[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 plants to get...
View Article[Episode #18] – The Collapse of Coal
The last of the big-time U.S. coal companies has gone bankrupt, and in the hills of Appalachia, they’re looking for their next move. How will the former coal miners find new careers and build new...
View Article[Episode #19] – Distributed renewables in Latin America and beyond
Finance geeks, this episode is for you! Latin America has had one of the fastest-growing renewable energy markets on the planet for the past several years, but nobody ever talks about it. We aim to...
View Article[Episode #20] – Grid evolution
Utilities face a host of rapid changes in a what used to be a staid business: new business models, changing supply and demand forecasts, new distributed architectures, new types of resources, new...
View Article[Episode #21] – The Role of Development Banks in Energy Transition
Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) like the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank are publicly committed to ending energy poverty and enabling energy access to the...
View Article[Episode #22] – Can Economics Guide the Energy Transition?
Is conventional, free-market economic theory really up to the task of energy transition and combating climate change? Can we let the so-called invisible hand of the market guide us through the troubled...
View Article[Episode #23] – Facts and Falsehoods in Energy Transition
Should we tweak our markets to keep nuclear plants alive, or forget about markets and pay for them another way… and do we really need them at all to keep the grid functioning? Is nuclear power really...
View Article[Episode #24] – Starting Over
What if we didn’t have to work around the grid we have today, with all of its inertia and incumbents and inflexibility? If we could start over and design the grid from scratch, what would it look like?...
View Article[Episode #25] – The Energy-Water Nexus
Energy and water are inextricably linked: It takes energy to supply water, and it takes water to supply energy. And those processes consume vast amounts of both. Yet we have only really begun to study...
View Article[Episode #26] – Geoengineering
As the world continues to struggle with the effects of climate change, energy transition is more important than ever as a key pathway to stopping global warming. But will it be enough? Many serious...
View Article[Episode #27] – Better Grid Modeling
Although it’s clear enough that energy transition is necessary and reasonable, and although we know that transition is mainly happening on the grid at first, there is still much uncertainty about...
View Article[Episode #28] – Transition in Cities
It is widely assumed that the ongoing migration of rural peoples to mega-cities all over the world will help reduce humanity’s per-capita energy footprint, while giving people a higher standard of...
View Article[Episode #29] – Grid Simulation and Wind Potential
What combination of power generators on the U.S. grid produces reliable power at the lowest cost? Or, what’s the most renewable energy that can be deployed at a given grid power cost, and what kind of...
View Article[Episode #30] – The Future of Wind
The cost of wind power has been falling steadily again since the 2008 price spike, and newer projects have been coming in at 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, making them very competitive with natural gas...
View Article[Episode #31] – Transition in Ireland
Ireland is one of the most advanced countries in energy transition, getting over a quarter of its electricity from renewables. It also has one of the most ambitious targets—to obtain 40% of its...
View Article[Episode #32] – Resources and Economy
The notion of “decoupling” energy consumption from economic growth has become vogue in policy circles, but how much evidence is there that it’s really happening? If the energy intensity of our economy...
View Article[Episode #33] – Fracking Follies
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) regularly updates its estimates for how much oil and gas might be recovered in the future, and at what rate. With the application of new technology from...
View Article[eLab Extra #1] – Next Generation Demand Response
This is a special edition of the Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder, recorded in December 2016 at RMI’s eLab Annual Summit in Austin, Texas. Can utilities disrupt themselves, or does it take an...
View Article[eLab Extra #2] – Hawaii’s Energy Transition
This is a special, free "extra" episode recorded at RMI’s eLab Annual Summit in December 2016 in Austin, Texas. How is Hawaii managing one of the most rapid energy transitions in history to variable...
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