In this episode, Jennifer Garson of the Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office discusses the state of hydropower in the US and where the industry is headed. (a) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts For decades, hydropower has been most common source of renewable electricity in the world. (In the US, it was passed by wind a few years ago .) Pumped hydro — large hydropower facilities in which water is pumped up and run down hill to store energy — remains the most co...
Apr 14, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Various options are at play in the EPA’s planned greenhouse gas standards for new and existing power plants. In this episode, Lissa Lynch of NRDC discusses the implications. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts A couple of weeks ago, the policy analysts at the Rhodium Group put out a new report showing that the Biden administration's legislative achievements are not quite enough to get it to its Paris climate goals. But those goals could be reached if the legis...
Apr 12, 2023•1 hr
A few years ago, Melissa and Chris Bruntlett and their two children moved from Vancouver, Canada, to Delft, a small city in the Netherlands where 80% of journeys are taken by foot, bicycle, or public transit. Their new book, Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives , is about what it's like to live in a truly low-car city, and how other cities can capture some of the same benefits. Reading the book was a joy for me -- it reinforced so many of my priors! -- so I was excited to ...
Apr 10, 2023•1 hr 10 min
In this episode, Dan Lashof of the World Resources Institute discusses the trajectory of biofuels since the early 2000s and the implications of new biofuel standards recently proposed by the US EPA. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts My fellow olds will recall that, back in the 2000s, biofuels were an extremely big deal in the clean-energy world, one of a tiny handful of decarbonization solutions that seemed viable. Biofuels — and the many advanced versions t...
Apr 07, 2023•56 min
In this episode, Project InnerSpace founder and executive director Jamie Beard, who has been instrumental in influencing oil and gas personnel to move into the geothermal industry, discusses exciting recent developments in geothermal and the opportunities ahead. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Things are starting to come together for geothermal. Political awareness has seen an uptick. Investment is flowing in. Startups, many staffed by veterans of the oil ...
Mar 31, 2023•1 hr 7 min
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 understand that a decarbonized energy system will require lots and lots of hydrogen, to store energy ...
Mar 29, 2023•1 hr 31 min
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 promises to open. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Electrici...
Mar 24, 2023•1 hr 26 min
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 at the Congressional level and then in the states, and contemplate their implications for energy poli...
Mar 24, 2023•57 min
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 suffering the effects of fossil fuel pollution or fighting back against it, black, indigenous, and peopl...
Mar 22, 2023•48 min
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 Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming , a book about weaponized misinformation that proved to be...
Mar 17, 2023•1 hr 1 min
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 and record investment in gas infrastructure. To chat about some of the numbers, I contacted Lisa Ja...
Mar 15, 2023•54 min
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 month saw the announcement of a pioneering project: a company called Heirloom Carbon Technologies will...
Mar 01, 2023•1 hr
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 of adding our own shielding particles to the atmosphere to buy us some time while we step up our gr...
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr 7 min
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 National Economic Council, he has played a key role in defining and implementing Biden's policy approach...
Feb 22, 2023•1 hr
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: David Roberts There is perhaps no building block of the electricity grid more fundamental, ubiquitous, a...
Feb 17, 2023•1 hr 8 min
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 Vox that there is one weird trick states can use to ensure good climate and energy policy. That trick...
Feb 15, 2023•1 hr
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 anger were they better understood. One of those is the role utilities play in climate policy. A rap...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr 7 min
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 transcript: David Roberts The transportation sector is the leading carbon emitter in the US economy...
Feb 08, 2023•1 hr 18 min
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 world to talk about — second perhaps only to electric postal vehicles — is electric school buses. It...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 7 min
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 hydrogen to fill in the gaps left by wind and solar. What's more, they are probably aware that hydroge...
Feb 01, 2023•1 hr 3 min
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 with the central role that complex mathematical models play in climate science and politics. Models gi...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 28 min
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 confiscate their stoves. A great deal of this gas stove discourse has been lamentably stupid, and s...
Jan 25, 2023•1 hr 26 min
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 , chatting with host Jordan Heath-Rawlings about the big fusion news from December, the public’s hunger...
Jan 23, 2023•30 min
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 night, as four high school classmates reunite at a diner in their northeastern Ohio hometown. “Four c...
Jan 20, 2023•44 min
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 challenges of getting to 24/7, so I’m excited to talk to Jan Pepper, CEO of Peninsula and lead author ...
Jan 18, 2023•51 min
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 of the lead authors, Doyne Farmer, on Volts to discuss the paper in-depth . He made a convincing cas...
Jan 13, 2023•44 min
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 signing up as a paid Volts subscriber. It is a relatively modest sum — you pay less for a year than...
Jan 06, 2023•12 min
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 Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, which had been disbanded by Republicans in the previous sessi...
Dec 28, 2022•53 min
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 communities blocking solar, wind, and other clean energy projects. This has prompted an enormous amount of dis...
Dec 23, 2022•1 hr 7 min
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 In the last few months, two separate fledgling companies — Impulse and Channing Street Copper — hav...
Dec 14, 2022•1 hr 6 min
