become pretty standard when technology, particularly AI, starts reducing the complexity and cost of many services to the point that any brand can provide them. With ubiquitous services, customer usage becomes about the brand, allowing users and their companies to connect on social goals. For example, new credit card providers are starting to test this model. There is a group of customers where the environment is the most important thing to them. Right now, every credit card transaction is paying a big bank whether they like it or not, and they would love a steady stream of fees used to reduce emissions instead.
Olio allows communities to avoid unnecessary waste by sharing goods (everything from furniture to food). You take a photo of your item, add it to the app, and wait for someone to request and collect it. Giving a second life to items you’ve enjoyed helps the environment, and people are also looking for a stronger connection to their community these days, which this provides. The only complaint from users is that the penetration is low in certain regions, making it less useful. We think the rapidly growing community software tools will help bridge this gap. i.e., will there be a world where people renew their community memberships online, and households get suggested tools to interact with their neighbors, with Olio being one of them?
We’ve started receiving product requests from readers who want to see the emissions footprints of essential products they interact with daily. Below is an example of apparel results from our data partnership with Arbor.
One of the exciting results of this exercise is that you start to see the significant drivers of emissions, some of which are discussed below.
The country of manufacture and the inputs used are big drivers of emissions, with nylon, polyester, and elastane being the main offenders. Products with below-average emissions will typically have made an active choice in this area, such as recycled polyester.
Transport emissions are enormous, meaning product weight and the supply chain locations become defining inputs. Certain companies are taking control of this by vertically integrating renewable energy, efficient transport, and other solutions.
For more information on Arbor's calculations for these products, visit Arbor.eco/emissions-decisions
Impact Logic, a technical recruitment leader for impact-driven founders, sponsors our jobs section. Reach out to them here as you look to fill critical roles.
Below are 150+ JOBS, including examples of the exciting cleantech jobs globally.
Arbol just raised a monster round and posted jobs to help make insurance payouts for weather-related risks more data-driven. Currently, insurers are choosing not to touch particular locations due to uncertainty. This hurts families and businesses that often have to operate in those locations to get us the food and power we need, forcing them to move or take on that risk themselves (which increases costs for everyone).
Help the Orennia team track critical data to develop and optimize renewable energy projects. Manufacturing reshoring, AI power demands, a rebuild of the North American housing supply, and the electrification of everything require a massive power buildout that we haven’t seen in North America in decades and efficient development requires good data.
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(150 remaining jobs are listed on our terrible website to stay within email limits)
How you can help our cause: We are assembling a database of environmental products. If you make these products or know someone who does, please share them or this newsletter. Send any ideas to info@emissionsdecisions.com
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