Indeed, RECs are known to have very little additionality and there is a ton of research questioning their role in decarbonization.
"A number of studies have zeroed in on the influence of voluntary RECs—those purchased by private customers—on renewable energy production and have gathered significant evidence to suggest that these certificates have had little to no impact. One of these studies, led by researchers at Princeton, Harvard, and UCLA, for example, found that if the power market for voluntary RECs did not exist, “the amount of electricity generated by wind power in the United States would be little different than what we actually see today.”
A paper published in 2022 in Nature which received significant attention from the media argued that due to the drop in the prices of RECs in recent years, the revenue associated with these certificates is insufficient to promote an increase in green energy production. The paper concludes that while the group of companies being analyzed reported a combined 30.7% reduction in emissions resulting from their REC purchases, the actual reduction was closer to 9.9%."
Thanks for raising this—these studies are important and we’ve read them too.
Our goal isn’t to resolve the long-standing debate around additionality, but to solve a more immediate and pragmatic problem: helping individuals and companies claim their property - in this case RECs.
For most people and businesses, participating in commodity markets (where RECs are bought and sold) is a black box. We’re focused on creating infrastructure and tools usable so they can. Whether you're buying RECs or exploring other environmental commodities, we think the user experience and the clarity around what you own and what you’re buying matter deeply.
This criticism seems circular to me. If the certificates are too difficult to claim, then of course they don't have the desired effect of acting as an incentive.
Totally agree with this take—it highlights a core issue we’ve seen over and over again. It's no surprise RECs struggle to live up to their potential as market signals. We think part of the solution is usability. If more people could actually see what they’re buying, why it matters, and how it fits into the bigger system, the signal could become stronger over time.
I walked by one of these scanning offices in São Paulo a few weeks ago and it looked completely dystopian. Didn't have the impression that the people who showed up there were well informed on what they were signing up for
There is one near home. When I passed by I saw one man stopping a couple in the street and explaining if they couldn’t go inside and give him the money.
Sort of like a beggar, but asking the couple to go inside, scan their iris then giving him the money (since it’s free money anyway). I am not sure how that would work in practice, since I just passing by. But they were paying USD50~60 , a significant amount to make the ask worth it.
How much iris variation (within that population) exists, are there any repeats (or repeats below threshold), is there any correlation between (say) iris pattern categories and facial pattern categories, etc.
Someone may think these are useful questions and this may be the first of many such data collection actions about the globe.
The whole company looks a bit shady to me. The claims, the name, the renders, no legal entity named, no info on founders/advisors/investors on the website or LinkedIn, etc.
Also, why would you redesign the cabin from scratch if what's unique is the drivetrain?
"NO COMPETITION"
"MANY TIMES CLEANER THAN DIESEL ENGINES"
"Nikola Motor Company is not currently accepting walk in visitors. After we launch the vehicles at the live press release later this year, contact numbers and locations will be provided for visits."
And is apparently run by a guy named Troy A Wallin.
I hate it when companies put up a web site and then don't say the least bit about who manages the company or is involved in it in some way. Does make things look less than honest.
EDIT: I also found in an article the name of the CEO, and here is his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theofficialtrevormilton ... Not sure if there actually is a direct relationship to Bluegentech, LLC... the Nikola Motor Company from the article is described as being Salt Lake City, Utah based. Bluegentech, LLC is registered as a foreign company in Utah. (And, yes, I am just avoiding real work this morning.)
Final EDIT: It's interesting. Going back to the original idea that the company had a fly-by-night feel. I now know that the people involved have some actual experience in their industry (at least generally). My perception of them, while still very limited, is somewhat better. I can't help but thinking that being a little more upfront about the principals would improve their first impressions... despite the name ;-)
> Nikola (pronounced Neek-oh-la) Motor Company (NMC), named
after the famous electrical engineer Nikola Tesla, was quietly formed by Founder and CEO
Trevor Milton years ago to design and manufacture electric vehicles, energy storage systems
and electric vehicle drivetrain components.
Apparently they put up the website with their 3d models a few days ago.
The fact that they claim to own their own wells and liquification is pretty fishy. What kind of startup is going to have expertise in both gas extraction and electric vehicle engineering? And why on earth would they even want to when there's pretty good infrastructure for that already?
Doesn't look like it. The CEO did sell a previous company to them, but it looks like he's started a new venture with some of the same players. I wouldn't be surprised if companies they've worked with were invested in the new venture, but the legal filings (see my other comment on this thread) suggest this is a new venture.
The technology is legit, there's nothing preventing a company from building a truck like this. There's a few things that bug me:
1) Why natural gas to run the turbine and not, say, diesel? It seems natural to run the truck on diesel, if nothing else so the driver can hang out with his friends and show it off at the local truck stop.
2) There's only renders, no photos. They haven't actually built one yet? At least that high-efficiency truck Wal-Mart was/is testing, they actually built the thing before they started crowing about it.,
America is swimming in natural gas -- we are a net exporter. Natural gas requires nearly no refinement, and is locally produced, so the additional energy required to make it available to customers is much smaller. It also produces less CO2 per unit of energy than most other fossil fuels, since it has a very high ratio of hydrogen to carbon. When it burns, you get 2 water molecules and 1 CO2, vs say decane where you get 11 water molecules and 10 CO2.
The answer to #1 provides some insight as to what might make this play a little more interesting. Reading into the truck page, check out this gem:
"At Nikola Motor Company, we’ve decided to invest in American energy. Nikola owns the rights to its own natural gas wells along with the Nikola One fleet that transports the natural gas from the wells to the stations. With 7 wells on a single property, Nikola can pump out millions of gallons of clean natural gas each day. Nikola plans on having more than 5 well sites for redundancy throughout the United States. Complete vertical integration removes market uncertainties and allows Nikola Motor to control its own prices and keep them that way for Nikola customers. Nikola bypasses all the gas companies, liquifies the gas on site, then delivers it to the station through its fleet of electric trucks."
The trucks appear, in part, to be a method of arbitraging future LNG prices which have been going down, and can be expected to continue to fall for the foreseeable future as more and more wells keep coming on line.
Apple should integrate Touch ID into their Macbooks and turn Apple Pay into a service for ecommerce. Payment would be one tap, similarly to Apple Pay IRL.
They could place the capacitive fingerprint sensor where the ON/OFF button used to be, it would actually be a neat way to wake up the machine without typing a password too.
For now, I just have my credit card number memorized so I can checkout fairly quickly without having to fiddle with physical objects in my pocket.
"A number of studies have zeroed in on the influence of voluntary RECs—those purchased by private customers—on renewable energy production and have gathered significant evidence to suggest that these certificates have had little to no impact. One of these studies, led by researchers at Princeton, Harvard, and UCLA, for example, found that if the power market for voluntary RECs did not exist, “the amount of electricity generated by wind power in the United States would be little different than what we actually see today.”
A paper published in 2022 in Nature which received significant attention from the media argued that due to the drop in the prices of RECs in recent years, the revenue associated with these certificates is insufficient to promote an increase in green energy production. The paper concludes that while the group of companies being analyzed reported a combined 30.7% reduction in emissions resulting from their REC purchases, the actual reduction was closer to 9.9%."
https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/blog/renewable-e...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01379-5