The ZENERGY Podcast: Energy Leadership, Finance, and Technology

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, Karan has the absolute pleasure of speaking with John Podesta. Mr. Podesta has had an immensely impactful career in government. He has been the Chair of Hillary for America; Counselor to President Obama; Chief of Staff to President Clinton; Senior Adviser to President Biden for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation, and much more. He is also the Founder...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, Karan speaks with Jeff Marootian, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. They dive deep into what first drew Jeff into the world of public service and energy as well as how he ended up working in the Department of Transportation and, ultimately, the DOE. They discuss lear...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, Former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Neil Chatterjee, returns to the podcast. This episode, Karan and Neil discuss bridging the political left and the political right in terms of climate and energy and how it has gotten so contentious in the past few years. Neil shares how he believes AI could bring bipartisanship to climate issues and...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, host Karan Takhar sits down for a chat with Rodolfo Bitar, VP of Business Development at PVH USA. They chat about what it takes to build a solar factory in the U.S. in 2025 including what inspired him to work in solar, how solar has evolved, how they made the decision to launch a factory in the U.S., the investments and strategic positions PVH has made to giv...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, Karan has the honor of speaking with Pajani Singah, Co-Founder of Amazonia Impact Ventures. The company’s website shares their mission best with a homepage statement of: “Amazonia Impact Ventures is an impact investor taking action to mitigate climate change and enhance biodiversity by protecting the Amazon rainforest and improving the lives of its people.” O...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Host Karan Takhar has the pleasure of speaking with Sophie Bakalar, Partner at Collaborative Fund, for a conversation about investing in companies that ‘do good’ and are ‘doing well economically.’ They discuss what drew her to the intersection of sustainability and venture capital, how she met her partner, Craig, and what consumer trends made an impression on them b...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, Karan speaks with Lynn Heller, Founder and CEO of Climate Access Fund. Climate Access Fund’s mission is “to reduce the energy burden of Maryland’s financially vulnerable households through access to discounted clean energy via community solar.” With that in mind, Lynn and Karan discuss what drew her to launch CAF and why she felt she wanted to deploy social i...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! A few weeks ago, we posted an episode with Derrick Flakoll, Senior Policy Associate at BloombergNEF. That episode was recorded prior to the passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill, and so, we thought it fitting to have Derrick back on for a follow up discussion post its passing. Derrick walks us through an overview of the major changes in the bill, what the biggest ta...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, Karan sits down with Brandon Oyer, Head of America’s Power & Water at Amazon Web Services. Brandon shares his role at Amazon and how he became involved at the company. They then discuss how Amazon is using AI to get more power onto the grid, how much demand comes from traditional cloud computing vs AI, and Amazon's plan to be net-zero carbon by 2040. Bran...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, Karan has the pleasure of sitting down with Jacyln Presnal, VP of New Energy Ventures at Williams. Jacyln and Karan discuss how she first got connected with Williams 20 years ago, what inspired her to work in the energy field, and the advice she’d give herself back in university. She currently leads the New Energy Ventures team and shares the ends and outs of...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today host Karan Takhar has the honor of speaking with Andrew Wheeler. Andrew was one of the EPA Administrators during President Trump’s first term and is current Partner and Head of Federal Affairs at Holland & Hart. They discuss what drew Andrew to working in environmental policy and what experiences and decisions guided him to land his role at the EPA. Andrew...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! On this episode, host Karan Takhar is joined by Mike Kramer, Vice President of Data Economy Strategy at Constellation. As the AI boom takes shape, the demand on data centers to have 24/7, reliable power is increasing. Karan and Mike discuss how nuclear power could be part of the solution to increasing this supply. They chat about how nuclear has evolved over the pas...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! On this episode, Karan chats with Derrick Flakoll, Senior Policy Associate for BloombergNEF. They sit down for a timely conversation about the tax reconciliation bill. As you may know, the reconciliation bill (colloquially referred to as the “Big Beautiful Bill”) has passed through the House and is now being deliberated in the Senate, and it could have major effects...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! As we conclude our DC Climate Week series, it seems only fitting that we end with an interview by one of the founders and organizers of the event, C’pher Gresham. C’pher and Karan sit down to discuss the genesis of DC Climate Week, how it aims to bring the DC community together for a great cause, and how it all started with a question: What does DC need? C’pher brea...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, Karan has the honor of speaking with Former Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy, Dave Turk. Dave and Karan reflect on Dave's time at the DOE where he led the design and rollout of some of the most ambitious clean energy policies in U.S. history. They discuss his day-to-day schedule, leadership takeaways, and the power of hiring the right peo...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! This is the third interview in a series of interviews host Karan Takhar has been conducting at D.C. Climate Week. Today, he has the pleasure of speaking with Alan Young. Alan is the Senior Advisor on Extractives Strategy and the World Circular Economy Forum for the Circular Economy Leadership in Canada. He is also the Director of MERG (Materials Efficiency Research...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! As mentioned on last week’s episode, host Karan Takhar recently had the pleasure of attending DC Climate Week where he sat down with several climate leaders. One of these leaders was Francesco Maria Graziani, Climate and Energy Counsellor and Delegation of the European Union to the United States. In this episode, they discuss Europe’s clean energy goals, its take on...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Karan recently had the pleasure of attending DC Climate Week where he sat down with today’s guest, John Holm. John is Senior Vice President of Partnership Development at Pyxera Global, a company aiming to solve big problems one community at a time. They discuss what drew John into this line of work and how he transitioned to Pyxera Global. Then, Karan and John chat...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! On today's episode, host Karan Takhar sits down with Dan Thompson. Dan is a Principal Research Analyst covering datacenter services and sustainability at S&P Global Market Intelligence. Dan explains what datacenters are, how they have evolved over the years, the large impact they play in running the world, and how they will help take us into the future. Kara...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, host Karan Takhar has the pleasure of speaking with Bradley Pischea, National Director of the Land and Liberty Coalition, which is part of the Conservative Energy Network. They sit down to discuss the work the Coalition is doing in advocating for clean and renewable energy policy and development from a right of center standpoint in states around the U.S. They...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! On today’s episode, host Karan Takhar sits down with Lara Pierpoint, Managing Director of Trellis Climate, a program within Prime Coalition. Lara first gives a brief overview of how Trellis Climate came to be, shares how she and Prime Coalition Executive Director, Sarah Kearney, merged their two nonprofits to become Trellis Climate, and touches on the mission of the...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! On today's episode, host Karan Takhar, sits down with Heidi Binko, Co-Founder and CEO of Just Transition Fund. They begin with an overview of JTF, the work they are doing in coal communities around the U.S., and a summary of the broader energy landscape. Then, they discuss what happens to a local economy when their coal plant shuts down and how JTF works to supp...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast ! Today, host Karan Takhar has the pleasure of speaking with Alex Kizer, Executive Vice President of the EFI Foundation. They discuss his background and how his dad inspired him to get involved in the clean energy sector, as well as the mission of EFI Foundation and his role within the company. Alex mentions that during 2024 he helped design a demand-side program for...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast! Today, host Karan Takhar has the pleasure of sitting down with Erika Reinhardt, Executive Director, Co-Founder and Board Director for Spark Climate Solutions. This is a jam-packed episode. They discuss the origin of Spark Climate Solutions, the launching of the company, and how Erika met her business partner. We learnabout the sabbatical Erika took to focus on clima...

Welcome to The Zenergy Podcast ! On today’s episode, host Karan Takhar has the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Vanessa Chan, Former Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions at the U.S. Department of Energy and current Vice-Dean of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Chan and I speak about the genesis of the Liftoff Reports...