Carbon Credit Research with Skysource  

Isabela A., Fall 2023  

My name is Isa and this semester I had the wonderful opportunity to work with David Hertz as an intern for Skysource, a company which focuses on technological innovations to help solve climate issues. Their most notable project is the Wood-to-Energy Deployable Emergency Water (WEDEW), a machine that converts biomass such as wood chips and nutshells into clean energy and potable water. It has been a very impactful innovation, helping to provide climate, economic, and social benefits to communities in need, and it has even received significant recognition as Time’s Best Inventions of 2020. 

As an intern this semester, I have focused on a project related to the WEDEW and its use as a carbon offset project. Mr. Hertz has partnered with another company which created a fully digital carbon registry, and is working to get the WEDEW on the market so companies can fund its deployment as a way to help meet their greenhouse gas reduction goals. In order to aid this project, my work has been centered around research and the development of a digital calculator to help measure the impacts of the WEDEW. This included preliminary investigation into carbon credits and registries, as well as an economic analysis of biochar which helped to refine the impact calculations. The goal of the project is to understand how to best value the WEDEW, and measure its benefits not only on the climate, but also on local communities through impacts such as improved health.  

As someone with an interest in the intersection of sustainability and technology, this has been an incredible opportunity to see firsthand how innovative technology can help solve climate issues, and I have enjoyed seeing how both skysource and the partner company are using digital methods to improve sustainability efforts and benefit people around the world.