Software for Climate
An 8-week course to unlock your potential as a climate change software developer. Understand software’s role in climate solutions, explore four major applications of software in climate, craft a portfolio of projects, and build a network of climate tech peers to help you land a climate job.
Course starts Feb 4, 2025
Application deadline Feb 3, 2025
Live sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays 9:00am - 10:30am PT
Add these climate-relevant capabilities to your toolbox:
- Public climate-relevant data sources
- Geospatial + AI
- Energy modeling
- Software/hardware interfaces
Course overview
Learn about and start building critical software applications for large climate tech industries.
Key course details:
- 8 weeks | 6 hours/week | 100% online
- Twice weekly live sessions
- Class recordings available
- 5 portfolio projects
- Personalized feedback
- Mentorship from practitioners
- Digital certificate upon graduation
Deep dives into:
- Public climate-relevant data sources
- Geospatial + AI
- Energy modeling
- Software/hardware interfaces
Understand the software climate landscape
Create a climate tech portfolio
Build a climate tech network
Portfolio projects from our Fellows:
Cutting Carbs for NYC Buildings
Cohort Jan, 2024
To address the lack of a publicly available “map” of the effects of Local Law 97 (building energy efficiency) in New York City, this team built visualizations of LL97 that answer key questions and would add value to both policymakers and landlords.
- Vianney Brandicourt | Fellow @ Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
- Greg Cox | Director of Marketing at Setplex
- +3 more
Submission:
Climate Tech Inventor Kit
Cohort Nov, 2023
Developed an educational toolkit that combines hardware (sensors, microcontrollers, renewable energy sources), software, and curriculum to teach climate science and climate tech innovation in an interactive and engaging way.
- Jennifer Turliuk | Fellow @ Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech
- Chad Carty | Director of Marketing at Setplex
Submission:
Predicting Carbon and Cost Savings of Home Efficiency
Cohort Jan, 2024
Created an impact calculator for home energy improvements. Quantifying savings from home improvement projects (both CO2e emissions and dollar cost savings) will create a positive consumer experience and lead homeowners to invest in more energy-efficiency projects.
- Zach Yeskel | Director of Product Management at Google
- Laura Chevalier | Developer Relations Engineer at Google
- +2 more
Submission:
Meet the course creators
We are Jason and Jaime Curtis, a husband-and-wife team. We’ve built on our combined 20+ years of experience in software and climate solutions to launch Option Zero, a software consultancy for climate companies and initiatives.
Jaime Curtis
Co-founder at Option Zero
Jaime Curtis is the co-founder of Option Zero, a software-for-climate consultancy. Jaime is a software engineer and technical lead with over a decade of experience in the software industry at big tech (Microsoft), climate tech (EnergySavvy/Uplight, Osmo Systems), and startup unicorns (Convoy). Jaime specializes in helping teams and organizations focus on solving the right problems.
Jason Curtis
Co-founder at Option Zero
Jason Curtis is the co-founder of Option Zero, a software-for-climate consultancy. Jason is a software engineer and technical lead with 10+ years of experience in software giants such as Meta and in climate tech (EnergySavvy/Uplight, Osmo Systems). Alongside a strong background in full-stack development, Jason specializes in building data-driven analyses and applications.
event concluded
Coding for Climate Impact
- Sep 11, 2024
- 12:00pm - 1:00pm PT
Join Jaime and Jason Curtis as they delve into climate tech applications with real-world case studies, such as leveraging public datasets to compile energy usage reports for homebuyers and using industrial automation tools to coordinate R&D of fish-safe hydropower turbines.
event concluded
Open House: Software for Climate
- Sep 24, 2024
- 9:00am - 10:00am PT
Join us for a live Q&A session to learn more about our course Software for Climate from the course creators Jaime Curtis and Jason Curtis, co-founders of Option Zero. Take a deeper look at the course content and hear firsthand from alumni to understand if the course is right for you and your climate journey.
Is this course for me?
Software for Climate is for technology builders looking to apply their software expertise toward developing impactful climate solutions.
Software engineers
Dive in and start building software with real climate applications
Product managers
Become fluent in the building blocks key to climate tech
Data scientists
Explore climate-relevant datasets and build data-driven analyses for climate solutions
This course was a great introduction to how you can get involved with tech solutions for the climate crisis. After diving into plenty of resources, the time seems ripe for action! And now I have a community I can connect with to keep the momentum going.
Evan Dwyer
Android Developer at Expedia Group
Course schedule
- Week 1
Software for Climate
- Why software is critical to climate solutions
- Big picture of software x climate
- Week 2
Deep Dive: Public climate-relevant data sources
- Understand the value of public data & the "data liquidity play" in climate tech
- Synthesize data from public data sources, consumed via API, into a new data product
- Week 3
Deep Dive: Geospatial + AI
- Dig in to geospatial and AI technologies and how they apply to climate tech
- Analyze satellite data with AI to produce insights relevant to climate solutions
- Week 4
Deep Dive: Energy modeling
- Understand the categories & tools for energy modeling in climate tech
- Model the energy usage of your own home or the energy generation of a rooftop solar system
- Week 5
Deep Dive: Software/hardware interfaces
- Become familiar with major categories of hardware/software interface
- Collect data from your own IoT devices
- Week 6
Final project kick-off
- Pitch your project and optionally form teams with your peers
- Week 7
Final project peer reviews
- Receive feedback from fellow learners
- Week 8
Final project presentations
- Present your project and see what your peers have created
Why is software pivotal to climate change solutions?
As a software engineer, data scientist, or product manager, your skills are crucial in climate tech, a field dedicated to battling climate change with technology innovations. This course offers a pathway to apply your software engineering expertise towards optimizing renewable energy systems, analyzing climate-relevant data, and developing impactful climate change solutions. It’s more than a career shift—it’s your chance to make a lasting impact on our planet’s future.
Becoming a Climate Change Software Developer
This course is designed for aspiring climate change software developers. You’ll dive deep into the integration of software in climate tech, learning about public data sources, geospatial AI, energy modeling, and software/hardware interfaces. Through hands-on projects and personalized feedback, you’ll develop the skills needed to make a real impact in the fight against climate change. Build your portfolio, expand your network, and prepare to lead in this critical field.
The Terra.do difference
Live classes
- Bi-weekly live classes led by Jaime and Jason
- Learn with and from other learners
Up-to-date materials
- Latest developments in climate tech
- Lifetime access for learners
Personalized attention
- Support from course creators
- Individual feedback on all assignments
Mentorship
- Access to mentors and peers in climate tech
- Software engineers in climate panel event
Pricing and expected commitment
Merit-/Need-based financial aid
Pay in installments
Frequently asked questions
The course is eight weeks long and will be offered from February 4 – March 28, 2025. Live sessions will run on Tuesdays and Fridays from 9:00am – 10:30am PT. Attendance is strongly encouraged, but recordings will also be made available.
Mid-career software engineers looking to make the transition into climate tech. Individuals who are concerned about climate change and ready to apply their careers to help solve it but aren’t sure where to start.
The course does not require professional software engineering experience, though a basic level of familiarity with code is required.
In this class, you will read, modify, and optionally extend existing Python code written in Hex interactive notebooks. The minimum bar to complete each assignment is to follow explicit instructions to update a few lines of code, with optional extensions for those coming in with more programming experience.
The final project is open-ended, with the expectation that you will build on your own unique past experience as well as what you have learned in the course.
Mid-career software engineers looking to make the transition into climate tech. Individuals who are concerned about climate change and ready to apply their careers to help solve it but aren’t sure where to start. Fellows with no prior programming experience have been able to complete the assignments and found the course overall to be valuable and instructive.
Several organizations have learning or professional development budgets for their employees. We encourage you to enquire about and utilize this budget to attend the course. Terra.do will help you get reimbursed for the course by providing an invoice, a certificate, and any other documentation you need. If you have your company’s approval, we can arrange for your company to pay directly.
We expect to run more cohorts given ongoing demand for this course.
We want this program to work for learners of all stripes, regardless of individual or organizational ability to pay. Please apply—we will make every effort to accommodate the circumstances of qualified students. If it helps, we can offer you an installment-based payment schedule where you pay the course fee in 3 parts.
You can defer your enrollment up until 14 days after the course starts.
If you’re unsatisfied for any reason by the end of week 2, we’ll refund you 100%. We only request that you give us feedback so we can improve.
If you have a question about this course that isn’t covered in the FAQ, please email us at software-for-climate@terra.do.