[Episode #5] – Winning the Carbon War
One man's sweeping ride through three decades of campaigning for action on climate and deploying solar from a veteran of the "carbon wars," plus his pithy observations on what our leaders in government...
View Article[Episode #6] – Transition from Oil
In this episode we talk with a longtime energy analyst about why it's risky for the oil industry to assume that future demand for petroleum will remain as strong as they forecast, given the favorable...
View Article[Episode #7] – EROI
All about EROI (Energy Return on Investment), the state of biophysical economics, the relationship between energy and ecology, and what EROI could and should tell us about the outlook for a fuel -- for...
View Article[Episode #8] – Storage on the Grid
All about storage on the grid -- in front of the meter -- with a little bit about behind-the-meter storage. How to value storage, how storage complements and replaces generation, and some geeky...
View Article[Episode #9] – Macro Outlook for 2016
A full-spectrum romp through the macroeconomic context: Stock markets; oil and gas prices; coal's collapse; the difficult LNG export market; what commodities are telling us about the health of the...
View Article[Episode #10] – Grid Architecture of the Future
What kind of grid architecture and markets will we need in order to actually operate the distributed, decentralized grid of the future? What sorts of regulatory models will be needed? And what does it...
View Article[Episode #11] – India and Coal
Everyone knows that India is the second-largest coal importing nation in the world, after China, and that it is the fastest-growing source of global CO2 emissions thanks to its rapid adoption of coal....
View Article[Episode #12] – Energy Access for the Developing World
What’s the best way to bring energy to those in the developing world who lack it? Why do forecasts by agencies like IEA always seem to overstate the cost of solutions in the developing world? Why do...
View Article[Episode #13] – The Oracle of Oil
Many have heard of peak oil, but few seem to understand what it really means, and fewer still know much of anything about the father of the idea, M. King Hubbert. In this episode we interview science...
View Article[Episode #14] – China’s Energy Future
China is always a bit of an enigma to the West: It is the world’s largest user of coal and the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide; the world’s largest car market; it has the world’s largest...
View Article[Episode #15] – The Outlook for Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles are all the rage right now, and hopes are high that we might finally be able to transition off of oil and on to electric cars…preferably, cars powered by clean renewable electricity...
View Article[Episode #16] – Energy Efficiency Markets
Improving efficiency is almost always easier and cheaper than generating new power, so efficiency should be our first target in energy transition. But it’s usually the last. And while there are very...
View Article[Episode #17] – Denmark’s Energy Transition
In percentage terms, Denmark is the world leader in energy transition, as well as the king of wind power. Wind now supplies 42% of all Denmark’s electricity, and by 2020, the country plans to get fully...
View Article[Episode #208] – Vernacular Architecture
Can ancient architectural and building techniques help us create comfortable spaces without consuming energy in today’s world? Our guest in this episode thinks so. Dr. Sandra Piesik is an award-winning...
View Article[Episode #209] – End of the Nuclear Age
If we genuinely need nuclear power—be it older conventional designs or new, unproven small modular designs—to make the energy transition a success, then that case has not been demonstrated. Instead,...
View Article[Episode #210] – Transportation Transition Update
Are EV sales about to hit an inflection point and rapidly take majority market shares for new vehicles? And if they are, does that portend a peak in global oil demand before the end of this decade? The...
View Article[Episode #211] – Doomers vs. Transitionistas
Should our response to global warming focus on technologies that reduce emissions, or on embracing simpler lifestyles? Why do some believe that deploying more renewables and accelerating the energy...
View Article[Episode #212] – Transition in Eigg
Twenty-six years ago, on a wee island with just 65 residents off the west coast of Scotland, the seeds of a fascinating energy transition project were planted. That began a long process which...
View Article[Episode #213] – Offshore Wind in the UK
It’s been a difficult year for the offshore wind sector, with numerous projects and power purchase agreements getting canceled. Contracts and incentives simply haven’t kept pace with rising costs,...
View Article[Episode #214] – Countering Climate Doomerism
Renowned climate scientist Dr. Michael E. Mann joins us to discuss his new book, Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis, and to answer some of the...
View Article