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- January 2023 (Revised March 2023)
- Case
OhmConnect: Energizing the Future
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Jennifer Fonstad and Nicole Tempest Keller
Founded in 2013, OhmConnect was a free consumer web app that alerted customers about peak hours of electricity demand, and paid them to lower their energy use at home during these periods. The company sold the aggregated reductions generated by thousands of households...
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Keywords:
App Development;
Renewable Energy;
Electricity Usage;
Regulations;
VC;
Technology;
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC);
Scalability;
Applications and Software;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Business Model;
Venture Capital;
Energy Industry;
United States;
California;
Texas;
Europe
- December 2022
- Technical Note
Risks and Opportunities from the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy: A Business Analysis Framework
By: George Serafeim
The transition to a low carbon economy introduces many risks and opportunities for businesses. Risks emerge from regulatory actions, such as carbon taxes and cap and trade systems, technological innovation that develop alternatives for customers making existing...
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Keywords:
Risk Assessment;
Opportunities;
Environmental Sustainability;
Carbon Footprint;
Risk Management;
Competitive Dynamics;
Business Analysis;
Climate Change;
Accounting;
Finance;
Valuation;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Technological Innovation;
Transition;
Product Positioning;
Renewable Energy;
Analysis
- September 2022 (Revised February 2023)
- Case
EnergyNow: Powering a New Market
By: Alexander MacKay and James Barnett
In August 2022, EnergyNow co-founder and CEO Stuart MacWilliam (MBA 2015) considers the company strategy for building solar panels to provide power in South Africa’s recently deregulated energy market.
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Keywords:
Business Ventures;
Development Economics;
Energy;
Alternative Energy;
Energy Generation;
Energy Sources;
Renewable Energy;
Entrepreneurship;
Environmental Management;
Ethics;
Geography;
Government and Politics;
Energy Policy;
Law;
Management;
Markets;
Market Timing;
Operations;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Africa;
South Africa
- July 2022
- Case
David Crane’s Clean(er) Energy Strategy at NRG
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Tom Quinn
In 2015, David Crane was the CEO of NRG, the second-largest energy producer in the United States. NRG got most of its power from fossil fuels, but Crane – hired as CEO in 2003 as NRG emerged from bankruptcy – had invested heavily in alternative energy, loudly...
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- June 2022
- Case
PFA Pensions: The Climate Plus Product
By: Daniel Green, Victoria Ivashina and Alys Ferragamo
The case explores whether alternative investments play a unique role in achieving low carbon dioxide emissions at the portfolio level. This case is set in April of 2020 and follows Kasper Ahrndt Lorenzen, Chief Investment Officer, and Peter Tind Larsen, Head of...
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- 2022
- Chapter
Capitalism and the Environment
By: Geoffrey Jones
Capitalism drove the environmental decimation of the planet. The environment was seen as a free good, while the consequences of dirty industrial and agricultural processes were seen as external to the firm. Public policies largely allowed this to happen, as politicians...
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- October 2021 (Revised February 2022)
- Case
Green Hydrogen in Chile
By: Tarun Khanna, Jenyfeer Martínez Buitrago and Mariana Cal
In 2020, the Chilean government wants to promote green hydrogen, a technology with high potential to help mitigate climate change. President Sebastián Piñera, aware of the country's advantages to produce green hydrogen competitively, asks Energy Minister Juan Carlos...
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Keywords:
COVID-19 Pandemic;
Decision Making;
Alternative Energy;
Renewable Energy;
Climate Change;
Environmental Sustainability;
Green Technology;
Financial Instruments;
Energy Policy;
Government Administration;
Strategy;
Government and Politics;
Social Issues;
Energy Industry;
Latin America;
South America;
Chile
- March 1, 2021
- Article
Transitioning to Clean Energy Transportation Services: Life-cycle Cost Analysis for Vehicle Fleets
By: Stephen Comello, Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein
Comprehensive global decarbonization requires that transportation services cease to rely on fossil fuels for power generation. This paper develops a generic, time-driven life-cycle cost model for mobility services to address two closely related questions central to the...
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Keywords:
Decarbonization;
Electric Vehicles;
Renewable Energy;
Biofuel;
Carbon Emissions;
Mobility;
Batteries;
Energy;
Environmental Management;
Environmental Accounting;
Transportation;
Operations;
Management;
Sustainable Cities;
Decision Making;
Investment;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Europe;
North America;
South America;
Africa;
Asia
- February 2021
- Case
Yellow Digital Retailers: Providing Solar Electricity to Transform Rural Africa
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Frank V. Cespedes and Michael Norris
In 2020, Mike Heyink and Maya Stewart, co-founders of the Pay-as-you-Go Solar company Yellow were considering how to grow their startup. They had achieved some success in their first market, Malawi, and had recently entered Uganda, where business was slower. What did...
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- September 2020 (Revised November 2020)
- Case
d.light
By: Michael Chu, Krishna G. Palepu and Dilyana Karadzhova Botha
Kenyan off-grid-solar pioneer d.light can power entire homes in rural Africa but must now decide how to fund the growth of its asset-heavy business model. Ned Tozun and Sam Goldman founded d.light in 2006 to transform lives through solar solutions enabling access to...
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- May 2020
- Teaching Note
Big Boom Beverages: Fight or Flight? (Brief Case)
By: Stephen A. Greyser and William Ellet
Teaching Note for HBS Brief Case No. 920-557. The case addresses analysis and decisions related to the entrepreneurial life of a distinctive energy beverage, including its niche market launch, early problems, reformulation, social media impact, market success, and...
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- March 2019
- Article
Economics of Converting Renewable Power to Hydrogen
By: Gunther Glenk and Stefan Reichelstein
The recent sharp decline in the cost of renewable energy suggests that the production of hydrogen from renewable power through a power-to-gas process might become more economical. Here we examine this alternative from the perspective of an investor who considers a...
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Keywords:
Sustainability;
Clean Technology;
Renewable Energy;
Energy Storage;
Sustainability Management;
Sustainable Business;
Synergies;
Green Hydrogen;
Green Technology;
Environment;
Decarbonization;
Carbon Emissions;
Carbon Abatement;
Energy;
Accounting;
Decision Making;
Economics;
Environmental Management;
Growth and Development;
Management;
Operations;
Science;
Transportation;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Energy Industry;
Africa;
Asia;
Europe;
North and Central America;
South America;
Middle East
- 2017
- Book
Profits and Sustainability: A History of Green Entrepreneurship
By: Geoffrey Jones
This book explores whether profits and environmental sustainability are compatible through the lens of a global history of green entrepreneurship between the nineteenth century and today. It tells the story of the extraordinary and often eccentric men and women who...
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Keywords:
Environmental Entrepreneurship;
Green Business;
Sustainability;
Entrepreneurship;
Ethics;
Business History;
Religion;
Environmental Sustainability;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Alternative Energy Industry;
Africa;
Asia;
Europe;
Latin America;
North and Central America;
Oceania
- Article
Transition to Clean Technology
By: Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Douglas Hanley and William R. Kerr
We develop a microeconomic model of endogenous growth where clean and dirty technologies compete in production and innovation, in the sense that research can be directed to either clean or dirty technologies. If dirty technologies are more advanced to start with, the...
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- January–February 2014
- Article
Building a Game-Changing Talent Strategy
By: Douglas A. Ready, Linda A. Hill and Robert J. Thomas
When most of the world's financial services giants were stumbling and retrenching in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, the asset management firm BlackRock was busy charting a course for growth. Its revenues, profits, and stock price all performed consistently...
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- November 2012 (Revised April 2013)
- Case
Colbún and the Future of Chile's Power
By: Forest Reinhardt and Shon R. Hiatt
This case is about Colbún, Chile's second largest electricity generator, which is facing significant uncertainty regarding the cost and availability of alternative energy sources. Problems with the contracted supply of natural gas and the volatility of oil prices,...
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Keywords:
Energy;
Chile;
Environmental Protection;
Energy Generation;
Energy Industry;
South America;
Chile
- June 2012
- Case
PV Technologies, Inc.: Were They Asleep at the Switch?
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Diane Badame
PV Technologies, Inc. is an industry-leading manufacturer of photovoltaic inverters used to convert the direct current output of solar panels into alternating current for the commercial power grid. In conjunction with a request for proposal, the company's largest...
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- 2012
- Working Paper
'Power from Sunshine': A Business History of Solar Energy
By: Geoffrey Jones and Loubna Bouamane
This working paper provides a longitudinal perspective on the business history of solar energy between the nineteenth century and the present day. It covers early attempts to develop solar energy, the use of passive solar in architecture before World War 2, and the...
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- September – October 2009
- Article
U.S. Energy Policy: Overcoming Barriers to Acting
By: Max Bazerman
Energy policy is on everyone's mind these days. The U.S. presidential campaign focused on energy independence and exploration (drill, baby, drill), climate change, alternative fuels, even nuclear energy. But there is a serious problem endemic to America's energy...
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- June 2009 (Revised December 2011)
- Case
Colbún—Powering Chile
By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Gustavo A. Herrero and Sanjay Patnaik
This case is about Colbún, Chile's second largest electricity generator, which is facing significant uncertainty regarding the cost and availability of alternative energy sources. Problems with the contracted supply of natural gas and the volatility of oil prices,...
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