Blair Welch, co-founder of Slate Asset Management , was recently on Institutional Real Estate's podcast talking about grocery-anchored real estate. In it, he talks about the role that this asset class plays in last-mile food logistics, why ecommerce might actually be strengthening its importance, and why it needs to be considered as being distinct from other kinds of retailing. This is a topic that we have covered a few times before on the blog and I think many of you might find it interesting. To have a listen, click here .
Here are some fascinating figures ( from Environment America ) about the growth of renewables in the United States:
Between 2011 and 2020, renewable energy production (solar, wind, and geothermal) grew at an average rate of 15% per year. Assuming this same rate of growth, the US could be on target to meet all of its electricity needs with renewables by 2035.
The US produces 23x more solar power and 3x more wind power than it did in 2011.
The median efficiency for new residential solar panels increased by 37% from 2010 to 2019. At the same time, the cost of distributed solar photovoltaic systems fell by 71% and the cost of utility-scale systems fell by about 80% between 2010 and 2018.
During this same time period (2010-2018), the cost of land-based wind power fell by 66%.
The median range of new electric vehicles increased by more than 3x between 2011 and 2020. The median range is now more than 250 miles on a single charge. By the middle of this year, cumulative plug-in EV sales surpassed 2 million units.
Texas is the US state that currently produces the most renewable energy.
To download the full report by Environment America, click here .
Wired published a great article last week talking about "the 10,000 faces that launched an NFT revolution." What they are of course talking about are the CryptoPunk NFTs that I think most people would agree are one of the "OGs" of NFT art. Initially minted in 2017, they are usually credited with starting the NFT craze that we are all living through today. CryptoPunk #7523, for example, sold for $11.75 million. I think this is the most expensive CryptoPunk in the world. Either way, it is one of the most expensive NFTs out there.
But as I was reading through the article I was reminded of something. Toronto is doing an awful job celebrating the fact that an immense out of crypto innovation has and continues to come out of Toronto. CryptoPunks, which is Larva Labs , was started by two guys from Toronto who met at the University of Toronto. I know that it is still early days for crypto and web3, but why are we not telling this story to the rest of the world and using it to continue to attract the smartest and most ambitious people to our great city?
This is a missed economic development opportunity. And the door won't be open forever. If any of our city leaders are reading this post (which is unlikely), I would encourage you to give this some serious thought and take action.
On a related note, the above article is great evidence for Chris Dixon's argument that, " what the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years ." Larva Labs was started by two software developers who worked during the day and used their evenings and weekends for new passion projects. CryptoPunks wasn't their first initiative, but it has obviously come to define them. Smart people need room to play and experiment. Often that happens after hours.
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Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
