My colleagues put out an electric school bus market study and buyer's guide [0]. There are some examples of charging infrastructure costs on page 14 - looks like the high powered DCFC could range from ~$5k to ~$90k total. This isn't helpful for this Maryland instance, but you can see page 7 for an annotated map of where electric school buses are in the US right now, which includes Montgomery County, Maryland.
Thanks for the responses - I think I typically agree with your approach that there are substantial benefits to getting people to crawl or walk rather than making them run.
On your belief that actionable data _trumps_ perfectly attributed data, I'm not entirely convinced. I think actionable data _complements_ attributable data. But you need the attributable data to accurately measure the impact and learn what specific actions caused that impact.
I think all companies want to make actions that are well-informed, 'the right choice', and have the potential to demonstrate it was 'the right choice'. My concern is that when someone takes a 'good action' such as replacing high intensity animal protein with low intensity plant protein there is no evidence from your side that it made any difference. You are divorcing the actual choice that was made from what is perceived as the outcome.
The dollars-to-emissions relationship is just not as simple as is being represented, and for those who are not specialists there might be a false sense of progress.
"We cut our daily emissions from transport by having employees purchase Uber rides in off-peak times."
"We cut our emissions for business travel by setting up a policy that flights must be purchased at least 2 months in advance."
"We cut our emissions from our regular food purchases by looking at the local newspaper for coupons and signing up for a customer loyalty account."
"Maybe we all should fly to Las Vegas (tickets are cheap) rather than have Linda fly to NYC (an expensive ticket)."
Each of these might be smart business choices, but they have absolutely no real world effect on emissions that should be attributable to a company, but that isn't what the company is being told.
As a first pass to estimate sense of scale and where to look into unsustainable practices and prioritize better data collection, Bend seems to be valuable.
Not trying to put you in a 'gotcha' situation, but GHGP Scope 3 Category 7 (Employee Commuting) is entirely related to employee actions outside the bounds of the company. Commutes and also home-office energy choices (heating, cooling, use of renewable energy credits, ...) are typically chosen (and paid for) by individuals outside of work but are components of an organization's value chain.
Hey, this is an interesting and emerging market, what will maybe be called 'carbon analytics' or 'GHG analytics'. There are definitely lots of opportunities in this space.
Without letting perfect be the enemy of good here... I have some questions.
It seems nice to have a backstop for what GHGP calls "Corporate-level data" which is the lowest level and least specific for purchased goods and services in GHGP's Scope 3 calculation guidance.
Do you have any concerns that your users might shortcut the work to produce high quality estimates of their Scope 3 emissions when you have made it so easy to get lower quality estimates?
As a second angle on this, do you have any accuracy or uncertainty estimates for the CO2e values a user receives? Let's say my company goes to a supermarket one month and buys $1000 worth of beef, and the next month buys $1000 worth of lentils from the same store. The GHG impacts of these purchases are (in reality) entirely different, but your API would tell me the emissions are the same. I know this line-item accounting is a massive challenge, but it seems there is an equal risk of green-washing as brown-washing here. This might be acceptable at the aggregate level but potentially harmful and very inaccurate at the individual level. Is there sufficient information returned from the API for your users to communicate data quality in a way aligned with the GHGP reporting standard?
Second line of questioning - GHGP guidance says companies must re-account historic emissions when data becomes available that significantly change estimated emissions. Would your API be compatible with this requirement? The Docs are locked off and the example on the homepage doesn't show any time component (presumably Uber's data would be different for 2022 than 2020).
Some disclosure: I work at the World Resources Institute with many colleagues who co-authored the GHGP guidance, though I have very low association with that project. I am acting on my own here.
I agree context and intricacies are everything. On your point about GFW, I know the team is very conscious and attentive to communicating what the data means.
I don't have the ability to give a highly researched and informed response to this currently, but I disagree with the claim that 'forests worldwide are doing fine'. I don't think you can make a well-educated argument from looking at global aggregated numbers of land classification for a ~25 year time period. Biodiversity, ecosystem connectivity, indigenous rights, agricultural competition, surface water quality, and legal regulations are all important framings to consider as well. Also, while 1990 is a while ago in human terms, it is hyper recent if you think about the destruction of forests over the past 12-thousand years of human-induced landscape disturbance.
I agree that limiting forest loss has been one of the more prominent victories in the environmental space, along with halting ozone depletion. Happy to pat some colleagues on the back for that success...
Cool to see this on HN - this is a product from the World Resources Institute[0] (my employer). I can potentially relay some knowledge from that team or try to direct someone here for questions and comments. The important thing to know for these maps is that Tree Cover Loss is not directly "deforestation". On a pixel by pixel basis (each covering ~30m x 30m) tree loss can occur without the major ecosystem destruction of deforestation. This is still measureable. That is why the visualization of tree cover loss is parameterized by percentage for greater inspection and nuance.
I will take this opportunity to point out the joy and satisfaction that comes along with making these kind of data for impact products. We get to work on globally critical problems, making real measured impact, solving interesting technical problems, and developing features and tools for real and appreciative users across the world. We have dedicated and talented staff (product and engineering teams, in addition to tons of researchers and engagement staff) who are passionate about their work and our collective mission. It's a great environment to work in each and every day. There are always challenges - project/institutional revenue is driven mainly by grants, our salary can not compete with the cash+equity offers of big SV tech companies and VC backed startups. But when I wake up in the morning and come to work (we are a very distributed/remote organization) I know that the time and effort I spend is directed towards a global good and I can easily say the same for almost all of my colleagues. That is invaluable.
If this kind of work interests you feel free to reach out to me (email in profile). We frequently have job openings[1] for PMs, SWEs, and many technical roles.
Edit: Senior Software Engineer position currently open (and would be working on Global Forest Watch) [2].
Big fan of the environmental sciences over here.
You might look for jobs and opportunities at nonprofits/NGOs as places where applied research and interventions are occurring.
Mission-driven organizations, including government ministries, are a good way to feel like the hours you spend at work are directed towards something positive in the world.
In some cases like the GP these sound like direct actions in the field - which sounds really enriching.
NGOs jobs tend to be structured on topics as much as on functions, so making a shortlist of topical keywords might be helpful in the search to become aware of organizations.
You should also look directly at organizations' staff lists, which are typically fairly open and have emails listed.
One thing to be aware of is many nonprofits have tightly budgeted projects with specific needs, so getting your foot in the door on a less interesting project might be needed.
Generalists can benefit here.
I know a few job sites that collect these kind of positions, some techy and some not:
Last I will mention the nonprofit organization I work for - World Resources Institute (https://wri.org). We organize our work around seven global challenges: food, forests, water, the ocean, energy, climate, and cities. We do research, build data products and applications, organize partnerships. We help tackle some the largest questions related to how we collectively transition to a world where more than 9 billion humans have their food and energy needs met through fair economic and environmental systems.
World Resources Institute | Head of Product; Head of Engineering; Product Managers | Washington, DC or REMOTE/Distributed USA, Global | https://wri.org
World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organization [501(c)(3)]. Our mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. We were founded in 1982 and are recognized as one of the top environmental and sustainable development non-profits in the world. Our global network extends to over 1500 staff in close to a dozen countries. Our annual budget is around $200 million USD and we have a 98% score on Charity Navigator.
WRI works on seven global challenges: Food, Forests, Water, Ocean, Energy, Climate, Cities. We work closely with governments, corporations, environmental advocates, academics, and more. Here I am highlighting a few exciting technical job positions, but please look over our careers page (https://wri.org/careers) for all our current opportunities. I would be happy to share more information with you on these positions - my email is in my profile.
You will ultimately own the Data Lab’s digital product strategy, delivery approach, and the relationships with our suppliers. In this role, you will have the opportunity to play a critical role in how we achieve our objectives by helping WRI’s programs, centers and international office develop robust, user-friendly, actionable data products. You will lead the development of a cohesive digital product strategy, and deliver real world impact with products like Aqueduct, Resource Watch and Global Forest Watch.
You will manage and mentor WRI’s growing staff of software and data engineers in order to create an effective, motivated team that consistently delivers on strategic objectives. You will work closely with the Head of Product to guide the technical approach to new projects and initiatives, and will oversee the development and maintenance of shared components (both frontend and backend) for the manipulation and visualization of complex, geospatial data.
Our stack includes GDAL, Python, Node, FastAPI, AWS. We write FOSS and work publicly on GitHub.
World Resources Institute | Head of Product; Senior Software Engineer; Remote Sensing & Data Leads | Washington, DC or REMOTE/Distributed USA, Global | https://wri.org
World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organization [501(c)(3)]. Our mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. We were founded in 1982 and are recognized as one of the top environmental and sustainable development non-profits in the world. Our global network extends to over 1500 staff in close to a dozen countries. Our annual budget is around $200 million USD and we have a 98% score on Charity Navigator.
WRI works on seven global challenges: Food, Forests, Water, Ocean, Energy, Climate, Cities. We work closely with governments, corporations, environmental advocates, academics, and more. Here I am highlighting a few exciting technical job positions, but please look over our careers page (https://wri.org/careers) for all our current opportunities. I would be happy to share more information with you on these positions - my email is in my profile.
You will ultimately own the Data Lab’s digital product strategy, delivery approach, and the relationships with our suppliers. In this role, you will have the opportunity to play a critical role in how we achieve our objectives by helping WRI’s programs, centers and international office develop robust, user-friendly, actionable data products. You will lead the development of a cohesive digital product strategy, and deliver real world impact with products like Aqueduct, Resource Watch and Global Forest Watch.
As a Senior Software Engineer, you will be responsible for providing day-to-day engineering as well as technical leadership and vision for the shared backend infrastructure that powers WRI’s many impactful data platforms, such as Resource Watch, Global Forest Watch, Global Forest Watch Pro, and Aqueduct. In this position, you will work collaboratively across a matrixed team of product managers, GIS analysts, and both in-house and external software engineers.
In this role, you will be part of a team using new methods and the latest data to enhance stakeholder’s trust and confidence in restoring degraded lands across the globe by contributing to large-scale remote sensing efforts to monitor global land cover change. The Global Restoration Initiative works to mobilize action to restore economic and ecological vitality to degraded farms, forests, mangroves, and peatland around the globe.
The Data Team Lead will join a team of highly motivated individuals, including members of WRI’s senior leadership, to support the development and management of Resource Watch. You will be expected to learn quickly on the job and will gain experience with working with real-time data connectors, data documentation and analysis, and geospatial visualizations.
World Resources Institute | Global Director of Data Lab & Forest API Developer & other roles | Washington, DC or REMOTE/Distributed USA, Global | https://wri.org
World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organization [501(c)(3)]. Our mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. We were founded in 1982 and are recognized as one of the top environmental and sustainable development non-profits in the world. Our global network extends to over 1000 staff in close to a dozen countries. You may know about some of our signature data initiatives, including Global Forest Watch, Aqueduct, and Resource Watch.
WRI is always hiring, and may have technical roles that interest you - including positions across all of our staff tiers, from research interns through directors. Please see our careers page if you are interested in applying your skills towards a sustainable future for all: https://jobs.jobvite.com/wri/jobs/
We seek a Global Director for WRI’s Data Lab with vision, passion, and a deep and broad understanding of the rapidly shifting data technology landscape and how it can be harnessed for good. In this role, you will support WRI’s global programs (Food, Forest, Water, Oceans, Energy, Climate and Cities) and International offices integrate “data for impact” strategies into their theories of change. You will build on existing efforts and ensure that WRI remains a leader in an increasingly crowded and competitive field. Responsibilities include leading the Data Lab’s core team and Institute-wide Impact Council. The Impact Council brings together data technologists from across the institute’s global network to drive good practices in using data to drive impact toward WRI’s mission.
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Another position that might be more applicable to the 'normal' HN crowd is a backend API Engineer (job posting: https://jobs.jobvite.com/wri/job/oX1SefwO). From the description:
In this role, you will join a dynamic team of engineers that is changing the future of forest and land-use monitoring. You will be working within a matrixed group across both technical and non-technical teams within the WRI Data Lab including product managers, GIS analysts, internal software engineers and external web developers.
The main focus of your work will be around building and maintaining microservices for a REST API for managing, analyzing and serving out high resolution spatial temporal data. Additionally, you will work on automated data processing, and managing saved datasets in our API for display on various websites of our organization, including Resource Watch and Global Forest Watch.
Our primary coding languages are Python and NodeJS. Our tech stack includes AWS, Terraform, Docker, Github, Kubernetes, Apache Spark, PostgreSQL and Linux.
This position can be remote and the candidate can be based in any of the countries(Indonesia, China, India, UK, Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico, Ethiopia or United States) where we have our International office.
World Resources Institute | Global Director of Data Lab & other roles | Washington, DC or REMOTE/Distributed USA | https://wri.org
World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organization [501(c)(3)]. Our mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. We were founded in 1982 and are recognized as one of the top environmental and sustainable development non-profits in the world. Our global network extends to over 1000 staff in close to a dozen countries. You may know about some of our signature data initiatives, including Global Forest Watch, Aqueduct, and Resource Watch.
WRI is always hiring, and may have technical roles that interest you - including positions across all of our staff tiers, from research interns through directors. Please see our careers page if you are interested in applying your skills towards a sustainable future for all: https://jobs.jobvite.com/wri/jobs/
One important position that may be of interest to the HN crowd is an opening for our Global Director, Data Lab (job posting: https://jobs.jobvite.com/wri/job/oQKwefw4). From the description:
We seek a Global Director for WRI’s Data Lab with vision, passion, and a deep and broad understanding of the rapidly shifting data technology landscape and how it can be harnessed for good. In this role, you will support WRI’s global programs (Food, Forest, Water, Oceans, Energy, Climate and Cities) and International offices integrate “data for impact” strategies into their theories of change. You will build on existing efforts and ensure that WRI remains a leader in an increasingly crowded and competitive field. Responsibilities include leading the Data Lab’s core team and Institute-wide Impact Council. The Impact Council brings together data technologists from across the institute’s global network to drive good practices in using data to drive impact toward WRI’s mission.
World Resources Institute | Global Director of Data Lab & other roles | Washington, DC or Remote/Distributed USA | https://wri.org
World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global non-profit, non-governmental organization [501(c)(3)]. Our mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. We were founded in 1982 and are recognized as one of the top environmental and sustainable development non-profits in the world. Our global network extends to over 1000 staff in close to a dozen countries. You may know about some of our signature data initiatives, including Global Forest Watch, Aqueduct, and Resource Watch. You may also have recently heard about our gift from the Bezos Earth Fund to develop a global land and carbon monitoring system as well as work to electrify school buses in the USA.
WRI is always hiring, and may have technical roles that interest you - please see our careers page if you are interested in applying your skills towards a sustainable future for all: https://jobs.jobvite.com/wri/jobs/
One important position that may be of interest to the HN crowd is an opening for our Global Director, Data Lab (job posting: https://jobs.jobvite.com/wri/job/oQKwefw4). From the description:
We seek a Global Director for WRI’s Data Lab with vision, passion, and a deep and broad understanding of the rapidly shifting data technology landscape and how it can be harnessed for good. In this role, you will support WRI’s global programs (Food, Forest, Water, Oceans, Energy, Climate and Cities) and International offices integrate “data for impact” strategies into their theories of change. You will build on existing efforts and ensure that WRI remains a leader in an increasingly crowded and competitive field. Responsibilities include leading the Data Lab’s core team and Institute-wide Impact Council. The Impact Council brings together data technologists from across the institute’s global network to drive good practices in using data to drive impact toward WRI’s mission.
[0] https://www.wri.org/research/electric-school-bus-us-market-s...