Energy Evolution

Renewable Natural Gas – also known as RNG or biomethane — has gained attention in recent years as a lower-carbon replacement for conventional fossil natural gas. Rising demand for RNG has helped push prices for the associated environmental attributes up to anywhere from five to forty times the price of physical natural gas. As the market has grown, so has the need for transparent pricing. In respo...

On this episode of Energy Evolution, our guests discuss the recent boom in jobs and manufacturing in the renewable energy sector in the United States. The one-year-old Inflation Reduction Act drives much of this growth, which is leading to significant cost savings projected for wind and solar developers using U.S.-made components. Today's guests include Matthew Rand, managing director, research an...

In this episode of the Energy Evolution podcast by S&P Global Commodity Insights, we discuss decarbonizing New Belgium's beer brewing operations. In addition to speaking with Andy Collins, the utilities and carbon neutral engineer at New Belgium, podcast host Taylor Kuykendall interviews Addison Stark, the CEO of AtmosZero. Backed by the U.S. Department of Energy, AtmosZero recently introduced a c...

India has an ambitious target to double the steel production capacity by 2030 from current levels. While the steel industry gears up for this expansion, concerns of higher carbon emissions loom large amid India lacking a distinct roadmap for decarbonization and its carbon neutrality target set as far ahead as 2070. At the same time, Europe is gearing up to implement the Carbon Border Adjustment Me...

Artificial intelligence has captured the interest of the world in recent months, particularly as advances in generative AI continue to push the envelope. In this episode of the Energy Evolution podcast, Hussein Shel, director, chief technologist for energy and utilities at Amazon Web Services, discusses the $100 million Generative AI Innovation Center launched by AWS. The program aims to help ente...

In this Energy Evolution episode, we talk about how renewable energy resources played a critical role in supporting Texas' electricity grid during a recent heat wave. Our guests discuss the importance of a mix of renewable energy sources, battery storage, and reforms that will support developers and make it easier to develop renewable energy projects. Our hosts are joined by Katya Ghosh, a busines...

In this episode of Energy Evolution, we discuss where we will find the metals and minerals necessary for the energy transition. Our guest is Kwasi Ampofo, head of metals and mining at Bloomberg NEF and the lead author of the company's recent Energy Transition Metal Production Scores report.  The report ranks the readiness of global economies to boost the production of minerals such as as lithium,...

The European steel industry is at the forefront of developing a market for lower CO2 emission steel. New production processes are being implemented, new products are being offered, but the green steel market is lacking standardization at the same time. Standardization of carbon-accounted products is one of many items on the European Commission's energy transition to-do list. The next action item i...

Residential rooftop solar is booming in popularity as policy incentives, driven by decarbonization goals, encourage homeowners to install panels of their own. But for those who rent their home or live in multifamily dwellings like apartment buildings, installing solar panels and accessing their financial benefits may be more complicated. In this episode, Mel Bergsneider, executive account manager...

The PJM Interconnection, the nation's largest electricity grid operator, is working to alleviate a logjam of renewable projects waiting to be connected to its system, while also warning in a recent analysis that thermal generation retirements could outpace these new intermittent resource replacements. Darren Sweeney, a senior reporter at S&P Global Commodity Insights, joined Energy Evolution for t...

Amid global efforts to decarbonize, US President Joe Biden's administration has set an ambitious goal to have 50% of all new vehicle sales in the US be electric by the end of this decade. However, making this shift will be heavily reliant on securing supply of battery metals. As countries around the globe are racing to electrify, Latin America, with its rich mineral reserves, is set to play a crit...

For major companies with large vehicle fleets, a core tenet of decarbonization efforts can be found in fleet electrification. A host of large corporations including Amazon, UPS, and Walmart have all made EV fleet commitments or signed agreements to purchase electric delivery vehicles. Patrick Sullivan, co-founder and CEO of EV Realty, a California-based company focused on accelerating the adoption...

Amid global efforts to decarbonize, US President Joe Biden's administration has set an ambitious goal to have 50% of all new vehicle sales in the US be electric by the end of this decade. However, making this shift will be heavily reliant on securing supply of battery metals. As countries around the globe are racing to electrify, Latin America, with its rich mineral reserves, is set to play a crit...

In this episode of Energy Evolution, co-host Taylor Kuykendall talks with Alfred Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Crux, about funding energy transition projects. Johnson, the former deputy chief of staff to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, discusses the Inflation Reduction Act, which makes tax credits available to companies producing clean power and materials, and how Crux provides an ecosystem...

This episode of Energy Evolution by S&P Global Commodity Insights discusses the mining sector's importance in the worldwide shift to greener energy. The materials that make up energy transition technologies are often mined materials and the demand for minerals is expected to increase by as much as six times what our use is today by 2040. The podcast features interviews with Tony Sage, executive ch...

Vast has developed concentrated solar power that can capture, store and deliver dispatchable solar power and heat on a 24/7 basis. It recently proved its technology with a grid-connected project in Australia. Vast CEO Craig Wood joins Energy Evolution to talk about the revival of concentrated solar power technology and the role it can play in the energy transition.  Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan T...

Renewables enjoy unprecedented momentum, but the makers of wind turbines have suffered major losses due to supply chain disruption and high commodity prices in recent years. A voracious race for ever-larger turbines may have also played a role, argues Hans Martin Smith, chief financial officer of the world's largest turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems, in an interview with energy correspondent Camil...

Global commodities trader Trafigura released a report in May showing that shipping is responsible for around 3% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The report also found a lot of opportunities to reduce those emissions while increasing economic opportunities for countries that step up to supply low-emission fuels to the industry. In this bonus episode, in addition to our typical weekly progra...

Large energy buyers, including governments and corporations, are embracing a concept known as hourly matching, or 24/7 carbon-free energy. In this episode, Energy Evolution is joined by Nate Hausman, clean energy markets manager for World Resources Institute, for an update on the concept and challenges ahead. Energy Evolution co-hosts Dan Testa and Taylor Kuykendall are veteran journalists with br...

As electric vehicle manufacturers prepare for a demand surge, many are looking to novel battery chemistries that cut back on materials that may be costly, difficult to access, or that come with labor and environmental concerns. Energy Evolution correspondent Camellia Moors spoke with Reed Blakemore, deputy director with the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, and Mujeeb Ijaz, CEO at battery dev...

As U.S. utilities and power providers explore numerous new technologies in their pursuit of a cleaner energy future, industry experts believe it is important not to lose sight of the evolution of an existing carbon-free resource. Darren Sweeney, a senior reporter at S&P Global Commodity Insights, joined Energy Evolution for this episode to share interviews about nuclear energy with Xcel Energy Cha...

This episode takes you into the German Solar Valley, which was once the world's largest production hub but was abandoned in the 2010s as China became solar powerhouse Number One. Now, companies like Meyer Burger Technology are ramping up the old factories, gunning for a revival of European production. But, CEO Gunter Erfurt tells the podcast, panels have evolved from commodity to geopolitical poke...

Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) were born out of Europe's desire to wean itself off renewable energy subsidies.  PPAs are now becoming more common across the region as more companies use them as a key risk hedging and decarbonisation tool.  From a very niche industry, PPAs are becoming mainstream, with companies now having entire PPA departments, which would have been unthinkable a few years ago....

This Energy Evolution episode features three guests from across the electric vehicle supply chain. Our first guest is David Slutzky, the founder and CEO of Fermata Energy. The company hopes to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and the transition to renewable energy. Fermata's bidirectional charging technology enables customers to earn revenue from their electric vehicles while combattin...

With investors, importers, and the public paying more attention to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel production, US natural gas producers have increasingly turned to third-party certifiers to attest that they are responsible operators. Wyoming gas producer PureWest Energy has been on the forefront of the emerging certified gas market, having certified 100% of its production through Project...