Watt It Takes

We’re running a contest! Through March 15th, each review on Apple podcasts or share on social media (using #WattItTakes) will enter you to win a limited-edition Watt It Takes crewneck — and enable more people to hear inspiring stories about entrepreneurs making our climate-positive future a reality. Heavy industry is one of the hardest parts of the economy to decarbonize. Making steel, cement, and...

There are 46,000 public EV charging stations across the United States. But with 32% of charging stations down at any given time, maintaining them is a big challenge for the industry. Minimizing charger downtime isn’t easy – differences in manufacturers, network providers, and utilities can mean wide variation in hardware or software between stations. That complexity can make fixing technical probl...

Electrifying cars and trucks is an essential part of decarbonizing mobility. But there's another vital piece in the race to zero-emissions transportation: public transit.  Transit tech is emerging as one of the most exciting areas in the climate space. It's made up of companies using technology to get people out of their cars and onto shared vehicles like vans, buses, and trains. And the need has...

Starting in the 1960s, the United States became a world leader in building large-scale geothermal power plants. That changed in the mid-2000s with the fracking boom. Drillers turned their attention to oil and gas. And as wind, solar and batteries got cheaper, bankers and developers put their money into those resources. Today, geothermal development around the world has flatlined. But a small legio...

There are a lot of nuances to the way people perceive our warming planet. But media coverage of the issue is often catastrophic, scientifically dense, or framed exclusively around politics. So how do we talk about climate in a way that resonates across diverse groups of people? That's what our guest, Alex Blumberg, kept asking himself. Alex is an acclaimed audio journalist. He’s the co-founder of...

The United States recently surpassed 100 gigawatts of installed solar capacity, enough to power nearly 20 million homes.  But to decarbonize the power grid by 2035 and meet growing demand, the Department of Energy estimates that we'll need 1,000 gigawatts of solar capacity, providing 40% of the nation's electricity in just 15 years.  That means, on average, we'll need to install solar at quadruple...

Ninety percent of Americans want to see more renewable energy on the grid. But two-thirds of them can't directly access wind and solar — because they don't own their rooftop, can't afford the upfront cost, or can't get it from their monopoly utility. That’s where our guest, Arcadia Founder & CEO Kiran Bhatraju, comes in. “We started Arcadia to give everyone access to clean energy. It was as simple...

When it comes to climate tech companies, there's only one name that's known around the world: Tesla. Tesla has arguably been the defining climate tech success story of the 21st century, driving demand for electric vehicles and becoming one of the world's most valuable companies. When people think of the person behind Tesla, they think of Elon Musk. But Musk wasn't there from the very beginning — h...

There's a race going on to build the next generation of energy storage technologies using gravity, chemicals, or heat to store clean electricity for long periods of time. And that's where our guest, Ramya Swaminathan, comes in. Ramya is the CEO of a company called Malta . Malta is building an electro-chemical battery that converts renewable electricity into heat. It's like a giant version of the h...

Over the past four years, we’ve interviewed 40 incredible founders and CEOs on Watt It Takes. Our guests have inspired emerging and established leaders across the industry. And each one of these conversations has helped Emily on her own founder journey. With that in mind, in this episode of Watt It Takes , we’re turning the mic around to tell Emily’s story and the story of Powerhouse. Today, Power...

Andy Karsner is a highly influential entrepreneur, investor, diplomat, and strategist working to transform the world’s energy systems. In June, he was voted onto ExxonMobil’s board by activist shareholders as a way to hold the oil giant accountable on climate change. Back in the 90s, Andy was developing large gas and diesel power plants. But then he found the wind business. Andy started a company...

Africa is becoming a dynamic market for clean, distributed energy. All across the continent, solar, batteries, generators, and microgrids are giving people energy cheaply — and providing greater reliability in a region where many central grids remain unreliable. But that dynamism can come at a cost. Systems are often complex. They lack standards. And it’s often difficult for buildings and business...

This episode was first aired on February 25, 2021.  In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Stephen Lacey, the founder of Post Script Audio. Stephen has been the creative force behind many of the top podcasts about climate change and clean energy. And, he also happens to be our executive producer. He’s been making podcasts about the energy transition since 2006. This was the dawn of on-demand a...

Power plants are massive, complicated pieces of machinery. Gears. Pipes. Boilers. Generators. Instruments.  But a new kind of model is taking shape: one that combines smartphones, software, and smart devices in homes. It’s called a virtual power plant. And it’s what our guest, Matt Duesterberg, is working to build every day. Matt is the co-founder of a company called Ohmconnect. It was founded in...

This episode was originally released on January 15, 2021. In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Donnel Baird, the founder and CEO of BlocPower. BlocPower is a Brooklyn, New York startup electrifying and weatherizing buildings in underserved communities — slashing pollution and saving money. This includes housing units, churches, community centers.  BlocPower was founded in 2012. It has raised...

This episode was originally published on December 2, 2020.  In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Cathy Zoi, the CEO of EVgo — one of the country’s largest electric vehicle charging networks. Cathy has seen it all. She’s studied and worked in oil, gas and clean energy since the Reagan Era. Now at the helm of EVgo, she’s convinced the future of mobility is coming fast.  Cathy was on the team t...

This episode was originally released on October 23, 2020.  In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Steph Speirs, the CEO of Solstice. Solstice is a community-solar company with a mission to bring clean electricity to underserved communities. Steph Speirs grew up as one of three kids, a first generation immigrant, in Hawaii. She knows what poverty can feel like, or how a poor credit score can si...

This episode was first released on September 22, 2020.  In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Michael Liebreich, the founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Michael had been many things, from entry-level analyst to Olympic skier to a crestfallen dot-com entrepreneur. And then in the mid-2000s, he found his home in the clean energy economy. Unemployed, he used a team of interns to begin compi...

This episode was originally published on September 4, 2020 In this episode: Emily’s conversation with CNN host and green-jobs pioneer Van Jones. Van may be best known for “The Van Jones Show” and “The Redemption Project,” which both air on CNN. He is also the author of three best-selling books, including “The Green Collar Economy.” But long before his high-profile career, Van was a powerful voice...

This episode originally aired August 16, 2021. In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Dan Yates, the co-founder and former CEO of Opower.  Opower was based on a simple premise: send paper mailers to utility customers comparing their electricity use to their neighbors. And if people saw they were doing poorly, they’d make changes. It worked. Over time, Opower inked deals with the world’s bigges...

This episode was originally published on May 28, 2020. In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Gia Schneider, the co-founder and CEO of Natel Energy. Natel is commercializing a turbine for low-head hydro applications—at locations like old dams, irrigation canals and run-of-river projects. And it’s designed to protect wildlife and drastically cut the ecological impact of hydropower.  Gia has a l...

This episode was originally  published on April 30, 2020.  In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Saul Griffith, the founder and chief scientist at Otherlab.  Otherlab is an R&D incubator and accelerator that helps pair startups in robotics and renewable energy with government labs and corporate investors. It has partnered with NASA, the Navy, the Department of Energy, Google, Facebook, GE and...

In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Robyn Beavers, the co-founder and CEO of Blueprint Power. Blueprint works with real estate companies to turn their buildings into power plants. It has a piece of software that helps building owners optimize their use of co-generation, fuel cells, solar or batteries. Robin has a long history in the tech, real estate, and the energy world.  This conversatio...

In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Dr. Christine Ho, the co-founder and CEO of Imprint Energy. Imprint is the company created to commercialize Christine’s invention: a tiny, zinc-based solid-state battery that can be screen printed. It’s being integrated into sensors and other tiny devices, helping power the internet-of-things. Today, Imprint is licensing its technology to multiple manufac...

In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Dr. Etosha Cave, the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Opus 12. Opus 12 is a team of engineers, electrochemists and materials scientists working on a technology that converts carbon dioxide into usable products.  If the tech works at commercial scale, it would be a vital solution for slashing CO2 from industrial sources. The company has brought i...