[Episode #152] – No Limits
Are there fundamental limits to the energy transition that will slow it down, or prevent us from decarbonizing our energy systems? Critics and skeptics of the energy transition have pointed to issues...
View Article[Episode #153] – Grid-forming Inverters
This one is for the power geeks! As the energy transition proceeds, and grids have to accommodate more and more inverter-based generators like wind and solar systems, how will grid operators maintain...
View Article[Episode #154] – Japan’s Nuclear Dilemma
Japan was once the third-largest operator of nuclear power facilities in the world, but that came to a sudden end with the largest earthquake to ever hit the country on March 11th, 2011, which caused a...
View Article[Episode #155] – Marine Energy
Marine energy—a collection of diverse technologies designed to capture energy from the ocean in various ways—has languished far behind more mature renewable technologies like wind, solar, and...
View Article[Episode #156] – 6-Year Anniversary Show
In this sixth-anniversary show, we welcome back energy researcher Jonathan Koomey to help us review some of the hot topics in energy transition over the past year. Topics in this discussion include:...
View Article[Episode #157] – Market Design for the Energy Transition
This one is for the electricity market geeks! Most observers of electricity markets are well aware that adapting them to the new kinds of technologies and policies needed for the energy transition is...
View Article[Episode #158] – Global Energy Crunch
Since early July, a global energy crunch has unfolded, driving up prices for all energy fuels around the world, and then causing some power plants and manufacturing facilities to shut down. In turn,...
View Article[Episode #159] – The Cost of Decarbonization
Why do the major groups publishing energy forecasts consistently undershoot the progress of energy transition? For decades, public sector agencies, oil industry groups, energy industry consultancies,...
View Article[Episode #160] – Coal Plant Buyouts
Economic factors and existing policies have done a pretty good job of stopping the construction of new coal plants around the world, but what is needed to push existing plants off the grid? Our guest...
View Article[Episode #161] – Expanding Transmission
It has been nearly impossible to get new transmission built across the US in recent years, thanks to a combination of local opposition from host communities, jurisdictional issues, and the resistance...
View Article[Episode #162] – Transition in Russia Part 1
This is the first part of our nearly three-hour interview with Professor Thane Gustafson on his new book, Klimat: Russia in the Age of Climate Change, about Russia’s attitude toward climate change, and...
View Article[Episode #163] – Transition in Russia Part 2
This is the second part of our nearly four-hour interview with Professor Thane Gustafson on his new book, Klimat: Russia in the Age of Climate Change, about Russia’s attitude toward climate change, and...
View Article[Episode #164] – Political Economy of Energy Transitions
The energy transition is about much more than just switching one fuel for another—like replacing coal with renewables. Transition happens in the context of our societies, which are strongly influenced...
View Article[Episode #165] – Oil & Gas in Transition
Oil prices are at a 7-year high, with demand getting back toward pre-pandemic levels as the world attempts to restore economies from the impacts of covid. Oil & gas companies are feeling bullish...
View Article[Episode #166] – IEA’s Climate Scenarios
As the energy transition continues to accelerate, it’s more important than ever that we update our models—both our empirical and mental models—of where we’re heading. Things that we used to take for...
View Article[Episode #167] – Rating Green Bonds
More than a half a trillion dollars in green bonds were issued in 2021, raising hopes that investment into the energy transition and climate change solutions is finally starting to approach the scale...
View Article[Episode #168] – Storage Futures
Everyone understands that storage will play an important role in the energy transition, as we move from conventional thermal power plants that can be dispatched at will to energy systems predominantly...
View Article[Episode #169] – Is the Energy Transition Feasible?
We know energy transition is needed to achieve our climate goals – 1.5˚ or some increasingly dire impacts are on the table. We know the transition is technically possible, economically affordable, and...
View Article[Episode #170] – Thermal Storage and District Energy
Scholarship on the energy transition has given a good deal of attention to battery storage, because it can help make variable renewables more dispatchable over longer periods of time, and because it’s...
View Article[Episode #171] – Rejecting Russia
Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, policymakers and energy professionals alike have been challenged to figure out how Western countries could stop funding Russia’s war machine by halting imports of...
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