When I was 13, my dad gave me Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor (nerd alert in the Fox household). Ostensibly this is one of Warren Buffet’s favorite books and was to be the undergirding for sound financial decision making. It’s funny, because I didn’t take away much at the time-but revisited the book decades later when I heard someone say “the weight of climate change” at NY Climate Week. It prompted memory of two quotes from that book echo in my head whenever I think about climate investing in this volatile age:

Nexxa.ai is augmenting the engineered transition. Location: San Francisco How we met: Old-fashioned cold call Propeller theme: Ocean Industrials Propeller investment stage: Seed

In part one of this series, I explored how we're rethinking sources of ocean energy — from thermal gradients to nuclear SMRs to currents. But understanding energy in the ocean means looking at both sides of the equation. This time, I want to talk about uses: where energy is being consumed in ocean and coastal environments today, where demand is shifting, and where new opportunities are emerging. Because reimagining energy infrastructure only matters if it maps to real demand. And in the ocean, that demand is not only changing — it’s being reshaped by concerns about energy security and shifting cost curves.

When most people think of energy from the ocean, four primary sources typically come to mind: offshore wind, offshore oil and gas, wave, and tidal power. And for good reason — these are the legacy sectors that have absorbed decades of capital and engineering focus.

Orpheus Ocean provides flexible and cost-effective solutions for truly scalable deep ocean intelligence. Location: New Bedford, MA How we met: Incubated at WHOI Propeller theme: Ocean Industrials Propeller investment stage: Pre-Seed

Vema stimulates geologic hydrogen. Their low-cost hydrogen will be a key unlock for maritime transition fuels, among others. Location: Orleans, France How we met: Our friends at Marble Propeller theme: Ocean Industrials Propeller investment stage: Seed

Indeximate provides subsea energy cable intelligence, real time cable health, and maritime domain awareness. Location: London, UK How we met: Our operating partner Propeller theme: Industrials Propeller investment stage: Seed

Blue Energy uses shipyard manufacturing to reduce the cost and build time of small modular nuclear power plants. Location: Washington DC, USA How we met: on zoom, Jake pitching us with his newborn strapped to his chest. Propeller theme: Ocean Industrials Propeller investment stage: Seed

Allium addresses one of the hardest problems in the ocean-building things that last. Their stainless clad rebar will change how we scope ocean and coastal builds. Location: Boston, MA, USA How we met: Jake Russell found 'em! Propeller theme: Ocean Industrials Propeller investment stage: Seed

In the last 60 years, natural disasters, driven by climate change, are punishing coastlines at a far greater rate than inland disasters (see graph). Furthermore, the extremes of these events will worsen and may likely increase in frequency. Not to mention the fact that 40% of the world’s population lives in, commutes through, works around, and is otherwise part of this impact zone.