Jed Dean

ICYMI: The Biden administration's preliminary climate model for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) subsidies is out. Ethanol producers will need to meet strict sustainability criteria, including using specific agriculture techniques, to qualify as a feedstock. While this may pose a challenge, it presents a significant opportunity for growth in the SAF sector. As we work towards decarbonizing transportation, collaboration between ethanol producers and SAF stakeholders will be key in achieving our sustainability goals. #Ethanol #SAF #Sustainability #TransportationDecarbonization #ArrowUp

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Excellent post. As an NZ resident of some years personally commited to prosperity and opportunity for all NZ citizens, some thoughts: The massive drain of talent, capital, and opportunity from NZ to Australia has a lot to do with a Kafkaesque maze of self-defeating regulations that strangle NZ prosperity for all of society. Bureaucracies don’t build equitable societies, but they can regulate to death the economies that enable them. A country of a few million people facing huge deficits, a butchers’ bill of climate change consequences just starting to present itself for payment, and a fragile over-reliance on ag and tourism should not be so resolutely hostile to ideas, innovation, and capital from outside.

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Sylvatex (SVX) has been a member of BADASS Labs, ever since we opened our second site. Their drive and conviction to make an impact for the environment is what made me want to bring them into our space. Watching and supporting that amazing growth has been amazing. They started in a single lab with a few employees, and have grown to multiple labs, with dozens of scientists. I can't wait to discuss all of incredible things just on the horizon for them. I think Sylvatex's experience has been emblematic of what we strive to accomplish here. Companies come to us at various stages of maturity and we meet them where "they are," removing barriers and creating supports to help them be faster, better and stronger. We have never had a "one size fits all" model here, because every startup has its own journey. I believe Entrepreneurs are a special type of person, driven to unlock the future, never stopping to be satisfied. We enhance that energy by creating an ecosystem tailored to those needs, at whatever stage or industry. Be it pre-seed, through series B, we will make your journey easier, faster and more successful by being your partner (and sometimes your cheerleader). As Sylvatex (SVX) has shown, BADASS Labs has never focused on what we can get out of others, but only on how to make our members soar. Join us, and experience a new model of total support. Become a BADASS. [email protected]

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𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Companies also produce nonreducible emissions which are those emissions that no one can do without such as using a PC. In order to offset these types of emissions, the company can fund certified projects that deal with the development of CO2 capture technologies or that preserve forest areas and biodiversity. Neutralizing thus means restoring a balance between the amount of CO2 emitted and that captured by the funded projects. #BIOVIIIx #carbonneutral #carbonneutrality #BIO2 #Up2You #TheFutureIsUpToYou #nature #neutralization ##co2 #emissions

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What VCs are excited about in biotech... Ben Hemani of Bison Ventures discussed the intersection of deep tech, biotechnology, and climate sustainability in one of our episodes. Key insights: 1️⃣ Evaluating founders and teams in early-stage ventures is an art and a science. 2️⃣ How Ben and his team are navigating the current funding climate. 3️⃣ The powerful potential of cross-disciplinary approaches in tech and biotech. (Plus, why Ben and I both love a good platform company) This episode is packed with actionable advice for entrepreneurs and investors alike. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did! Comment on this post for a link to our podcast! #VentureCapital #Podcast #TechInnovation #Biotechnology #StartupFunding

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Portland Seed Fund managers announced the creation of the Intrepid Oregon Fund, backed by $4 million for early-stage startups in climate tech, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and more. Business Oregon and additional investors support the initiative, with Portland Seed Fund selected to manage investments through a competitive process led by the state agency and Oregon Innovation Council. The fund has already invested in two startups: Bold Reuse, a Portland-based company offering reusable dishes and food containers, and Solid Carbon, a startup in Oregon’s wine country focused on trapping carbon in concrete. #PortlandSeedFund #IntrepidOregonFund #ClimateTech #StartupInvesting #OregonInnovation #VentureCapital #EarlyStageInvesting #SustainableBusiness #ClimateInnovation #ClimateTech #ClimateAction #ClimateChange

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Proven technology and rapid payback makes Qualterra Biomass Processing Units an industry leading solution.

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Starting the day inspired by the future for climate solutions, incredible founders, and how an ecosystem can work together in support. Massive congratulations to Alisha McFetridge, Sean McFetridge, and the entire RainStick team on the announcement of your recent raise led by Stephen Nairne, Althea Wishloff and Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, along with Sevrine Labelle, Anne-Marie Christoffersen-Deb and the BDC Thrive Lab team along with angel investors. Alisha and the team have been previously supported by Leah Perry and the MaRS Discovery District climate team, and they were a finalist in the Spring 2021 National Impact Investor Challenge. Seeing the potential of this team and company continue to be realized is so inspiring, as they continue to navigate growth in a big market with the potential to scale significant impact in water use reduction. It's always inspiring to see different impact ecosystem players coming together to support Canada's best founders and companies to realise scale and success. #cleantech #cleantechnology #climatesolutions #impactinvesting #venturecapital #canada https://lnkd.in/dvMGpQSr

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📣 Join us at Carbon Unbound West Coast in San Francisco! 🙌 Our co-founder and CCO, Jason E. Dodier, along with Myles Gray, P.E., from US Biochar Initiative, will be presenting Campfire Session #10: "Biochar Co-Benefits: Maximizing Revenue & Climate Mitigation by Developing End-Use Markets." Biochar production continues to grow, driven by demand for biochar carbon removal credits, but future growth in the industry is held back by lack of high quality, high price, and large volume markets for physical biochar. In particular, many proposed facilities are unable to close project financing without developing evidence of market demand for physical biochar, typically in the form of offtake agreements. Beyond project financing, to maximize the carbon benefits of producing and using biochar, biochar products need to be used as part of value-chain decarbonization efforts, with or without carbon removal credits. Jason and Myles will discuss unlocking biochar’s full potential, focusing on five key end-use markets: 🌱 Soil amendment 🌾 Biochar-enhanced fertilizers 🌼 Potting and horticultural growing media 💧 Filtration and remediation 🏗️ Concrete The session will cover the value proposition for biochar, decarbonization benefits, R&D needs, and strategies for credible offtake agreements. Don’t miss this chance to learn how biochar can drive both revenue and climate solutions! 📅 October 24, 12:15 PM, on the main stage 🎟️ Get your tickets here: https://lnkd.in/eDePNFZc We look forward to seeing you there! #CarbonUnbound #Biochar #ClimateAction #CarbonRemoval #Decarbonization #SustainableDevelopment #ClimateSolutions

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🔬 Cell Painting Data Analysis Pipeline in HCS Pipeline 🔬 Today, we're demonstrating how you can analyze your Cell Painting data using the same pipeline we employ internally in the HCS Pipeline platform. With this fully customizable, modular solution, you can simplify and accelerate complex data analysis workflows without needing deep coding expertise. Let’s take a look at the components of the pipeline: 🚀 Step-by-Step Pipeline 🚀 1️⃣ Data Quality Control (QC): Automatically clean your dataset by removing outliers, handling missing values, and applying thresholds for NaNs and zeros. This ensures you're working with high-quality data from the outset. 2️⃣ Feature Reduction: Simplify your dataset by removing highly correlated and non-informative features, keeping only the most important and biologically relevant data to streamline the analysis. 3️⃣ Multiple Levels of Normalization: Apply different normalization methods, including z-score, MAD robustization, and spherizing the data, to remove batch effects and prepare the dataset for accurate downstream analysis. 4️⃣ Aggregation: Aggregate your data across different metadata levels, such as plates or experimental conditions, for seamless comparison and analysis. 5️⃣ UMAP Dimensionality Reduction: Reduce thousands of features to 2D space with UMAP to uncover hidden patterns and similarities between samples. 6️⃣ Interactive Plots: Generate Interactive Distance Matrices and Scatter Plots of UMAP Transformations to visualize relationships and gain insights into your data in just a few clicks. 🔍 Recreate This Pipeline with HCS Pipeline With HCS Pipeline, you can build and customize this analysis pipeline to suit your own research needs. The modular platform makes it easy for anyone to set up powerful workflows without requiring a data scientist. 💬 How are you currently analyzing your Cell Painting data? Let us know in the comments! --- #HCS #CellPainting #DataAnalysis #ResearchTech #Bioinformatics #HCSData #PipelineAutomation

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We need to distinguish between two different types of "neutrality". The first type of neutrality refers to freedom from personal/cultural biases. Proper science should be "neutral" in the sense of being reality-based and free from such biases (in particular confirmation bias). Therefore, science must remain an end in itself, it is not to be instrumentalized for private ends, not to be subordinated to unscientific ideologies, because when it does, it loses its independence, effectiveness and credibility - the distinction between proper science and pseudoscience becomes blurred. This is exactly what we saw happen with smoking-related health risks and what we are seeing now with climate skepticism. The second type of neutrality refers to the idea of genuine human progress and a thriving human civilization. Science is not supposed to be "neutral" in a sense of being free from foundational values such as human progress and survival. Science, technology and markets are societal concepts that are supposed to advance and promote civilizational progress and serve the common good, to promote - not diminish - the quality of life, freedom and justice, aesthetics and ethics; and the full realization of the human potential. The purpose of science is not simply limited to an unbiased search for truth, but its role also includes informing human societies how to best regulate technology and markets so that they promote societal welfare rather than destroy it. Normally, in a functioning society, scientists are not supposed to become activists, because the don't need to. When they discover that humanity is on an unsustainable, self-destructive development path, they normally would convey this critical insight to human societies, policy makers and civil society. It would then be the society's job to adequately respond to this information by adjusting its development trajectory so that it becomes less self-destructive and more sustainable. But when this response fails, e.g. because of fossil fuel capture and misinformation resulting in a widespread collective delusion, in pseudoscientific denial and utter lack of situational awareness, scientists find themselves in a terrible situation: They are among the few who can see an existential danger and humanity's insufficient response for what they really are. Because of society's refusal to take a serious warning seriously, they are forced to become activists for scientific truth. 

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Awesome to see public-private partnerships like this coming to life with USDA’s commitment to catalyzing the market-based incentives for impact in agriculture. Ask anyone of the +140 projects in this initiative and they’ll tell you there’s plenty of room for improvements - we agree - but that is the point. From the now 4 projects we’re supporting both directly and indirectly through our services and infrastructure - across row crops, grazing and grassland, and agroforestry- we’re starting to see differentiation and value being created that we believe will be the gold standard for underwriting and rewarding impact in agriculture. There are three common characteristics we see: 1. Economics: Direct payments to farmers and land stewards both on an outcomes and pay for practice (there isn’t a one size fits all incentive) basis that at least meets or goes beyond the cost of adoption and abatement. 2. Science-backed: Rigorous data collection, quantification and verification practices that leads to high integrity environmental claims aligned with latest science and leading standards. 3. Uniqueness and guarantees of origin: buyers and investors want data-backed confidence to know they aren’t inappropriately double-claiming or double-counting the same acres and outcomes. We are here to support those that are interested in moving beyond paper attestations to generate value, mitigate risk and increase operational efficiencies when it comes to generating/trading/claiming environmental assets in ag.

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I’m often asked about the most exciting and potentially transformative investment thesis in agtech globally. My answer consistently points to what G. Bailey Stockdale is building at Leaf Agriculture. Leaf is unique in its vertical, with a clear and direct appeal to the "big tech" giants like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) & Alphabet Inc.. It’s constructing a multilateral B2B network that spans the entire agribusiness value chain—from financial services and trading conglomerates to input suppliers, farm equipment manufacturers, and food CPGs. Leaf has clear parallels with companies in other sectors, such as Plaid, which were acquired at multibillion-dollar valuations. What’s even more compelling is the critical role Leaf Agriculture plays in the technological evolution of agribusiness. Leaf’s core infrastructure is the key enabler of digital adoption in agriculture, unlocking the full potential of data and AI in one of the most complex and science-intensive industries on the planet. At SP Ventures, we’re incredibly honored to have supported Bailey and Leaf since their Seed round. The fact that Spero Ventures, one of the most respected tech venture firms, is leading Leaf’s Series A is further validation that this isn’t just another agtech opportunity. Leaf is where industries and technologies converge, shaping the future of global agriculture.

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Great article by Danielle Joseph Closed Loop Partners.

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Excited to be attending Scaling Up Bioeconomy Conference | #ScalingUpBio to present an update on SixRing Inc.'s commercial advancements on 27 November. I look forward to sharing how our bio-oil can be blended into existing diesel fuels without downstream refining, improving fuel properties while lowering CI score. I'll also provide an update on the work we've done on bringing our RNG supplement (Stimulose) to market and the significant impact it can have on RNG/Biomethane production at low incremental cost. Bringing low carbon energy to market at the lowest full-cycle cost will progress our decarbonization journey without placing unfair cost pressures on the people that depend on that energy. The use of existing fuel systems like Natural Gas and Diesel allows us to rapidly lower the carbon intensity of our society while taking advantage of renewable resources like non-food biomass. Thanks to Jeff Passmore for organizing the event and inviting us to participate, and looking forward to sharing the SixRing Inc. story far and wide! If you haven't registered yet - Scaling Up 2024 Bioeconomy Conference - Delivering Low Carbon Intensity (scalingupconference.ca) #biomass #biocrude #biomethane #RNG #sustainability #decarbonization #innovation #energy #environment #chemistry

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One of the largest reductions in global greenhouse gas, actionable *today*, with increased profits for farmers and *zero* intrusive legislation or costs for those farmers -- that's what DCVC-backed CH4Global delivers.

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I congratulate Aepnus Technology, a deep-tech startup, for raising $8M to commercialize its National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research work to develop an electrochemical platform to improve circularity and reduce emissions in battery supply chain chemicals, enabling GHG emissions reduction by an expected 3 gigatons by 2050. I congratulate Rhonda Shrader, Executive Director of UC Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship & NSF I-Corps Bay Area. She is an inspiring instructor; I am so fortunate to be in her class during the Summer 24 #Icorps Cohort. I am an Industry Mentor (IM) to Professor Ratnesh Kumar and Professor Shawana Tabassum, PhD who are inventors of plasmonic metamaterial-based gas sensing technology, based on NSF-funded research. It offers an order-of-magnitude lower-cost alternative to techniques like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR). The technology helps with environmental compliance for GHG emissions in agriculture and manufacturing, Condition Monitoring of gases produced during process control in manufacturing plants, and monitoring of gases in Transformers (HW used in utilities - not the ones for implementing attention 😀). If you're interested in turning your NSF-funded research into a real-world product or service, consider the #Icorps program. It provides intense customer discovery training, where you'll interview 100+ potential customers in just seven weeks. This might sound grueling, but it's an invaluable experience. Remember, in startups, the founder is often the first salesperson. Understanding your customers' needs early on is crucial for success.

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Carbon removal just got a major boost. Puro.earth, the pioneer in durable carbon dioxide removal, has joined forces with Frontier, the billion-dollar carbon removal initiative. This partnership isn't just about offsetting emissions - it's about scaling technologies that actively pull CO2 from our atmosphere. As the climate crisis intensifies, collaborations like this could be the key to turning the tide. #CarbonRemoval #ClimateAction #Sustainability #CleanTech #NetZero

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Biochar – The Series, Part 2: Ecosystem Participants Yesterday, I published Part 1: Production, Properties, Uses as the inaugural installment of my biochar series on Climate Drift (links in comments). Today in Part 2, I take a close look at the multiple stakeholders across the biochar ecosystem.  🌱 Producers 🛠 Pyrolysis manufacturers 💵 Carbon credit marketplaces, sellers, buyers ⚖ Standards 📖 Researchers 💡 Industry & advocacy groups 🤓 I am eager to discuss with fellow climate advocates, researchers, farmers, and professionals in the biochar industry, or anyone else interested in advancing biochar to help solve the climate crisis. Feedback and thoughts are always welcome. 📆 Tomorrow, we publish Part 3: Carbon Credits & Producer Economics. #biochar #climatechange #climatetech #carbonremoval #climateaction #agriculture #climatecareers #climatesolutions

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