Climate change-fuelled natural disasters and vulnerable transmission infrastructure have defined some of the worst natural disasters of the past decade, including the 2020 wildfires in California. It’s clearer than ever that in high-risk areas, above-ground transmission lines need to be dug underground to protect communities from fires and to ensure their access to electricity in the face of increasing natural disasters. And that’s exactly why this month’s Watt It Takes guest, Kim Abrams, founde...
Aug 31, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 69
From induction cooktops and heat pumps to the rooftop solar needed to power it all and the batteries to store excess energy for use during blackouts, we’ve had incredible success building the tools we need to decarbonize our homes. But to the regular consumer, the universe of electrified solutions can be overwhelming. What we need is a home battery system and an integrated ecosystem of all electric products to make it easier than ever for homes to switch from gas to electricity, alongside softwa...
Jul 27, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 68
If the world is going to make the switch from fossil fuels to clean energy, we’re going to need lots of energy storage, and a lot of lithium. The global transition to clean energy is expected to trigger a 40-fold increase in the demand for lithium by 2040. Lithium is in high demand, but current methods for lithium extraction make it difficult and expensive to source. Conventional extraction methods take up lots of land, use lots of water and energy, and often have devastating environmental impac...
Jun 30, 2023•55 min•Ep. 67
As we speak, there are 600 million people in Africa who lack access to even basic electricity. That’s driven in part by low levels of domestic and foreign investment into electricity infrastructure across the continent: over the last decade, just 3% of capital invested into energy infrastructure worldwide went to Africa. To enable universal energy access in Africa, we’ll need innovative climate financing solutions that get the right kind of capital to the right kind of projects at the right time...
May 31, 2023•54 min•Ep. 66
Concrete is the second most-used material in the world, right behind water. It’s everywhere – in our bridges, our buildings, our homes, our roads. It’s the literal foundation for much of our lives. And cement is a key ingredient in that foundation. It acts as the glue that binds together the water and aggregate to make concrete. Globally, we produced more than four billion tons of cement in 2021, and demand is expected to grow. But for each ton of cement produced, a ton of carbon is emitted due ...
Apr 25, 2023•59 min•Ep. 65
The U.S. is on track to deploy 550 gigawatts of new renewables on the grid by 2030 . That's a massive amount of solar, wind, and other renewables powering buildings, EVs, appliances, and industrial processes in our increasingly electrified world. Last year electric vehicles (EVs) hit a massive milestone by making up 5% of all new car sales in the U.S . And Bloomberg estimated that more than half of new car sales could be EVs by 2030. That future looks bright, but to keep the headlights on and th...
Apr 12, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 64
Forests make up a third of all land on Earth, and they're one of our major defenses against a warming world. 45% of the carbon stored in land exists in forests. Today, our forests are struggling to adapt to human activity and a rapidly changing climate. Deforestation and wildfires continue to ravage habitats like the Amazon. In the U.S.destructive wildfires have increasingly ravaged the West. To protect these valuable ecosystems and carbon sinks, we need to radically change the way we restore, c...
Mar 16, 2023•59 min•Ep. 63
Industrial processes are one of the hardest sectors of the economy to decarbonize. Fossil fuels have been the go-to way of powering the facilities that make paper, plastics, food, beverages, and chemicals. Slashing greenhouse gas emissions from industry means changing the way companies produce their raw materials. The problem: sometimes the hardest sectors to decarbonize are the ones that may not believe in climate change at all, and thus don’t feel the need to change their practices. And that's...
Feb 14, 2023•57 min•Ep. 62
Large swaths of the global economy are very hard to decarbonize with renewables and batteries alone. Steel, cement, aviation – these industries are run on the high heat and explosive force of burning fossil fuels. Together, these activities make up the industrial basement of society; the often overlooked and essential sectors of the economy that can only be made possible, in part, by burning liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. Cleaning up these sectors requires an energy-dense alternative that can ...
Dec 28, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 61
Over the last decade, solar growth has exploded. Just last year, the U.S. added a record 13 gigawatts of utility-scale solar to the grid. And despite supply chain disruptions and inflation, the average solar panel cost still dropped by 11%. New solar plants are now cheaper to build than new gas or coal-fired power plants. But according to the Department of Energy, for the country to achieve a zero-carbon grid by 2050, we'll need 1,600 gigawatts of solar compared to the 13 we added last year. Thi...
Dec 20, 2022•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 60
To deploy enough solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and lithium-ion batteries needed to decarbonize the grid, we'll need more of the critical minerals that make these technologies possible. Growing demand for clean technology means an even bigger need for lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, and other minerals. Right now the world is on track to double its overall mineral requirements for clean technology by 2040. Yet our domestic mining capacity for these materials is a frac...
Dec 06, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 59
The energy we use in our homes remains one of the largest sources of emissions in the country. About 20 percent of our energy-related GHG emissions comes from the fossil fuels used to power gas furnaces, stoves, water heaters, and AC units. With the U.S. predicted to add more than 62 million new homes by 2050 , getting fossil fuels out of our houses, apartments and condos is crucial. And we have the tools to do it. Weatherization, insulation, and heat pumps can drastically reduce emissions. But ...
Nov 01, 2022•53 min•Ep. 58
Earlier this year, solar reached a historic milestone: 1 terawatt of capacity around the world. One trillion watts is a huge achievement. But solar still only makes up 3 percent of the world's electricity. To deploy dozens of terrawatts in the coming years, we'll need to do something about the bottlenecks holding back the planning, design, and construction of the massive solar farms that will make up a renewable-powered grid. Enabling dozens of terawatts of solar development is exactly what this...
Sep 07, 2022•55 min•Ep. 57
Our homes account for 20 percent of America’s greenhouse gas emissions. The fastest way to cut those emissions is to electrify the systems that heat, cool, and power our homes with heat pumps, solar, batteries, and EVs. These technologies are the pillars of residential electrification. But, as more and more homeowners seek to electrify, they’re discovering that a key piece of antiquated technology in their homes is holding them back from their all-electric dream: their electrical panel. That's w...
Aug 11, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 56
Heavy industries like manufacturing, food processing, mining, and construction require a staggering amount of energy, often in the form of heat. But until recently, there hasn’t been a good way to generate that amount of heat using electricity. As a result, we burn fossil fuels to make these essential materials and products. About a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from these industrial processes. Learning how to generate these high temperatures without burning fossil fuels i...
Jun 29, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 55
Tens of millions of delivery vans and semi trucks move around the clock to keep supply chains humming. These medium- and heavy-duty vehicles make up more than 25 percent of transportation emissions in the US — even though they only make up 10 percent of all vehicles on the road. We need to electrify medium and heavy-duty vehicles to meet our climate goals. But, how do we build and operate the charging infrastructure to power them? That charging network is exactly what our guest, TeraWatt Infrast...
Jun 01, 2022•42 min•Ep. 54
Normally, we’d be bringing you an episode featuring an entrepreneur who’s making our climate-positive future a reality. But behind every founder with a big idea are scientists, engineers and policymakers working hard to turn those big ideas into reality. And right now, a lot of them are tackling one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis – carbon So today, we have something new for you. As a bonus, we’re bringing you an episode of one of our favorite podcasts, The Big Switch. It’s hos...
May 10, 2022•23 min•Ep. 53
With 93 Fortune 500 companies committing to net-zero targets, and with the SEC preparing to require public companies to disclose climate risks, corporations are beginning to think deeply about how to track and manage their emissions. That’s why Watershed Co-Founder and CEO Taylor Francis and his team built a platform to simplify the process — and help companies to decarbonize faster. From his co-founder’s guest bedroom, Taylor and his friends used their tech experience and climate passion to cre...
May 04, 2022•50 min•Ep. 52
We’re running a contest! Through April 19, 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. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly, we need to electrify large swaths of the economy. But that requires a steady supply of renewable power. And that's where things get tricky. Historically, we’...
Apr 05, 2022•40 min•Ep. 51
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 chemicals takes a lot of heat, a lot of electricity, and a lot of expensive equipment. Take hydroge...
Mar 02, 2022•52 min•Ep. 50
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 problems a challenge. And that's exactly what our guest, ChargerHelp! Co-founder and CEO Kameale Terry, i...
Feb 09, 2022•47 min•Ep. 49
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 never been greater. When the pandemic threw public transportation systems around the world into turmo...
Dec 21, 2021•55 min•Ep. 48
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 legion of clean energy entrepreneurs is working quietly in the background on innovations that could catal...
Dec 07, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 47
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 Gimlet Media and host of the Spotify climate solutions podcast How to Save a Planet . Alex has pushe...
Nov 22, 2021•43 min•Ep. 46
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 the rate we did in 2020. We can't achieve that growth without creative new ways to install solar in a...
Oct 26, 2021•47 min•Ep. 45
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 as that,” says Bhatraju. “This is a very closed, balkanized industry. And so the core idea was ...
Sep 28, 2021•50 min•Ep. 44
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 — he was an early investor in the company, and didn't become CEO until five years after its founding. M...
Aug 31, 2021•55 min•Ep. 43
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 heat pump in your air conditioner, using commercially-available, off-the-shelf parts. Malta's heat-pu...
Aug 10, 2021•48 min•Ep. 42
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, Powerhouse is an innovation firm and venture fund — working with the world’s leading companies to help co...
Jul 14, 2021•55 min•Ep. 41
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 called Enercorp, which developed some of the earliest large-scale wind farms around the world. In 20...
Jun 15, 2021•38 min•Ep. 40
