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Ep 13: Bret Kugelmass, Managing Director at the Energy Impact Center
Podcast |
My Climate Journey
Publisher |
Jason Jacobs, Cody Simms, Yin Lu
Media Type |
audio
Podknife tags |
Climate Change, 
Interview, 
Science & Medicine
Categories Via RSS |
Business, 
Science, 
Technology
Publication Date |
Jun 24, 2019
Episode Duration |
00:47:22

In this episode, I interviewed Bret Kugelmass, the Managing Director of the Energy Impact Center.

We covered a number of topics, including Bret’s background and what led him to focus so passionately on nuclear, his atypical entry point and tremendously successful podcast, the work he is doing at Energy Impact Center, and his ultimate vision for what Energy Impact Center can become and the mark he wants to leave on the world.

Out of all of the people I’ve met so far in my journey, Bret is the closet to my spirit animal - recovering technology entrepreneur looking to work on something more purposeful, concerned about climate change, deep dive into climate brought him to nuclear, and had many discussions and started a podcast on his quest to enter this new field without a historical background in it.

Bret put out some pretty bold, controversial viewpoints. Definitely thought provoking, and whether you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing, a worthwhile listen, for sure.

I would love to hear your thoughts after listening to the episode.

His bio here:

Bret Kugelmass is an American technology entrepreneur who's turned his focus to climate and energy advocacy. One the early pioneers in commercializing drones (Airphrame - acq. 2017) for environmental surveys and emergency response he's experienced first-hand market growth within complex technical, regulatory, and public opinion framework.

He received his Masters in robotics from Stanford and his earlier work includes designing a lunar rover controller for NASA, a concept electric car for Panasonic, and automating solar manufacturing processes for Nanosolar.

Motivated by the climate crises he moved to DC to set up a research initiative (Energy Impact Center) focused on exploring nuclear power and its role in deep decarbonization. He also hosts a podcast (Titans of Nuclear) where he’s conducted hundreds of audio interviews with experts throughout the nuclear sector communicating to a tech savvy and environmentally concerned audience the unique complexities and benefits of the technology.

In this episode, Bret and I discuss:

  • Bret’s background and what caused him to join the climate fight
  • His journey talking to scientists and experts and the three a-ha moments that led to his focus on nuclear
  • Bret’s view on the single only solution to climate change
  • A deep dive into the world of nuclear including a line by line rebuttal of all the common concerns with nuclear energy and reactors
  • Bret’s ultimate goal and definition of success with his work

I hope you enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and provide suggestions for future guests or topics you'd like to see covered on the show.

Links for topics discussed in this episode:

Get connected with MCJ: 

*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at info@mcj.vc, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

In this episode, I interviewed Bret Kugelmass, the Managing Director of the Energy Impact Center. Out of all of the people I’ve met so far in my journey, Bret is the closet to my spirit animal - recovering technology entrepreneur looking to work on something more purposeful, concerned about climate change, deep dive into climate brought him to nuclear, more than 1200 discussions and 170 podcast episodes in nuclear to better understand it and get to know everyone, and now doing impactful work with the Energy Impact Center. Bret put out some pretty bold, controversial viewpoints. I left the episode with mixed feelings. On the one hand, what if he is wrong? What kind of damage would it do if he succeeded in getting everyone to focus in this way, and it was misguided? But even worse, what if he is right? What if the only thing that can get us out of this pickle is nuclear, and we are otherwise spinning wheels and wasting valuable time? You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and provide suggestions for future guests or topics you'd like to see covered on the show.

In this episode, I interviewed Bret Kugelmass, the Managing Director of the Energy Impact Center.

We covered a number of topics, including Bret’s background and what led him to focus so passionately on nuclear, his atypical entry point and tremendously successful podcast, the work he is doing at Energy Impact Center, and his ultimate vision for what Energy Impact Center can become and the mark he wants to leave on the world.

Out of all of the people I’ve met so far in my journey, Bret is the closet to my spirit animal - recovering technology entrepreneur looking to work on something more purposeful, concerned about climate change, deep dive into climate brought him to nuclear, and had many discussions and started a podcast on his quest to enter this new field without a historical background in it.

Bret put out some pretty bold, controversial viewpoints. Definitely thought provoking, and whether you find yourself agreeing or disagreeing, a worthwhile listen, for sure.

I would love to hear your thoughts after listening to the episode.

His bio here:

Bret Kugelmass is an American technology entrepreneur who's turned his focus to climate and energy advocacy. One the early pioneers in commercializing drones (Airphrame - acq. 2017) for environmental surveys and emergency response he's experienced first-hand market growth within complex technical, regulatory, and public opinion framework.

He received his Masters in robotics from Stanford and his earlier work includes designing a lunar rover controller for NASA, a concept electric car for Panasonic, and automating solar manufacturing processes for Nanosolar.

Motivated by the climate crises he moved to DC to set up a research initiative (Energy Impact Center) focused on exploring nuclear power and its role in deep decarbonization. He also hosts a podcast (Titans of Nuclear) where he’s conducted hundreds of audio interviews with experts throughout the nuclear sector communicating to a tech savvy and environmentally concerned audience the unique complexities and benefits of the technology.

In this episode, Bret and I discuss:

  • Bret’s background and what caused him to join the climate fight
  • His journey talking to scientists and experts and the three a-ha moments that led to his focus on nuclear
  • Bret’s view on the single only solution to climate change
  • A deep dive into the world of nuclear including a line by line rebuttal of all the common concerns with nuclear energy and reactors
  • Bret’s ultimate goal and definition of success with his work

I hope you enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and provide suggestions for future guests or topics you'd like to see covered on the show.

Links for topics discussed in this episode:

Get connected with MCJ: 

*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at info@mcj.vc, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

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