Emerging economies represent huge potential demand for distributed energy (solar power and microgrids) but to date the markets have been too fragmented to attract large-scale investment. A company called Odyssey has set out to create a platform that can standardize and de-risk these markets so big money can move in. I talk with the CEO. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe...
Oct 14, 2022•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast I was recently a guest on My Climate Journey , a podcast that features various climate types discussing how they got where they are and how they currently think about the climate crisis. Host Jason Jacobs and I had a fun conversation about my road into journalism and how my views on various perennial climate debates — optimism versus pessimism, green growth versus degrowth, technocracy versus spiritual change — have changed over the years. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this ...
Oct 10, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, lawyer and activist Ruth Santiago discusses Puerto Rico's latest electricity crisis, as the island struggles to restore power in the wake of Hurricane Fiona. In the wake of Hurricane Maria five years ago, the grid was privatized, but the promised rebuilding still hasn't occurred. Santiago covers what's gone wrong and what can be done. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe...
Oct 05, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Geothermal power has conventionally been viewed as a baseload, always-on resource, like nuclear. But new research suggests it could play a much more dynamic & valuable role on the grid than that -- and expand much faster & farther than previously estimated. I chat with one the co-authors. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe...
Sep 30, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast A newly published research paper out of Oxford suggests that a rapid energy transition will not "cost" anything -- it will save nearly a trillion dollars relative to the no-transition case. And the faster we move, the more money we save. I talk with complex-systems scientist and co-author Doyne Farmer about his optimistic projections. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe...
Sep 28, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, MIT Professor David Hsu discusses a paper he wrote that charts the history, evolution, and current fortunes of community choice aggregation, a tool whereby a community can take ownership over its own energy procurement. It is the rare example of energy democracy breaking out in America's monopoly-dominated system — a good news story in an era of bad vibes. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit w...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Dartmouth professor Erin Mayfield discusses some new modeling on the Build Back Better Act, showing how and where it would reduce emissions in the US economy, how it would affect inflation, and how many jobs it would produce. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe
Sep 21, 2022•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, two Clean Air Act experts — Jack Lienke, regulatory policy director at the Institute for Policy Integrity, and Kirti Datla, director of strategic legal advocacy at Earthjustice — discuss the recent Supreme Court decision in the case of West Virginia v. EPA, which would dramatically curtail EPA's powers based on legal justifications that are, charitably, underbaked. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Two veteran climate experts -- analyst Hal Harvey & journalist Justin Gillis -- have released a new book that seeks to home in on the climate policies that offer the most impact for the least effort. I talk with them about learning curves, performance standards, industrial policy, & more. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe...
Sep 13, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Blunt discusses her new book, California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas & Electric — and What It Means for America's Power Grid , in which she details PG&E’s decades of setbacks and missteps. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Reporter Katherine Blunt was still new to The Wall Street Journal when 2018’s devastating Camp Fire broke out in California and she was swept into the biggest story of her career...
Sep 09, 2022•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast As part of his price for agreeing to pass the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, Senator Joe Manchin extracted a promise from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to pass a "sidecar deal” addressing the issue of permitting reform. Earthjustice president Abigail Dillen thinks it's a bad deal. I called her to talk through her reservations about the deal, her larger take on permitting reform, and her thoughts on how to build the renewable energy needed to address climate change. This is ...
Sep 07, 2022•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, director Adam McKay returns to hash over some of his reservations about the Inflation Reduction Act and the larger political situation in the US. I try to persuade him to be happy about the IRA. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe
Aug 25, 2022•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, energy modeler and expert Jesse Jenkins is back yet again, completing our two-part discussion of the details of the Inflation Reduction Act. This time around, we get into the tax credits, the green bank, the methane fee, and much more. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, professor and energy expert Jesse Jenkins returns to the pod to dig further into the details of the Inflation Reduction Act. We discuss what the models can and can't tell us, the ugly fossil-fuel leases embedded in the bill, and what to think about the carbon capture provisions. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe...
Aug 17, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, it’s just me by my lonesome, sharing some thoughts about the history and context of the Inflation Reduction Act, the most significant climate legislation ever passed by the US Congress. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe
Aug 12, 2022•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, transportation planner Warren Logan shares his expertise on how cities can make fast, cheap, impactful improvements to safety and walkability. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts When it comes to reducing transportation emissions, two main ideas compete for mindshare in the climate space. First is switching out internal combustion engine vehicles for electric vehicles. Second is improving the built environment to make walking, biking, and publ...
Aug 10, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast A long-range transmission plan just announced by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, lays out a roadmap for $10 billion worth of investment in some 2,000 miles of new transmission lines, potentially unlocking more than 50 gigawatts of renewable energy. In this episode, attorney Lauren Azar celebrates this win and traces the years of work and advocacy that went into it. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Volts subscribers are well aware that...
Aug 08, 2022•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, two Volts favorites — Princeton professor Jesse Jenkins and UC Santa Barbara professor Leah Stokes — join me discuss the Inflation Reduction Act, the somewhat miraculous last-minute agreement between Senators Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer. It represents the tattered remains of Build Back Better, but many if not most of the climate and clean energy provisions remain intact. We discuss what's in the bill and reasons to be excited about it. This is a public episode. If you’d l...
Aug 03, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Zale Schoenborn shares about emphasizing sustainability at Pickathon, the Northwest music festival he founded. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Listeners, today at Volts we've got something a little different, a little off our beaten path. It’s an episode about one of my favorite music festivals. It might not seem obvious to you why you should care about a small music festival in the far northwest of the country, but I think if you are pati...
Jul 29, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jean Su and Maya Golden-Krasner, attorneys at the Center of Biological Diversity, discuss which executive actions President Biden could take to aggressively address climate change, and what might happen if he did so. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts It now seems fairly clear that no climate legislation is going to pass this Congress before the midterm elections. After the midterms, Democrats are highly unlikely to retain control of both hou...
Jul 25, 2022•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, journalist David Wallace-Wells raises the alarm about how incredibly unsafe our air is, the impact it’s having on human welfare, and why it doesn’t get as much attention as it should. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Back in 2020, I wrote an article about some eye-popping new research on air pollution which found that the damage it is doing to human health is roughly twice as bad as previously thought, and moreover, that the economic benefi...
Jul 18, 2022•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Lori Lodes of Climate Power discusses how climate activists can maintain momentum when federal action feels entirely out of reach. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts It is a dark time for climate activists. The immense hope they felt at the introduction of the original Build Back Better bill has curdled. It is still possible that some kind of deal might emerge from the Senate in this final month, but if it does it will be a pale shadow of wha...
Jul 06, 2022•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, lawyer Jay Duffy, who represented environmental groups in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency , explains the ins and outs and potential implications of the Supreme Court’s final ruling in the case. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts On June 30th, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling in the case of West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency . There was a great deal of dread in the climate community in advance of the ruling...
Jul 04, 2022•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Charles Marohn of Strong Towns discusses why urban planning too often creates money-sucking suburbs, what it might look like to build healthy communities, and why there are so many barriers to doing so. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Charles Marohn — “Chuck” to his friends — grew up in a small town in Minnesota and later became an urban planner and traffic engineer in the state. After a few years, he began noticing that the projects he wa...
Jun 29, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Readers, I am keenly aware that you subscribed to this newsletter to get articles and podcasts about clean energy, not to hear about my life and travails. And I’ve already sent you one life-and-travails message this year. So I debated with myself a long time about whether to send this one, especially given all the other horrible stuff happening in the world. But, in the end, there is an unavoidable intimacy to this format and that is one of the things I like about it. I don’t have any bosses or ...
Jun 27, 2022•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Kimberly Nicholas discusses her published research on the most effective policies to reduce car use in cities. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts In the US, the movement to get cars out of cities is … what’s the nice word? … nascent . But in Europe, where many cities were built before cars and big-box sprawl never completely dominated, there is growing agreement that cars need to be reigned in. It’s partly about fighting climate change, but b...
Jun 22, 2022•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, political communications expert Dan Pfeiffer speaks to the wide influence of right-wing media, why Democrats keep losing messaging battles, and what they need to do about it. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts You probably know Dan Pfeiffer best as one of the hosts of the wildly successful Pod Save America podcast, part of the growing Crooked Media empire of which he is a co-founder. Or perhaps you know him as the author of the Message Box ne...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Johannes Ackva of Founders Pledge discusses his thinking on the most effective forms of climate philanthropy. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Say you’re a private individual (or a company, or a foundation) who cares about climate change and has some money to spend on it. What’s the best way to spend that money? How can you ensure the largest possible impact? Similar questions about maximizing philanthropic impact have led to an entire fiel...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Dr. Ye Tao discusses his vision for combatting climate change by using fields of mirrors that reflect solar radiation. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts Geoengineering — using large-scale engineering projects to directly cool the Earth’s atmosphere — is an intensely controversial topic in climate circles. On one hand, such schemes strike many people as dangerous hubris, interfering with large-scale systems we don’t fully understand, risking ...
Jun 08, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Chris Hayes of MSNBC discusses how American politics and society changed after the Obama years, where things might head in the future, and how his own views have shifted along the way. ( PDF transcript ) ( Active transcript ) Text transcript: David Roberts I often reflect on a particular moment in the summer of 2015. It was not long after the Supreme Court made gay marriage legal across the nation in Obergefell v. Hodges. And America was in the middle of one of its regular fight...
Jun 03, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
