C.O.B. Tuesday is a weekly one-hour talk show that serves as a knowledge pipeline for the energy industry and the energy curious. We host honest, timely, conversations with people we believe can improve the discussion, can provide new perspectives, can share unique insights into key energy issues, and can discuss inventive, pragmatic solutions for a stronger energy future. Produced by Veriten.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr discusses the escalating crisis in Venezuela, viewing it as a national security threat and humanitarian disaster fueled by a narco-terrorist regime with deep ties to Russia, China, and Iran. He explains the legal and constitutional basis for potential US military action, drawing parallels to past interventions like Panama, and highlights the
Les Csorba, author of 'Aware,' joins to discuss the critical importance of self-awareness for leaders and organizations, revealing that true self-awareness is historically low. The conversation explores creating cultures of candid feedback, the impact of macro events and AI on leadership, and practical ways to identify and address blind spots. It emphasizes how balancing confidence with humility and fostering diverse perspectives can significantly enhance team and business performance.
Former FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee offers insights into the U.S. energy sector, highlighting FERC's crucial, independent role in ensuring grid reliability and navigating rapidly evolving demands. He addresses the unprecedented electricity surge driven by AI and electrification, emphasizing the challenge of balancing energy security with affordability and decarbonization goals. Chatterjee advocates for an "all-of-the-above" strategy and depoliticizing energy policy, stressing the need for efficient infrastructure development and innovative solutions like solar-plus-storage.
Dr. Kruti Lehenbauer, founder of Analytics TX, offers a deep dive into the U.S. economy, debunking short-term "panic narratives" by emphasizing long-run trends. She criticizes the Fed's interest rate hikes for worsening national debt, highlights healthcare costs as a key inflation driver, and advocates for a data-first approach over political agendas. Kruti also shares insights on tariffs, the need to update outdated inflation metrics, India's economic rise, and dispels fears of mass AI-driven job loss, concluding with "magic-wand" reforms for a leaner government and expanded productive frontier.
We are thrilled to share what is now our sixth annual COBT Thanksgiving episode, showcasing and thanking the hardworking people working in energy who make Thanksgiving Day possible. Earlier this year, after hosting Jim Grech, President and CEO of Peabody on COBT (episode linked here ), Mike Bradley floated the idea of filming our Thanksgiving episode at the North Antelope Rochelle Mine (NARM). Jim and his team were gracious enough to say yes and made this special visit possible. Our team travell...
Governor Mike Dunleavy discusses Alaska's unique position as an "energy laboratory" and the challenges posed by shifting federal policies and extensive land ownership. He emphasizes the critical need for legislative and permitting reforms to ensure investment durability in resource development, highlighting the national security implications of rare earths and domestic mining. The discussion also covers post-COVID workforce shifts, the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline, and the state's ambitious vision to become a global hub for AI data centers and data transportation, leveraging its strategic Arctic location.
Jim Bride from Energy Tariff Experts analyzes the components of rising electricity bills in the PJM market. He explains that while generation costs broadly fell for a decade due to cheap natural gas, significant increases in transmission charges from infrastructure investments and public policy add-ons (like decarbonization mandates) are now the main drivers. The discussion also touches on market volatility, the history of utility deregulation, and future challenges from load growth and aging grid assets.
Håkan Agnevall, Wärtsilä CEO, outlines the company's dual focus on marine and energy markets, highlighting the imperative of decarbonization in shipping through multi-fuel flexibility and the impact of evolving regulations. He details Wärtsilä's energy business, which provides balancing and baseload power for critical infrastructure like data centers, emphasizing their modular engine technology's advantages in speed-to-market and reliability. The discussion also covers their robust service strategy and commitment to innovation, showcased by their Sustainable Technology Hub.
Dr. Anas Alhajji provides an in-depth look at global energy markets, arguing that mainstream commentary often misses key nuances like natural resource economics and OPEC's true function. He forecasts significant oil demand growth to 123 million barrels per day by 2050, propelled by urbanization, immigration, rising incomes, and AI/data centers, contrasting this with the IEA's persistent underestimation. The discussion also delves into the "oil on water" debate, Saudi Arabia's energy transition, and the limited impact of current sanctions regimes on major producers like Russia.
Obinna Isiadinso from the IFC discusses the organization's role in financing digital infrastructure in emerging markets, highlighting its $100 billion balance sheet and dual role as lender and equity investor. The conversation delves into the rapid global growth of data centers, investment strategies, cost benchmarks, and the evolving energy mix. He emphasizes the IFC's commitment to sustainable infrastructure and explores key trends like the diversification of AI models and the Middle East's ambition to become an AI infrastructure hub.
Today was a truly incredible day. As you know, COBT began in the spring of 2020 with the original mission of trying to share better and more informed energy macro perspectives with the energy-curious world. Over the past five and a half years, it has evolved to become something much bigger, a platform to share a wide range of energy perspectives. Today marked a watershed moment in the history of energy education. As noted in the official press release linked here , Bob Zorich, Partner and Co-Fou...
Today we had the pleasure of hosting William Clouston, Party Leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the United Kingdom. William has served as Party Leader since 2018 and was re-elected in March 2020. He originally joined the SDP in 1982 and spent four years in the Conservative Party, becoming a District Councilor and serving on Tynedale Council. He holds both undergraduate and master’s degrees in Urban Planning and Property Management. We became interested in connecting with William afte...
Today we were thrilled to host Julien Dumoulin-Smith, Managing Director of U.S. Power, Utilities, and Clean Energy Research at Jefferies. Julien joined the firm in July 2024 after serving as a Senior Research Analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and as an Executive Director at UBS. He holds an MBA and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University. Institutional Investor magazine has ranked Julien as a #1 double-ranked analyst in both Utilities and Alternative/Clean Energy, and he wa...
We are back on the road this week for an insightful visit with Ray Zage, CEO of Tiga Investments, and Shon Hiatt, Director of the Zage Business of Energy Initiative and Associate Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California. Ray is a seasoned global investor who has led Tiga since 2017. He began his career at Goldman Sachs and has held roles in Singapore, New York, and Los Angeles. He serves on multiple boards and also advises early-stage technology ventures. Sho...
Today we had the exciting opportunity to host Thomas Popik for a power-focused discussion. Thomas is the Chairman and President of the Foundation for Resilient Societies, a non-profit dedicated to strengthening the resilience and recoverability of critical infrastructure. In addition to his volunteer leadership at the Foundation, Thomas serves as a Principal at Geosegment Systems Corporation. He holds an MBA from Harvard and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. The Foundation for Resilient...
Today we were delighted to welcome KR Sridhar, Ph.D., Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Bloom Energy. KR’s academic background includes a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s in Nuclear Engineering, and a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. Before founding Bloom, KR served as Director of the Space Technologies Laboratory at the University of Arizona, where he led a NASA project to develop fuel cells capable of producing oxygen for future Mars missions. That breakthrough research ultimately ...
It was our pleasure to welcome back our good friend Roger Pielke Jr., Author of The Honest Broker on Substack and Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, for an insightful discussion on the U.S. Department of Energy’s climate risk assessment report on the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions (linked here ). Roger is a Professor Emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he previously served as a professor in the Environmental Studies depa...
It was our honor to welcome His Excellency Mohamed Al Hammadi, Managing Director and CEO of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company (ENEC) and Chairman of the World Nuclear Association (WNA), along with Dr. Sama Bilbao y León, Director General of the WNA. H.E. Al Hammadi has served as CEO since 2008 and has led ENEC in successfully delivering the UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Program, focusing on the implementation of the highest national regulations and international standards of safety, security, qu...
This week we are delighted to welcome Betty Jiang, Managing Director of U.S. Integrateds and E&P Equity Research at Barclays. Betty joined Barclays in 2023 after leading the U.S. ESG Research team at Credit Suisse and has more than 15 years of equity research experience, with prior roles at UBS, Illuminate Capital Group, and Bank of America. We were thrilled to hear Betty’s insights on what’s top of mind for investors, key themes from earnings, and a preview of Barclays’ upcoming 39th Annual...
Yesterday we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University. On Monday, we spent the day in Phoenix with Dr. Crow and his team, learning how ASU has been rethinking and reshaping the traditional university model to better reflect today’s fast-paced, high-tech world. The changes we saw are significant. Michael and his team are bringing innovation and disruption to a space long associated with tradition and stability. We loved the day and were delighted to have...
We were honored this week to welcome Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Jack Balagia for a Special Edition COBT. Senator Hutchison is a Founding Member of the KBH Energy Center at the University of Texas, with a distinguished career spanning both public and private sectors, from bank executive to U.S. Senator to most recently U.S. Ambassador to NATO. Jack served as Vice President and General Counsel of ExxonMobil for nearly two decades before joining the University of Texas School of Law faculty. ...
Today we had the pleasure of welcoming Jillene Connors Belopolsky, Chief of Staff and Chief External Affairs Officer at the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), to our Houston studio. Jillene joined the CCA in 2021 and has over a decade of experience in energy sustainability, strategy, and innovation. She previously served as Head of North America for Earth Security Group and in several senior roles at BP, where she developed strategies addressing the environmental and societal impacts of technology, c...
We are back on the road this week for an exciting visit with Emily Morris, CEO and Founder, and Tom Cuthbert, CTO, of Emrgy. Our team traveled to one of Emrgy’s hydropower facilities on Colorado’s Front Range to see their technology up close and in action before sitting down for a hydropower focused discussion. Emily founded Emrgy in 2014 and brings 15 years of experience in emerging hard tech development. Before launching Emrgy, she managed multi-million dollar federal contracts at AMT, bringin...
We are excited to share this “on-the-road” COBT episode featuring Tim Latimer, CEO and Co-Founder of Fervo Energy. Our team traveled to Milford, Utah, to tour Fervo’s Cape Station project before connecting with Tim for an in-depth conversation. Tim earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tulsa and started his career as a drilling engineer in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins. He co-founded Fervo in 2017 after earning an MBA and an MS in Environment and Resources from Stanfor...
Today we had the pleasure of hosting Isabelle Boemeke, author of the forthcoming book, “Rad Future: The Untold Story of Nuclear Electricity and How It Will Save the World.” The book will be published on August 12 and is available for preorder here . Isabelle is a passionate advocate for nuclear energy and is also the creator of Isodope, a social media persona she uses to engage and educate the public about the benefits of nuclear power. Isabelle was involved in pushing to save the Diablo Canyon ...
Today we were thrilled to welcome Premier Danielle Smith of Alberta. Premier Smith was elected in October 2022 and previously served as MLA for Highwood and as Leader of the Official Opposition in Alberta’s Legislative Assembly. Most recently, she was President of the Alberta Enterprise Group. Before re-entering politics, Premier Smith spent several years as a talk radio host and has a diverse background spanning media, public policy, and business. As Premier, she has prioritized economic growth...
Today we were delighted to welcome Jack Belcher and Sarah Venuto of Cornerstone Government Affairs, along with Brook Papau, CEO of Orennia, for a discussion focused on the energy implications of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). Jack, a Principal at Cornerstone, has over 30 years of experience in energy and energy policy, having previously served as Manager of Regulatory Affairs and Policy at Shell and Staff Director for the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. Sarah, Princi...
We are very pleased to share a special Fourth of July edition of COBT. Earlier in the week, we had the opportunity to tour the Lone Star Flight Museum (LSFM) and to sit down with Jerry Scott, LSFM’s Chief Operating Officer and Director of Flight Operations. The museum draws visitors from all over the world and features flying historical aircraft, many of them iconic military planes. Jerry was named COO in June 2024 and has 40 years of experience in aviation sales as well as people, project, and ...
Today we had the very exciting and interesting opportunity to visit with Jim Grech, President and CEO of Peabody. Jim was appointed as CEO in June 2021 and brings more than 30 years of experience across the coal and natural resources space. His career includes leadership roles as CEO of Wolverine Fuels, President of Nexus Gas Transmission, EVP and CCO of CONSOL Energy, and Vice President of DTE Energy. Peabody, founded in 1883, is one of the leading coal producers in the U.S., operating 17 surfa...
Today we’re excited to welcome Patrick White, Group Lead for Fusion Energy Safety and Regulation at the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), and Nicholas McMurray, Managing Director of International and Nuclear Policy at ClearPath. Patrick recently joined CATF and leads the organization’s international working group focused on fusion energy safety, waste, and non-proliferation. He holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT and previously served as Research Director at the Nuclear Innovati...
