Catalyst with Shayle Kann

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Catalyst with Shayle Kann episodes

March 02, 2023More 2023 trends: EVs, onshoring, and the three ages of decarbonization
Come watch a live episode of The Carbon Copy! Canary Media and Post Script Media are hosting a live event at Greentown Labs in Somerville, Massachusetts on April 6 with some very special guests. Get your tickets today.
We had so much to cover in Nat Bullard’s monster climate trends deck that we’re back for another episode. Haven’t heard the first part yet? Listen here.
Nat was the chief content officer at BloombergNEF until last year. He is now a senior contributor at BNEF and Bloomberg Green as well as a venture partner at Voyager Ventures.
Shayle and Nat dig into topics like:
EVs. From 2017 to 2022, internal combustion engine car sales globally declined by nearly a third. Yet EV sales are on the rise. Will growth in EVs stave off the decline of passenger vehicle sales?
Onshoring of supply chains. Companies have announced plans to bring manufacturing facilities to the U.S. or nearby countries. In the EV value chain alone, there were $70 billion worth of announcements in 2022. Will this onshoring trend have lasting power?
The three ages of decarbonization. First came renewable energy, then the energy transition, and starting in 2019, the net zero age. It builds on everything we did before, but now with a focus on molecules, calories, industry, and pressure on the boardroom.
Plus: What we can do with old coal sites and the types of projects that tend to have cost overruns.
For a full transcript, click here

Recommended resources:
Nathaniel Bullard: Decarbonization: The long view, trends and transience, net zero

Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Catalyst is supported by EnergyHub. The company’s platform lets consumers turn their smart thermostats, EVs, batteries, water heaters, and other products into virtual power plants that keep the grid stable and enable higher penetration of solar and wind power. And they are hiring! Learn more and see open roles at energyhub.com/catalyst
Catalyst is brought to you by Sealed: The experts in home weatherization and electrification upgrades. Sealed is leading the way, with over a decade of experience being accountable to homeowners because they only get paid based on actual energy reductions. Visit Sealed.com/measuredsavings to learn more.
48 min
February 23, 20232023 trends: biomass, ESG, batteries and more
It’s the first year of what we hope is an annual event: Nat Bullard has released his first climate trends report. He was the chief content officer at BloombergNEF until last year, and now is a senior contributor at BNEF and Bloomberg Green. He’s also a venture partner at Voyager Ventures.

There’s so much in this 141-slide deck that we’ve split the conversation into two episodes. In this first part, Shayle and Nat dig into topics like:
Land use. For example: we grow 40% of the U.S. corn to offset 10% of U.S. motor gas demand. Also, despite a growing world population, land used for agriculture globally has been shrinking. What do these trends mean for alternative proteins and sustainable aviation fuels?
ESG. In 2022, there were more anti-ESG than pro-ESG regulatory developments. And while ESG fund flows were positive last year, they’re still only a fraction of their peak in 2021. Where is ESG investment heading and should we even be putting environmental, social and governance criteria in the same bucket?
Batteries. Battery costs rose in 2022, but battery system costs rose faster. And yet there’s still rising demand for utility-scale batteries. Meanwhile, the top ten battery manufacturers of 2022 were in Asia. What do these trends mean for the battery market and manufacturing supply chains?
For a full transcript, click here

Recommended resources:
Nathaniel Bullard: Decarbonization: The long view, trends and transience, net zero
Catalyst: Climatetech’s surprising bottleneck: Land access
Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.

Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.

Catalyst is supported by EnergyHub. The company’s platform lets consumers turn their smart thermostats, EVs, batteries, water heaters, and other products into virtual power plants that keep the grid stable and enable higher penetration of solar and wind power. And they are hiring! Learn more and see open roles at energyhub.com/catalyst

Catalyst is brought to you by Sealed: The experts in home weatherization and electrification upgrades. Sealed is leading the way, with over a decade of experience being accountable to homeowners because they only get paid based on actual energy reductions. Visit Sealed.com/measuredsavings to learn more.
41 min
February 16, 2023Strong opinions on SMRs
Recent announcements in the world of nuclear power might make you think that new nuclear technologies are close to deployment in North America. But look closely and you’ll find that progress is actually painfully slow, weighed down by regulatory challenges.

Today’s guest argues that all those rules and regulations need to be overhauled.In this episode, Shayle talks to Bret Kugelmass, CEO and founder of nuclear reactor developer Last Energy. He’s also the host of the podcast Titans of Nuclear. They cover topics like:
Small modular vs micro vs traditional reactors
The state of SMR and nuclear development in North America
Why utilities are disincentivized to build nuclear
Places that are currently seeing a lot of construction, like China and Poland
Building with existing components vs developing new designs
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s certification and licensing process
Overhauling the bureaucracy and the institutional design of the Commission itself
Click here for a full transcript.

Recommended Resources:
Catalyst: Will advanced reactors solve nuclear’s problems?
Canary: Small modular nuclear reactors: The race is on to actually build them
Canary: A small modular nuclear reactor just got U.S. approval — a big milestone

Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.

Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.

Catalyst is supported by EnergyHub. The company’s platform lets consumers turn their smart thermostats, EVs, batteries, water heaters, and other products into virtual power plants that keep the grid stable and enable higher penetration of solar and wind power. And they are hiring! Learn more and see open roles at energyhub.com/catalyst

Catalyst is brought to you by Sealed: The experts in home weatherization and electrification upgrades. Sealed is leading the way, with over a decade of experience being accountable to homeowners because they only get paid based on actual energy reductions. Visit Sealed.com/measuredsavings to learn more.
46 min
February 09, 2023What hydrogen leakage means for the climate
Recent research has raised questions about the global-warming impact of uncombusted hydrogen. When it leaks from storage, pipes and other infrastructure into the atmosphere, new studies suggest hydrogen absorbs more heat than previously understood. And, perhaps more importantly, it extends the atmospheric life of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Proponents argue that hydrogen is a critical climate solution. “Green” hydrogen, for example, is made with zero-carbon electricity, effectively turning things like solar and wind energy into a storable fuel that can replace natural gas in many end uses. But could hydrogen’s warming impacts outweigh its advantages?
That depends on your assumptions about how and where we use it.
In this episode, Shayle talks to Thomas Koch Blank, senior principal at RMI, where he leads the organization’s Breakthrough Technology Program. Shayle and Thomas examine the new research and discuss topics like:
Where we will use hydrogen and varying risks of leakage in those applications
Poor applications for hydrogen, like turning “blue” hydrogen derived from steam methane reforming into synfuel
Estimated leakage rates and the incentives for hydrogen producers to build low-leakage systems
Hydrogen’s total warming impact, factoring in how much natural gas it could replace
How natural gas and hydrogen compare kilogram for kilogram or megajoule for megajoule
The time horizon we should use to evaluate the global warming potential of hydrogen
Hydrogen leakage measurement, verification, and safety
Recommended Resources:
Environmental Defense Fund: Emissions of Hydrogen Could Undermine Its Climate Benefits; Warming Effects Are Two to Six Times Higher Than Previously Thought
RMI: Hydrogen Reality Check #1: Hydrogen Is Not a Significant Warming Risk
Columbia University’s SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy: Hydrogen Leakage: A Potential Risk for the Hydrogen Economy

Click here for a full transcript.

Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
Catalyst is supported by EnergyHub. The company’s platform lets consumers turn their smart thermostats, EVs, batteries, water heaters, and other products into virtual power plants that keep the grid stable and enable higher penetration of solar and wind power. And they are hiring! Learn more and see open roles at energyhub.com/catalyst
Catalyst is brought to you by Sealed: The experts in home weatherization and electrification upgrades. Sealed is leading the way, with over a decade of experience being accountable to homeowners because they only get paid based on actual energy reductions. Visit Sealed.com/measuredsavings to learn more.
43 min
February 02, 2023Mailbag episode! Biotech, layoffs, battery recycling and more
It’s that time of year when we reach into our listener mailbag and answer your questions. And you had some good ones. In this episode, Shayle once again hands the mic to guest host Sarah Golden, VP of energy at GreenBiz Sarah Golden. Together they cover things like:
The role of biology in creating fossil-fuel-free materials
Whether the marginal cost of electricity is heading toward zero
Solving the dilemma of financing first-of-a-kind projects
The impact of tech layoffs on climatetech
The biggest roadblocks to decarbonization
What role battery recycling will play in addressing the shortage of lithium and other critical minerals

Click here for a full transcript of this episode.

What else should we cover on the show? Leave us a voicemail at 919-808-5832. Or email us at [email protected]. You can also tag us on Twitter.

Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
49 min
January 26, 2023The journey to monetizing DERs
Here’s the dream: millions of controllable devices—from EV chargers to thermostats, fridges, and batteries—working together to inject power back into the grid. They reduce load when there’s not enough electricity supply to meet demand. They ease transmission congestion and maintain grid frequency. And these devices, collectively called distributed energy resources or DERs, are all controlled remotely by grid operators.
So how far are we from this dream?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Mathew Sachs, senior vice president for strategic planning and business development at CPower, a company that aggregates DERs and sells DER services to the grid. They talk about where we are on the long and winding path to large-scale deployment of DERs and what it takes to monetize them. They dig in on:
EV chargers, the fastest growing category of DERs, as well as V1G and V2G
How much easier it is to share your financial data with a credit check than to share your energy data with a DER aggregator
How current rules create obstacles to monetizing DERs
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 2222 and the status of new DER rules in NYISO and CAISO
Positive developments like the declining costs of DERs and rising watts per customer acquired
Full transcript here

Recommended Resources:
Canary: FERC Order 2222: Experts offer cheers and jeers for first round of filings
Canary: Is ‘vehicle-to-everything’ charging ready for prime time?
Catalyst: Tapping the gold mine of consumer energy data

Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
47 min
January 19, 2023This episode is trash
In the U.S. alone, food waste is responsible for the equivalent emissions from 42 coal power plants. Globally it accounts for 10% of greenhouse gases, more than heavy industries like cement and steel.
Why? Wasted food means wasted energy. Throwing a piece of food in the trash is like tossing out the fertilizer and fuel used to make it, too. And we waste a lot of it. Nearly one third of all food grown gets trashed. On top of that, when food decomposes in landfills through anaerobic digestion, it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
So how do we clean up food waste?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Matt Rogers, founder and CEO of Mill. Matt founded Nest, the smart thermostat company, and has now turned his attention to food.
Disclosure: Shayle’s venture capital firm Energy Impact Partners is an investor in Mill.
Matt and Shayle cover topics like:
Where food waste occurs along the value chain (hint: The biggest source of waste is us, when we toss food we’ve already purchased.)
The causes of emissions, from energy inputs to anaerobic digestion in landfills
The current solutions to food waste, such as composting, green bin programs, supply chain management software and shelf-life extension.
The challenges with landfills, including trucking waste and landfill capacity.
Mill’s new consumer-focused food waste technology, which includes shipping dehydrated food scraps in the mail.
How much consumers care about food waste and carbon emissions.
Recommended Resources:
ReFED: Drawdown Update Affirms Reducing Food Waste as a Leading Solution to Climate Change
ReFED: Roadmap to 2030: Reducing US Food Waste by 50%
Canary: Eating the Earth | Decarbonizing our food systems
Climavores: Today's food crisis is a postcard from our warming future
EPA: From Farm to Kitchen: The Environmental Impacts of U.S. Food Waste

Click here for a full transcript

Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
36 min
January 18, 2023 Introducing: With Great Power, a show about the people building the future grid
In this bonus episode, we present With Great Power, a podcast from GridX about the people building the future grid, today.
The grid is no longer the biggest source of carbon emissions in America. It's transportation.
Electric vehicles are a key part of decarbonizing the transportation sector – making utilities an important force in growing EV adoption.
Electric cars will create a new opportunity for power providers to scale their business. But first, they need to get people to buy them. And that's where people like Karl Popham come in.
“The mindset is how can we get EVs to your customers as quickly as possible and as profitable for the salesperson as possible,” explains Karl, who is manager of electric vehicles and emerging technologies at Austin Energy.
This week, Brad speaks with Karl about Austin Energy’s work in making electric cars as accessible as possible by taking a dealership-centric approach.
You can find many more episodes like this over at the With Great Power feed. Subscribe to it on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to shows.
22 min
January 12, 2023Natural gas whiplash
The natural gas market has been through a wild ride, especially in Europe. The pandemic first pushed the prices way down. Then a resurgent economy and an unusually long European winter sent them back up to record heights. And by September of last year, Russia had dramatically cut natural gas flows to Europe, further squeezing supply.
The high prices were especially painful for the continent, which relies heavily on the fuel for home heating, industry and power plants. But high prices also catalyzed efforts to shift to lower carbon technologies like renewables, hydrogen and heat pumps.
Then fast forward to this past December, and now gas prices have plummeted again. What’s going on? What’s causing these rapid swings and what might happen next?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Anne-Sophie Corbeau, research scholar at Columbia University’s SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy where she studies natural gas and hydrogen. Her article, “Putin’s energy gambit fizzles as warm winter saves Europe” recently ran in Bloomberg.
They discuss how we got here, covering topics like:
The range of factors at play, such as LNG cargos, a European drought, and unusual weather patterns
Whether Europe might resume large-scale natural gas imports from Russia
Why China’s zero covid policy and an unusually warm winter amounted to a lucky break for Europe

What topics should we cover on the show? Send us an email or voice memo to [email protected].
Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
45 min
January 05, 2023Ammonia: the beer of decarbonization
The Haber-Bosch process, which turns nitrogen and hydrogen into ammonia, produces an essential ingredient in fertilizers and explosives. But it’s responsible for 2% of global emissions.
Ammonia could become an important low-carbon fuel, because when combusted it emits no carbon. We could use it in ships, heavy industry and even mixed in with coal or gas in power plants.
So what’s keeping us from using it as a new low-carbon fuel? And why would you use it instead of hydrogen, which you already need to make ammonia?
In this episode, Shayle talks to Julio Friedmann, chief scientist at Carbon Direct. Julio and a team of colleagues just co-authored a report on low-carbon ammonia for the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum.

They cover topics like:
Why some countries like Japan, Singapore and Korea are especially interested in developing ammonia infrastructure.
How ammonia compares to other low-carbon fuels like methanol and hydrogen.
How we would need to retrofit coal and gas power plants to co-fire with ammonia
Addressing ammonia’s corrosion and toxicity issues.
The areas that need more research, such as ammonia’s impact on air quality and radiative forcing.
Key constraints like human capital and infrastructure.
Recommended Resources:
Innovation for Cool Earth Forum: Low-Carbon Ammonia Roadmap
Canary: Watch this TED talk to get up to speed on green ammonia and shipping
Canary: The race is on to build the world’s first ammonia-powered ship
Chemical & Engineering News: Will Japan run on ammonia?

Full transcript here.

Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.
Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.
53 min

About Catalyst with Shayle Kann

From the publisher's feed

A weekly podcast featuring veteran investor Shayle Kann interviewing experts about the state of the energy sector and the technologies powering decarbonization.