There comes a point where understanding is no longer enough. Up to now, much of what we’ve explored in Has2BGreen has been about making sense of the world — the systems, the structures, the forces that shape outcomes. That matters. Without that clarity, it’s very difficult to act in a way that is effective. But there is another step. What happens when you move from understanding… into reality? This new series, Inside the System, sits within our broader In Real Life course. It exists because that transition — from knowledge to action — is not straightforward. In fact, it can be one of the most disorienting moments people experience. When you step into a role — whether that’s as a councillor, a campaigner, or someone trying to make change locally — the expectation is often that things will begin to move. You have a mandate. You have ideas. You have intent. And then something else happens. Processes appear. Decisions seem to have already been shaped. Questions do not always receive clear answers. Movement is slower than expected. It can feel confusing. And, at times, personal. This series was created to make sense of that experience. Not to criticise individuals. Not to encourage confrontation. But to understand how systems behave when you enter them. Across these lessons, we look at things that are rarely explained openly: Where decisions are actually made. Why process can feel overwhelming. What role gatekeepers play. How resistance shows up — and how to recognise it. What it means to stay effective over time. And how influence begins to build quietly, often before it becomes visible. This is not a set of tactics. It is a way of seeing. Because without that understanding, it is very easy to become frustrated, to push in ways that don’t work, or to step back entirely. And that’s not a reflection of the individual — it’s a reflection of how complex systems respond to change. With that understanding, something different becomes possible. You begin to see where movement can happen.

Every battery that goes into an EV or a grid storage system starts with getting the cathode material right. If the crystal structure is off, the battery underperforms. Or worse, it degrades fast and ends up as waste. I work on NMC cathode compositions. The kind that go into the batteries powering electric vehicles and renewable energy storage. We were iterating on dozens of them. Every single one needed XRD (X-ray diffraction) to confirm the crystal structure before we could move forward with anything else. If the structure is wrong, nothing downstream matters. The problem was the XRD refinement itself. Open GSAS-II. Load the raw data. Set up the background. Run Le Bail. Refine scale, lattice, profile, atoms, cation mixing, preferred orientation. Converge. Check the fit. Maybe add impurity phases and do it again. That is roughly 10 steps, and every step has parameters you need to get right. A new person on the team? Couple of days just to learn the workflow. Someone experienced? Still two to three hours per sample to get a clean Rietveld refinement. Multiply that by dozens of compositions and you are burning weeks on something that should not be the bottleneck. Weeks spent on refinement is weeks not spent finding the next cathode composition that could make batteries cheaper, longer lasting, or faster to charge. That matters here because better batteries mean more affordable EVs, more reliable grid storage for solar and wind, and fewer reasons for anyone to stay on fossil fuels. So we built a tool at Maatria. We call it MAXA. The idea is simple: you should not need to babysit a 10-step refinement manually when the logic can be codified. Here is how it works: 1. Upload your raw XRD file and select your cathode composition. MAXA runs a 12-stage automated Rietveld refinement pipeline using GSAS-II under the hood. Background, Le Bail, scale, lattice, profile, atomic coordinates, cation mixing, preferred orientation, convergence, and final validation. 2. If the fit quality is poor, it detects residual peaks, suggests possible impurity phases, and lets you decide which to include for multi-phase refinement. 3. You get lattice parameters, c/a ratio, cation mixing percentage, bond distances, Rwp, and a full exportable report. Seconds, not hours.

Came across this video on YouTube this evening, would be interesting to dig into how efficient this can be but it does look like a good solution to the lack of rotating mass in the energy grid as we move away from turbine based generation. https://youtu.be/nDfBayfTWy0 This video from Matt Ferrell helps explain why the rotating mass is needed. https://youtu.be/Z95t-f-0IjI I think it is positive to see how many different challenges are finding solutions from many different places. It is starting to feel like the path forward towards a less fossil fuel dependent future is on the up tick of the S curve regardless of the enthusiasm or lack thereof from politicians.

Why is it so hard for governments to act on big challenges like climate change — even when the science is clear? In The Global Casino, economist Ann Pettifor explains how deregulated global financial markets often shape political decisions and economic priorities. When money can move instantly around the world in search of short-term profit, long-term investments — like climate solutions — can struggle to compete. Understanding the financial system helps explain why progress on climate action can be so slow. 👉 Read my full review here

I’ve just released a new module in the classroom: The Climate Emergency Switch This module explores a question many of us keep circling: If governments can move at lightning speed for war or a pandemic…why does climate action still move so slowly? Inside this module, we look at: - why democratic systems are designed to delay - how governments override that delay in real emergencies - what the pandemic revealed about fast political action - the six triggers that flip a system into emergency mode - and what would need to change for climate to be treated with the same urgency - This isn’t about panic or blame. It’s about understanding how power actually moves — so we stop shouting at the wrong parts of the system and start applying pressure where it matters. 📘 The Climate Emergency Switch is now live in the Classroom. Take it at your own pace. It’s designed to bring clarity, not overwhelm. As always, I’d love to hear: - what surprised you - what challenged your assumptions - or where this connects with what you’re seeing in the real world - This module is about recognising that speed is possible —and learning how systems decide when to use it.