Eric Wood: Smart Capital Is Moving to Environmental and Infrastructure Tech

For decades, capital flowing into real estate and infrastructure followed predictable patterns. Investors favored assets with visible returns—land, buildings, and traditional utilities—while environmental systems were often treated as fixed costs rather than areas for innovation.

That calculus is changing

Across the United States, particularly in fast-growing regions like the Southeast, environmental and infrastructure technologies have emerged as one of the most compelling investment frontiers. Pressures on water systems, wastewater treatment, energy recovery, and environmental compliance are forcing both public and private sectors to rethink how critical systems are financed, built, and maintained.

For Eric Wood, founder of Old Well Co. and a longtime real estate developer and investor, the shift reflects a broader recognition that environmental infrastructure is no longer peripheral to growth—it is central to it.

“Capital moves toward problems that can’t be ignored,” Wood says. “Right now, environmental infrastructure is one of the largest unresolved challenges facing growth markets.”

From Real Estate to Systems-Level Investment

Wood’s career began in traditional real estate development, delivering thousands of homes and large-scale communities across the Carolinas and beyond. Over time, however, he began to see the limits of addressing growth through buildings alone.

“As communities scale, the stress shows up in the systems underneath them,” he says. “Water quality, wastewater capacity, energy efficiency—those issues determine whether development actually works.”

That realization has shaped Old Well Co.’s investment strategy, which increasingly targets companies operating at the intersection of infrastructure, environmental technology, and scalable systems.

Why Environmental Technology Is Attracting Capital

Environmental infrastructure has historically lagged behind other sectors in innovation, often constrained by public funding cycles and conservative procurement models. Today, that environment is shifting.

Municipalities face mounting compliance costs related to emerging contaminants, aging systems, and climate-driven volatility. At the same time, regulatory pressure around wastewater discharge, PFAS mitigation, and resource recovery is intensifying.

“These aren’t discretionary upgrades,” Wood notes. “They’re requirements. And requirements create durable demand.”

Companies that can deliver more efficient, cost-effective solutions stand to benefit from long-term contracts and recurring revenue models—an increasingly attractive proposition for private capital.

EM Hydropure: Addressing a Growing Water Crisis

One example is EM Hydropure, an environmentally focused company backed by Old Well Co. that is developing proprietary technologies to address wastewater challenges across municipal, industrial, and agricultural applications.

The company’s approach targets a wide range of contaminants, from agricultural waste to emerging threats such as PFAS and dioxane. With patents pending on both chemical compounds and mechanical processes, EM Hydropure aims to provide solutions that are both more effective and less costly than traditional treatment methods.

“Water scarcity and water quality are becoming defining issues,” Wood says. “Any technology that can improve outcomes while lowering cost has enormous relevance.”

RJ Renewables and the Rise of Resource Recovery

A similar investment thesis underpins RJ Renewables, a company focused on scalable cold-plasma systems for recovering and manufacturing products from waste streams.

Rather than treating waste as a liability, RJ Renewables positions it as a resource—one that can be processed efficiently at scale. With plans to launch its first U.S.-based facility in late 2025, the company reflects a broader shift toward circular infrastructure models.

“The future of infrastructure isn’t just treatment,” Wood says. “It’s recovery. It’s turning problems into inputs.”

A Long-Term Capital Perspective

What ties these investments together is a long-term view of risk and return. Environmental and infrastructure technology often requires patience, regulatory fluency, and deep operational understanding. But for investors willing to engage at that level, the upside can be substantial.

“These systems don’t get replaced every five years,” Wood says. “Once adopted, they become embedded in how communities function.”

As population growth continues and environmental pressures mount, the flow of capital into these sectors is likely to accelerate. For Wood, the trend represents a necessary evolution.

“Smart capital goes where the fundamentals are undeniable,” he says. “Right now, that’s environmental and infrastructure technology.”