The Beam The Beam Magazine is a quarterly print publication that takes a modern perspective on the energy transition. From Berlin we report about the people, companies and organizations that shape our sustainable energy future around the world. The team is headed by journalist Anne-Sophie Garrigou and designer Dimitris Gkikas. The Beam works with a network of experts and contributors to cover topics from technology to art, from policy to sustainability, from VCs to cleantech start ups. Our language is energy transition and that's spoken everywhere. The Beam is already being distributed in most countries in Europe, but also in Niger, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Japan, Chile and the United States. And this is just the beginning. So stay tuned for future development and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Medium.
September 18th, 2018 | by The Beam
In the four years since the Mexican energy reform, renewables have become part of the energy mix. Yet only 18% of energy comes from renewable resources, and their growth has been constrained by the ghost of the CFE and the inefficient national grid.
September 17th, 2018 | by The Beam
The Fukushima nuclear disaster irreversibly affected the land of Fukushima, casting a sad shadow for the farmers who had cultivated their home land for generations. However, an initiative of a farmer has created a ray of hope by sharing the sunlight between agriculture and electric power generation
September 14th, 2018 | by The Beam
Since 2014, when the reform process of the German Renewable Energy Act was proposed, the reform has been widely criticized by proponents and advocates of community energy projects, which number well over 1,000 across Germany. Community energy advocates feared that smaller community actors would not be able to compete with large corporate investors in the tender process
September 13th, 2018 | by The Beam
“When it comes to batteries, people should not have to choose between their safety and access to power, much less store clean, renewable energy in toxic and hazardous batteries utilizing minerals that abuse human rights.”
September 12th, 2018 | by The Beam
The all-electric series expected to be faster than ever, with 22 cars on the starting line
September 12th, 2018 | by The Beam
GreenPocket CEO Dr. Thomas Goette talks smart metering and plans for expansion
September 11th, 2018 | by The Beam
This startup battles food waste by connecting farms with companies in search of excess produce.
September 11th, 2018 | by The Beam
The administrative court of Wiesbaden ruled Wednesday that Frankfurt must introduce diesel bans as of early
September 11th, 2018 | by The Beam
Sieun Lee is a Programme Officer of the Migration, Environment and Climate Change Division at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva. Sieun first delved into the topic of environmental migration in 2009, while initially researching about climate change negotiations. While reading key climate change decisions and policies, she realized that the human face of climate change was largely absent in dialogues and on paper
September 10th, 2018 | by The Beam
As we enter a more environmentally-conscious age, we need to inevitably build more ecologically responsible and sustainable cities.
September 7th, 2018 | by The Beam
In the race to build a zero carbon economy, a battle has been launched against the model of the individual car.
September 6th, 2018 | by The Beam
Mini-grids don’t just provide access to electricity, they are a catalyst to economic growth and improved livelihoods
September 5th, 2018 | by The Beam
European courts deliberate over the responsibility of politicians to enforce emissions cutting measures, and punishments for if they don’t
September 4th, 2018 | by The Beam
Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess asks company managers to be role models and switch to electric cars.
September 4th, 2018 | by The Beam
By bringing nature back into cities and working with water, rather than against it, cities can improve livability for citizens, and create greater resilience for urban centers. There are also many examples coming to light demonstrating that yellow, red, and white infrastructure are on the rise too. Cities are changing the whole concept of infrastructure, and planners are painting their way to resilient, low-carbon futures
September 3rd, 2018 | by The Beam
Dams are not a fatality, nor is this technology a problem in itself, but we should think of how to slowly move away from them, before we are moved by them
August 31st, 2018 | by The Beam
If Jochen believes it’s the right thing, he likes to convince others of the same. First it was co-founder Hendrik Sämisch to realise their vision of a Virtual Power Plant, then investors helped move the vision along. Today, Next Kraftwerke aggregates and sells electricity from almost 5,000 independent renewable energy generators all over Europe.
August 30th, 2018 | by The Beam
Can a documentary help save this coastal city that is growing faster than urban infrastructure can keep up?
August 29th, 2018 | by The Beam
New study finds that Europeans have paid billions in extra fuel costs in the aftermath of the emissions scandal
August 28th, 2018 | by The Beam
We are helping you to make the best choices for the environment by featuring some of the most sustainable brands out there
August 27th, 2018 | by The Beam
Director of Sustainability, James Rogers, on what The North Face is doing to lessen its environmental impact, and what it can improve
August 27th, 2018 | by The Beam
Our modular farms plug into existing infrastructure and are easily deployed into a given space, often directly at the point of sale. The individual farms are connected to each other through our central farming platform, creating a first of its kind self-optimizing farming network. Our unique cognitive platform orchestrates the network and leverages a sophisticated mesh of sensors and IoT technologies to improve itself over time. Each individual farm acts as a data pipeline, sending information on plant growth to our platform allowing it to learn, adjust, and optimize
August 24th, 2018 | by The Beam
The service will arrive in 2019 with 1,500 e-Golf vehicles in Berlin and other major cities internationally.
August 24th, 2018 | by The Beam
The future of mobility will be multi-modal, and when it involves a motorized vehicle, that vehicle will be shared and zero emission.
August 23rd, 2018 | by The Beam
The Yara Birkeland is the product of Norwegian commitment to transform sea mobility
August 23rd, 2018 | by The Beam
Life without electricity can be dangerous and difficult. While Scranton, Pennsylvania earned the moniker “Electric City” in 1880, 90% of rural Americans still lacked power by the 1940s. When the wealthiest nation is just a few decades removed from full electrification, does this make electrifying Africa, where nearly 600 million live without it, the world’s most urgent yet daunting developmental challenge
August 22nd, 2018 | by The Beam
Although contributions to digitalization debates often address imminent risks, I would actually like to focus on the opportunities. It is notably the renewable energies which stand to profit from these opportunities -- which I refer to as financial real asset investments. Just like the “Internet of Things,” the “Internet of Assets” combines the virtual and real worlds. It is the FinTechs (financial technologies) which are seizing upon the opportunity to disrupt the structures of the financial industry — which have been the status quo since the last industrial revolution of the 19th Century
August 21st, 2018 | by The Beam
Located on the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is maybe not the first country you think of when talking about renewable energy and cleantech development. However, Vietnam is privileged regarding its unexplored potential for diverse renewable energy sources
August 18th, 2018 | by The Beam
Taking the concept and historical analysis of the petroleumscape as the point of departure, the twelve week Master-level design studio “Architecture and Urbanism Beyond Oil” tackled the question of the future of post-oil cities at TU Delft. This time they looked at Dunkirk, a city in Northern France, where hazardous industries, refineries, huge steel plants, petroleum tanks, and other industrial structures have long dominated the landscape.
August 17th, 2018 | by The Beam
With world populations soaring, food production is set to see a bigger demand in our lifetime. But with land scarcity, overfishing, and threats from climate change, traditional animal farming is unsustainable, and organizations such as the United Nations believe it imperative to find new ways of sourcing food. Could the answer lie in insects
