Press

Carbon Insights

• Carbon Insights acquired by Aspiration, news broke by FastComapny
• Carbon Insights spotlighted on Innovate Climate’s newsletter as a trending startup
• Chad Hunter, CEO/co-founder of Carbon Insights, is profiled by Green.Org

NREL

• The U.S. Department of Energy recognized Chad Hunter and his analysis team at the 2021 Annual Merit Review Awards
• PV Magazine highlights Chad Hunter (PI) and his team’s analysis on long duration energy storage technologies
• Chad Hunter leads breakthrough analysis on the economics of electrified heavy-duty trucks

Bird

• Chad’s lifecycle analysis shows vast carbon emissions gap between cars and Bird scooters
• EDF Climate Corps highlights Chad’s electric mobility modeling platform he created for Bird
• Lifecycle carbon equivalent emissions for various transportation modes (Source)

Selected Publications

Below are selected highlights of my research and work. Find all my publications here.

Techno-economic analysis of long-duration energy storage systems (2021)

This analysis was published in the high-impact journal Joule (Impact Factor: 41).

Abstract: As variable renewable energy penetration increases beyond 80%, clean power systems will require long-duration energy storage or flexible, low-carbon generation. Here, we provide a detailed techno-economic evaluation and uncertainty analysis of applicable technologies and identify challenges and opportunities to support electric grid planning. We show that for a 120-h storage duration rating, hydrogen systems with geologic storage and natural gas with carbon capture are the least-cost low-carbon technologies for both current and future capital costs. These results are robust to uncertainty for the future capital cost scenario, but adiabatic compressed air and pumped thermal storage could be the least-cost technologies in the current capital cost scenario under uncertainty. Finally, we present a new storage system using heavy-duty vehicle fuel cells that could reduce the levelized cost of energy by 13%–20% compared with the best previously considered storage technology and, thus, could help enable very high (>80%) renewable energy grids.

Graphical abstract from the long-duration energy storage techno-economic analysis (Source)

Electrified Heavy-Duty Vehicle Powertrain Total Cost of Ownership Analysis (2021)

This breakthrough report compares six truck powertrain technologies to quantify their total cost of ownership (TCO) and identifies operating scenarios where each technology may have an economic advantage. The powertrains analyzed include conventional diesel, diesel hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, compressed natural gas, fuel cell electric, and battery all-electric.

Chad provided a DOE H2IQ Hour webinar in September 2021 reviewing this work and the major conclusions to over 400 attendees. (Webinar Link)

Report cover from Chad et al.’s Total Cost of Ownership analysis for Class 8 Tractors and Class 4 Parcel Delivery Trucks (Source)

Awards

Below are selected awards of my professional career. Find all my awards here.