Volts

The exact definition of “clean” hydrogen, interconnected with the definition of “clean” electricity, has enormous implications for the distribution of federal tax credits to boost the industry. In this episode, hydrogen expert Rachel Fakhry of the Natural Resources Defense Council discusses what’s at stake. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Volts subscribers u...

What do the US 2022 midterm elections mean for climate and energy policy? To help go through the results, I contacted Whitney Stanco, a senior analyst at Washington Analysis LLC, an independent research firm out of Washington, DC. She has been tracking energy policy for decades and in particular has kept a close watch on the states. With Whitney's help, I walk through the election results, first a...

A full quarter of global energy use goes toward heat that powers industrial processes. To provide clean industrial heat but avoid the variability often associated with renewable energy, a company called Rondo makes a thermal battery, storing renewable-energy heat in bricks. In this episode, Rondo CEO John O’Donnell talks about this breakthrough technology and the opportunities that thermal storage...

BIPOC communities are most likely to bear the effects of climate change, but BIPOC-led environmental justice groups are severely underfunded in climate philanthropy. In this episode, Abdul Dosunmu of the Climate Funders Justice Pledge talks about his group’s aim to challenge big donors to give more equitably. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Whether it’s suff...

In this episode, Erik M. Conway discusses his new book The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market , coauthored with Naomi Oreskes. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts In 2010, historians of technology Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes released Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Is...

Every year, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy partners with BloombergNEF to produce the Sustainable Energy in America Factbook , a compilation of charts, graphs, and statistics about the US clean-energy industry and where it's headed. The 2023 edition is out and it shows a record year for investment in clean energy and installations of renewables — alongside record demand for natural gas...

Under a new partnership, Heirloom Carbon Technologies captures carbon dioxide from the air, then passes it to CarbonCure Technologies, which permanently sequesters it in concrete. In this episode, CEOs Shashank Samala of Heirloom and Robert Niven of CarbonCure give the lowdown on this pioneering carbon removal project. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Last mo...

Even if greenhouse gas emissions halted entirely right now, we would continue to feel climate change effects for decades due to existing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — and warming could accelerate, as we reduce the aerosol pollution that happens to be acting as a partial shield. In this episode, Kelly Wanser of nonprofit SilverLining makes the pitch for solar radiation management, the practice...

In this episode, Brian Deese, outgoing director of the National Economic Council and an influential advisor to President Biden, discusses the opportunities and challenges in Democrats’ new focus on industrial policy. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Brian Deese has had a remarkable two years. As President Joe Biden’s top economic advisor and director the Nati...

The lowly circuit breaker was first patented by Thomas Edison and hasn’t been updated much since — until Atom Power CEO Ryan Kennedy came along and made a digital version. In this episode, he describes the basics of the digital circuit breaker, the ways it’s making a difference in the EV charging market, and its gamechanging potential. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: Davi...

A newly signed state law sets Minnesota on course to use 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040. In this episode, Minnesota House Majority Leader Jamie Long describes the decisive legislating that took an ambitious climate bill from introduction to the governor’s desk in the space of one month. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Back in 2019, I wrote for V...

In this episode, utility watchdog David Pomerantz discusses all the ways that utilities use ratepayer money to lobby against the clean-energy transition — and what regulators and policy makers can do to stop it. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts There are many features of US public life that I believe, perhaps naively, would be the subject of a great deal more...

Will widespread electrification of the US personal-vehicle sector inevitably be accompanied by a huge rise in environmentally destructive lithium mining? Not necessarily, says a new report. In this episode, lead author Thea Riofrancos discusses options for reducing future lithium demand through density, infrastructure, and smart transportation choices. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text...

How can electric school buses be made accessible and cost-effective? In this episode, Highland Electric Fleets CEO Duncan McIntyre makes the case for why school districts should overcome the challenges to bus electrification, and the ways his company’s subscription model helps them do so. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts One of my very favorite things in the...

In this episode, Raffi Garabedian, CEO of startup Electric Hydrogen, discusses all things electrolyzer, the current hydrogen market, and the future risks and opportunities for green hydrogen. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Volts subscribers are likely well aware of the fact that a fully decarbonized energy system is going to require an enormous amount of hy...

British researcher Erica Thompson’s recently published book is a thorough critique of the world of mathematical modeling. In this episode, she discusses the limitations of models, the role of human judgment, and how climate modeling could be improved. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Everyone who's followed climate change for any length of time is familiar wi...

In this episode, climate communications expert Sage Welch gives scientific and social context to the politicized brouhaha around gas stoves. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Earlier this month, gas stoves exploded into the news. Overnight, everyone had an opinion and Republican Congresspeople were threatening violence if jackbooted government thugs arrived to...

In this episode, as a guest on Canadian daily news podcast The Big Story, I discuss a momentous fusion breakthrough, just how close we actually are to a future of unlimited clean energy (hint: not very), and where we should be focusing instead. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts A few weeks ago, I was a guest on the Canadian daily news podcast The Big Story , c...

In this episode, author Stephen Markley discusses his new novel, The Deluge , which describes a future affected by climate change that hits uncomfortably close to home. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts In 2018, author Stephen Markley won near-universal critical praise with his debut novel Ohio , a tight set piece that takes place over the course of a single n...

In December 2021, Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE), a Bay Area community choice aggregator (CCA), issued a white paper on the need for 24/7 clean energy, its rationale for pursuing 24/7 by 2025, and the steps it intended to take to get there. Earlier this month, it issued a follow-up white paper reporting on the tool it built to map out 24/7 and the lessons learned. I am fascinated by the practical ch...

In 2021, a group of Scholars at Oxford University published a paper that made big waves in the energy world. It argued that key clean energy technologies — wind, solar, batteries, and electrolyzers — are on learning curves which guarantee that, if they are deployed at the scale required to reach zero carbon, they will get extremely cheap. This is, as they say, big if true. In September, I had one...

Volts was born on December 7, 2020. It recently turned two years old and I forgot to wish it a happy birthday. I also forgot to send out my once-a-year fundraising note. However! Better late than never. If you have learned from or been entertained by my podcasts over the last year, if they have helped you become more useful, and if you are in a financial position to do so, I hope you will consider...

In this episode, Florida Rep. Kathy Castor, chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, describes the committee’s ambitious goals and notable achievements over the past three years. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts In 2019, in the wake of Democrats’ congressional victories, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she would be re-forming the S...

Independent journalist Michael Thomas did a deep dive into the methods and misinformation used by right-wing groups to rally community opposition to renewable energy projects. In this episode, he discusses what he found and how climate advocates can fight back. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts It's easy to find stories in the media these days about communitie...

In this episode, scientist Sam Calisch, whose company just introduced an induction stove with a built-in lithium-ion battery, and Wyatt Merrill of DOE, who helped secure funding for the project, talk about the exciting opportunities that stoves with embedded batteries might offer for chefs, consumers, grid operators, and more. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active Transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts...