The author of the first text book on carbon capture looks at the potential for negative emissions technologies to limit global warming, and discusses the challenge to scaling solutions for positive climate impact. --- Negative emissions technologies are a key part of the strategy to keep global warming within the 2 degree Celsius limit set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. In fact, its projected that we’ll need to remove dramatic quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year to ke...
Mar 03, 2020•38 min•Season 4Ep. 13
What key developments are likely to mark the energy industry in the decade of the 2020s? Two experts in energy politics and economics offer their views of the future. --- In looking back on history we often tend mark time by the decade. In the world of energy, the decade of 1970s is remembered as an era of oil crises and concern that the world’s energy supply was running out. More recently, the decade of the 2010s stands out for the emergence of shale oil and gas, and the growing adoption of ren...
Feb 18, 2020•36 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Last June the largest oil refinery on the East Coast of the United States blew up. In the disaster’s wake, can the city of Philadelphia and its residents transition to a cleaner, more financially sound future? --- On June 21, 2019 the largest oil refinery on the East Coast exploded. The blast released thousands of pounds of toxic hydrogen fluoride gas into the surrounding Philadelphia air, and launched bus-sized debris across the neighboring Schuylkill River. Through sheer luck, the dissipating ...
Jan 30, 2020•42 min•Season 4Ep. 11
2020 will be a crucial year for the Paris Agreement. An architect of the climate process considers the implications of the U.S. presidential election, and what might be accomplished in the months ahead. --- In November of this year the 195 countries that are part of the Paris climate process will hold their annual summit in Glasgow, Scotland. At the talks, countries are expected to announce more aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets in response to recent reports from the UN and others that...
Jan 21, 2020•47 min•Season 4Ep. 10
As climate-related disasters become more severe and frequent, insurers and governments face an economic black hole. --- The insurance industry specializes in understanding the nature of risk, and in estimating the likelihood, and cost, of future damages that can result. A major challenge for the insurance industry is to understand how climate change alters the likelihood of future natural disasters, from floods to wildfires, and how to accurately reflect these risks in the premiums it charges to...
Jan 07, 2020•29 min•Season 4Ep. 9
The Power of Siberia gas pipeline brings Russia and China closer together, and reveals a new power dynamic between the two countries. --- In early December China received its first delivery of Russian natural gas through the Power of Siberia pipeline. The new pipeline crosses 1800 miles of Siberian wilderness from the Arctic to the Chinese border, and is vitally important to both countries. For Russia, the pipeline will be a source of much needed foreign revenue, and a counter to US and European...
Dec 23, 2019•26 min•Season 4Ep. 8
The airline industry has a plan to limit its carbon footprint. Will it deliver? --- The global air travel industry is growing rapidly, with the number of airline passengers projected to double in less than 20 years. Yet strong growth may not be entirely good news for the industry, which has come under scrutiny for its outsized carbon footprint in an age when concern over climate change is on the rise. An expert on airline emissions looks at the uniquely difficult challenge airlines face in reduc...
Dec 10, 2019•35 min•Season 4Ep. 7
The Environmental Defense Fund's chief economist discusses a plan that leverages international cooperation to achieve ambitious, and durable greenhouse emissions reductions under the Paris climate framework. --- The first global climate pact, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, created the foundation for global emissions trading by allowing developed countries to purchase carbon offsets from areas of the globe where the cost of reducing greenhouse emissions was lowest. Yet emissions trading under the Kyoto...
Nov 26, 2019•27 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Puerto Rico’s electric system was destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Will privatization of the island’s electric utility ensure reliable and affordable energy for the future? --- In 2017 Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico’s electric grid, cutting off power to the island’s residents, some of whom remained without electricity for nearly a year. The island’s publicly owned power utility, PREPA, is now for sale, and it’s hoped that privatization will deliver an electric grid better prepared to...
Nov 12, 2019•37 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Cheryl LaFleur, former commissioner with the U.S.’ top electricity and gas market regulator, talks about the growing influence of partisan politics in energy regulation. --- Over the past decade the emergence of shale natural gas and concern over climate change have fundamentally changed the U.S. energy landscape, and the way in which Americans talk about energy. Cheryl LaFleur, until August a commissioner with the nation’s top electricity and natural gas market regulator, has been outspoken in ...
Oct 29, 2019•34 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Battery storage will play a central role in decarbonizing the nation’s electric grid, yet the rules by which batteries will compete in electricity markets have yet to be agreed upon. --- The cost of battery electric storage technology is falling rapidly, creating opportunity for batteries to play a growing role in the nation’s electricity system and in the reduction of the grid’s carbon footprint. Last year, the regulator of the nation’s electricity markets, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commiss...
Oct 15, 2019•22 min•Season 4Ep. 3
The Trump Administration has blamed the decline in America’s coal industry on a regulatory “war on coal.” Yet investor reaction to regulatory announcements doesn’t support that view. --- The U.S. coal industry has declined dramatically over the past decade, with output from the nation’s coal mines falling 35% from their peak. Today, coal-fired power plants generate just over a quarter of the nation’s electricity and have been surpassed by natural gas plants as the top source for electric power. ...
Oct 09, 2019•40 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Rafe Pomerance, an early campaigner for climate action and the subject of Nathaniel Rich’s book “Losing Earth,” discusses the increasingly pivotal role of climate change in U.S. electoral politics. -- Rafe Pomerance, a former Washington environmental lobbyist and subject of Nathaniel Rich’s recent book on climate change, Losing Earth , spent the 1980’s bringing global warming and the need for climate action to the attention of Washington lawmakers and the country at large. Those efforts were fru...
Sep 17, 2019•37 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Over the past half century Americans have become increasingly polarized over the issues of environment and climate change. A pioneer in the field of environmental sociology discusses how views on climate have become an essential element of party ideology, and what it means for the 2020 election. --- Climate change has emerged as a major issue in U.S. electoral politics and an early focus of debate among potential 2020 democratic presidential candidates. For a growing number of voters, climate ac...
Jul 23, 2019•44 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Former NRC Chairman Allison Macfarlane discusses four decades of failed efforts to find a permanent disposal solution for America’s civilian nuclear waste and new thinking, based on successful disposal efforts in the military and overseas, that could lead to a workable solution. Description There are 90,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste in temporary storage at sites across the United States. The waste is the responsibility of the federal government, which nearly four decades ago enter...
Jul 09, 2019•32 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Climate attribution science allows connections to be made between extreme weather events and a warming climate. The science is also being used to trace climate change to the activities of specific industries and companies, potentially generating evidence to fuel climate litigation. --- A new scientific discipline, climate attribution science, is making connections between climate change and recent extreme weather events in the U.S. and around the globe. The science is emerging as a result of adv...
Jun 25, 2019•40 min•Season 3Ep. 22
Can consumers take the lead in reducing U.S. carbon emissions in the absence of strong federal climate policy? New research takes a look at three aggressive pathways to meet the U.S.’ Paris goals. -- Regardless of the United States’ official intention to back out of the Paris Climate Accord, it’s a solid bet that at some point in the future the country will return to the global agreement, or something very much like it. The assertion is rooted in widespread efforts from states and local communit...
Jun 11, 2019•28 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Global demand for coal is on the rise, with dire implications for climate. A look at why coal use endures, and what might be done to limit its use. --- The International Energy Agency forecasts that global coal use will increase over the coming decade. Why is it that coal use persists, despite intensifying efforts of citizens, industry and governments to turn to cleaner alternatives? Kleinman Center Senior Fellow Anna Mikulska, author of recently published policy paper The Long Goodbye: Why Some...
May 28, 2019•38 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Former FERC Commissioner Colette Honorable discusses the FERC's challenging relationship with the states over clean energy subsidies and their potential impact on the nation’s electricity markets. --- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates the United States’ wholesale natural gas and electricity markets, wielding influence over the cost of energy and the environmental impacts of the nation’s energy consumption. Today, the FERC finds itself at the center of intense debate over the ext...
May 15, 2019•34 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Former FERC Commissioner Colette Honorable explains the work of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and its often contentious role in shaping the future of U.S. electricity and natural gas systems. --- Fundamental changes are taking place across the U.S. energy landscape. The growth of shale natural gas has changed the mix of fuels used to generate the nation’s electricity, with natural gas surpassing coal as the fuel of choice. At the same time, growing concern over climate change has inc...
Apr 30, 2019•42 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Rachel Kyte, a leader of the United Nation’s effort to eradicate energy poverty within a decade, discusses the challenge of providing universal energy access while limiting climate impacts. --- One billion people around the world live without access to electricity, and well over a third of the global population still relies on wood to cook its food. The lack of access to reliable and clean energy is a major barrier to improving human health and to driving economic growth in the world’s poorest a...
Apr 17, 2019•35 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Much faith is being put in the ability of negative emissions technologies to slow the pace of climate change. Glen Peters of Norway’s Center for International Climate Research looks at the potential of negative emissions strategies, and the steep challenges to implementing them. --- The goal of the Paris Climate Accord is to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, the point beyond which the impacts of climate change are feared to be most severe and enduring. Staying below the 2 degree limit w...
Apr 02, 2019•32 min•Season 3Ep. 15
The current energy transition is fraught with economic and social implications, not to mention abundant political squabbles. An economist looks at the past 200 years of global energy history and finds that difficult transitions are nothing new. --- The world faces an urgent need to transform energy systems toward cleaner, renewable fuels. Yet as challenging as the current energy transformation is, it’s worth noting that we’ve been through such momentous changes before. Over 250 years ago in Engl...
Mar 19, 2019•34 min•Season 3Ep. 14
Norway is pursuing a future rich in fossil energy and climate solutions. Can its oil company, Equinor, reconcile these priorities and continue to reliably finance the country’s expansive social welfare system? Equinor’s Clean Energy Chief weighs in. --- Much has been made of Norway’s efforts to address climate change. The country has set the goal of going carbon neutral by the middle of the century, and generates nearly all of its electricity from hydropower. Norway’s ambitious environmental pol...
Mar 05, 2019•29 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Bipartisan carbon pricing proposals have started to appear at the national level, which begs a question: what’s the right price for carbon? An advisor to California and RGGI carbon markets offers insights. --- Over the past two years the idea of putting a price on carbon has gathered new and often unexpected support from across the political spectrum. In 2017 a group of former Republican leaders offered up a proposal for a national carbon tax. This January, top economists including all of the li...
Feb 19, 2019•46 min•Season 3Ep. 12
China is aggressively expanding its electric vehicle industry, with the aim of becoming a leader in the global automotive market. --- China produces as many electric vehicles as the rest of the world combined, the result of aggressive government policies to boost EV demand and manufacturing. The push to electrify is part of China’s broader effort to control air pollution in its cities, where car ownership has risen dramatically. In a concerted effort, the government has invested heavily in the d...
Feb 05, 2019•29 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Congress has played down climate change while demanding that the Pentagon tackle climate-related security risks. A former DoD environmental lawyer looks at military efforts to address climate, and political mine fields along the way. --- When one thinks of major security threats to the United States it’s pretty standard to conjure up images of hostile foreign armies or terrorist groups. Yet over the past decade, the U.S. Department of Defense has increasingly recognized climate change as a sourc...
Jan 24, 2019•26 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Mankind’s impact on Earth extends well beyond climate change to the broader biosphere, where the conditions that nurtured the development of modern humans are at risk of being lost in a new epoch known as the Anthropocene. --- Climate change makes headline news, but mankind's changes to planet Earth go well beyond rising temperatures. In this episode of Energy Policy Now prominent earth system scientist Will Steffen explores the dawn of a new geologic epoch, the Anthropocene, where the systems o...
Jan 08, 2019•32 min•Season 3Ep. 9
A group of investors that manages $80 trillion in assets forecasts bold policy action on climate by the mid-2020s. What will such action mean for capital markets and economies? --- Principles for Responsible Investment, a London-based organization focused on socially responsible investment, has introduced a dramatic vision of a global response to climate change. PRI, which is supported by the United Nations and a consortium of global investors, believes that by the middle of the next decade nati...
Dec 11, 2018•32 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Vox writer David Roberts weighs in on the media’s role in shaping views on energy and the environment. --- Vox Media’s David Roberts is one of the nation’s top energy and environmental journalists, and now also a Senior Fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. In this episode of Energy Policy Now, Roberts discusses the media’s coverage of the politicized issues of energy and climate and the challenge of being heard in a noisy and splintered media environment. He also talks about what i...
Nov 27, 2018•38 min•Season 3Ep. 7
