Tom Raftery's Weekly Tech for Good Newsletter - Issue #31

It's Wednesday once more

I've some great stories for you this week in the world of tech for good. And some great podcasts. You should definitely check out this week's Climate 21 podcast. It speaks to the increasing importance of the world of finance in the fight against climate change. Anyway, on to the stories...

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Tech for Good stories of the week

NASA solar probe becomes fastest object ever built as it 'touches the sun' — www.cnet.com The Parker Solar Probe was clocked at over 330,000 miles per hour as it zipped through the sun's outer atmosphere.

Wind power hits new British record on blustery bank holiday — news.sky.com Offshore and onshore wind turbines generated a new high of 17.6 gigawatts of power on Monday afternoon, figures show. Britain's wind farms set a new clean energy record on Monday, generating almost half of the electricity system, thanks to the blustery bank holiday weather.

Electric Vehicle Prices Fall as Battery Technology Improves - — www.visualcapitalist.com

Continually declining battery costs are making electric vehicle prices more and more competitive. By 2023, EV up-front prices should be on par with gas-powered cars, and from then on they will be not only cheaper to buy, but also cheaper to run

Two senior Senate Democrats propose $73 billion to shift U.S. to EV transit buses — www.reuters.com

Two senior U.S. Senate Democrats on Tuesday proposed spending $73 billion to electrify The US's 70,000 transit buses as part of a push to move the United States toward zero-emission transportation.

Meet Dick, The Weed-Killing Robot With A Tesla Heart — cleantechnica.com

This is a cooler article than the clickbait title might suggest. These robots do away with the need to plant GM crops, and to spray fields with herbicide (weedkillers). The Small Robot Company in the UK offers battery powered robots that can find and destroy weeds.

Argo AI Readies Its Own Lidar Sensor For Ford Automated Vehicles — www.forbes.com

From the Dept of autonomous vehicles are coming sooner than you think - Argo AI, the automated driving system development partner of Ford and Volkswagen has revealed some details about its in-house developed lidar that will go onto Ford automated vehicles in 2022

Flu Has Disappeared Worldwide during the COVID Pandemic — www.scientificamerican.com

And finally some good news on the health front - The public health measures that slow the spread of the novel coronavirus work really well on influenza

Digital Supply Chain (DSC) podcast

On the Digital Supply Chain podcast this last week:

• SAP and Oxford Economics have released a report on sustainability in supply chains called "The Sustainable Supply Chain Paradox: Balancing the bottom line with the green line". The report drew on the responses of over 1,000 supply chain executives globally to a detailed survey on the topic, and the results were enlightening.I invited my colleague Richard Howells (aka @HowellsRichard on Twitter) to come on the podcast to talk in depth about the report and its findings. Check out that episode here

•  Monday May 3rd was a bank holiday in many parts of Europe so, I kept the podcast short. No guest, just me, and I talked about the upcoming ASUG Best Practices SAP Supply Chain virtual conference which takes place on May 11-12th. I mentioned that event in this episode because I will be giving the opening keynote on the morning of May 12th on the topic of The Intersection of Sustainability, Technology, and New Business Models in Supply Chain. I also mentioned in this podcast episode that I'm kicking off a new Industry 4.0 on Fridays series commencing this coming Friday May 7th. So plenty to look forward to... You can check out that episode here

Climate 21 podcast

On the Climate 21 podcast today the conversation turned once again to finance, because it is an increasingly important actor in the climate scene

• In this episode I talked to Shrey Kohli, Head of Debt Capital Markets and Funds at London Stock Exchange Group and we discussed Green Bonds. Many people are familiar with shares but will possibly know less about bonds (I certainly fell into that bucket before this episode). Bond markets are far bigger than shares. In fact, you normally see 14 -15 trillion dollars of bond issued annually, and that far exceeds the amount of capital that you see raised in equity markets. You should check it out (click here)

Wednesday whimsy

AI coming to take your job?

I've been on Twitter now for 14+ years (since Feb 2007) and in that time I have published over 80k tweets (I know, get a job, right?!). Even with all that data, Twitter still recommends the account of Exxon for me to follow? And what's worse, is that this was an ad (see where it says Promoted underneath?). Ads should have even better targeting, and yet I get this. If this is the state of AI today, I think our jobs are safe for the foreseeable future!

And finally...

Thanks for your interest and attention. If you like this newsletter, tell a friend. Heck tell all your friends!

And, if you have any comments/questions/suggestions on how to make it better, feel free to let me know :)

Have a great rest of your week