Energy Gang – Details, episodes & analysis

The Energy Gang wraps up Climate Week in New York, after six days of debates, discussions, initiatives and pledges. Scheduled alongside the UN General Assembly, Climate Week brought together leaders from business, policy, finance, academia and activism to share ideas and push forward real solutions for climate change. 

Host Ed Crooks sits down with Helen Clarkson, CEO of the Climate Group which organizes Climate Week, to talk about the big stories that emerged from the week. Climate Week has evolved from a small business-focused event to a larger platform, engaging diverse sectors in climate action. This year it included about 900 separate events, attended by an estimated 100,000 people.

Helen explains the evolution of the event, and its shift of focus from the question of why companies should act on climate, to ideas for implementing solutions. Regulations that obstruct investment in low-carbon energy are emerging as one of the biggest challenges in the transition, and Helen and Ed discuss how to break down these barriers and facilitate the growth of renewables. Support from tech companies and other businesses for the development of clean energy was a key theme through the week. The launch of the 24/7 carbon-free coalition of energy buyers, backed by the Climate Group, was one of the big announcements of the week.

Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, also joins the show to discuss the Biden administration’s role in supporting Ukraine's energy security amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, and the importance of building a resilient energy infrastructure. He says one of the key issues at his meetings at Climate Week has been the importance of the supply chain for critical minerals, and the need to reduce dependence on China by creating new capabilities for mineral extraction and processing. Plus, Ed and Ambassador Pyatt debate the role of the U.S. in leading the energy transition globally. 

Find all our Climate Week reporting on The Energy Gang, wherever you get your podcasts.

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The transition to a low-carbon energy system will need a lot of people with bright ideas for how to do things differently. It is the greatest business challenge of our time, and also the greatest opportunity.

In this latest special edition of the Energy Gang for Climate Week NYC, Ed Crooks and Amy Myers-Jaffe host a live taping of the show in front of an audience of Amy’s students at NYU.

Joining them on the show are two founders of innovative cleantech companies. Marissa Beatty leads Turnover Labs, which is developing an advanced electrolysis process that can directly convert impure carbon dioxide wastes into valuable chemicals. Apoorv Sinha leads Carbon Upcycling Technologies, which uses industrial carbon dioxide emissions, combined with natural materials or industrial wastes, to create new materials with improved performance and lower emissions. 

Together they tell their stories of innovation and entrepreneurship, discussing the obstacles they faced, the support that helped them, and the strategies they used on their journeys from laboratory tests to commercial deployment. 

Also on the show is one of the biggest names in the world of cleantech venture capital investment: Dan Goldman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Clean Energy Ventures, which invests in early-stage cleantech companies that are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Along with Marissa and Apoorv, he talks about the role of venture capital funding in the transition, and how policy can support innovative new businesses. A consistent policy frameworks is vital to foster long-term growth in the clean energy sector, but is that at risk in the US?

The team offer words of wisdom for anyone thinking of trying to launch their own cleantech startup. If you want to help fix the climate problem while making money at the same time, what do you really need to know? Dan, Marissa, Apoorv and Amy have some answers.

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Author of ‘The Price Is Wrong’, Brett Christophers, joins the show to discuss the theories in his book.

On a recent episode of the show, host Ed Crooks was joined by Melissa Lott and Joseph Majkut to discuss two books that were generating a lot of interest in energy circles. One of those, The Price Is Wrong, argues that inadequate profitability is the key reason why the transition to low-carbon energy is not moving fast enough to address the threat of global warming.

There are plenty of interesting and provocative points raised in the book, so it made sense to hear them direct from the source. Ed and Melissa are joined by author and academic Brett Christophers to dissect the main points: the challenges and obstacles faced by renewable energy projects in terms of profitability and investment, and the true impact of these on progressing the energy transition.

Christophers says that low returns in renewables are a result of competition, volatility in wholesale power markets, and the design of energy markets – ‘returns are lower in renewables because there’s too much money chasing too few projects.’ Ed and Melissa weigh in with their thoughts on this. Plus, they discuss the importance of market design, the role of power purchase agreements, and the need for stability in renewable energy projects. There’s a definite need for more stability-providing sources to make renewable energy projects bankable on a larger scale. Are PPAs the answer?

Listen back to the review of The Price Is Wrong with Ed, Melissa and Joseph here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/can-capitalism-save-the-planet/id663379413?i=1000658599656

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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 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 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 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. 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 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.

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