The Energy Gang

We’re back with another live show from quarantine. Europe is crafting a €750 billion recovery package in response to the economic impact of coronavirus. It will devote more than €200 billion directly to low-carbon infrastructure projects. That could enable hundreds of billions more for renewables, efficiency, clean public transport, and hydrogen.Meanwhile, here in the U.S., our recent stimulus sent billions of dollars to debt-laden oil producers. With potentially one shot left to pass another recovery package, everyone is afraid to utter the word “climate.”Coronavirus highlights yet another political and economic divide. How badly is America squandering this historic moment?Plus, we address listener questions about offshore wind, undercovered climate solutions, career advice, and the mysterious ‘MOPR‘ that could override states’ clean energy preferences. Thanks to all our listeners who tuned in live!Mentioned on the the show: Freestyle Rapper for Pexapark: Chris TurnerRap Artist Who Rhymes on S

This week: as anger over police brutality explodes into the once-empty streets, we tackle an equally oppressive force for black Americans: environmental racism.Coronavirus has exposed an unsettling reality for black and brown people, who are dying at higher rates in the country’s most polluted communities. We’re suddenly talking again about structural racism in policing and criminal justice. But the story of race, energy and the environment is also very important to understanding the anger of the moment.We’re going to speak with a seasoned lawyer and organizer, who is working on the “mass melanization” of the environmental movement: Tamara Toles O’Laughlin, the North America Director for 350.orgLater in the show: if people lose their jobs and can’t pay their bills, what does that mean for their safety in a summer heat wave? And what does it mean for the financial health of utilities?Finally, a new approach to residential demand response. Why are Consumers Energy, Uplight and Google giving away 100,000 free sm

Gia Schneider and her brother Abe started Natel Energy based on a hydropower turbine their father designed. And after more than a decade of R&D, pilots, software development and a project for Apple, Natel is preparing for the next level of scale.“Our objectives have actually not wavered. But they haven’t wavered because of rigid adherence to dogma, they have not wavered because we check in consistently about ‘is this the right problem to solve?’” says Schneider. Natel is commercializing a turbine for low-head hydro applications at old dams, irrigation canals and run-of-river projects. It’s designed to protect wildlife and drastically cut the ecological impact of hydropower. The original design came from Gia’s father, who started working on low-flow turbines back in the 1970s -- but it’s come a long way since then.Gia also has a long history in energy. She worked at Constellation Energy and in Accenture’s utility practice. She started the energy and carbon trading desks at Credit Suisse. And in 2009,

This week, we cover some hopeful signs amidst the economic destruction. First, we’ll look at the record-breaking activity in battery storage.A coal plant in North Dakota will be replaced in part with a one-acre battery array from Form Energy that uses a new technology capable of discharging for 150 hours – that’s more than 30 times longer than lithium batteries. Hawaii’s electric utility just awarded contracts for 16 projects that add up to more than 3 gigawatt-hours of storage, in order to replace an oil-fired and a coal-fired power plant. And in California, Southern California Edison signed contracts for 770 megawatts of batteries, many paired with solar projects, to replace gas plants. That’s 200 megawatts more than the entire battery capacity installed in 2019.Plus, in China, more hybrid wind/solar and battery plants are starting to emerge. This led Dan Finn-Foley, Wood Mackenzie’s head of energy storage, to declare: “The utility energy storage market is blowing through milestones fast

This week, we look at sky-high layoffs in clean energy. How do we get people back to work? The first major analysis of unemployment in the clean energy sector has been released for April. According to E2 and BW Research, nearly 600,000 jobs were lost in energy efficiency, manufacturing, electric vehicles and clean power and fuels. We’ve seen a 17 percent drop in the green workforce since the start of the year. Those losses amount to double the employment growth in clean energy for the last three years. It’s likely to get worse before it gets better. How much should we worry? And what sectors will come back the fastest?Then, what do 200 of the world’s top economic advisers think about the most effective low-carbon solutions for economic recovery?And finally, we’ll revisit wildfires. Why can’t California utilities, especially northern giant PG&E, get it right when it comes to fire prevention? Recommended reading:E2: Clean energy Unemployment Claims April 2020NASEO & EFI: 2020 Energy

This week: while the country is distracted by infection rates, deaths and protests, what else have we been missing?We peek out from behind the quarantine curtain to see what the Trump administration has been up to on the energy front. The Trump administration has declared a national emergency over cyber threats to the power grid. Equipment vendors “where a foreign adversary has an interest” will be banned. Most transformers are built in China. Will this create uncertainty or slow grid work?The executive branch has been busy with environmental rollbacks. The Trump administration wants to loosen as much environmental regulation as possible in the six months before the election. We look at the list.Then, we answer your questions. We sourced nearly 200 questions from our recent live show. And we’re going to tackle some of them.They include: Michael Moore’s bad-faith trashing of clean energy and the environmental movement; one group’s attempt to kill solar net metering nationwide; and how the current economic

This week on Watt It Takes: Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Saul Griffith, the founder and chief scientist at Other Lab.Saul Griffith has a PhD in materials science and information theory. He’s co-founded over a dozen companies. And now he’s determined to prove that we already have what it takes to decarbonize the economy.“The reality is I think it's still possible to completely decarbonize by 2030 and save everyone money. And we just got to start thinking about it correctly,” says Saul.Other Lab is an R&D incubator and accelerator that helps pair startups in robotics and renewable energy with government labs and corporate investors. It has partnered with NASA, the Navy, the Department of Energy, Google, Facebook, GE and Ford to help build and fund projects in energy, automation, and robotics “in service of 100% decarbonization.”Saul co-founded Makani Wind, the high-altitude wind company acquired by Google, and the tracker company Sunfolding. He brings the grit of an entrepreneur, the rigor of

This week, we bring you a joint episode of The Energy Gang and The Interchange, recorded in front of a live audience from our quarantine quarters around the country. When we started making our podcasts seven years ago, it was clear that the energy transition would be a difficult one. Both shows were designed as a forum to grapple with tough issues in an accessible, candid way. The clean energy industry has faced its share of crises over the years — but nothing quite like the current pandemic and economic freeze.Supply chains are in limbo, funding opportunities for startups have vanished, and once-growing companies are at a standstill. Meanwhile, political leaders are trying to get money to struggling people and businesses, setting the stage for trillions more dollars in spending on infrastructure. How will it all pan out? We’re trying to figure it out, just like you. In this episode, we take listener questions about how to use the current crisis as an opportunity. We use some thought exerc

We’re doing a free live show from our homes! Sign up here to join us on Wednesday April 22nd. You can watch a behind-the-scenes recording with The Energy Gang and The Interchange.This week: The many ways that dirty energy has controlled the politics of clean energy.Dr. Leah Stokes, an expert on interest groups and their influence over policy, joins the gang. Her new book, Short Circuiting Policy, is the focus of our episode.Who are the truly bad actor utilities? How have they held back climate policy, and where would we be without their resistance?Suddenly, utilities are embracing much more ambitious carbon-free energy targets. How optimistic should we be about their intentions?We’ll talk about the history of clean energy politics detailed in Leah’s book, which she researched over a seven-year period.Then: the election. With Bernie Sanders out, what will his climate voters do? How long will they hold out, what influence do they have, and how will they wield it? Recommended reading:Leah Stokes: Short Circ

The world is experiencing a sudden, dramatic drop in all kinds of air pollution. The skies are dramatically different. People can hear birds they didn’t even know were there, and see landscapes that have been shrouded for decades.It’s saved thousands of lives in averted asthma and heart attacks. When this is all over, will people clamor for cleaner air? We discuss the potential long-term impacts on this week’s episode.Then: the 2020 climate summit is postponed. Could that be a good thing? What are the political benefits and diplomatic drawbacks?Finally, we’ll assess curtailments of solar and wind energy as electricity consumption drops around the world.Recommended reading:Clean Air Memes from India: You Can See Los Angeles from Mumbai NowReuters: Biggest fall in carbon emissions since World War TwoWSJ: Coronavirus Lockdowns Clear the Air But the Effect Could be FleetingTwitter: Katharine Hayhoe’s Most Recent Cool ExplainerBulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Will the coronavirus have a lasting impact on carbon

This week: The coronavirus shockwave brings staggering losses of lives, jobs, and money.So many applied for unemployment last week – 5 times more than ever before – that it was hard for graphic artists to draw a Y-axis that would fit them in historical comparisons. We’re now at 10 million unemployment claims. With so much turmoil and uncertainty, we are going to dig back into some of the big themes of the week. First, we’ll have a recap of stimulus activity. The day after the unprecedented unemployment numbers, the federal government approved a boost to the economy twice as large as any before in the history of the United States. What’s in it? What’s coming next?Then, essential workers in energy: how grid operators are making sure that all-important juice keeps flowing to your home or essential workplace.And finally, how the oil price shock may – or may not – impact renewables investment from fossil fuel majors.Mentioned on the show:Gail Tverberg: Our Infinite WorldDSIRE: The database of renewablesE

This is a special crossover episode between The Energy Gang and Climate 2020.Coronavirus brought the 2020 election to a screeching halt. Climate was once a top issue in the Democratic primary, but it’s been overtaken by a virus and a looming economic apocalypse. Primaries are delayed. Traditional campaigning has stopped. Biden is hiding out, preparing for the general election. Bernie Sanders is hanging on. And the way we think about all kinds of issues has totally flipped.So how will climate, cleantech and the environment fit into this new political world?The climate community is struggling with how to message. What are the appropriate ways to keep the focus on climate change, while we face public health and economic crises? What about the intersection of extreme weather and coronavirus? Many state officials fear the next season’s floods, hurricanes and fires – events that can require evacuation while people are supposed to stay homebound. How will climate change compound the problem?The Gang includ

This is an original, branded podcast produced in partnership with Enel X and GTM Creative Strategies.Electric vehicle chargers now outnumber gas stations in some countries. They’re getting easier to find. They’re easier to install in homes. And they’re getting way smarter.So how can we harness all these chargers for the benefit of the grid and consumers?In this special podcast episode, produced in partnership with Enel X, we’re exploring the vast potential of electric vehicle chargers. We’ll talk with Giovanni Bertolino, the head of e-mobility for North America at Enel-X about a concept called managed charging. It’s also known as intelligent charging.Giovanni’s team deploys networks of chargers that can adapt to pricing and grid needs — providing demand response services, and potentially, real-time services to manage the frequency of the grid. We speak with Giovanni about the rise of managed charging. We started with the underlying market conditions: the grid is getting saturated with wind

This week: how coronavirus could accelerate or decelerate the energy transition.We’re facing an oil shock amid a pandemic, supply chains are still in disarray, economic gears are grinding to a near halt, and countries are scrambling to put stimulus packages in place. How will this shape the energy system?We’re going to break the conversation into three parts: the impact on fossil fuels and renewables; long-term prospects for decarbonization; and a blueprint for a low-carbon stimulus.Where will the money go when this is all over? Could clean energy have the advantage over fossil energy from investors and governments?Recommended reading:GTM: Could the Oil Price Collapse Drive More $$ Into RenewablesGTM: For Wind and Solar Sectors, Biggest Coronavirus Risk May Be a Damaged EconomyBusiness Insider: Coronavirus Stunts Clean Energy GrowthWSJ: Oil Markets Point to Lasting Glut of CrudeWSJ: Oil Drop Takes Down Hedge FundOilPrice.com: Oil Price Crash Continues Despite $1.5 Trillion Fed InterventionOilPrice.com: Morgan

This week on Watt It Takes: Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Robyn Beavers, the co-founder and CEO of Blueprint Power. Blueprint works with real estate companies to turn their buildings into clean energy power plants. Blueprint developed software that helps building owners optimize their use of co-generation, fuel cells, solar or batteries.Robin has a long history in the worlds of tech, real estate and energy. She was an early employee at Google, and went on to found the company’s environmental strategy group. She later built the innovation team at NRG Energy. She later went into the world of real estate, where she oversaw venture investments at Lennar. Today, she’s bringing all that experience together in the hopes of making buildings more dynamic actors on the grid. This conversation was recorded at the Powerhouse headquarters in Oakland, California. To learn more about future speakers and attending a live event, go to Powerhouse.fund and click on the events tab. You can listen

What to do with all this climate money moving around? The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, says he is going to channel $10 billion of his own dollars into climate solutions. Is this the biggest climate philanthropy ever? And where should he be devoting those dollars? We’ll help him spend it.Then, the mushy middle. Our own Jigar Shah’s Generate Capital has raised another billion dollars to fund climate tech that is less attractive to some investors – fuel cells, microgrids and unconventional solar projects. We’ll talk about the underserved opportunities in finance. And a new pot of money from ARPA-E to scale up existing technologies. It’s paltry compared to the money people like Gates and Bezos are throwing into the space. What role is the government playing to scale climate tech?  Recommended reading:EENews: He Wants to Own It. Will $10B Buy the Climate Movement?The Atlantic: $10 Billion? In This climate?GTM: Generate Capital’s $1B Raise Draws Global Infrastructure Funds to CleantechG

Just weeks after taking over as CEO of BP, Bernard Looney unveiled a series of climate targets. This isn’t the first time BP has tried to make a push into clean energy and decarbonization -- is this time different?In this week’s episode, we’ll look at the pressures that BP is facing. What does it take for a publicly-owned company to reevaluate its core product? And how do you reduce the carbon intensity of a hydrocarbon business? We’ll dig through the details.Then, natural gas is suddenly in the hot seat. For gas-only utilities, one pathway is clear. They have to push renewable methane. But what are the limitations? And how will the battle over natural gas connections play out?Finally, we’ll talk about another reversal, this time in Virginia. The state legislature is right in the middle of setting some pretty strong goals for offshore wind and storage, and they’ve got a governor who wants to sign it. What caused the politics to turn around so suddenly?  Recommended reading:Vox: The False Promise of

This week: The cutting-edge business of bringing power to the last billion people on Earth without it. We’ll follow the money, the markets, the business models and ask whether distributed renewables are providing a real alternative to slow grid connections. Investments in off-grid power in Africa and Asia have skyrocketed in the last five years. Thirty times more money went into the sector in 2018 compared with 2013. More than $500 million dollars was invested in electrification in 2018, for the first time, an analysis by Wood Mackenzie found.The money is finally bringing lights, cell phone charging and electric stoves to millions of people who had to rely on kerosene and wood. But is the money getting funneled to the right projects? Can they scale to meet a high-energy society? And what are the bottlenecks in international finance preventing these solutions from expanding faster?Ben Attia joins us for a dive into the state of the market. Ben has spent years immersed in the world of solar home syste

This week on Watt It Takes: Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch sits down with Dr. Christine Ho, the co-founder and CEO of Imprint Energy.Imprint Energy is the company created to commercialize Christine’s invention: a tiny, zinc-based solid-state battery that can be screen printed. It’s being integrated into sensors and other tiny devices across the internet-of-things.Christine’s father was an entrepreneur. She saw the highs and lows of that life. She followed his path -- and has faced her own similar tumult. Today, Imprint is licensing its technology to multiple manufacturers, and it’s printed hundreds of thousands of batteries.This conversation was recorded at the Powerhouse headquarters in Oakland, California. To learn more about future speakers and attending a live event, go to Powerhouse.fund and click on the events tab. Listen to all of the episodes of Watt It Takes here.Subscribe to GTM’s newsletter to learn more about the companies we profile on this series.This podcast is brought to you by Energetic Ins

This week: The largest utility in one of the West’s reddest states will go carbon-free by 2050. The power company that has poured tens of millions of dollars into electing friendly regulators and fighting renewable energy says it’s all in for zero carbon electricity — even if the exact pathway isn’t yet clear. Wasn’t APS investing heavily in keeping the Four Corners coal plant open longer? What happened? And how will this impact the way the utility starts planning its resource mix today? Then, Congressional Republicans say they’re getting serious about climate. They’ve got a new messaging bill. We’ll talk about what’s in it — or what’s not in it — and ask why they’re tackling the issue now?Plus, plug-in hybrids versus electric cars. Honda’s CEO says he thinks plug-in hybrids will dominate for a long time. What will the electric mobility transition look like? Will we jump straight to EVs, or will hybrids be a viable interim step for some automakers? Resources:Greentech Media: Arizona Public