While many feel shaky about solar's future, Zoë Gamble, president of CleanChoice Energy, shares why the company is kind of having a "candy store" moment. The Charlotte-based company hit $300M revenue and is building 400MW of projects.

In the latest episode of Clean Energy Shorts: Brief Chats with Power Leaders, Zoë discusses how they select solar sites, her screening question for potential new hires, and how sheep and scholarships help make solar projects happen.

"The opportunities in front of us far outweigh the headwinds," says Gamble.

Clean Energy Shorts plugs into Elizabeth Bennett's brain for a charged conversation about renewable energy's grassroots revolution. Bennett illuminates how communities have gone from energy novices to savvy negotiators, why data centers are becoming the industry's hungriest customers, and what's really clogging up our interconnection pipelines. She also shares fresh insights on why the smartest developers are trading top-down tactics for genuine community partnerships.

Brandon Boatwright, assistant professor of communications with Clemson University, plugs into the Southeast's complicated relationship with EVs, where environmental benefits get the cold shoulder while economic gains spark joy.

New research Boatwright conducted with a team of academics shows the South prefers its clean energy served with a side of autonomy rather than altruism. Marketers, take note: "save money" resonates more with Southerners than "save the planet."

Comic Sue Funke on why you should buy Clean Energy Shorts a cup of coffee.

Adam Wittwer runs the company that helps keep your ice cream frozen and your medicine safe while it travels cross-country. Turns out, more than 30% of the diesel burned in refrigerated transport is wasted. Doors left open. Engines idling for hours. Trailers running empty in the Love's parking lots at 3 a.m.

Adam breaks down why heat pumps are revolutionizing EV buses, why a depressed freight market is accelerating clean tech adoption, how AI factors into fighting inefficiencies, and how his daughters became obsessed with counting Thermo King trucks on their way to school.

Clean Energy Shorts speaks with veteran energy journalist Elisa Wood, Energy Changemakers to hear how microgrids, community solar, and cutting-edge technology can finally drag our power system into the modern era. The irony? We already have the tech, the funding, and public enthusiasm for distributed, local, clean energy. What we don't have are rules and economic models that make sense anymore—they're still cheerleading for yesterday's dinosaur days.

It only feels like the current administration is blowing up the wind industry. Katharine Kollins, president of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, discusses how this clean energy resource:

• has advanced in technology
• can relatively quickly and efficiently power growing energy demand from data centers and AI
• has support across the aisle at all levels of the US government.

Those in the clean energy space know that the wind sector has a history of fluctuating growth spurts but for some, this may be breaking wind news.

The energy transition is happening and now’s the time to double down on energy efficiency and clean technology to make the world more sustainable for the generations to come.

In each episode of Clean Energy Shorts, we'll speak with innovators, policy gurus, company execs, association directors, subject matter experts and others who are literally rewiring our future. Whether you're a seasoned industry insider looking for fresh perspectives, a newbie clean energy or an investor seeking the next breakthrough, this podcast is your direct connection to the insights that matter.