How Lithium Refining & Water as a Service spark Growth for a Family Business
Aquatech is in business for 40 years, yet it is on the verge of taking a new dimension through two spectacular contracts in lithium refining: Lithium America’s Thacker Pass and Controlled Thermal Resources’ Hell Kitchen. Couple it with the company’s rise in Water as a Service (30% of its revenue today, soon to reach 50%) … Read more
Thames Water is Failing: is it the end for UK’s largest Water Company?
The largest British Water Company is steps away from Bankruptcy, and that’s just the latest news in an incredible downward spiral: let’s review! with 🎙️ Antoine Walter, Podcaster in Chief at GF Piping Systems
How to Eradicate Dead Zones, Cut Energy Needs by 80% and Double Lithium Selectivity
Membrane filtration is a fast-moving scene striving for innovation and quite differentiated approaches. But has it ever been as disruptive as 3D-Printed spacers and graphene coating that puts performance on steroids? Let’s dive into one of the most fascinating takes on the matter in years: (Also check my entire Lithium deep dive!) with 🎙️ Chris … Read more
How the Salton Sea may become a Lithium Cash Cow
Aquatech and Controlled Thermal Resources just signed a billion-dollar agreement to unlock the Salton Sea’s Lithium in California, just three months after Aquatech closed a pretty similar deal in Nevada. What does that mean for the Salton Sea and the US lithium scene? (check out my other lithium stories!) with 🎙️ Antoine Walter, Podcaster in … Read more
Vulcan’s Clever Strategy to take off its Zero Carbon Lithium: Sell it Years Ahead!
Battery-grade lithium can have a significant carbon impact through its production, refining, and transport stages. Yet, an Australian company with a European project may well have found the solution with its Zero Carbon Lithium: Vulcan Energy Resources. And its product is flying off the shelves… years ahead of its actual production. How’s that possible? Let’s … Read more
The Game-Changing Company with 60 Patents That’s Disrupting the Battery Industry
Have you ever heard of the Lithium King? That’s the title Shale Magazine gave to EnergyX’s founder and CEO, Teague Egan. So what got him that recognition? It could be the company’s patents along the entire battery supply chain, their differentiated direct lithium extraction technology, or the company’s claim that they offer the best complement … Read more
How ‘Reverse ZLD’ made the World’s Largest Water Company a Lithium Refinery Expert
There’s a company that can boast having worked on turning any possible source of Lithium to battery grade: Veolia. How does the Water Giant double down as a lithium refinery builder? Let’s find out. Find out more with my entire Lithium deep dive. with 🎙️ Jim Rieke – VP of Process Engineering at Veolia Water … Read more
The Rise and Fall of North America’s Largest Organic Waste to Energy Facility
😮 Anaergia’s flagship asset, the Rialto Bioenergy Facility, just filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. What happened? What are the problems? What’s next? Let’s review ⬇ with 🎙️ Antoine Walter, Podcaster in Chief at GF Piping Systems
What are the 10 simple secrets behind Standard Lithium’s DLE success?
Standard Lithium shall become the first company ever to run a Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) process at a commercial scale by the mid-decade in El Dorado, Arkansas. How did they manage to fast-track this project? Let’s dive into their DLE secrets. Find out more with my entire Lithium deep dive. with 🎙️ Robert Mintak – … Read more
The Shocking Requirements of Spodumene Processing (and More Lithium 101 stories)
When you visit a foreign country, it’s often a smart move to start by getting the basics of language and culture. That’s our agenda for today: let us break down the fundamentals of lithium processes! Find out more with my entire Lithium deep dive. with 🎙️ Tony Strobbe – EV supply chain Projects Director 💧 … Read more
Why Water Technologies Matter in Lithium Mining (And Why You Should Buy Now!)
Lithium Mining shall get from 500’000 tons per year to at least 2 if not 3 or 5 million tons by 2030. How will we get there? We’ll need a lot of planets to align… and heavy support from the Water Industry! Find out more with my entire Lithium deep dive. with 🎙️ Benjamin Sparrow … Read more
The Fascinating Story of the Man Who Has 35 Water Companies to Sell
Water Companies can face a wide array of events: creation, expansion, profit, losses, and sometimes even death. Yet one specific change is maybe the most transformative: getting sold and transferred to a new owner. If that’s well documented for large water groups, it’s a much different story for smaller water companies: let’s explore it! with … Read more
How to Leverage Water Risk Assessment to Unlock Business Opportunities
The top 10 risks ranked in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report all relate to Water. If that’s not a sign that it is time to get your Water Risk Assessments right, I don’t know what is! Not convinced yet? Let’s dig further: with 🎙️ Jennifer Möller-Gulland, Water Risk Expert and Water Economist for … Read more
Zwitterions’ Super Powers Could Solve Wastewater Membranes Number One Problem
Zwitterions are weird beasts with two fascinating perks: being simultaneously positively and negatively charged turns them highly hydrophilic and very resistant to non-specific adhesion. Wouldn’t that make them the best special sauce to pump up a membrane filtration system? Let’s find out! with 🎙️ Alex Rappaport, CEO and Co-Founder of ZwitterCo. 💧 ZwitterCo leverages the … Read more
Could Neglecting 92% of Your Tasks be Costing You Money? Water Marketers Beware!
When marketing focuses on “Promotion” only, it limits itself to 8% of its possible spectrum. And it has consequences! Product-market Fit, go-to-market strategies, or strategic directions for the company might suffer from that tropism on the last link in the tactics chain. Who is to blame? Most of the time, top management. with 🎙️ Björn … Read more
How to Frustrate 90% of Start-Up Founders in 15 Minutes in their Best Interest
with 🎙️ Paul Gagliardo, Judge and advisor at Imagine H2O, and Principal at Gagliacqua. 💧 Paul also runs the Water Entrepreneur, an incredibly good water podcast that is one of my personal favorites and which also turns out to be a family business as Paul will elaborate on later on in the conversation.
Water Wars in France? The 4 Riddles it Raises.
Everybody predicted Water Wars would eventually happen one day, and for many places in the World, we’re far past the days where these conflicts would just be a concept. Yet, the scenes that we experienced in France over the past few days came as a surprise, in a water-rich first World country. What does it … Read more
How To Win at Negotiating With the Most Powerful Stakeholders?
with 🎙️ Ben Kimura Gross, CEO of Systemics Academy, Negotiation Trainer, and Mentor. 💧 At Negotiation with Goliath, Ben trains sustainability professionals and entrepreneurs to get decision-makers on their side and make your goals their goals.
How to Win in a Competitive & Mature Niche Market: The Astonishing Aclarus Ozone
Ozone is a water technology that has been around for over a century. Its players are established (and entrenched), it’s a $1.4 billion sub-section of the disinfection sector, and it doesn’t seem to be much left for technical disruption. And maybe against the odds, it’s a fertile ground for a great entrepreneurial venture! How? Let’s … Read more
How to Leverage Life Cycle Assessment To Take Better Decisions
Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) provides a systematic framework to identify and assess environmental impacts associated with a product or service, including energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation, and as probably most interesting for us, water use. Hence, LCA is a powerful decision-making tool that helps identify opportunities to reduce environmental impacts, improve efficiency, and promote … Read more
Why do we have so many Good Reasons to make Wrong Water Decisions?
Many decisions we make may look good on a small scale, yet as soon as we zoom out, we realize that they were the wrong choice in the end. That’s all fine when it’s about eating the last chocolate chunk in the box, but it’s an entirely different story when it comes to Water, its … Read more
This CEO That Raised $22M Reveals His One Trick You MUST Copy Today
Membrion is on track to become one of the loveliest success stories within the Water Industry. That’s everything but a coincidence: it is instead the result of a methodical build-up of the customer link. And you can actually steal this methodology today, as my guest rolls it out for you: with 🎙️ Greg Newbloom, CEO … Read more
Why bother with Residential Water Struggles? It’s an Industry Risk!
When we discuss the water crisis in America, we often focus on a certain section of the Water Cycle: residential water. Yet, that’s only a fraction of the challenge and probably not the one where water is valued the most. Indeed, could you imagine industrial production without water? That’s why it’s a risk, and the … Read more
Where’s Practical Climate Data when you Desperately Need It?
There are a lot of parameters to consider when planning infrastructure for today and the decades to come. It is a compound of existing assets, communities, social issues, vulnerabilities but also water and climate data. This is why democratizing access to all those datasets is so crucial to solving the water crisis in America! And … Read more
Can Private Capital Change the World of Water for the Better?
15% of America’s water is already in private hands. For some, that’s a concern! For others (including me) that’s a proof of concept to ask for more. How could private capital help solve America’s water crisis? That’s what we’ll explore: with 🎙️ Henry Cordes, Principal at Sciens Water 💧 Sciens is a research-driven investment fund … Read more
What do you Need to Know to Invest Wisely in Water Technologies?
How does an investor decide to fund a water technology or a water company? Are they sitting in a Shark Tank environment and following their instinct to make a decision in minutes? That’s very unlikely, right? Yet, you won’t know before you actually ask about the research and due diligence process. That’s what we explore … Read more
What’s the Value of Your Poop?
There’s a treasure in the sewer, and we barely notice: wastewater and its pee and poo are an incredible source of water, energy, and a bunch of additional resources. Better: it could solve the World’s water needs and help balance the Zero Carbon energy equation. How? Let’s explore: with 🎙️ Antoine Walter – Podcaster in … Read more
Are Amazon Water Filters the Best Way to Quench our Thirst?
At the exact point in time where governments are heavily investing in renewing their central water infrastructure, distributed water treatments still grow at a 3x faster pace! Does this mean we will soon all have a Water Filter ordered from Amazon and screwed under our sinks? Let’s explore: with 🎙️ Upmanu Lall – Director of … Read more
The Climate Change Adaptation Opportunities You Don’t Want To Miss Out
If Climate Change was a shark, water would be its teeth – once we’ve said that, what happens? Not much. Still, 70% of Climate Change’s consequences will be felt through water. Isn’t it time to better prepare for Climate Change Adaptation? Let’s explore: with 🎙️ Lauren Enright – Founder of Axiom Climate LLC with 🎙️ … Read more
800 M&A Moves in a Decade, Yet You’ve Never Heard of this Water Utility!
With 50’000 water and 35’000 wastewater utilities, the US Water Sector is highly scattered. This has consequences: 63 million Americans are potentially exposed to unsafe drinking water! This is where consolidation and especially the one happening on the smaller system’s level, sparks hope. I got to meet with US’s largest consolidator – in less than … Read more
How to Actively Invest Philanthropy and Save the (Water) World?
Philanthropic Capital could be the third source of investment the Water Sector desperately needed to find a balance. How will the blend of philanthropy into private funding and federal grants change the name of the game? Let’s explore: with 🎙️ Sean Davis, founder and managing director of Merton Capital Partners, adjunct professor at the Palm … Read more
How does Maslow explain a lot of America’s Broken Water Economics?
The Water Challenge is three-dimensional. We face broken pipes, broken policies, and broken economics! Yet, if we get to the bottom of it, the economic one seems to be the root cause of all the other problems. What if Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs actually explained it? That’s what we’ll uncover: with 🎙️ Tom Rooney … Read more
How De Nora Grew from 0 to IPO in 7 Years (with Cheat Codes!)
De Nora Water Technologies entered the water business in 2015 – with a bang. Under the lead of Mirka Wilderer (since 2019), the company further grew up to a successful IPO in July 2022. What’s to learn from it? What’s on De Nora’s and Mirka’s plate for the next months and years? Let’s explore: with … Read more
Should We Really Destroy PFAS? No! Your Fridge Knows a Better Way.
with 🎙️ Henrik Hagemann is the CEO and Co-Founder of Puraffinity. 💧 Puraffinity is a GreenTech Company that designs smart materials for environmental applications. Their cutting-edge material design and creative engineering approach may provide a new horizon to solve the daunting PFAS / Forever chemicals challenge we face.
What’s Patrick Decker’s Call To Action? Let Us Solve Water!
Patrick Decker became Xylem’s CEO in 2014. At the time, the company was a renowned product supplier in the Water Industry. Yet under its lead, Xylem further expanded to become a solution provider fostering and nurturing its surrounding ecosystem. Patrick was kind enough to spend some time with me to review some of the hot … Read more
Can Nature Protect New York From Water Catastrophes? Yes!
New York City did a bold move in the 1990s by betting on Nature-Based Solutions to protect its drinking water quality. Yet new challenges arise: how can nature help the Big Apple on its path to Climate Change adaptation? Let’s explore: with 🎙️ Paul Gallay – Lecturer & Co-Director at the Columbia Climate School 💧 … Read more
How to Make Carbon Negative Fuel, Boost Utility’s Revenue and Save the World
Climate Change recalls us every day how important it is for the World to accelerate on its path to decarbonization. Today, the Water Industry is everything but carbon neutral: yet this could change today and at scale if we do it right! How? With a carbon-negative fuel. You already know that fuel: we’re talking about … Read more
The Dear Link Between Water, SDGs and our Everyday Lives
When it comes to Sustainable Development Goals, we often limit Water to SDG 6. Yet, water plays a key role in many more of them! Let’s explore it: with 🎙️ Kevin Sofen – Director of Innovation at W. S. Darley & Co., Host of the Smart Firefighting podcast, and Co-Host of the SDG Talks Podcast. … Read more
We Want You! Will You Help Closing the Water Gap and Save Lives?
2.2 million Americans don’t have access to water and wastewater services in their homes. 44 million more recently experienced water quality issues. Isn’t it time to effectively close the water gap? The first step to closing is probably acknowledging: an information mission that’s been taken on by DigDeep. Today, we’ll explore how they act to … Read more
How to Make Water more attractive than the Apple and Samsungs of this World
We’ve been regularly touching on how we’re facing an aging water infrastructure: and so is the water workforce as well! In light of the “silver wave,” we currently experience, how can we transform the water industry to attract new, diverse and dynamic talents? This age and knowledge pyramid problem is of particular concern when you’re … Read more
How to Make a Lonely Water Professional’s Mentor, Friend, and Caring Colleague
The job of a Water Professional can be lonely: in many utilities, water treaters are on their own – or not far from it. But to keep you growing as a person, a certain friend has your back, your favorite water podcast. Don’t worry; this one is not about bragging (as much as I praise … Read more
How to take Mid-Market Green Tech Companies to the Next Level?
Our World is facing new water challenges that will be hard to solve with old solutions only. This means that helping new entrants and mid-market green tech companies to thrive is also the best segway to putting their impact on steroids! But navigating the jungle of finance, investment, regulations, institutions, and existing business canvas can … Read more
Pre-Disaster Mitigation Needs to Quickly Ramp Up in the US. Will it?
With only 9 million households that hold an insurance policy against flood risks, the most common and costly natural catastrophe is still widely undercovered in the US. Will the new federal efforts finally open the long-awaited age of pre-disaster mitigation? with 🎙️ Nick Shufro – Deputy Assistant Administrator, Federal Insurance & Mitigation Administration, Resilience, FEMA … Read more
The Underestimated Hidden Threat of Biomethane Production. Time to Act?
What’s about 28 times more concerning than carbon emissions? Methane releases into the atmosphere. It’s the same amount of carbon but with a much higher immediate global warming impact. Hence the concern when a recent study shows how we underestimate the emissions of biomethane production by a factor of two! What’s wrong with the biomethane … Read more
How to Actually Fight Big Water with Pioneering Bottled Rainwater?
Rainwater Harvesting just got an all-new flavor, and it’s sparkling! Indeed, next to the conventional approaches where that water would be used for irrigation, Richard’s Rainwater kinda created a new market segment: bottled rainwater. How can you fight Big Water by actually putting water in cans and bottles? How’s that approach greener and more sustainable? … Read more
Seth Siegel: 50’000+ US Water Utilities, 500 Water Talks, 5 Decisive Truths?
Seth Siegel is a voice that counts in the Water World – having published some of the most influential water books of the past decade and spoken on every scene you can think of. Yet, in every keynote he delivers, he never fails to captivate the audience to convey his message home. There’s something wrong … Read more
Expensive, Heavy but Desperately Needed: is Source the Future of Drinking Water?
Could you imagine producing perfect drinking water out of thin air and fully off-grid? Let’s face it: Source’s take on atmospheric water generation is pretty disruptive. Could it be a blessing for people and places for whom traditional central approaches have failed? We’ll explore today how even in the US, no less than 44 million … Read more
How will the Trial Reservoir Change Piloting Forever and For Good?
Piloting a new water technology has always been a cumbersome process. But this may well soon be history with Isle Utilities’ invention: the Trial Reservoir. What would it enable if water entrepreneurs could deploy their best ideas in weeks instead of decades? That’s what we’ll explore today (and how that’s even possible)… with 🎙️ Piers … Read more
What if your Microbial Fuel Cells could Reach Out on Twitter?
Microbial Fuel Cells represent a tremendous opportunity to tap into the hidden energy of wastewater. But beyond that, they could also turn the way we operate our plants on its head! What if your microorganisms told you live and 24/7 how they feel and what your effluent looks like? with 🎙️ Carol Maxwell – CEO … Read more
How to Admit, Value, and actually Overcome the Economic Risk of Water
Water may well represent less than 1% of the World’s GDP, but it heavily affects the other 99%, turning it into a major economic risk. Why and How? Let’s review! with 🎙️ Nicola Lei Ravello – Author and Founder of White Stag Investing 💧 White Stag Investing is a research platform for responsible investments, focusing … Read more