It’s a special edition of the Energy Gang this week. New York University’s 2040 Now event is an initiative focused on addressing the challenges posed by climate change, and this week the Energy Gang joined in. As part of the week of exercises, talks, exhibitions and discussions, regular Energy Gang member Amy Myers-Jaffe led a workshop on building energy transition scenarios, looking for ways to deepen our understanding of the present and strengthen our predictions about the future. The Energy Gang was there to record live in the Kimmel Center for University Life at NYU. 

Scenario analysis is particularly useful for analyzing the energy transition, because its trajectory is still uncertain, and a large number of variables can influence outcomes. Some of the most important of those variables are qualitative rather than quantitative, making them hard to analyze in a computer simulation such as an energy systems model. Thinking about a wide range of scenarios is a vital tool for testing assumptions and highlighting alternative possibilities. 

Amy and host Ed Crooks were joined by Energy Gang regular Robbie Orvis, Senior Director of Modelling and Analysis at the think-tank Energy Innovation, and by Erin Coughlan de Perez, Dignitas Associate Professor at Tufts University.

With contributions from NYU professors, students and invited guests, they discussed the aspects of climate, policy, technology and finance that will shape our energy system and climate over the decades to come. And they ask the question: when we try to predict the future of energy, what are we missing?

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Alternative sources of power are moving into the spotlight.

As the share of dispatchable power in our electricity system declines, with coal-fired plants giving way to variable wind and solar, maintaining reliable supplies to keep the lights on becomes more complex. Investment in wind and solar is still vital for making progress towards net zero emissions, but other sources of low-carbon power are also moving into the spotlight. Those can include nuclear and hydrogen generation, as well as wave and tidal power, but there’s another source of renewable energy that’s been attracting a lot of attention recently: geothermal.   

Today geothermal accounts for just 0.5% of renewables-based capacity for electricity generation globally, but some think it could play a much bigger role in the future. In the past few years there has been growing interest in geothermal energy, driven by some exciting innovations. Quaise Energy, for example, is developing a millimeter wave drill that they say could enable them to deliver energy at $40 per MWh. Fervo is a startup working on horizontal drilling for geothermal, enabling them to reach more areas and lowering surface footprints.   

On the Energy Gang this week, Ed Crooks is joined by Dr. Melissa Lott, the Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and by Nneka Kibuule, who is a Principal at Aligned Climate Capital and co-founder of GreenTech Noir. They discuss the potential of geothermal as an energy source, and the important questions over its environmental impact. What are the trade-offs when we develop new sources of low-carbon energy that could help tackle climate change, but create local impacts on sensitive ecosystems?

There’s a $100 million plan to turn apartments in New York City into Virtual Power Plants, or VPPs. There are now hundreds of VPP projects across the US and Canada, with New York and California being the biggest states. But what exactly are they, and how do they work? In New York City, the plan is to control air-conditioning units in real-time to reduce electricity demand, relieving stress on the grid and helping to cut emissions. Nneka Kibuule explains how Aligned Climate Capital has invested in several businesses developing technologies for VPPs, making it possible to turn homes and businesses into a collective energy resource for utilities and the grid.   

Finally, the focus on ESG investing continues. When investors and companies look at ESG scores and ratings, are they getting too hung up on the numbers and not paying enough attention to all the other important factors that are more difficult to measure?

Subscribe to the show so you don’t miss an episode and follow us on Twitter, we’re @theenergygang  

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati—the premier legal services provider to technology, life sciences, and clean energy enterprises. Wilson Sonsini has built a leading energy and climate solutions practice and its team is dedicated to a single goal: advancing what’s next in the energy industry.    

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It has been a turbulent month in the financial sector, which could have big implications for the world of energy. Mobilising capital is vital for achieving international goals to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of global warming. As the global banking system shudders from the blow of Silicon Valley Bank collapsing, is long-term climate investment being pushed further to the fringes of the agenda? 

The latest Assessment Report from the IPCC has delivered what’s been called a “final warning” on limiting global warming to 1 .5 degrees C, saying we are on course for about 3.2 degrees C of warming by the end of the century. The report, which aims to bring together and summarise the state of the world’s scientific knowledge on climate change, warns that flows of investment, especially to developing countries, “fall short of the levels needed for adaptation and to achieve mitigation goals across all sectors and regions.” 

As we learn more about the climate crisis, are we heading for another financial crisis, too? Clean energy share prices have been falling on concerns that the sector will be hit by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Meanwhile, President Biden has used his first veto to protect a government regulation that seeks to encourage the use of ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors in investment decision. The Republicans are leading the charge against ESG investing, arguing that “woke Wall Street” is putting investors’ money at risk. 

On the show today: Ed Crooks is joined by Dr Melissa Lott from Columbia University, and Shanu Mathew of Lazard Asset Management, to analyse the financial storm we’ve seen brewing in the past few weeks. What exactly has been going on in the banking system? What are the implications for clean energy as the economic clouds are gathering? Rising interest rates are a big contributor to pressure on the banking system, and also have implications for renewables. 

The gang then get on to the ESG backlash: is it real, and what does it mean for investors and for clean energy companies that need capital? Finally, they review the IPCC report: although the problems it sets out look dire, there are solutions, and Melissa and Shanu have some ideas for how to make them happen.

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Will permitting reforms make it easier to build infrastructure projects?

A group called the REPEAT Project at Princeton University calculated last year that to unlock the full emissions reduction potential of the Inflation Reduction Act, the US needed to increase its total high-voltage transmission capacity by about 2.3% a year. That is more than double the pace achieved over the past decade. In Washington, reforms that could make it easier to build all kinds of energy infrastructure, including the grid connections vitally needed for wind, solar and storage, are back on the agenda. Attempts to build bipartisan support for reform in the last Congress failed, but with Republicans, who have control of the House of Representatives, now launching a plan of their own, a window for bipartisan agreement on permitting reform may be opening. Are these the steps needed that will unlock all the investment in renewable energy projects that the US needs?   

Also on the show: the impact on energy markets from the war in Ukraine seems to be dissipating, but the concerns around energy security remain as strong as ever. Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of NATO, said this recently: “Not so long ago, many argued that importing Russian gas was purely an economic issue. It is not. It is a political issue. It is about our security. Because Europe’s dependency on Russian gas made us vulnerable. So, we should not make the same mistakes with China and other authoritarian regimes.” What lessons have we learned following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? How concerned should we be about excessive reliance on China for low-carbon technologies?  

Ed Crooks is joined by Dr. Melissa Lott, Director of Research at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and Emily Grubert, Associate Professor of Sustainable Energy Policy, at Notre Dame University, to unpack these topics. They also assess the latest innovations in battery chemistry. The availability of critical minerals including lithium, nickel and cobalt for batteries has long been an area for concern. But technological breakthroughs mean that batteries without nickel or cobalt are now a highly competitive option for electric vehicles. And meanwhile batteries without lithium are starting to emerge as viable possibilities. The gang discuss what these breakthroughs mean for the energy transition. 

As always, please get in touch and let us know your thoughts. Check out our Twitter to suggest any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang.  

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The energy industry influences climate change, and climate change also influences the energy industry. Understanding the consequences of a warming world is essential for making the right decisions as trillions of dollars are invested in energy production around the world. While we work to mitigate climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, we also need to adapt to the changes that we cannot prevent.

On the Energy Gang today, Ed Crooks and Melissa Lott are joined by Dr Sarah Kapnick from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The NOAA collects data from a fleet of satellites, buoys, weather stations and balloons, and uses the information to try to understand our changing world. Its data and modelling on global warming and its impacts is increasingly being used to inform decisions on renewable investment, emergency planning, technology and more. Melissa also works on these issues in her role as Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

How do we collect climate data? What impacts of climate change have we seen already, and what can we expect to see in the future? How can we use the information we have to make the best decisions when it comes to curtailing carbon emissions?

Climate change was a significant factor in the huge wildfires that hit the US West Coast in recent years, because of two decades of abnormally low precipitation. Dr Kapnick explains how that should influence companies’ and regulators’ decisions about investment and risk management. Wind power generation in Europe was hit by unexpectedly low wind strength in 2021. Climate data and models can inform companies facing these kinds of problems, and should help them plan their investments and operations more effectively, so they can keep the lights on while holding costs down.

All this and more on a special climate-focused edition of the Energy Gang. As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang. 

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The US Clean Energy Boom: What Might Stop It?

The US Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden last August, has transformed the outlook for low-carbon energy in the US, because of the array of tax credits and other policy support that has been put in place.

Over at Wood Mackenzie we do regular forecasts for the outlook for renewable energy investment in the US and as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, we have raised our forecast of new solar capacity installations in the US over the coming decade by 50%, and our forecast for wind power installations by 84%.

So, things looks really good for low-carbon energy in the US. Arguably better than they have ever looked, in fact. But we can’t just leave it there, with everything seeming right with the world. We need to talk about the barriers that could stop or slow down that boom in low-carbon energy investment.

Robbie Orvis, Senior Director of Modelling and Analysis at Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology LLC and Amy Myers-Jaffe, Director of the Energy, Climate Justice & Sustainability Lab, and research professor at NYU, join Ed Crooks on today’s episode to discuss those obstacles, and try to answer the question of whether all this expected extra investment from the Inflation Reduction Act might not happen.

The gang also discuss topics including critical minerals — could they be as problematic as fossil fuels — and the issue of energy security. The US is just about self-sufficient in oil and a net exporter of gas. But in battery raw materials it is going to have to be an importer, and mineral processing and cell manufacture are largely concentrated in China. How much of a worry is that?

Finally, they discuss low-carbon energy and economic nationalism. Countries are competing to develop their own low-carbon industries, and a little healthy competition is a good thing, right? It’s stimulating ever-more generous support for low-carbon energy. But could it also be causing some problems?

As always, let us know your thoughts or any topics you’d like us to cover in future by getting in touch on Twitter. We’re @TheEnergyGang.

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What’s led the world to restart the stalled atomic engine?

2022 was a year of important milestones for nuclear power. The most significant piece of climate legislation in US history – the IRA – included tax incentives and investment for the nuclear industry. A $15 per megawatt-hour tax credit for production to keep existing plants competitive, as well as $700 million to build a domestic supply chain for modern reactors, was a statement of intent from a government seeking to increase energy security. There is a resurgence of interest in nuclear power around the world. From the support for nuclear power in recent legislation in the US, to the plans for new reactors in France and the UK, to Japan’s commitment to a new generation of advanced nuclear technology.

Soaring prices for natural gas and concerns about energy security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have prompted renewed interest in reliable sources of supply. And at the same time, the international pressure to address climate change has not faded. So, zero-emissions sources have the greatest long-term potential. Diablo Canyon in California, Vogtle in Georgia, as well as major projects planned for Poland and Finland have put nuclear firmly back in the spotlight. How far has safety and efficiency developed in the past decades? What’s driven the industry to restart engine of atomic power, previously stalled for decades?

We’ve had a lot of correspondence to the show about nuclear power, so we’re dedicating the entire hour to the topic. Ed Crooks is back in the host seat, joined by a distinguished panel of guests. We welcome two new faces to the gang: Katy Huff, Assistant Secretary and head of the Office of Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy and Carl Perez, CEO of Exodys Energy. Also joining the show is Melissa Lott, Director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s Climate Lab. 

It’s a packed show, with discussion on the Biden administration’s strategy for increased nuclear planning, the type of reactors and Exodys Energy’s role in developing the technology, and the challenges to increase nuclear development.

Let us know your thoughts on nuclear – we’re @TheEnergyGang.

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The Energy Gang is back. We’re only a couple of weeks into the new year but already so much has happened.

A mild winter so far in Europe has sent wholesale gas prices falling, but there’s still a long way to go. Natural gas is expected to trade at 77.11 Euros per MWh by the end of the quarter, down to pre-Ukraine war levels. With prices down 50% since the December peak, what is that going to do for the rest of the world? It’s just one question we have as the gang looks ahead to 2023 and discuss the opportunities or challenges that may await the energy industry. 

Melissa Lott, Director of the Centre on Global Energy Policy, is joined by Amy Myers-Jaffe – Director of the Energy, Climate Justice & Sustainability Lab, and research professor at NYU. Together they look forward to the next 12 months: we’re approaching a year of war in Ukraine but how much longer will it continue? What will that do for energy prices and investment this year? 

Environmental action in 2023 will also be put under the microscope – who is investing, and where? Will we see a doubling-down on alternative energy or a shift back to legacy fuel production to mitigate recession?

Finally, the first COP to be held in the Middle East approaches at the end of the year. It’s a massive test of the credibility of the Gulf region’s net zero ambitions and pledges. Will it push them to decarbonise, or have previous COPs shown us that it’s all talk, no action?

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang. 

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2022 has been a very eventful year in the world of energy. From January to December there has been an ongoing war, a European energy crisis, billions of dollars in funding for clean energy in the US and a Twitter takeover. 

It’s the last episode of the year so we’re bringing you a special edition of the Energy Gang. Join host Ed Crooks and recurring Energy Gang guests, Amy Harder of Cipher, and Melissa Lott of Columbia University, as they wrap up the year by highlighting important moments in the energy transition, month-by-month. 

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang. 

Today's episode of the Energy Gang is brought to you by BlockEnergy autonomous community energy systems.

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The year is quickly coming to a close and there’s a lot going on in the world of energy. 

On this episode of the Energy Gang, host Ed Crooks is joined for the first time by Jackie Forrest of the ARC Energy Research Institute and returning guest Robbie Orvis of Energy Innovation. The gang starts off the discussion by answering the question, what does a split US Congress mean for the energy transition. Under the current administration, a lot of progress has been made in the advancement of meeting our clean energy goals with the implementation of The Inflation Reduction Act. Now that the Republicans have taken control of the House what does this mean for US energy policy over the next couple of years? Will it now fall on individual states to implement reform, like California passing their ZEV mandate?

The Inflation Reduction Act includes significant incentives for companies to establish clean energy manufacturing, which has motivated companies in other countries to pressure their government to make similar advancements. The Canadian government has introduced tax incentives for clean energy projects for the first time as companies threaten to move their manufacturing to the US. 

Lastly, the gang discusses the role of natural gas in the energy transition. Can natural gas be a bridge fuel that will help us meet our energy needs? The release of the International Energy Agency report shows that there is need for significant investment in new gas wells to meet net-zero goals. With peak demand for heat in Northern climates, the gang explores why fully replacing gas might be hard and why we should consider low-carbon gas as an option.

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang. 

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The COP27 climate talks have been held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. It’s a popular tourist destination, but the negotiators discussing ways to limit global warming and to address the harm done by climate change have not been able to relax. The talks have been pretty hard going.

Recurring Energy Gang guests Melissa Lott of Columbia University, and Amy Myers-Jaffe, who has just got a new job at New York University, join host Ed Crooks to discuss the progress that has been made, and where there is still more left to do. Both Melissa and Amy have had colleagues attending the summit, and we hear what they have been working on. The gang discusses the prospect of meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5˚C, the steps taken since COP26 in Glasgow a year ago, and the issue of how to compensate poorer countries for the loss and damage caused by climate change. We discuss how this is where the rubber really hits the road in climate talks: when negotiators tackle the critical questions of who pays. Many countries say they back the idea of a new facility to assist the countries that have been hit by climate-related disasters. But many also say they believe they should not have to pay themselves.

The gang then transitions over to claims of another comeback for nuclear power. COP27 has had a pro-nuclear tilt, as energy security becomes a larger issue. But where does nuclear fit in the energy transition? 

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang. 

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With just a few days until world leaders and policy makers meet in Egypt for COP27, two returning Energy Gang members join host Ed Crooks to discuss what is expected from the latest round of international climate talks.

As the UN warns that there is “no credible pathway” in place to limit global warming to 1.5 °C, arguments about climate justice are rising up the agenda for international negotiations. Amy Duffuor of Azolla Ventures, and Shanu Mathew of Lazard Asset Management, kick off the discussion by explaining the idea of climate justice, and then go on to explore what it means for the future of energy. Although it might seem like quite an abstract concept, considerations of climate justice can in fact have direct practical significance for decisions by businesses, investors, governments and NGOs. The gang discusses some of those implications, and looks at how they could shape the effort to tackle climate change in the future.

Next, we shift our focus to the shipping industry, a large and growing contributor to global warming. Marine fuel represents about 6 percent of the world’s oil demand, and that number continues to rise. The gang discusses the pros and cons of some of the main options proposed for decarbonizing ships, including low-carbon ammonia, methanol and hydrogen.

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang. 

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The world is facing a great financial strain - what does this mean for the investment in the energy transition?

On this episode of the Energy Gang, host Ed Crooks is joined by Nneka Kibuule from Aligned Climate Capital, and Sam Scroggins from Lazard. 

The gang starts the discussion by looking at the state of the economy. There is a surge of inflation being felt around the world. In the US, the current rate of consumer inflation is at 8.2%. As a direct result, 30-year mortgage interest rates are at their highest levels in two decades. In Europe, they brace for a rise in energy costs as winter looms near. We explore what this means for investment in low carbon energy and the cost of renewables.  

Back in August, the Biden Administration signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, with tax credits that they hope will help stimulate more investment into wind, solar, storage, hydrogen and nuclear power. The bill is projected to have a huge positive impact over the next ten years, but is it already changing decisions on investments being made now? And what happens when the political landscape changes?

Next, we shift our focus from the discussion of climate mitigation — cutting greenhouse gas emissions — and turn it towards climate adaptation and resilience. Recent events like the category 4 hurricane that destroyed parts of the Southeastern US and parts of Cuba, have highlighted the need for resiliency in local communities. Governments are committing money to strengthening the resilience of communities and infrastructures, but is there more the private sector can do to assist in climate adaptation? Can they generate a return from these hard-to-monetize spaces?

Listen in as the gang takes a deep dive into where investors are putting their money. 

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang. 

This episode of the Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader advancing a sustainable energy future for all. 

Learn more by listening to the Power Pulse podcast, where the Hitachi Energy team discusses the latest in the ongoing transformation of the world’s energy systems. The Power Pulse podcast is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other podcast app.

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On this episode of the Energy Gang, it’s a think-tank showdown. Host and referee for the day Ed Crooks is joined in the ring by Samantha Gross from the Brookings Institution, making her Energy Gang debut, and Joseph Majkut from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, returning to the show after joining us back in June. 

We start the discussion off with a deep dive into COP27, the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. In the year since COP26 in Glasgow, a lot has changed. Russia has invaded Ukraine, accelerating the surge in energy prices, and demand for coal has been making a comeback as countries look for alternatives to gas. What is on the agenda for COP27? Have the events of this past year set us back? And does the gang expect this year’s summit to be a success or a failure?  

Also on the show: some good news for climate action as the United States Senate ratifies the Kigali Amendment, which aims for the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - potent greenhouse gases - by cutting their production and consumption. Listen in as the gang breaks down what is in this amendment, the progress that is being made, and what it means for the future of the energy transition.  

Finally, we wrap up the show with a look at the latest on European leaders calling for a price cap on Russian oil. This is an idea that has the backing of the G7 countries, including the US. The US says it could save consuming countries $160 billion a year. Meanwhile, the Financial Times is describing the idea as “one of the most novel international economic policymaking experiments ever attempted.”  

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang. 

This episode of the Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader advancing a sustainable energy future for all. 

Learn more by listening to the Power Pulse podcast, where the Hitachi Energy team discusses the latest in the ongoing transformation of the world’s energy systems. The Power Pulse podcast is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other podcast app.

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We often talk about “the energy transition”. In this episode, we discuss what it means to be in the middle of that transition. Earlier this month, California was able to avoid blackouts as people came together to cut their electricity use. In Europe, leaders struggling to balance the urgent need for oil and gas with their goals for cutting emissions. 

In this episode of The Energy Gang, host Ed Crooks is joined by regular guest Amy Myers Jaffe from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and new voice to the show, Emily Grubert, Associate Professor of Sustainable Energy Policy at Notre Dame.

The gang starts the discussion with California’s recent grid struggles. Electricity demand in the state broke records during a severe heat wave, raising fears that the grid might not be able to cope, but alerts warning customers to cut their power use helped avoid blackouts. Amy gives us a first-hand account of what it was like being in California during this time and receiving Flex Alerts asking all residents to voluntarily reduce their electricity use from 4pm to 10pm. Demand response looks like a promising part of the solution for averting an energy crisis, but will it be effective in the long haul? What lessons can we learn from this success story? How can other states and other countries facing similar challenges respond to surging demand and keep the lights on?  

Next up, we take a step back and think about how the world of energy in general stands right now. Everyone – well, almost everyone – agrees we are on a transition from a high-carbon to a lower-carbon energy system. But while on this bumpy journey to clean energy, how can countries manage the transition so they can meet their current needs for heat, power and mobility, while staying on course for their climate goals? That is the challenge of being mid-transition. As we head into the cold winter months, Europe is feeling these issues very sharply. European consumers need more supplies of fossil fuels, but European leaders continue to commit to their net-zero goals.  

Finally, we touch on carbon capture as the ultimate emergency brake if we haven’t managed to change the energy system and cut emissions. Emily discusses her time at the US Department of Energy, working on carbon management. She introduces us to the technologies used to mitigate emissions and remove carbon dioxide from the air. Are these technologies going to be the ultimate saving grace from catastrophic climate change? Listen now to find out.

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang.

This episode of the Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader advancing a sustainable energy future for all.

Learn more by listening to the Power Pulse podcast, where the Hitachi Energy team discusses the latest in the ongoing transformation of the world’s energy systems. The Power Pulse podcast is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other podcast app.

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In this episode of The Energy Gang, we draw our attention away from the US and the Inflation Reduction Act, and switch focus to the ongoing energy crisis in Europe. Host Ed Crooks is joined by regular guest Melissa Lott, Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and Amy Harder from Cipher.  

The race to stay warm is on as Russia cuts off more gas supplies to Europe. The continent is facing a potentially very bleak winter, but how bleak depends on the weather. If it’s a mild winter, then Europe will probably have enough gas. If it’s a cold winter, then things are going to get rough. There will probably need to be demand for curtailment, rationing and blackouts. Already, leaders are urging people to take action, by having cold showers and switching off the air-conditioning to save money and lighten the load on the grid.

What do these extreme measures tell us about the sacrifices people are being asked to make to serve a humanitarian cause? Is there a parallel to draw between that and changing our habits to curtail catastrophic climate change? If Europe does not have enough gas to keep people warm without having to introduce rationing, what does this say about the lack of tools in our belt when these crises occur?  

Also on the show: oil prices have risen sharply, giving a big boost to the demand for electric cars. Last month, regulators in California approved a ban on the sale of most new gasoline- powered vehicles by 2035, as the state takes dramatic steps to reduce emissions and combat the climate emergency. Under the new regulations, by 2026 35% of new cars and light trucks sold in California must be either fully electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen-powered. It is certainly an ambitious goal. But is it achievable? And what will it mean for the electric vehicle industry in the US and around the world?

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang

This episode of the Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader advancing a sustainable energy future for all.

Learn more by listening to the Power Pulse podcast, where the Hitachi Energy team discusses the latest in the ongoing transformation of the world’s energy systems. The Power Pulse podcast is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other podcast app.

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In this episode of The Energy Gang, we revisit the surprise of the summer: the Great American Climate Bill. Now that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has officially been signed into law, what’s next?

Regular Energy Gang member Dr. Melissa Lott steps in as host this week while Ed Crooks takes a well-earned holiday. Joining Melissa is Robbie Orvis from Energy Innovation and Dr. Linus Mofor from the UN Economic Commission for Africa. 

A press release from the white house estimates the IRA will result in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by about one billion metric tons in 2030. 

For many, the bill is a high point of decades of work to pull together a piece of major energy and climate legislation in the US that helps mitigate the impacts of climate change and protect public health. Not just for the hundreds of millions living in the country but for the health of people around the globe. 

The gang highlights the impact the IRA will have on air pollution – according to some initial analysis of the bill, we are looking at avoiding nearly 4,000 premature deaths and up to 100,000 asthma attacks annually by 2030. 

The bill also extends and expands the existing electric vehicle subsidiary, requiring that at least 40% of critical metals must come from the US or a Free Trade Agreement partner.

As we head into COP27, we look at the response from other countries. Do policies like the IRA help in the energy transition around the world? We turn to Linus to walk us through the effects the bill may have on African countries and the opportunities for development and financing in the climate and energy sector. 

As always, please do let us know what you think. Send us a note, or a free electron, on Twitter – we’re @TheEnergyGang.

This episode of the Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy, a global technology leader advancing a sustainable energy future for all.

Learn more by listening to the Power Pulse podcast, where the Hitachi Energy team discusses the latest in the ongoing transformation of the world’s energy systems. The Power Pulse podcast is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or any other podcast app.

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Congress is passing the largest-ever US climate bill. What does it mean for the world? It was the shock heard around the world this week: Senators Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer’s joint reconciliation bill, The Inflation Reduction Act.

It’s passed the Senate, but the House remains. Will it pass, and what’s in it? On the Energy Gang podcast this week: Ed Crooks is joined by Amy Myers-Jaffe from the Fletcher School at Tufts University, and Paula Gant from GTI Energy. GTI Energy is a leading research and training organization focused on developing, scaling, and deploying energy transition solutions. The Inflation Reduction Act is a nearly $700 billion bill, which includes roughly 370 billion dollars in energy and climate spending. Is the bill an indication that the energy transition is finally gaining the momentum it desperately needs, and what new technologies will benefit from it?

Next up the gang’s attention turns to a specific focus of the legislation: the proposed investment in fuels and how electricity costs will be lowered by changes to the energy supply chain. There’s also discussion on biofuels: what is IH2 technology and what companies are betting on transitions to hydrogen? As always, please do let us know what you think. Send us a note, or a free electron, on Twitter – we’re @The Energy Gang. 

This episode of the Energy Gang is sponsored by Hitachi Energy. If you are enjoying this conversation you should check out our podcast Power Pulse, where we explore the transformation of the world’s energy systems. Visit us at Hitachi Energy.com\Power Pulse 

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At a time when much of Europe has been sweltering in record temperatures, it feels like a stark contrast to be worrying about winter.

These are very worrying times for Europeans, because of deep uncertainty over what will happen to the import of Russian gas, which is critical for keeping the lights on and keeping people warm in their homes. Meanwhile, the US appears to have reached a defining moment in the evolution of climate policy.

In this episode, host Ed Crooks is joined by regular contributor Amy Myers Jaffe from the Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University, and a new voice on the Energy Gang, Vicky Bailey, founder of Anderson Stratton Enterprises. 

Things are heating up on the energy front, which begs the question, does the crisis we are seeing now represent a failure of energy policy in Europe? 

We invite our listeners to comment and join the debate. This week Ed and the gang respond to a question about nuclear power and its future in the energy transition.

 The future of U.S. climate and energy policy is again in peril, after West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin kills the Biden Administration’s “Build Back Better” plan. 

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss.

Also don’t forget to send us your free electrons! Tweet us @TheEnergyGang or use the hashtag #EGFreeElectrons. We can’t wait to hear your stories.

NOTE: This episode was recorded earlier in the week, before the news that Senator Joe Manchin had agreed to back a bill that would deliver a substantial increase in support for low-carbon energy in the US, including extended tax credits for renewables, hydrogen, and advanced nuclear power.

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There is never a dull moment in the world of energy. Despite the summer holidays in the northern hemisphere, this week was full of announcements and big news stories.

Regular Energy Gang member Melissa Lott steps in as host this week while Ed Crooks takes a well-earned holiday. Joining Melissa is Emily Chasan from Generate Capital and Robbie Orvis from Energy Innovation.

The discussion starts with the US Supreme Court’s decision to impose new limits on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The limits send a message about the reluctance to have the EPA make regulatory decisions on carbon emissions.

Next up, the gang focuses on the Russia-Ukraine war and inflation and their impact on the price of renewables. The cost of new-build onshore wind has risen seven percent year-on-year, and solar by 14%.

Shockwaves in energy prices are still reverberating around the globe. High gas prices have led President Biden to propose a suspension of federal gas taxes, but will this work?

Finally, we examine the news from California: state governor Gavin Newsom asked the federal government to ensure the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant qualifies for funds to help it remain in service. Why? And is this indicative of changing attitudes toward nuclear?

As always, check out our Twitter to let us know your thoughts and any future topics you want us to discuss. We’re @TheEnergyGang

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The clean tech sector is a critical part of making the energy transition possible. With more and more capital flooding from outside investors into cleantech than ever before, the sector is set to become one of the critical keys in aiding and accelerating the energy transition.

Today on the Energy Gang: a very special episode – a fireside chat with Tom Deitrich from Itron, and Tom Rand from Arctern Ventures.

Itron is one of the largest providers of energy water and smart city management solutions in North America. With decades worth of experience, Itron provides sustainable solutions to cities all over the world, aimed at creating safer and more efficient energy and water systems. Perhaps best known for smart-metering, Itron is committed to advancing the ability to save electricity and integrate renewables into the system.

On today’s episode of The Energy Gang, host Ed Crooks is joined by Tom Deitrich, the Chief Executive Officer of Itron, and Tom Rand, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of ArcTern Ventures, a global cleantech venture fund. Tom has years of experience in cleantech investment, and has written a book called Climate Capitalism. Frustrated by a lack of tangible ambition on behalf of the business community, and the deep suspicion from the environmental movement of markets and capitalism, Tom’s book examines these two challenges, and offers solutions to form a coherent plan to further the energy transition.

Ed sits down with Tom D and Tom R, to discuss the current state of the energy system, the reality of climate disruption and how climate change is affecting both the cleantech sector and the energy industry as a whole.

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California is one of the world’s largest economies in its own right, with a population of 40 million generating $3.4 trillion in GDP. It is also a pioneer in the development of clean energy, generating about 23% of its electricity from renewables in 2020, a long way ahead of the US average.

On today’s episode, the Energy Gang welcomes a special guest: Elliot Mainzer, the President and CEO of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). CAISO is the non-profit responsible for managing the flow of electricity that serves over 80% of California. Regular team member Melissa Lott, from the Center on Global Energy Policy, joins host Ed Crooks to examine the current state of the power grid in California and how it’s faring in the energy transition.

They talk about how the grid can keep up with changing technologies and manage the challenges created by a rising reliance on solar and wind power. And they discuss the significance of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, California’s single largest source of electricity, which is scheduled for closure in 2025. There have been suggestions that the life of the plant should be extended. What are the implications of this? And what needs to happen for the plant to be closed for good while maintaining reliability and preventing a rise in carbon dioxide emissions?

Finally, Elliot Mainzer looks ahead to the long term. California has a commitment to running its electricity grid on 100 zero-carbon energy by 2045. Is that realistic? And what needs to happen to achieve it? 

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Today, we’re following the money. Where does investment go in order to build a zero-carbon future? Where does the money get used, and where does it not?

This week Ed is joined by Emily Chasan, Director of Communications at Generate Capital, and Shanu Mathew, Vice-President of Sustainable Investing and Net Zero Research at Lazard Asset Management.

There are now trillions of dollars of capital in the market, aligned with the goal of getting to net zero. But in the past few months we’ve seen a backlash from politicians, regulators and even in the investment industry itself. The idea of climate-focused investing has been under attack in a broader pushback against the concept of ESG investing. The gang examine why this is, how the landscape is changing and how we can solve the issue of short-term pressures competing with long-term climate goals.

Next up, we switch our focus to the billionaire Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, and his bid to takeover legacy gas provider AGL in Australia. Is this the future of ESG investing?

Finally the gang examine President Biden’s use of powers under the Defense Production Act to boost clean energy. What are the implications of the government stepping in to try to direct the private sector to support climate goals?

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @theenergygang and let us know what you thought of today's episode.

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The energy crisis is showing no signs of abating. There’s a shortage of energy, and the world’s efforts to transition to low-carbon energy are met with countless hurdles.

Countries around the world are taking steps to mitigate the crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine however. The EU announced a plan to stop using Russian oil, gas and coal – it’s called RepowerEU and would mean more renewable investment, more energy efficiency and a lot more hydrogen to cut demand for natural gas. Europe is heavily dependent on Russian supplies, particularly for natural gas, which creates problems for Europe’s foreign and security policy.

If the EU wants to punish Russia economically, it really needs to hit its energy exports. And that is difficult to do while businesses and consumers in Europe are absolutely reliant on those imports.

Next up it’s a look ahead to COP27 – what needs to be addressed in Egypt in November and what have we achieved since Glasgow last year? At COP26, a $500 billion investment was agreed to support green energy projects in developing countries, so how is that going?

Finally the gang look at the impacts of certain renewable projects on the local ecosystem. We all agree that the world needs to keep investing in and building large-scale renewable energy infrastructure projects: we need more offshore wind, larger solar farms, more hydrogen plants.

Drawing on the success of offshore wind in Europe, the rollout of wind farms is now accelerating along US coastlines, supported by the Biden administration, which has set a goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035. In 2020, some 27 miles from the mainland, the first two offshore wind turbines in the US were installed off the coast of Virginia Beach. Since starting to operate in October that year, the turbines have created an artificial reef, offering a habitat for ocean life. With this change in the ecology of the area however, comes the downside. Wind farms can have negative effects on other wildlife, such as fish and ocean birds.

How do we build sustainably and avoid impacting the local ecology?

To discuss all this and more Ed is joined by Melissa Lott, the Director of Research at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Joining them for the first time is Joseph Majkut, host of the Energy 360 podcast - which is produced by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC. Joseph is also the Director of the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the CSIS.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @theenergygang and let us know what you thought of today's episode.

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The energy transition is currently supported by three main pillars: science & technology, economics, and policy. In 2022 these three pillars are unaligned, with a lack of cohesion impeding progress. In today’s episode of the Energy Gang, the team explores three current events that highlight and exemplify the current state of the energy transition in the US and beyond.

The gang starts with the future of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda. The original bill included a lot of provisions that were hugely important for low-carbon energy in the US. It died in Congress late last year after Senator Joe Manchin declined to support it. The big question now is: can anything be salvaged from that agenda and where do we go from here?

The US government’s investigation into the alleged dumping of imported solar panels has reportedly had a “devastating” impact on planned solar projects. Is now the time to create a domestic economy for solar panels or are we still too reliant on cheap imports?

It’s an ongoing debate: the role of hydrogen in the energy transition. There is, of course, huge interest in the potential for low-carbon hydrogen in a zero-emissions energy system. But what role can hydrogen really play? And might other options be better for some uses?

Today we’re delighted to welcome back both Melissa Lott and Robbie Orvis. Melissa is the Director of Research at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, and Robbie Orvis is the Senior Director of Policy Design at Energy Innovation. As always, your host Ed Crooks is here to anchor and lead the discussion.

Stick around for a thrilling conversation about policy, technology, and innovation. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @theenergygang and let us know what you thought of today's episode.

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In this week's episode, the gang discuss nuclear power: is it a solution for providing energy security, or could it make the problem worse? Given that many consuming countries need to import most of their uranium, does relying on nuclear power create new sources of fragility? The US imported 86% of its uranium in 2020, from a range of countries, including Russia. What does that mean for hopes that a new generation of reactors could provide affordable and reliable low-carbon power? 

Next up, it’s California’s quick peek into the future. The state’s power grid ran last weekend on – very nearly – 100% renewable energy, even if it was for less than 15 minutes. How can California, and everywhere else, get to grids that are 100% carbon-free around the clock, 365 days a year?

And then it’s a topic that is at the top of the agenda right now for everyone working in energy: the current state of the global supply chain. Renewable energy products and components from little solar cells to giant wind turbines are being affected, driving up prices and restricting availability. The gang reflects on the worries of people in the industry, and discuss some solutions that might work, and some that might make the problem worse.

Joining Ed today are Melissa Lott, the Director of Research at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, and Amy Harder, returning to the show. Amy is the Executive Editor of the Cipher newsletter published by Breakthrough Energy, the network backed by Bill Gates and other investors to support investment in emissions-reducing technologies.

Welcome to this week's episode of the Energy Gang, and make sure to follow us on Twitter to stay up to date. 

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On April 22nd, 2022 the world will be celebrating the 52nd annual “Earth Day”. Does Earth Day serve any useful purpose? How can we utilize the celebration of Earth Day for good? How is Earth day viewed by the world today, and how does this celebration push us closer to a low carbon life? In today's special episode of the Energy Gang, the conversation focuses on solutions and recent positive findings from the IPCC report. 

Making up the “Gang” this week is returning guest Emily Chasan, who is the Director of Communications at Generate Capital, the green investment firm. Also, another returning guest, nock.html">Dr. Destenie Nock, an Assistant Professor of Engineering and Public Policy and Civil and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. As always, our host Ed Crooks, Vice-Chair of the Americas at Wood Mackenzie leads the conversation. 

Keeping the positive theme in observance of Earth Day, the gang discusses the recent IPCC report and some positive findings that were reported. Earlier this month, the 6th cycle working report gives a clear view to the current state of our knowledge of climate science. The good news, though, is that even the more demanding goal of the Paris agreement – limiting global warming to just 1.5 degrees – is not out of sight.

The last talking point in the episode is the topic of Energy Poverty, and what it currently looks like in today's climate. The gang discusses how energy poverty is a massive problem today and explores the dangers of how addressing climate change, could make things worse. Destenie leads the conversation on this topic and shares some of her key findings from her research and describes to the gang what an Energy Equity Gap is. This week's episode is focused on solutions and has an optimistic tone. 

We hope you enjoy and don’t forget to reach out to us on Twitter with any inquiries.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by EPC Power.

EPC Power manufactures self-developed energy storage smart inverters made in their American factories with gigawatt level capacity.

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The energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the most serious since the oil shocks of the 1970s. Rising prices for oil, gas and coal are hitting living standards and putting people under financial strain around the world. We are facing some tough decisions about how to relieve hardship and energy poverty, while still cutting greenhouse gas emissions to limit the impact of climate change. In this edition of the Energy Gang, the gang discusses the war in Ukraine and the consequences for the rest of the world. How can we work through the short-term impacts whilst keeping the energy transition on track?

Ed is joined on today's episode by two returning guests. We’re happy to welcome back again Melissa Lott, the Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia. Our other guest has not been on the show for almost a year, and we are very glad she’s back. Amy Duffuor is Co-founder and General Partner at Azolla Ventures and leads our second topic on climate innovation investments. VC funds are heavily invested in some sectors and steer clear of others. What sectors get the most investment and why?

One of the impacts of the current energy crisis is the surge in gas prices in America. The gang discusses the options open to American policy makers and what’s being done to ease the pain at the pump. And we talk about the innovations in energy that can help resolve these complex challenges. Stick around to the end for the free electrons to hear what the hosts are up to outside of the show.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by EPC Power.

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Of all the stages of a solar project, the operations and management stage is arguably the most crucial. When you’re thinking about project efficiency and financial returns in solar, you need to have a concise plan for the O&M stage.

Greg Shambo is Vice President of Business Development at Borrego Energy. He says that ‘when you get into the operations stage, this is where you make the money. If you can’t operate profitably from day one, you end up losing money. We call these walking dead sites, because they were doomed to start with.’

For the last forty years, Borrego have established themselves as one of the nation’s most reliable names in the Solar and Energy Storage industry. From their early days as solar pioneers, to today - as leaders on the national energy storage stage – Borrego have delivered timely and secure management to solar projects. In 2014, Borrego launched a stand-alone O&M business for both EPC and non-EPC customers to help optimise and maintain system performance and help their clients achieve their financial goals.

Jay Smith also joins us, he's the Director of Asset Management at Standard Solar, a client of Borrego.

On the show, Greg and Jay take us through the management of large-scale solar projects, and how clients can ensure they pick the best O&M provider for the job.

This episode was produced in collaboration with Borrego, a leading developer, EPC and O&M provider for large-scale renewable energy projects throughout the United States. With over 1.4 GW and more than 1,000 sites under its management nationwide, Borrego O&M is comprised of technical experts that have been helping customers maximise their asset performance and value for the last decade.

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The gang is back, and it's been a huge week in energy. For the first time ever, the US government might be requiring major companies to report their climate risks and emissions. This is a really big change. Governments, regulators, and investors have been pushing for quite a few years now for companies to do more to disclose their climate risks. But this would be the first time in US companies would be required to report risks in a standardized way, including greenhouse gas emissions.

On the show this week, Ed is joined by regular Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of the climate policy lab at Tufts University. We're also honoured to welcome first-time guest Andrew Leach. Andrew is an energy and environmental economist who is currently a professor at the University of Alberta. Andrew is a native Canadian who has decades of experience in Canadian climate policy, that's why he leads the discussion on Canada announcing an emissions reduction plan and what that entails. What impact is it going to have on Canada's economy? What can the US learn from Canada's climate policies?

In addition, the team will be covering the new updated IPCC report. What information in the report has been updated? What new research is being used? The report covers Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. What does this actually mean?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by EPC Power.

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Visit epcpower.com/energygang to learn more about their utility scale and C & I product lines and schedule a call to learn how they can help you power your energy storage projects.

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The Energy Gang – Live (Rebroadcast)

The gang are taking a break this week. Instead of a new episode we’re rebroadcasting our special edition live episode where the team discusses the top 5 energy-related stories of 2021.

This episode was originally live-streamed for Wood Mackenzie’s Grid Edge Innovation series at the end of December of 2021.

This week on the show we have Ed Crooks, Emily Chasan from Generate Capital, and Amy Myers-Jaffe from Tufts University. The group discusses how “smart” devices are changing energy retailing, and the role of SPACs in financing clean energy deployment.

The gang looks back on 2021 and ranks the top 5 stories in energy for the year, looking back on the success of investment company Engine No.1, developments in energy storage, green stimulus in Europe, and more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by EPC Power.

EPC Power manufactures self-developed energy storage smart inverters made in their American factories with gigawatt level capacity. Visit www.epcpower.com/energygang to learn more about their utility scale and C&I product lines and schedule a call to learn how they can help you power your energy storage projects!

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This episode of the Energy Gang was recorded before the Russian attack on Ukraine had begun.

As you’ll hear, we were talking after Russia had recognised the independence of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, but before the full-scale invasion.

We will have a lot to say about the implications for energy of the conflict in Ukraine in our next episode.

But this time, we were talking before the full extent of the crisis had unfolded. 

The catastrophic blackouts that plagued Texas last year during the winter storm Eerie, were a result of a logistical domino effect. Many sustainability, energy, and political issues today are never as simple as cause and effect - there is always a network of decisions and actions that lead up to that initial fall of the domino. A more timely example is the current Russia and Ukraine conflict. The Energy Gang is not a show that usually focuses on geopolitics but it would be remiss to ignore the current situation in Ukraine, and the impact the conflict has had already on the world of energy.

In this week’s episode, Ed Crooks is joined by returning guest Emily Chasan, of General Capital, and we welcome Joshua Rhodes for his Energy Gang debut. Joshua is a professor at the University of Texas, Austin. He joins the show to discuss the Texas Blackouts and explain what has been done since to avoid it happening again. He helps explain the initial fall of the domino and the subsequent chain reaction that took place. Emily and the rest of the gang then touch on the situation in Eastern Europe and how energy policies come into play. How does the current conflict affect the net-zero pledges just made only a few months ago at COP26? 

The episode then leads into a debate on a new hydropower pipeline that has been proposed in NY state. This pipeline would be 330 miles long and run from Canada's border directly to New York City. What are some of the environmental concerns of Hydropower? Is hydropower considered low carbon? 

The final topic discussed is the recent announcement of the Army’s climate action plan. This never-before-seen plan is a pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. This climate action plan follows the 2020 CLIMATE-RISK-ANALYSIS-FINAL.PDF">DOD report on climate change that publicly stated that “climate change is an existential threat to the US’s security”. How much does the US army emit every year? What does sustainability look like for a military? How will this strengthen our military?

It’s a packed and thorough discussion this week on the Energy Gang.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by EPC Power.

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In recent years, news headlines are frequently filled with announcements of financial institutions, funds, and corporations making hefty pledges to transform their portfolios to ensure that they stay in line with net-zero targets. Is this new wave of support for the energy transition motivated by making a quick buck or has there really been a change of opinion on the opportunities in which going net-zero really has to offer? How is the changing climate affecting investments? How are investors driving the transition? These are some of the key questions we look to answer in this episode. 

The Energy Gang is delighted to be joined by two professionals who have spent the majority of their careers bridging the gap between finance and climate change. Our first guest, Shanu Mathew is the VP of Sustainable Investing and Net-Zero Research at Lazard Asset Management, one of the world's leading investment companies. Returning for another episode is Amy Myers Jaffe, the Managing Director of the Climate Policy Lab at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. 

Ed Crooks and the rest of the gang discuss the importance of investors' positions in helping speed up the energy transition and how their work compares to recent government actions. Are organizations like the Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures (TCFD) making up for the lack of political progress? Moving our focus, What are consumer-facing companies doing to address climate risk and sustainability? Are companies like Unilever an industry leader in sustainability reporting positive impacts? Lastly, the gang takes a look at the story of Indonesia moving its capital through a financial risk lens. How does climate change affect sovereign risk and municipal bonds? What is the answer in terms of financing climate adaptation and what is the government's role in this situation?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by EPC Power.

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President Bidens Climate agenda has been reformed, and with the Build Back Better Act in a stalemate, should Americans give up hope on expecting anything to come of it?

To discuss this and more, Ed Crooks is joined on the show this week by returning guest Dr. Melissa Lott from Columbia University, and Robbie Orvis from Energy Innovation, who makes his Energy Gang debut.

The Build Back Better Act is up first. There’s a glimmer of hope on the horizon for the climate policies within the climate package. How much of the package will be saved and is there anything in it that’s different from before? 

Next, the gang looks at EVs. With the lack of federal climate action, states have now taken it upon themselves to make some policy changes within their own borders. New York, New Jersey, and Oregon all have taken the initiative within the past few months by pushing for cleaner energy and policies that could help with EV demand. Is this the natural evolution of policymaking when the “trickle-down effect” halts progress? 

Also, the team discusses the growing problems that clean energy is currently facing. The cost of inputs, battery raw materials, and the waste created by clean energy equipment including solar panels, wind turbines, and electric cars when they come to the end of their useful lives are causing issues. Can recycling be the solution or part of the answer at least? What does lithium-ion battery recycling look like? Who is currently recycling old EV batteries? 

The free electrons are super charged this week. Ed wonders why festival owners are turning down a possible renewable energy project, Melissa wants to talk carbon-free beef, and Robbie’s been exploring the most overlooked parts when buying a hybrid car – chip shortages are throwing a spanner in the works.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by EPC Power.

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It’s the first Energy Gang of the year. Ed Crooks is joined by Emily Chasan of Generate Capital and Amy Harder, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and Axios, now at Breakthrough Energy, which is the net-zero initiative founded by Bill Gates - find out more here: Cipher: Overview | LinkedIn - who joins the gang for the first time to kick off 2022 with a bang.

With air travel over the holiday season bouncing back – despite the Omicron variant – what are the best prospects for taking the emissions out of aviation? In the US, in mid-December, more than two million people per day were passing through the TSA’s checkpoints. That is still significantly below pre-pandemic levels, but it is roughly double the numbers in the same period of 2020. Even with the pandemic still raging, people want to fly. That is a real problem for getting to net zero. Aviation emissions are small, accounting for a little under 2% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, but their share is rising. Sustainable aviation fuel and electric planes, are they are viable solution yet?

Also, VC and private equity investment into clean tech is booming. About 60 billion dollars was invested in by venture capital and private equity into climate tech in the first half of 2021, according to a recent survey from professional services firm PwC. That’s almost triple the 28 billion that was invested in the first half of 2020.About 14% of all VC financing is now going to climate tech. Is investment going to the right technologies?

And finally, one of the ideas that is being developed to make sure capital flows into the right activities is EU’s Green Taxonomy. It’s a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities, to give companies, investors and policymakers definitions for which economic activities can be treated as environmentally sustainable, and which can’t. The gang examine the plans; is it a sensible strategy? Is the EU setting a path others might follow?

There has been a huge amount of discussion in the past couple of weeks about the Netflix film Don’t Look Up: a rare example of Hollywood giving a big-budget big-star treatment to a movie about climate change. It deserves some scrutiny, so to wrap up the show Ed, Emily and Amy give their opinions on the film and argue its effectiveness at raising awareness for climate change.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by EPC Power.

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Achieving net zero emissions requires collaboration from a multitude of government organizations and businesses.

For a country the size of Australia, 24% of electricity coming from renewables is a huge accomplishment. But it does not come easy. Australia has two large interconnected energy networks, the National Electricity Market along the East Coast, with demand of 30-35 GW, and the Western Australia Electricity Market, with demand between 2-3 GW. Both networks are receiving a huge update of distributed solar which means the amount of energy generated by renewables is constantly increasing.

Hitachi Energy, a longtime partner of The Energy Gang has played an integral role in helping Australia to achieve this, and on today’s episode, Ed Crooks is joined by two key representatives from Hitachi Energy, to discuss their work in Australia and examine some of the lessons that other countries can learn from Australia’s experience.

Juergen Zimmerman is Business Development and Technology Manager for Hitachi Energy, based in Darwin, Australia.

John Glassmire is Senior Advisor for Grid Edge Solutions, also at Hitachi Energy and based in Seattle.

This episode was produced in collaboration with Hitachi Energy. Hitachi is helping to accelerate the energy transition by developing digital and energy platforms, helping customers to overcome the complexity and capacity challenges required to transition towards a carbon-neutral energy system.

Get access to the on-demand webinars on Grid Edge Solutions here: https://bit.ly/3zPBh8a

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It’s a special edition of the Energy Gang this week, with the last episode of 2021 recorded for Wood Mackenzie’s Grid Edge Innovation series.

Ed is joined by Emily Chasan from Generate Capital and Amy Myers-Jaffe from Tufts University, to look at how smart devices are changing energy retailing, and the role of SPACs in financing clean energy deployment.

The gang wraps up 2021 with their top 5 stories in energy for the year, looking back on the success of investment company Engine No.1, developments in energy storage, green stimulus in Europe and more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy. What does your energy future look like? Look to Hitachi Energy for the advanced energy technologies needed to deliver real outcomes — unlocking new revenue streams, maximizing renewable integration, and lowering carbon emissions. Learn more.

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Zero-emission, low-cost electricity, delivered to the grid from natural-gas fuelled technology. A wright-brothers first flight kind of breakthrough in energy?

The gang discuss the possibilities and scalability of NET Powers Technology, a Texas-based energy company who’ve made this exact claim.

Ed is joined as usual by Melissa Lott from Columbia University, and Emily Chasan from Generate Capital.

The other big story of the week was the collapse of British energy provider Bulb, the 6th largest provider in the country and an issue that has impacted some 2 million customers. Could the same thing happen in the US? Within those talks, the pros and cons of carbon capture technology are explored, and if the Biden administration made the right decision to release 50 million barrels of petroleum from the SPR to help ease the heightened holiday energy demand.

The gang leaves you with some holiday-season free electrons, including a cracking joke from Ed, and find out why climate change is affecting Canada’s maple syrup production.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy. What does your energy future look like? Look to Hitachi Energy for the advanced energy technologies needed to deliver real outcomes — unlocking new revenue streams, maximizing renewable integration, and lowering carbon emissions. Learn more.

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The COP26 circus has left town. Across 2 weeks of talks in Glasgow, what were the successes, and what were the failures? With current commitments putting the world on track to 2.4°C of warming, the cost of inaction on climate and health will vastly outweigh the costs of acting now, so which countries are snapping into action?

Host Ed Crooks is joined by regular Melissa Lott, Director of Research at the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and Amy Myers-Jaffe, Managing Director of the Climate Policy Lab, at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, to give the final verdict.

Also in the show, the gang looks at innovations in technology in carbon capture and storage; President Biden’s infrastructure bill proposes big commitments on CCS, what do these look like? Plus, nuclear and hydrogen technologies, which could play a huge role in the energy transition, go under the microscope.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy. What does your energy future look like? Look to Hitachi Energy for the advanced energy technologies needed to deliver real outcomes — unlocking new revenue streams, maximizing renewable integration, and lowering carbon emissions. Learn more.

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COP26 is under way in Glasgow. It has been billed as the “last best hope for the world to get its act together” on climate change, but what is the real significance of the talks?

Host Ed Crooks is joined by new regular co-host of the Energy Gang Melissa Lott, Director of Research at the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, to discuss the key issues and outcomes of the conference. Also joining for this episode is Emily Chasan, Director of Communications at Generate Capital, and former Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg journalist.

What needs to happen at COP26 for it to be counted as a success? The UN Environment Program noted in its new Emissions Gap 2021 report last week: “As a group, G20 members are not on track to achieve either their original or new 2030 pledges. Ten G20 members are on track to achieve their previous NDCs, while seven are off track.”

In this episode, the gang will explore the pledges made at previous conferences, as well as the new ones, and discuss whether they can lead to meaningful change in the global energy system.

In the second half of the show: soaring prices for gas, coal and electricity since the summer have raised questions about energy access, poverty and international equity: how can the world address these issues at COP26 and beyond?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy. What does your energy future look like? Look to Hitachi Energy for the advanced energy technologies needed to deliver real outcomes — unlocking new revenue streams, maximizing renewable integration, and lowering carbon emissions. Learn more.

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Some news for this podcast: Ed Crooks, VP of the Americas for Wood Mackenzie, will be taking over the show as our new host.

Co-hosts Katherine Hamilton and Stephen Lacey will be moving on. 

Wood Mackenzie will be producing the podcast from now on, bringing on a range of new voices to join the gang.

We discuss the transition in the first half of the episode. 

Later in the show, Katherine, Stephen and Ed explore the range of expectations for global climate talks in Glasgow. 

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The U.S. Department of Energy is crucial for funding, researching, and testing emerging energy tech.

Now, in the Biden era, the agency is orienting itself toward deployment. How difficult is that transition?

Our former co-host Jigar Shah joins Stephen, Katherine, and Ed to discuss his experience running the Energy Department’s loan programs office.

In March, Jigar left his position at Generate Capital (and this podcast) to head into government service and run the loan programs office. Jigar has $40 billion in authority to back a wide range of climate technologies -- and he’s been working on the first round of investments with those dollars.

In the second half of the show: a surprising twist in the global clean-energy transition. How much trouble will energy price inflation cause around the world?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy. What does your energy future look like? Look to Hitachi Energy for the advanced energy technologies needed to deliver real outcomes — unlocking new revenue streams, maximizing renewable integration, and lowering carbon emissions. Learn more.

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EIA and IEA are out with projections for emissions and fossil fuel consumption. And they don’t look good. 

On our current policy trajectory, there is no peak in sight, according to EIA By 2050, we will likely see a 50% increase in energy consumption. And even though renewables will be the fastest-growing new source of energy, hydrocarbon liquid fuels will meet the majority of demand.

That means emissions could rise through 2050, absent massive changes to policy.

In July, the International Energy Agency emissions-will-hit-record-levels-in-2023-iea-says.html">issued a similar analysis showing that carbon emissions will hit record levels in the coming years. And that spending packages around the world — even at historic levels — are still not enough. 

How do we make sense of this sobering analysis?

Plus, Wood Mackenzie is out with a new analysis of global energy storage trends, showing that storage deployments are set to triple this year. Most of that growth is coming from America and China, which account for 70% of installations. What are the applications, technologies and markets magazine-usa.com/2021/10/07/global-energy-storage-demand-is-accelerating-wood-mac-says/">that will dominate this growth?

Finally, Europe is in a crisis headed into winter. Natural gas is the second-most confused fuel in Europe — and prices are 6 times higher than they were in the spring.

A confluence of factors — rapidly rising demand all at once, lower production than expected from Russia, low storage in Europe, lower-than-expected hydro and wind production — are contributing to the problem. 

What could alleviate the crisis? And does this the-energy-crisis-means-for-europes-green-ambitions.html">put strain on Europe’s climate ambitions headed into COP26?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi Energy. What does your energy future look like? Look to Hitachi Energy for the advanced energy technologies needed to deliver real outcomes — unlocking new revenue streams, maximizing renewable integration, and lowering carbon emissions. Learn more.

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Suddenly everyone is talking about green hydrogen. 

From South Africa to the United Arab Emirates. From China to Utah. Governments and developers are eyeing hydrogen as a decarbonization tool. 

But the rush is also raising lots of questions: Where will hydrogen be most useful? How do you create a supply chain to support it? And how can we ensure it has climate integrity?

For answers, we turned to two experts who are obsessing over the future of hydrogen: Janice Lin and Stephen Lamm.

Janice Lin is the founder and CEO of Strategen. And she’s president of the green hydrogen coalition. 

Stephen Lamm is the director of sustainability at Bloom Energy, a company deploying zero-carbon solutions like green hydrogen.

With so much renewed attention on the resource, we brought Janice and Stephen together for a discussion about where green hydrogen tech, markets, and applications are headed.

This episode was produced in collaboration with Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

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Ride sharing has swept transportation systems over the last decade -- bringing convenience, but also congestion, inequities, and political fights.

Now a new category of transportation networking is emerging: TransitTech.

It makes up a class of companies that are using tech to help maximize public transit systems. So what does TransitTech look like post-pandemic?

Tiffany Chu joins Katherine and Stephen this week to discuss the path forward for transit. Tiffany is the co-founder and CEO of Remix, which was recently acquired by Via for $100 million.

We’ll also dig into a new study from Carnegie Mellon University that shows Uber and Lyft are increasing external societal and environmental costs by up to 35% compared to personal car driving. 

We’ll wrap up with a discussion about how transportation will play into upcoming legislation on climate and infrastructure. 

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Bloom Energy. Bloom’s onsite energy platform provides unparalleled control for those looking to secure clean, reliable 24/7 power that scales to meet critical business needs. It eliminates outage and price risk while accelerating us towards a zero carbon future. Visit Bloom Energy to learn how to take charge today.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Hitachi ABB Power Grids. What does your energy future look like? Look to Hitachi ABB Power Grids for the advanced energy technologies needed to deliver real outcomes — unlocking new revenue streams, maximizing renewable integration, and lowering carbon emissions. powergrids.com/offering/solutions/grid-edge-solutions">Learn more.

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All around us, hidden inside our buildings, are a series of choices and tradeoffs -- choices with direct impacts on our health, our money, and our energy use. 

Our buildings are wasteful and are filled with a lot of  “embodied” carbon. As a result, buildings directly and indirectly account for 40 percent of global emissions. 

How do we make those choices with better building science?

And how do we use that science to design carbon out of our buildings?

This week, Katherine and Stephen are joined by Christine Williamson, the creator of Building Science Fight Club. She is a building scientist who teaches architects how to think more intelligently about designing residential and commercial buildings to improve comfort and energy performance, while minimizing system failures.

She also has an unconventional take on the green building space — arguing that many of the “feel good” approaches are not necessarily the most functional. 

Christy has spent her career inside homes and commercial buildings using “building forensics” to identify problems with design and operation. So what does an on-the-ground practitioner think about what’s most effective for improving the performance of buildings, and what’s not?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by S&C Electric Company. Today, non-wires alternatives such as microgrids can provide more sustainable, resilient and economical ways to deliver reliable power. S&C helps utilities and commercial customers find the best solutions to meet their energy needs. Learn more.

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Carbon capture has long been criticized as too nascent, too expensive, and too distracting. Is that changing?

This month, the Swiss company Climeworks officially launched a direct-air capture plant in Iceland, called Orca. 

The company has already signed deals with SwissRe, Bill Gates, Stripe, and Shopify to sell them credits from the plant. But the tech is still pretty expensive and relatively small scale. 

Climeworks wants to build megaton-scale plants by the end of the decade. Lots of other plants are in the works. So what does this commercial launch signal for the carbon-capture industry? 

Plus, new research shows just how drastically we need to slash fossil fuels to limit dangerous warming. 

And, California california.html">tries to fix the busted recycling system with a “truth in advertising” law aimed at plastics companies.

The Energy Gang is a Wood Mackenzie podcast.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by S&C Electric Company. Today, non-wires alternatives such as microgrids can provide more sustainable, resilient and economical ways to deliver reliable power. S&C helps utilities and commercial customers find the best solutions to meet their energy needs. Learn more.

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The electric grid is a central pillar of a zero-carbon economy. But in an era of unrelenting weather extremes, it’s also one of the most fragile.

This week: what does power after carbon look like?

Katherine and Stephen are joined by Dr. Peter Fox-Penner, author of a new book called, “Power After Carbon.”

Peter is the founder of the Boston University Institute of Sustainable Energy. And he’s a partner and chief strategy officer at the VC firm Energy Impact Partners. 

At the turn of the last decade, Peter wrote a book called “Smart Power” that looked at the new pressures that utilities were facing around climate policy, emerging distributed energy, and digitization. We’ll look at what’s changed the most over the last decade.

Plus, we’ll talk about why Entergy’s resistance to distributed energy in Louisiana created vulnerabilities after Hurricane Ida.

The Energy Gang is a Wood Mackenzie podcast.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by S&C Electric Company. Today, non-wires alternatives such as microgrids can provide more sustainable, resilient and economical ways to deliver reliable power. S&C helps utilities and commercial customers find the best solutions to meet their energy needs. Learn more.

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The world’s most scrutinized and peer-reviewed document is out: the IPCC report on climate change. 

Thousands of scientists have spent decades pouring over every measurement and research report known. The findings are clearer than ever: It is “virtually certain” that the increases in extreme temperatures and droughts are caused by human activity. 

The economic and human toll from climate change is here. So how is this report different from previous IPCC reports?

Plus, is the push for hydrogen a real pathway, or a clever way to lock in more emissions? We’ll look at the debate over “blue” hydrogen emissions.

And, how far have the politics of climate climate-change.html">really shifted in Washington? Will a change in tone mean a boost in action?

Katherine Hamilton, Ed Crooks, and Stephen Lacey are this week’s co-hosts. 

The Energy Gang is a Wood Mackenzie podcast.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by S&C Electric Company. Today, non-wires alternatives such as microgrids can provide more sustainable, resilient and economical ways to deliver reliable power. S&C helps utilities and commercial customers find the best solutions to meet their energy needs. Learn more.

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This episode originally aired on The Interchange.

Back in 2016, Mateo Jaramillo left Tesla, where he was leading the stationary energy storage business, and started looking for a new challenge to tackle. He took on long-duration energy storage -- not long duration like 8 hours or 12 hours, but days or weeks or more. In 2017 he came on the show to talk about it. 

He formed a company, now Form Energy, that has been toiling on this problem in stealth mode. Apart from saying they were building a "metal air" battery, his team held the technology close to the vest.

That is, until last week. 

The company announced a $200M Series D financing led by ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, and in the process finally made public the technology, which is an iron air chemistry. 

Full disclosure: Shayle led Energy Impact Partners’ investment in Form.

Shayle and Mateo discuss the technology itself and the counterintuitive economics that Mateo believes will make it work. They also examine how it beat out the alternatives and how it might complement more efficient, but more expensive lithium-ion. It turns out financial modeling was far more important than spec sheets in understanding the tradeoffs.

They tackle the critical question: Where exactly are the profitable applications of this technology before we hit very high 80% renewables? 

They also talk about the semantics of long-duration storage vs. multi-day storage, why Mateo hates holy grails, and potential partnerships with tofu companies.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by S&C Electric Company. Today, non-wires alternatives such as microgrids can provide more sustainable, resilient and economical ways to deliver reliable power. S&C helps utilities and commercial customers find the best solutions to meet their energy needs. Learn more.

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We started the Covid pandemic at negative oil prices. Today, benchmark prices are above $70. And top oil companies are reporting billions of dollars in profits.

And now there is more scrutiny than ever on how they’re going to spend that money.

Activist shareholders are starting to get climate champions on oil major board seats -- most notably, climate tech investor and former wind executive Andy Karsner on Exxon Mobil’s board.

A dutch court is now forcing Shell to reduce the emissions from its products by 45%, after a successful lawsuit from environmental groups. Oil executives now have their lawyers on speed dial.

And big asset managers, like BlackRock, which lend to many of the world’s energy giants, are scrutinizing their climate plans. 

So what does it all amount to as oil markets rebound?

Ed Crooks, the vice chair of Americas at Wood Mackenzie, joins us this week to discuss.

Plus, we’ll talk about a new report card on America’s infrastructure. It’s a slight improvement, but the grade is still pretty awful. 

And, carbon offsets are going up in flames. Literally. What comes next for forestry offsets?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by S&C Electric Company. Today, non-wires alternatives such as microgrids can provide more sustainable, resilient and economical ways to deliver reliable power. S&C helps utilities and commercial customers find the best solutions to meet their energy needs. Learn more.

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We're at a new phase of the clean energy transition. Extreme heat, drought and floods are increasing in frequency. Public attention on clean energy is stronger than ever. The Biden Administration is putting zero-carbon energy at the core of its policies.

And there's another powerful force: making sure the energy transition is as racially and economically just as possible.

Anton Cohen is a partner at CohnReznick LLP, and national director of the firm’s Renewable Energy Industry Practice. He's been advising companies across a wide range of industries: tech, manufacturing, public tax credits, and energy. 

Today, he focuses exclusively on renewables: “All we do is renewables. Live, eat, sleep, breathe renewables.”

The large investors and energy users that Anton advises are feeling the urgency.

“I think it's the corporates who are pushing hard. People know what direction we're heading in. It's just a matter of how quickly we get there with the energy transition,” says Anton.

Amidst all of this change in the corporate world, we have an ongoing pandemic, a lumpy economic recovery, massive cybersecurity breaches, and an infrastructure bill under consideration that could transform the clean energy economy.

Anton is watching all of it. So we caught up with him for a take on how all these factors are influencing each other. 

This episode was produced in collaboration with the international advisory, tax and accounting firm CohnReznick LLP. Learn more about how clean energy experts and advisors like Anton, can help your organization grow.

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After 30 years of R&D and commercial proof, hundreds of billions in institutional dollars are pouring into now-conventional tech like wind, solar and batteries.  

But there’s a whole class of technologies that are ready to scale. And investors who are increasingly ready to back them.

As we heard in our previous show, there was a record $17 billion in venture capital going into climate tech in 2020. 

With all this money dropping into the space, where can it have the highest impact? What are the areas where we have commercial viability, but still need significant breakthroughs?

Our guest co-host this week is Nneka Uzoh Kibuule, a senior vice president at Aligned Climate Capital. She joins Stephen and Katherine to talk about the sectors where she sees the most promise.

She'll also talk about the launch of GreenTech Noir, an organization that helps black professionals grow their career connections across clean energy, smart cities, transportation, infrastructure, environmental justice, and more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by S&C Electric Company. Today, non-wires alternatives such as microgrids can provide more sustainable, resilient and economical ways to deliver reliable power. S&C helps utilities and commercial customers find the best solutions to meet their energy needs. Learn more.

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During the height of the pandemic in 2020, venture capital poured into climate technologies at record levels. It was a happy surprise amidst a collapsing economy and years of investment stagnation. 

Venture investments in climate tech topped $17 billion in 2020 across more than 1,000 deals. Five years ago, it had fallen to $5.2 billion — a 30 percent decrease from a previous peak in 2011.

Our guest co-host this week is Emily Kirsch, the founder and CEO of Powerhouse. She’s also the host of Watt It Takes, the entrepreneurship series about founders tackling climate change.

Suddenly, it’s cool to be putting your money into the sector again. And there’s something different about today’s rise in enthusiasm. The first wave was all about the “coolness” of cleantech — thin-film solar, electric sports cars, printable batteries. It was also about proving cost curves.

Kara Swisher climate-change-technology.html">put it bluntly in the NYT last year: the world’s first trillionaire will be a greentech entrepreneur.”

Today, there’s much more technological maturity — bigger scale, bigger and better data, and more resources to tap for startups.

There is also a deeper moral responsibility infused with investments. If you are running a major VC firm or a corporate venture arm, you are out of the loop if you don’t have a climate component of your portfolio. Andrew Beebe of Obvious Ventures argues we’ve entered the “climate decade” in VC.

This week: climate tech isn’t just having a moment. It’s having an age, a period, a generation. Why we are at the start of a climate tech era in venture capital.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by S&C Electric Company. Today, non-wires alternatives such as microgrids can provide more sustainable, resilient and economical ways to deliver reliable power. S&C helps utilities and commercial customers find the best solutions to meet their energy needs. Learn more.

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In March of 2020, Covid shut down economies, closed off supply chains, and sent unemployment to historic levels. No one knew what would come next for energy.

Oil prices went into negative territory. Industrial electricity use plummeted. Residential demand shot up. And there were big pipelines of renewable energy projects waiting to get built.

“I think we were all a little bit nervous about how COVID was going to affect all of the deal flow in the market,” says Britta von Oesen, a managing director at CohnReznick Capital.

Britta is the person at the table brokering tax structures and project sales that move money into renewable energy. So did Covid destroy her ability to get deals done?

“Honestly, it's gone a lot better than I would have expected,” she says. 

M&A activity increased. And as 2021 kicked off, the M&A deals only accelerated. Most of the top independent wind and solar developers have been scooped up by utilities, private equity firms, oil majors, or bigger corporates. And the ones that haven't been acquired may be soon. 

There is an intense turf battle over wind, solar and storage platforms in the US. So what is driving all this activity? 

In this episode, brought to you by CohnReznick Capital, we speak with Britta Von Oesen about who's doing the acquiring, who's doing the selling, and what it all means for the growth of U.S. clean energy.

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It’s been a very intense year for America’s power grid. Across the country, the electricity system just faced another stress-test as extreme heat taxed power plants and grid operators in the Pacific Northwest, heat-wave-electricity.html">Texas, and New York.

Since 2000, outages across the U.S. have increased by 67%. Is the power system ready for tomorrow’s extreme weather -- today?

Stephen and Katherine are joined by Dr. Melissa Lott, a senior research scholar and the director of research at the Center on Global Energy Policy.

Plus, we’ll discuss a secret recording of an Exxon lobbyist bragging about the company’s efforts to delay climate policy. What does it tell us about the oil industry’s grip in Washington?

We’ll finish with a look at a new report from Columbia University: can we use natural gas pipelines to accelerate the low-carbon transition?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow. As a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world, Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone and 154 gigawatts in total across the globe. Email them to learn more.

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America is a place where if you can dream something — no matter how big or ambitious — you can do it. 

Unless you’re trying to string 700 miles of high-voltage transmission lines to bring wind power from Oklahoma to Tennessee. 

Our guest this week is Russell Gold, author of a new book about the saga that unfolded when wind energy pioneer Michael Skelly tried just that. 

The book, Superpower, is all about Skelly’s attempt to build one of the most ambitious energy infrastructure projects in recent history — and how he faced nearly every obstacle imaginable. What does Skelly’s journey tell us about America’s diminishing ability to do great things?

Russell Gold is a veteran newspaper reporter who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his reporting on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. He wrote a book in 2014 on the rise of fracking, called The Boom. He’ll join us to talk about the reasons why Skelly’s transmission plan failed.

This is a rebroadcast of a 2019 episode.

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This week, we are offering the first episode of a new podcast: The Big Switch.

It’s a five-part series about how to clean up the energy system -- told in a clear, understandable and fun way. 

The show is hosted by Dr. Melissa Lott, research director at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy.

Stephen Lacey is the show's executive editor.

Listen to the first episode of The Big Switch right now -- and subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, and any other place you get podcasts.

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We can measure the energy transition in any number of ways. The hundreds of millions of solar panels and wind turbines installed. The gigatons of carbon reduced. Or the number of jobs created.

But how do we measure the equity outcome?

Our guest co-host, nock.html">Dr. Destenie Nock, is focused on exactly this question. She is an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Dr. Nock is creating new models for energy-systems planning that factor in positive social objectives, not just cost or reliability metrics.

Any decarbonization strategy is a de facto justice/equity strategy, as frontline communities will see the most benefit. But how do we maximize the benefit? And how do different pathways determine the outcome for low-income citizens and people of color who are disproportionately impacted by pollution? We’ll dig in.

Plus, what is happening with the infrastructure bill? All of a sudden, negotiations are at an impasse. President Biden broke off talks with Republican Senate leadership after strong disagreements over climate spending.

Now progressives and climate groups are wondering: are we going to lose another historic climate bill? And if so, how long will it be until another chance emerges?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Aurora Solar. Aurora is offering all the presentations from its recent Empower Summit for free on its website. Go here to see conversations with people like Sunnova CEO John Berger and CALSSA Executive Director Bernadette Del Chiaro. 

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Enel X, a leader in energy storage, DER management software, and smart electric vehicle charging stations to increase project value. Learn what Enel X can do for your business. 

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America gets 20 percent of its electricity from coal. That’s a 50 percent drop since the peak in 2007. But if coal is becoming so economically uncompetitive, why does it still make up so much of our grid mix?

This week: Coal is no longer king. But it still has a lot of power across the land. How do we banish it for good?

Katherine and Stephen welcome Joe Daniel as a guest co-host this week. Joe is a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Joe joins us to talk about the problem of coal plant “self-scheduling,” which locks in operation of dirty power plants even when the economics don’t make sense.

We’ll also look at how we unburden ourselves from the long-term agreements these coal plants are under? One solution is to buy back debt through securitization — basically like refinancing a mortgage. How will it work?

Finally, we’ll discuss the numbers behind nationalizing the coal industry. Could we buy up the entire sector, shut it down, and then offer wages, healthcare, pensions, and job placement to displaced workers? It would only cost somewhere between $33 billion and $83 billion over 15 years, according to estimates from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Aurora Solar. Join Aurora on June 8th and 9th for the second annual virtual summit. Hear from, and interact with, industry leaders, policy makers, sales experts, and more. Get your questions ready, and save your spot by registering now.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Enel X, a leader in energy storage, DER management software, and smart electric vehicle charging stations to increase project value. Learn what Enel X can do for your business. 

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What if someone told you that we have everything we need to decarbonize most of the economy? 

We would just need to start electrifying every new car, furnace, water heater, drier, and cookstove, and industrial process starting right now. And yeah, and put solar on every roof that can handle it.

This week: a wartime plan for winning the climate fight with clean electricity. What’ll it take? How possible is it?

Saul Griffith is our guest co-host. He’s the founder and chief scientist of Rewiring America. He’s also the author of the upcoming book “Electrify,” from MIT Press. 

If we are on a wartime footing for decarbonizing the economy, Saul could be considered a 5-star general of the “electrify everything” movement.

He founded or co-founded around a dozen companies and organizations. And he has a PhD from MIT in materials science and information theory.

Saul is now trying to marshal the world around his “a defensible and believable” pathway for decarbonizing America with clean electricity.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Aurora Solar. Join Aurora on June 8th and 9th for the second annual virtual summit. Hear from, and interact with, industry leaders, policy makers, sales experts, and more. Get your questions ready, and save your spot by registering now.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Enel X, a leader in energy storage, DER management software, and smart electric vehicle charging stations to increase project value. Learn what Enel X can do for your business. 

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First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then they transform?

This week: a look at some positive trends guiding the utility sector. What are power providers that are leading the energy transition doing right?

We’re joined by Julia Hamm, the president and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance.

We’re talking about SEPA’s 2021 utility transformation profile -- a survey and ranking system of over 130 electric utilities in the US.

There are thousands of power companies. That means different flavors of corporate goals, management styles, and approaches to building clean energy. Julia’s going to help us understand what they are.

Why is utility progress more like “change management” than traditional Silicon Valley-style disruption? 

Then: how utilities will benefit from Biden’s big infrastructure push.

Plus, the solar census: what will job growth look like in a post-pandemic world?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Aurora Solar. Join Aurora on June 8th and 9th for the second annual virtual summit. Hear from, and interact with, industry leaders, policy makers, sales experts, and more. Get your questions ready, and save your spot by registering now.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Enel X, a leader in energy storage, DER management software, and smart electric vehicle charging stations to increase project value. Learn what Enel X can do for your business. 

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The lack of progress on offshore wind in America is one of the most baffling and frustrating stories in energy. 

The technology and resource availability are tremendous. Europe has de-risked the technology and proven it can be deployed at scale, and at low cost, with minimal disruption. U.S. states are setting big targets. And at a national-scale, people want it.

And yet, we have not been able to get any meaningful amounts of offshore wind capacity in the water. 

That may be about to change. In late March, the Biden team said it plans to accelerate offshore wind development -- with a goal of getting 30 gigawatts of projects finished by 2030, and 110 gigawatts by 2050.

By comparison, we have 30 megawatts in the water now. And Europe currently has 25 gigawatts operational.

So what does the government need to do to finally make this industry a reality?

Energy futurist Ramez Naam is our guest co-host this week. 

We’ll also talk about Biden’s first 100 days in office. He marked the occasion with a speech to Congress that emphasized his “blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America.” H e’s drawing a very clear connection between taking action on climate change and building tons of jobs. 

So what has Biden accomplished so far that is meaningful? What is rhetorical and what is creating a clear pathway to real outcomes?

Finally, we’ll look at why the UN is leaks-united-nations.html">shifting its focus to methane emissions. 

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Aurora Solar. Join Aurora on June 8th and 9th for the second annual virtual summit. Hear from, and interact with, industry leaders, policy makers, sales experts, and more. Get your questions ready, and save your spot by registering now.

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In 2015, then-Secretary of State John Kerry called the Paris climate treaty a “tremendous victory.” In the years since, much-the-largest-banks-have-invested-in-fossil-fuel-report.html">$3.8 trillion has flowed into fossil fuels globally.

Now Kerry and other White House officials are focusing on banks and insurers that are still offering a lifeline to new fossil fuel projects. Can they slow the flow of cash?

This week: why finance is the main pressure point for climate.

Today, all the major banks are collectively supporting hundreds of billions of dollars worth of renewables projects every year. 

But few are giving up on fossil fuels. One environmental campaigner put it this way: “the banks are gorging on doughnuts and then eating an apple afterwards.”

A new analysis from DeSmog finds that 77% of board directors at the top-7 US banks have ties to “climate-conflicted” groups.

Earlier this year, New York University released a study showing that only 7 percent of board members in the top 100 US companies -- which includes many banks -- had any climate expertise at all.

This week, Justin Guay joins Katherine and Stephen as a guest co-host. Justin is the director of global climate strategy at the Sunrise Project. He’s been following the flow of money into climate-conflicted projects for a decade.

Looking to grow your career in solar tech? Aurora Solar is the leader in solar design and sales software. Aurora is hiring across multiple roles including customer success, marketing, sales, operations, and more. See open roles and apply to join Aurora, voted one of the best places to work in 2021, at www.aurorasolar.com/energygang.

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In 2005, it looked like heat-trapping gases from power plants were only going up.

That year, the EIA put out a projection: CO2 emissions from power plants would steadily rise every year, thanks to the incumbency of coal and gas.

Today, they’re half of what was projected. A new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab calls it “halfway to zero” -- meaning we are already halfway to a zero-carbon grid.

This week: why the path to net-zero may surprise us once again.

Then: America’s climate image on the world stage is in tatters. What will it take for the Biden team to stitch it back together before COP negotiations this fall?

Finally: a ton of specific policy ideas that can help us expand solar to the people who need it most.

BlocPower CEO Donnel Baird joins Katherine and Stephen as our guest co-host this week.

Looking to grow your career in solar tech? Aurora Solar is the leader in solar design and sales software. Aurora is hiring across multiple roles including customer success, marketing, sales, operations, and more. See open roles and apply to join Aurora, voted one of the best places to work in 2021, at www.aurorasolar.com/energygang.

This podcast is also brought to you by CPower. CPower’s latest book, "Demand-Side Energy Management in the Time of COVID," takes a peek into eight of the biggest commercial industries in North America and reveals key energy management strategies successful organizations executed during the wildest year of the young century. Download it here.

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Every few seconds, a new residential HVAC system or water heater is installed around America. Most of them are designed to burn oil and gas -- locking in 15-20 more years of carbon pollution.

So how do we electrify 100% of that new equipment rapidly?  This week: a wide-ranging conversation about how to unlock the residential market. 

Katherine and Stephen are joined by Nate Adams, the co-founder of HVAC 2.0. He’s called “the house whisperer” for a reason. They discuss the benefit of home electrification, the opportunity, and the market constraints.

Later in the show, a new trend in real estate: Redfin released a survey of prospective homebuyers, asking them about how they’d factor climate risk into their decisions. Half of them said that intensifying natural disasters influenced their decision to relocate. What are the consequences for the market?

Resources:

• Grist: The Barriers to Home Electrification
• the-house-whisperer.ck.page/1786fbdf5a">Workshop: Nate Adams’ Electrify Everything Course
• Redfin Survey: Climate Change Influencing American Home Buyers
• Lisbeth Kaufman: Why I’m Buying a Climate Haven

Looking to grow your career in solar tech? Aurora Solar is the leader in solar design and sales software. Aurora is hiring across multiple roles including customer success, marketing, sales, operations, and more. See open roles and apply to join Aurora, voted one of the best places to work in 2021, at www.aurorasolar.com/energygang.

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California is the proving ground for every major change that President Biden wants to accelerate nationally: 100% carbon-free electricity, fossil fuel phaseouts, climate-resilient grid hardening. 

The state wants to make 100% of retail electricity sales carbon-free by 2045. To that, it’ll need to match its best year ever for renewable energy installations -- for 25 years more years in a row. It’ll amount to $4.5 billion in yearly spending.

California is moving fast. Is there such a thing as too fast? 

This week, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer Sammy Roth joins us to talk about California’s fast, sometimes-messy, and still-evolving energy transition. 

Plus, tensions over public lands. It’s going to take a lot of investment, difficult choices, and grit to hit California’s zero-carbon goals. It’s also going to take a lot of land.

That’s putting the Biden team in a dilemma: how to balance a historic build-out of wind and solar farms with protection of public lands? 

Plus, we look at the details of Biden’s “once in a generation” plan to reconstruct the economy one seawall, EV charging station, and transmission project at a time.

Resources:

• Sammy Roth’s “Boiling Point” newsletter
• Sammy’s article on the collision over renewables on public lands
• Sammy’s article on California’s pathway forward to 100% clean power
• E&E News: How Biden’s $2T infrastructure plan would overhaul the grid
• infrastructure-plan.html">NYT: Biden’s $2T plan to reshape the economy

Looking to grow your career in solar tech? Aurora Solar is the leader in solar design and sales software. Aurora is hiring across multiple roles including customer success, marketing, sales, operations, and more. See open roles and apply to join Aurora, voted one of the best places to work in 2021, at www.aurorasolar.com

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The systems that support growing, shipping and processing food make up one-third of heat trapping gases.

How can Agtech help us tackle this tangled and underserved sector? We’ll look at investment activity, technological solutions, and policy levers.

Then, we revisit long-duration storage. A net-zero grid will require new ways to store and discharge energy over long periods. How’s it shaping up?

Plus, is carbon pricing back on the table here in the US?

This week, Katherine and Stephen are joined by guest co-host Amy Duffuor, a principal at Prime Impact Fund. 

Resources:

• to-unleash-agtech-in-the-fight-against-climate-change.html">Ag Funder: How to Unleash Agtech in the Fight Against Climate Change
• Greentech Media: California Could Need 55 GW of Long-Duration Storage
• petroleum-institute-carbon-pricing-dcc5cd19-ff8b-46f6-8fcb-55576347b49b.html">Axios: Oil Industry Endorses a Carbon Price

Looking to grow your career in solar tech? Aurora Solar is the leader in solar design and sales software. Aurora is hiring across multiple roles including customer success, marketing, sales, operations, and more. See open roles and apply to join Aurora, voted one of the best places to work in 2021, at www.aurorasolar.com

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This week, the nuts and bolts of climate policy: infrastructure.

With a $2 trillion covid relief package under his belt, Biden looks to harness another $3 trillion on building clean energy, hardening the electric grid, installing electric car chargers, and updating roads and bridges.

We’ll game out what’s needed and what’s possible.

Then: is this the moment for the black climate agenda? And if so, what are the priorities?

Finally, how will pressure campaigns over new fossil fuel infrastructure play out in the next four years? And what lessons have we learned from previous fights over the last decade?

The gang this week: Katherine Hamilton and Stephen Lacey are joined by climate strategist Tamara Toles O’Laughlin.

Resources:

• infrastructure-stimulus-climate-change.html">New York Times: Biden’s Biden’s Recovery Plan Bets Big on Clean Energy
• E&E News: How the Infrastructure Bill Might Tackle Climate Change
• Redfin Study: Redlined Communities Face Greater Flood Risk
• CNN: A New Pipeline Battle Fires Up in Minnesota

This podcast is brought to you by Sungrow, a leading provider of PV inverter solutions around the world. Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone — and 120 gigawatts in total across the globe. Learn more about Sungrow’s cutting-edge solar projects.

This podcast is also brought to you by CPower. CPower’s latest book, Demand-Side Energy Management in the Time of COVID, takes a peek into eight of the biggest commercial industries in North America and reveals key energy management strategies that successful organizations executed during the wildest year of the young century. Download it here.

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This week: natural gas bans are the newest flash point in the energy transition. What does it mean for the electrify-everything movement -- and the gas industry’s public relations battle?

Then: how do we build back better for everybody? We’ll look how Biden’s recent stimulus and climate agenda could mend America’s growing wealth and race divide.

Plus: it’s been a year since the start of the pandemic. What transformed, and what didn’t? What did we get right and wrong? We’ll revisit the last 12 months.

Katherine Hamilton and Stephen Lacey are joined by Donnel Baird, the CEO of Blocpower. 

Resources:

• Mother Jones investigation on gas industry front groups.
• NPR story on political conflicts over gas bans, and pre-emptive actions in red states
• The Atlantic: Biden’s stimulus is a big deal for public transit
• biden-racial-justice-economy-plan.html">NYT: How Biden ties economic goals to racial equity 
• Politico: Congressional democrats unveil sweeping climate bill
• Podcasters declare campaign

This podcast is brought to you by Sungrow, a leading provider of PV inverter solutions around the world. Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone — and 120 gigawatts in total across the globe. Learn more about Sungrow’s cutting-edge solar projects.

This podcast is also brought to you by CPower. CPower’s latest book, Demand-Side Energy Management in the Time of COVID, takes a peek into eight of the biggest commercial industries in North America and reveals key energy management strategies that successful organizations executed during the wildest year of the young century. Download it here.

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This week, we present a crossover episode of our sister podcast, The Interchange.

In this episode, host Shayle Kann talks with fellow venture capitalist Abe Yokell about the state of climate tech investing. It’s safe to say that this year has brought some of the biggest changes to the space we’ve ever seen. Shayle and Abe try to separate what’s real from what’s hype.

Thanks to everyone for their kind emails and social media reactions after Jigar's final episode.

The show goes on! We’re currently booking a diverse range of high-profile guests to join us each week. We think you're going to like what we have in store for you.

While you are waiting for new Energy Gang episodes, this is the perfect time to follow the The Interchange where ever you listen to podcasts.

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Jigar Shah has been our co-host since 2013. But now he's moving on to new pastures.

Starting this this week, Jigar will be leading the Department of Energy's loan programs office -- running the government's strategy to finance the deployment of up-and-coming clean energy technologies.

In this episode, we reflect on Jigar's career and his role on the show. Plus, we'll learn more about his mission in the Biden Administration.

Read the announcement.

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This week, we have a bonus episode of Watt It Takes featuring Stephen Lacey, our founding host and executive producer.

Back in December, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch interviewed Stephen for a holiday edition of Watt It Takes. They talked in front of an audience about his career in journalism, how the world of podcasting has evolved, and his entrepreneurial journey launching a production company. 

And great news! Watt It Takes is now a standalone series. You can subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or it-takes.simplecast.com/">anywhere you get your shows. We'll be featuring the top voices in climate tech throughout 2021.

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Even for energy veterans, the depth of failures in Texas last week were breathtaking. 

As arctic air froze power plants, gas lines, and mechanical instruments, the grid was shut down -- leaving 4 million people without electricity, unknown millions without heat, and three times that many without water. 

Texas has been through freezes like this before in 2011, 2014 and 2018. Regulators were warned. So who is to blame for this historic catastrophe?

This week, we’ll talk about what happened in Texas -- reflecting on the responses and projecting the consequences for how we engineer the grid. 

Then: did the shale boom fail to create all those promised jobs? 

New research shows that the natural gas boom did not bring a massive employment wave to counties in the Marcellus and Utica shales. Wealth yes, but not so many jobs. 

• Wall Street Journal: In Frigid Texas, Desperate Families Take Risks to Stay Warm
• Associated Press: Texas governor’s biggest donors: Energy industry that failed
• NBC: The GOP is rapidly becoming the blue-collar party. Here's what that means.
• Inside Climate News: A Decade Into the Fracking Boom, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia Haven’t Gained Much, a Study Says

Thanks to our sponsors:

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy. Wärtsilä is leading the energy transition with the percent.org/">Atlas of 100% Renewable Energy. Stick with us at the end of the show to hear how this tool is helping us understand how to best spend stimulus dollars on the clean-energy transition.

 This podcast is brought to you by Sungrow, a leading provider of PV inverter solutions around the world. Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone — and 120 gigawatts in total across the globe. Learn more about Sungrow’s cutting-edge solar projects.

This podcast is also brought to you by CPower. CPower’s latest book, Demand-Side Energy Management in the Time of COVID, takes a peek into eight of the biggest commercial industries in North America and reveals key energy management strategies that successful organizations executed during the wildest year of the young century. Download it here.

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This week: climate change is certainly the most urgent issue we face. But should it be formally declared an emergency? 

There’s a real conversation over the label in the US -- and it could have a very real impact on what the president can do.

This has been a growing priority for environmental groups. Grist reported that in December, more than 380 of them sent a letter to Joe Biden’s transition team, urging him to issue anus-west-2.amazonaws.com/s3-wagtail.biolgicaldiversity.org/documents/50_Critical_Environmental_Reforms_to_Transform_the_Federal_Government.pdf"> executive order mobilizing the National Emergencies Act. 

And now, Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the House and Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Senate among others just introduced The National Climate Emergency Act of 2021, 

Then: what could be the counter-impact? Changes across the energy economy are set to accelerate. If we don’t do it correctly, are we facing a “Yellow Vest” protest movement like we saw recently in France?

And last: a new study shows that some cities are grossly under-reporting their carbon emissions. Do cities even have the resources to measure them properly?   

Resources:

• Grist: AOC, Sanders, and Blumenauer press Biden to declare a ‘climate emergency’
• Vice: AOC and Bernie Are Teaming Up to Get Biden to Declare Climate Change a National Emergency
• Vox: “We risk a yellow vest movement”: Why the US clean energy transition must be equitable
• greenhouse-gas-emissions.html">New York Times: U.S. Cities Are Vastly Undercounting Emissions, Researchers Find

Thanks to our sponsors:

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy. Wärtsilä is leading the energy transition with the percent.org/">Atlas of 100% Renewable Energy. Stick with us at the end of the show to hear how this tool is helping us understand how to best spend stimulus dollars on the clean-energy transition.

 This podcast is brought to you by Sungrow, a leading provider of PV inverter solutions around the world. Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone — and 120 gigawatts in total across the globe. Learn more about Sungrow’s cutting-edge solar projects.

This podcast is also brought to you by CPower. CPower’s latest book, "Demand-Side Energy Management in the Time of COVID," takes a peek into eight of the biggest commercial industries in North America and reveals key energy management strategies successful organizations executed during the wildest year of the young century. Download it here.

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Net-zero pledges are becoming common for utilities. But a huge number of them are failing to decarbonize on any timeframe that truly matters. They’re not phasing out coal, they’re building lots of new gas plants, and they’re not building enough clean energy.

We’ll talk about a damning new analysis of utility climate goals from the Sierra Club that digs into the actual numbers.

Then, the urgency of a national clean energy standard. What are the new political pieces in place to get a nationwide target in place? And can we build it to serve marginalized communities? A new analysis maps out how.

Finally, the bombshell news that General Motors will only sell zero-emissions cars by 2035. How hard is it to turn around a company born and raised in internal combustion? A cautionary tale from Volkswagen offers some answers.  

Dr. Leah Stokes, professor at UC Santa Barbara, joins Stephen, Katherine and Jigar this week. Leah is the co-author behind the two reports we are discussing.

Leah is also co-host of A Matter of Degrees, a new podcast that looks at the forces behind climate change -- and how “climate curious” citizens can tackle it.

Resources:

• Sierra Club: The Dirty Truth About Climate Pledges
• ces-report.pdf">Stokes, Ricketts: A Roadmap to 100% Clean Electricity by 2035
• zero-emission-vehicles.html">New York Times: G.M. Will Sell Only Zero-Emission Vehicles by 2035
• Wall Street Journal: How Volkswagen’s $50 Billion Plan to Beat Tesla Short-Circuited 

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The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy. Wärtsilä is leading the energy transition with the percent.org/">Atlas of 100% Renewable Energy. Stick with us at the end of the show to hear how this tool is helping us understand how to best spend stimulus dollars on the clean-energy transition.

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This podcast is also brought to you by CPower. CPower and its team of energy experts are back with a webinar series aimed to help organizations make sense of the chaos and optimize their energy use and spend in 2021. This hour-long webinar series features market-by-market breakdowns to help energy planners make the right decisions. Register today.

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It was hard to keep up with the destruction of the Trump era. And it’s already getting hard to keep up with the rebuilding. 

This week brought a series of actions on climate change from the White House that are building a framework for the climate economy. 

Sam Ricketts, a prominent climate policy advisor, told the Los Angeles Times: “This is the most ambitious climate platform put forward by an American president...It is mobilizing the entirety of the federal government in an unprecedented way. Every agency is now a climate agency.”

We’ll sort through it.

Then, last week we covered distributed energy modeling. Now we get to the practice: how do we rebuild markets to accommodate a ton of small-scale resources? They’re doing it in the UK. We’ve lagged in the US. We’ll compare.

Finally, Elon Musk says he’ll give $100M to carbon-capture tech that shows promise. He can’t run rockets on electricity. Will he get his carbon-neutral jet fuel?

• Greentech Media: Biden Executive Orders Set Broad Federal Role in Clean Energy and Climate Change Mitigation
• LATimes: Biden Orders Sweeping Actions to Pause Drilling and Fight Climate Change
• Greentech Media: New UK DERMS Project Targets Flexibility Across Distribution and Transmission Grids
• Twitter: Cisco DeVries’ Feed on the Dissing of OhmConnect
• NBC News: Elon Musk to Offer $100 Million Prize for 'Best' Carbon Capture Tech
• Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research A Review of the Role of Fossil Fuel Based Carbon Capture and Storage in the Energy System.

This podcast is brought to you by Sungrow, a leading provider of PV inverter solutions around the world. Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone — and 120 gigawatts in total across the globe. Learn more about Sungrow’s cutting-edge solar projects.

This podcast is also brought to you by CPower. CPower and its team of energy experts are back with a webinar series aimed to help organizations make sense of the chaos and optimize their energy use and spend in 2021. This hour-long webinar series features market-by-market breakdowns to help energy planners make the right decisions. Register today.

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This week, we finally left behind a destructive regime that thwarted environmental policy at every turn. We exchanged it for a government putting climate experts and clean-energy doers in its highest ranks in a way that no prior administration has done before.

What comes next?

First up this week: If Biden wants his $2 trillion climate spending plan to make a bigger impact, should he emphasize rooftop solar and small-scale batteries? A leading modeler says a local solar-storage plan could save hundreds of billions of dollars as we build out the net-zero grid.

Then: the board members of major corporations are often ignorant about climate change and what it takes to address it, according to a new report from NYU’s Stern business school. Why is that true – still? What can be done about it?

And last: Should you sign up for your utility’s green power program? Is there a better way to guarantee that your monthly power bill supports the world you envision? We’ll answer a listener question.

Recommended reading:

• VCE: Why Local Solar for All Costs Less
• Local Solar For All Roadmap
• LA Times: Boiling Point: How rooftop solar could save Americans $473 billion
• Bloomberg: Many Corporate Boards Don’t Fully Understand the Climate Crisis
• Harvard Business Review: Boards Are Obstructing ESG — at Their Own Peril
• power.html">NREL: Voluntary Green Power Procurement - 2019 Utility Green Pricing Ranks
• Energy Sage: What to look for, and availability of community solar

This podcast is brought to you by Sungrow, a leading provider of PV inverter solutions around the world. Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone — and 120 gigawatts in total across the globe. Learn more about Sungrow’s cutting-edge solar projects.

This podcast is also brought to you by CPower. CPower and its team of energy experts are back with a webinar series aimed to help organizations make sense of the chaos and optimize their energy use and spend in 2021. This hour-long webinar series features market-by-market breakdowns to help energy planners make the right decisions. Register today.

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BlocPower CEO Donnel Baird is on a mission to clean up old, inefficient buildings in America’s cities -- and help people who are exposed to the worst pollution. 

BlocPower was founded in 2012. It’s raised venture capital from Kapor Capital and Andreesen Horowitz. But that process was not easy for a company with a mostly non-white leadership team. As a black founder, Donnel was turned down 200 times before any venture firms were willing to back his vision.

“It was really difficult for us raising capital. One of our investors when I talked to him two or three years ago and said I was struggling to raise capital, he was like ‘yeah man, just hire some white people and send them into the fundraising meetings and it’ll clear things up,’” explains Donnel.

BlocPower is a Brooklyn, New York startup electrifying and weatherizing buildings in underserved communities -- slashing pollution and saving money. This includes housing units, churches, community centers. 

And the mission for Donnel isn’t about just about hitting milestones for investors. It’s about changing the fabric of underserved communities that are plagued by pollution and energy poverty. That’s because Donnel has lived it himself.

In this episode, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch talks with Donnel about how he channeled his frustration and anger around racial unfairness into a business model for the energy transition.

Listen to all our past episodes of Watt It Takes here. This series is normally recorded in front of a live audience, but we’re now recording the interviews remotely. See future events from Powerhouse here.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world. Sungrow has delivered more than 10 gigawatts of inverters to the Americas alone -- and 120 gigawatts in total across the globe. Learn more about Sungrow’s cutting-edge solar projects.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by CPower. CPower and its team of energy experts are back with a webinar series aimed to help organizations make sense of the chaos and optimize their energy use and spend in 2021. This hour-long webinar series features market-by-market breakdowns to help energy planners make the right decisions. Register today.

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In the final moments of 2020, the most important U.S. energy legislation in a decade flew in under the radar, attached to the coronavirus relief and government funding bill. 

It’s an astonishing collection of measures. It sets aside $35 Billion in new funding for clean energy R&D, phases out some of the most egregious greenhouse gases, and extends tax credits for wind, solar, nuclear, and carbon capture. What’s the impact?

It would have been a bill big enough to discuss this whole episode. But it’s been eclipsed by the possibility of more ambitious legislation under a Democrat-controlled Congress -- thanks to some big Senate wins in Georgia on Wednesday.

With a window of action open, how much can get done in the next two years? We’ll dig in. 

Lastly, one of the biggest business stories from the last year: Tesla. A stratospheric stock price, strong sales growth, and the second richest man in the world. What do Elon Musk’s fortunes foreshadow for EVs?

Recommended reading:

• Greentech Media: What Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Did, and Didn’t, Get from Congress This Week
• E&E News: 13 Ways the Massive Omnibus Hits Energy
• Dave Roberts Volts Podcast: The Energy Act
• E&ENews: Things to Watch in a 50-50 Senate 
• Bloomberg: Tesla Poised for Expansion After Just Missing 2020 Target
• Barron’s: Tesla Passes a Market-Cap Milestone. It’s Worth More Than Facebook.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, a leading provider of PV inverter solutions across the world. Sungrow is supplying inverters for a series of new, world-class solar facilities that will support Facebook’s operations with 100% renewable energy. Learn more about Sungrow’s cutting-edge solar projects.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by CPower. CPower and its team of energy experts are back with a webinar series aimed to help organizations make sense of the chaos and optimize their energy use and spend in 2021. This hour-long webinar series features market-by-market breakdowns to help energy planners make the right decisions. Register today.

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Goodbye 2020. We’re not sad to see you go. 

Even though this year brought a lot of outright bad stuff, it also brought a lot of positive, nuanced storylines in energy.

We’re going to tackle as many of them as possible, using suggestions from our listeners as a guide.

And no, they won’t be pandemic-related. Not explicitly anyway. You can listen to our previous episode for our pandemic picks.

We’ll tackle your suggestions: breakout technologies, political corruption, corporate momentum, energy justice, new financing approaches, and regulatory change.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy, leading the transition toward a 100% renewable energy future. Wärtsilä launched “The Path to 100%” to accelerate the transition to renewables. Become part of the discussion.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Honeywell, a leading supplier of IOT solutions to mission-critical industries around the world. Honeywell Smart Energy helps utilities transform their grid operations through advanced solutions and targeted services from edge to cloud. Learn more.

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We’re featuring an episode of Google’s new podcast about data centers, called Where the Internet Lives. 

What would it take to run data centers on clean electricity, everywhere, every hour of the day? In this episode, we look at the evolution of data center energy use in a world confronting the threat of climate change – and explore promising ideas that could fuel a carbon-free future.

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As we close out 2020, we are diving into the top stories that defined this frenzied and heavy year. 

This week, we’ll start the show with a look back at how Covid re-shaped the energy transition. We’re going to revisit some predictions that did -- and didn’t -- come true. Next episode, we’ll look at a wider range of (non-pandemic) 2020 stories.

Then later in the show, advertising and PR professionals are suddenly being pressured to reveal how much of their income is from fossil fuel clients. Are firms in this industry the next to lose their social license?

And last: what could a Youth Climate Corps accomplish? And how should it be set up? We look to a Depression-era program to rally the passions of America’s climate generation. 

Resources:

• New Yorker: When “Creatives” Turn Destructive: Image-Makers and the Climate Crisis
• Yale 360: How a Climate Corps Could Put Youth to Work in Greening America
• “Where the Internet Lives” podcast from Google

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy, leading the transition toward a 100% renewable energy future. Wärtsilä launched “The Path to 100%” to accelerate the transition to renewables. Become part of the discussion.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Honeywell, a leading supplier of IOT solutions to mission-critical industries around the world. Honeywell Smart Energy helps utilities transform their grid operations through advanced solutions and targeted services from edge to cloud. Learn more.

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Climate risk is now the topic du jour in Washington. The Biden transition team identified it as a powerful policy lever in the business world that could help the president-elect’s climate agenda without Congress. 

But how? Could it happen at the Securities and Exchange Commission where companies disclose legal and other threats? What about a role for the Federal Reserve? What can Biden himself do?

This week, we’ll look at how federal action may happen -- and what impact it would have on emissions.

Then, from the first days in office, Trump’s team went after environmental protections with the focus of trained assassins. Those efforts are only intensifying in the weeks before Trump leaves the White House. How might Biden stop these “regulatory bombs?”

Last: reactions to Biden’s hires are revealing a split in the climate community. What do they reveal about theories of change in this changing political moment?

• E&E News: Biden to Shine Light on Corporate Climate Risk
• Bloomberg: All Businesses Everywhere, Get Ready to Disclose Your Climate Risk
• trump-biden.html">New York Times: E.P.A.’s Final Deregulatory Rush Runs Into Open Staff Resistance
• Propublica: Tracking the Trump Administration’s “Midnight Regulations”
• Twitter: Bill McKibben defense of Brian Deese
• Twitter: Matt Yglesias on the only way to make climate progress

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy, leading the transition toward a 100% renewable energy future. Wärtsilä launched “The Path to 100%” to accelerate the transition to renewables. Become part of the discussion.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Honeywell, a leading supplier of IoT solutions to mission-critical industries around the world. Honeywell Smart Energy helps utilities transform their grid operations through advanced solutions and targeted services from edge to cloud. Learn more.

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Cathy Zoi has seen it all. She’s studied and worked in oil, gas and clean energy since the Reagan Era. Now as CEO of charging company EVgo, she knows the future of energy is coming fast. 

“Rideshare drivers are now starting to drive EVs, those folks need to charge once a day away from home, and they need to do it fast. When COVID hit, delivery drivers for food deliveries needed to charge on our network. Fleet companies like Amazon. So every month that goes by, there is a new opportunity, says Zoi.”

Cathy has a breadth of energy and cleantech experience working in leadership roles at non-profits, startups, venture capital, academia, and government agencies.

Cathy was on the team that developed the original Energy Star rating when she worked at the Environmental Protection Agency. She was chief of staff in the White House Office on Environmental Policy in the Clinton-Gore Administration. And she is co-founder and executive chairman of Odyssey Energy, a software start-up bringing distributed clean power to developing countries. 

In this episode, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Cathy Zoi to discuss how that journey inevitably led her to electric transportation.

Listen to all our past episodes of Watt It Takes here. This series is normally recorded in front of a live audience. But we’re now recording the interviews remotely. See future events here.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy, leading the transition toward a 100% renewable energy future. Wärtsilä launched “The Path to 100%” to accelerate the transition to renewables. Become part of the discussion.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Honeywell, a leading supplier of IoT solutions to mission-critical industries around the world. Honeywell Smart Energy helps utilities transform their grid operations through advanced solutions and targeted services from edge to cloud. Learn more.

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In the 1960s, scientists who worked for General Motors and Ford discovered that the exhaust from their cars was very likely changing the climate. They made presentations at conferences. They briefed senior executives. And then, they were publicly contradicted and their work was suppressed. 

We’ll talk to Maxine Joselow, the journalist who reported the story for E&E News over many months. She talked with more than two dozen former GM and Ford employees, retired auto industry executives, academics, and environmentalists about what the companies knew about climate change five decades ago.

It leaves the reader wondering: what if automakers had taken the problem more seriously a half-century ago?

Then, plenty of conservative states are embracing renewables. But now 100% clean energy mandates are spreading to redder states. The latest is Arizona: a place where elected officials and a giant utility previously worked to stop the march of clean energy. We’ll look at the shift. 

And last: can a Marshall Plan for fading coal communities rebuild America’s former industrial regions?

• E&E News: GM, Ford Knew About Climate Change 50 Years Ago
• Scientific American: A Woman Warned GM about Warming, But Men Didn’t Listen
• Greentech Media: Arizona Regulators Pass Rule for 100% Clean Energy by 2050
• Smart Cities Dive: Mayors Unveil $60B Plan to Support Midwest Energy Transition
• University of Pittsburgh: Marshall Plan for Middle America Roadmap

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy, leading the transition toward a 100% renewable energy future. Wärtsilä launched “The Path to 100%” to accelerate the transition to renewables. Become part of the discussion.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Honeywell, a leading supplier of IoT solutions to mission-critical industries around the world. Honeywell Smart Energy helps utilities transform their grid operations through advanced solutions and targeted services from edge to cloud. Learn more.

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Has 2020 – which seemed irredeemable – just done a 180? We’ll be back in the Paris agreement, Biden’s got a zero-emissions plan, East Asia’s making big moves, and there might even be a vaccine for Covid-19.

President-Elect Joe Biden has already named his environment transition team. And he discussed climate change with four European heads of state this Tuesday.

He also has a “Build Back Better” one-pager that looks a lot like the green recovery plans in Europe we’ve been discussing for months. 

We’re going to look at specific things a Biden administration can do in each identified category to get to net-zero emissions.

Then, 2020 is turning into the year of net-zero. Japan and South Korea have now promised to zero out carbon emissions by 2050. That preserves the possibility of keeping warming at or below 1.5º C. 

This fall, China also issued its first-ever net-zero date. That means most of East Asia has now committed to eliminating all new carbon emissions by a certain date. 

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea actually ran and won on a platform of a Green New Deal for Korea. He’s talking about a ‘just transition’ away from dirty energy. And Japan says it will rethink its reliance on coal. 

These are big stories on their own. Bigger in the context of America’s re-engagement with the world as we head toward climate negotiations in 2021. 

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy, leading the transition toward a 100% renewable energy future. Wärtsilä launched “The Path to 100%” to accelerate the transition to renewables. Become part of the discussion.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Honeywell, a leading supplier of IoT solutions to mission-critical industries around the world. Honeywell Smart Energy helps utilities transform their grid operations through advanced solutions and targeted services from edge to cloud. Learn more.

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This sponsored episode was produced in collaboration with GTM Creative Strategies and the Opower team at Oracle Utilities.

The last two years have brought a surge of plans for zero-carbon energy from some of the biggest power providers in the world. Dozens of U.S. utilities have committed to decarbonizing by 80% or more by 2050.

"Two thirds of U.S. consumers are now served by utilities with carbon or emissions reduction goals," says Scott Neuman, group vice president of Opower, at Oracle Utilities.

National Grid is the latest utility to up the ante. The electricity and gas supplier now wants to hit net-zero emissions by 2050.

"In terms of decarbonizing and reducing emissions across society, it can break out into three broad areas, decarbonizing generational power, decarbonizing transport and decarbonizing heat," says Badar Kahn, the presdient of National Grid US.

In this episode, we’ll hear from Badar Kahn and Scott Neuman about how zero-carbon goals may reshape utility operations -- and reshape the role of the customer.

"We're taking everything we've learned, everything we've built, and focusing our team on changing behaviors that will deliver the greatest emission reductions as quickly, affordably and accurately as possible," says Neuman.

Opower is working every single day to help your utility build a clean energy future. Utilities around the world rely on Opower to connect with their customers. Opower helps people save energy, save money, and adopt all the clean energy products & services we need right now.

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This week: the future of the planet depends on the mail. 

The mail-in votes are still being counted, but it’s increasingly likely that Joe Biden will become America’s next president.

As of this recording on Thursday morning, Biden’s path to the presidency looks much better than Trump’s. It could be Thursday night or Friday when we get calls for Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina. 

We do not have an official result. But the direction feels clearer -- and we have plenty of local results, too.

Meanwhile, America is officially out of the Paris Climate Accord. What happens next?

In this episode, we’re just going to cover a smattering of stories coming out of the election.

Plus, we’ll answer a bunch of listener questions.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Wärtsilä Energy, leading the transition toward a 100% renewable energy future. Wärtsilä launched “The Path to 100%” to accelerate the transition to renewables. Become part of the discussion.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Honeywell, a leading supplier of IoT solutions to mission-critical industries around the world. Honeywell Smart Energy helps utilities transform their grid operations through advanced solutions and targeted services from edge to cloud. Learn more.

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We’re just a few days out from the election -- and how could we talk about anything else? Climate is finally beginning to play the kind of role that we have waited so long for. 

In this pre-election episode, we’ll recap where things stand: and how energy and climate are playing into late-stage messaging of Biden and Trump. 

Plus, what are some of the crucial down-ballot races we’re watching election night? 

And last: Five years have passed since the largest terrestrial natural gas disaster in U.S. history. A methane well in the Los Angeles hills broke open and shot a plume of methane into the air for four months.  

What’s changed since the Aliso Canyon leak? And how did it accelerate distributed resources in the state?

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. KORE Power is building the first large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. owned by an American company. Once it’s operational, the 1-million-square-foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more. 

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This week on Watt It Takes: Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Solstice CEO Steph Speirs.

Solistice is a community solar company trying to make PV accessible to everyone.

Steph Speirs grew up one of three kids, first generation, in Hawaii. Her mom had immigrated from Korea. She knows what eviction feels like, and what it’s like to skirt homelessness. And she knows how a poor credit score can sink a human being.

She got a scholarship to a private high school, became a National Merit scholar and accrued three masters degrees at Yale, Princeton and MIT.  

In this interview, we’ll hear how her time in the Obama administration led to a summer internship with the non-profit impact investor Acumen. She worked on solar lanterns in India. Her time in Yemen, India, and then Pakistan led to an awakening about energy injustice in the United States. 

Solstice has now developed demand for 100 MW of community solar and just closed its biggest funding round so far. 

To learn more about future speakers and attending a live event, go to Powerhouse.fund and click on the events tab. You can listen to all of the episodes of Watt It Takes here.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. KORE Power is building the first large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. owned by an American company. Once it’s operational, the 1-million-square-foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more. 

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

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In a year when clean energy and clean vehicle jobs were supposed to increase by some 175,000, we are down by half a million jobs. 

We will tell you why, and explain the numbers. What will reverse the decline?

Then: Did New Jersey just pass the most sweeping environmental justice law in the country? The new law will mean big changes for industrial sites -- and the neighborhoods that often feel their worst impacts. 

And last: What about all that nice, flat water in hydropower reservoirs? Could we float solar panels on it? The Department of Energy says we could. And it would actually produce massive amounts of electricity. 

• E2: Clean Energy Sector Enters Final Months of 2020 Down 478,000 Jobs
• Bloomberg: Most U.S. Oil Job Losses in Pandemic Are Lasting
• Fortune: The Oil and Gas Industry Has Lost More Than 100,000 Jobs This Year
• law-to-protect-njs-poorest-communities-from-pollution-signed-by-murphy.html">NJ.com: Landmark Law to Protect N.J.'s Poorest Communities From Pollution
• DOE: U.S. Hydropower Potential from Existing Non-powered Dams

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. KORE Power is building the first large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. owned by an American company. Once it’s operational, the 1-million-square-foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more. 

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Manish Hebbar architects billions of dollars worth of equity and debt deals in clean energy.

He’s able to stay methodical and calm in the middle of deals that are very stressful, involving multiple buyers and counter-parties. 

“M&A transactions are those types of deals, where it's a fast-paced environment, every minute and every hour matters. It's really about who can stay the course and work through each round of progression.”

That skill goes back to his time as a Lieutenant in the Navy. It’s also influenced by his experience evaluating risk at Citibank during the height of the 2008 financial crisis. 

Today, Manish is a managing director at CohnReznick Capital. He’s brokering some of clean energy’s biggest mergers and acquisitions -- like an 800-plus megawatt portfolio of wind projects in the U.S. and Canada in 2019. 

In this special episode, produced in collaboration with CohnReznick Capital, we’ll hear how Manish used his experience in the military and financial risk to find his way into the fast-paced world of clean energy.

CohnReznick builds relationships, closes deals, and helps clean energy companies excel. Learn more about how people like Manish can help you work through some of the most complicated transactions in energy.

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What does it mean when the world’s largest generator of wind and solar outpaces the most iconic oil company in market value? We’re talking about NextEra Energy and ExxonMobil. What does the flip tell us about the energy transition?

Plus, reporters at Bloomberg got their hands on documents that show ExxonMobil plans to pretty significantly ramp up emissions in the coming years. Is this the planet’s most recalcitrant company?

Then, the flattening of hydrocarbon growth will change global political power. But do we really know how yet? We’ll discuss a new piece from Jason Bordoff about the surprising geopolitics of energy.

Lastly, a lot of manufacturing relies on very high heat. Are there ways to reach those temperatures cleanly? We’ll look at some new developments in the steel industry.

Recommended reading:

• Bloomberg: Exxon’s Plan for Surging Carbon Emissions Revealed in Leaked Documents 
• Barrons: Green-Oriented NextEra Nears ExxonMobil in Market cap
• Wall Street Journal: NextEra Energy Made Takeover Approach to Duke Energy
• Foreign Policy: Everything You Think About the Geopolitics of Climate Change is Wrong 
• IRENA: A New World, The Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation
• Mighty Earth: ArcelorMittal’s New Carbon-Neutral Commitment Could Catalyze Steel
• SSAB: “First in fossil-free steel using ‘Hybrit’ technology”
• Greentech Media: How to Slash the Industrial Emissions that are Heating the Planet
• Greentech Media: The Building Industry Gets Serious About Embodied Carbon
• Columbia Center on Energy Policy : Low-carbon heat solutions for heavy industry
• A Matter of Degrees podcast with Leah Stokes and Katharine Wilkinson

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. KORE Power is building the first large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. owned by an American company. Once it’s operational, the 1-million-square-foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more. 

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China, the country currently pouring the most carbon into the atmosphere, is making a promise to get to zero emissions – 40 years from now. Is it a breakthrough? Or is it a plan to keep burning coal? Is it both? We’ll hash it out. 

Then, the Governor of California wants to stop selling any new cars that run on gasoline – in 15 years. It’s ambitious, can it be done? Is it legal? What will that take?

And last, a flurry of serious commitments from top American brands – Walmart, Google, Apple.  Each of them is super challenging for a different reason. But also groundbreaking. We’ll dig in.

Resources:

• The Guardian: China Pledges to Become Carbon Neutral Before 2060 
• Bloomberg: China’s Top Climate Scientists Map Out Path to 2060 Goal
• L.A. Times: Newsom Orders 2035 Phaseout of Gas-Powered Vehicles
• climate-plan-zero-carbon-emissions-3ffb8fcc-cc39-41a7-a989-1d2ac48d8193.html">Axios: Walmart Aims for Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2040
• GTM: Google Pledges 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy by 2030

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. KORE Power is building the first large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. owned by an American company. Once it’s operational, the 1-million-square-foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Does the loss of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg mean the future of federal climate policy is in jeopardy? What will a changed Supreme Court mean for climate change, and for the all-important endangerment finding? The Gang weighs in. 

Then, the great plastic cover-up. How important are plastics to the profits of fossil fuel companies? We dive into an important investigation from NPR and Frontline into how fossil fuel companies hoodwinked the public on plastics recycling.

Then last, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is out with an important and long-awaited policy that opens the door for all types of distributed energy – hot water heaters, batteries, rooftop solar, electric cars – to feed energy into the grid in the aggregate. Are we finally there?     

Recommended reading, viewing:

• Scientific American: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Leaves a Nuanced Legacy on Env. Issues
• Politico: Ginsburg Left a Long Environmental Legacy
• court-climate-change-trump-rbg-702ac9bb-05e9-4a50-acf2-e7662c1e8698.html">Axios: The Climate Stakes of the Supreme Court Fight
• Guardian: Oil industry lobbies US to help weaken Kenya’s strong stance on plastic waste
• Fast Company: Surprise: Your cleaning supplies are full of fossil fuel
• Frontline: Plastic Wars
• NPR: How big oil misled the public into believing plastic would be recycled
• Greentech Media: ‘Game-Changer’ FERC Order Opens Grid Markets to DER
• opens-grid-to-power-aggregators-15574930.php">Houston Chronicle: FERC opens grid to power aggregators
• Twitter: Peter Cavan’s thread
• Twitter: Ari Peskoe’s thread

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. KORE Power is building the first large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility in the U.S. owned by an American company. Once it’s operational, the 1-million-square-foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Watt It Takes: Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Michael Liebreich.

You may know Liebreich as the brain behind New Energy Finance, which was sold to Bloomberg in 2009.

But before that company, Leibreich started a ski-based travel startup and invested in a portfolio of companies that lost 90 percent of their value in the dot-com bust.

After that, he was "unemployable." But he used a team of interns to begin compiling data on clean energy investment. in this episode, he tells the story of how that became a 140-employee business that Bloomberg eventually acquired.

This conversation was recorded live (remotely) as part of an interview series in collaboration with Powerhouse and Greentech Media.

To learn more about future speakers and attending a live event, go to Powerhouse.fund and click on the events tab. You can listen to all of the episodes of Watt It Takes here.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. In fact, KORE Power is building a large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility here in the U.S. Once it’s operational, the 1 million square foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more. 

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the first half of 2020, renewables beat out fossil fuels on the grid in Europe for the first time. They didn’t only beat out coal -- they beat out all fossil fuels put together. We’ll look at what the milestone means.

Then, 30 major companies have come together in a new joint lobbying organization to flex united power for clean energy. Will it make renewables a bigger political force? And what will they be fighting for?

Then, your view of Texas is probably out-of-date. We look at the dawn of Big Solar in Texas and peek at the ERCOT interconnection queue -- it’s almost all green.    

Recommended reading:

• Danish Startup ‘Tomorrow’: Global Real Time Carbon Intensity Map of Electricity
• Climate Home News: Renewables overtake fossil fuels in EU electricity generation
• Forbes: European Renewables Just Crushed Fossil Fuels. Here’s How It Happened
• Johannes vd Bosch: Twitter thread about Renewables in Germany
• E&ENews: AWEA, Clean Energy Companies Join Forces for Lobbying 
• Greentech Media: AWEA Introduces New Trade Group
• Recharge: AWEA and power giants plan new body 'to make renewables dominant'
• Texas Observer: Texas Solar Hits a Turning Point
• Jigar Shah LinkedIn post

The Energy Gang is brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. In fact, KORE Power is building a large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility here in the U.S. Once it’s operational, the 1 million square foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more. 

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Watt It Takes: Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with green jobs pioneer Van Jones.

Jones may be best known for “The Van Jones Show” and “The Redemption Project,” which both air on CNN. He is also the author of three best-selling books, including “The Green Collar Economy.”

But long before the high-profile Green New Deal, Jones was also a powerful voice for bringing clean energy jobs to black and brown communities. He helped spearhead the Green Jobs Act of 2007, the first time the country deliberately trained workers for the future clean economy. 

In this episode, Jones reveals a little-told backstory of his childhood and early life, his time at Yale Law School, and the painful time he briefly joined, and then left, the Obama Administration as the green jobs czar.

This conversation was recorded live (remotely) as part of an interview series in collaboration with Powerhouse and Greentech Media.

To learn more about future speakers and attending a live event, go to Powerhouse.fund and click on the events tab. You can listen to all of the episodes of Watt It Takes here.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Sungrow, the leading global supplier of inverter solutions for renewables. During these uncertain times, Sungrow is committed to protecting its employees and continuing to reliably serve its customers around the world. Sungrow has also leveraged its extensive network across the United States to distribute face masks to communities in need.

The Energy Gang is also brought to you by KORE Power. Based in the U.S., KORE Power is situated to meet the growing global demand of the energy storage market. In fact, KORE Power is building a large-scale battery cell manufacturing facility here in the U.S. Once it’s operational, the 1 million square foot facility will have 12 gigawatt-hours of scalable manufacturing capacity. Learn more. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We are just over two months away from America’s presidential election. And that means we are days away from one of the most consequential political moments ever for the planet. 

Joe Biden put climate and cleantech jobs at the top of his priorities in last week’s nomination speech. His VP pick, Kamala Harris, says she’ll use her background as a prosecutor to hold industries accountable for climate change. And climate donors are pouring millions into their campaign.

Meanwhile, Trump was in Pennsylvania telling oil and gas workers that Biden is going to end their way of life. But change-survey-voters.html">a new poll from Resources for the Future shows that climate is a higher priority than ever for voters. We’ll start with a political roundup.

Then, a story about what’s at stake in the election. More details emerge about Trump Administration censorship of clean-energy research. What is the Seams study, and what happened to it?

Finally, we’ll take a bunch of questions from listeners about wave/tidal energy, plastic pellets, small-modular nuclear, geothermal heat, and non-wires alternatives.

This episode was recorded live in front of an in-home audience. Thanks to everyone for joining us!

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Fluence, a global leader in battery-based energy storage technology and services. From commercializing the first grid-connected battery systems in 2008 to the multi-gigawatt fleet being deployed for customers globally today, the Fluence team is ensuring that storage is the cornerstone of the electric future. Learn more.

The Energy Gang is brought to you by Nor-Cal Control. As a total controls and monitoring solution provider, Nor-Cal supports every phase of your project, from turnkey design solutions to post-OEM enhancements, troubleshooting and training. As the only system integrator in solar PV that comes from a traditional power generation background, Nor-Cal has earned a reputation as the “strongest in controls.” Learn more.

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