For decades, many have called nuclear fusion the “holy grail” of energy sources. The undying hope is that fusion will someday provide very cheap, abundant, zero-carbon electricity to all – thereby both decisively addressing the climate crisis and powering economic growth across the globe. But despite decades of well-funded research and even recent technological breakthroughs, we still seem to be years away from a commercially viable fusion reactor. 

In this episode, Chad Reed speaks with Jim McNiel, Chief Marketing Officer of TAE Technologies, which just raised $250 million in venture financing to support the development of Copernicus – its next-generation hydrogen-boron fusion research reactor. Chad and Jim get into the weeds on the tradeoffs of competing fusion fuels, the longstanding challenge fusion must overcome to reach commercial viability, the role of fusion in our energy future, Star Trek versus Star Wars, and much more.

Links:

• Article: TAE Technologies Exceeds Fusion Reactor Performance Goals By 250% As Company Closes $250 Million Financing Round, Totaling $1.2 Billion To Date (July 2022)
• Article: Nuclear-fusion reactor smashes energy record (Nature, February 2, 2022)
• Article: ITER fusion project preparing to outline revised timetable (World Nuclear News, July 11, 2022)

Episode recorded:  July 28, 2022

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at [email protected] or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

In this episode, Gil Jenkins speaks with internationally renowned economist, author, and activist John Perkins. John Perkins was formerly chief economist at a major consulting firm, where he advised the World Bank, United Nations, Fortune 500 corporations, and the U.S. and other governments—though much of this was a part of his previous work as an economic hit man he later denounced and became a whistleblower on, as he detailed in his New York Times Bestselling memoir, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. 

John talks about his earlier life as an economic hitman — including his profound awakening around the evils of this work and his journey to becoming a crusader for transforming our failing Death Economy that destroys its own resources and nature itself into a flourishing Life Economy that renews itself. In the conversation, he shares a simple exercise in the form of five key questions we can all ask ourselves to shift our perceptions and move toward this Life Economy as he describes it.

John also discusses his involvement with the Living Earth Movement—a collection of leaders in theology, business, science, activism, and academia passionate about combating climate change and preserving life as we know it. The Living Earth Movement was started around a righteous call for the U.S. and China to work together on climate. John’s next book, out in February 2023, focuses on the U.S.-China relationship. John and Gil also discussed Russia’s war on Ukraine and how that has dramatically changed geopolitical dynamics, focusing on energy and climate.

Links:

• John Perkins Website
• John Perkins on Facebook
• John Perkins on Twitter
• The Living Earth Movement Website
• Dr. John Cobb's (of the Living Earth Movement) Letter to Presidents Biden and Xi (October 2021)

Episode recorded:  July 22, 2022

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at [email protected] or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

This week we’re presenting a special bonus episode where Gil Jenkins joined fellow podcasters for the most recent edition of the Cleantech Podcasters Quarterly Roundtable, hosted by Tigercomm & SunCast Media.

We covered topics such as the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on EPA power plant regulations, the implications for energy markets due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the escalating attacks by pro-fossil fuel pundits, and a whole lot more. Please note that we recorded this conversation before Senator Manchin’s surprise and welcome support for climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. In the show notes, we’ve linked to all the terrific podcasters included in this roundtable. Please give them a follow when you have a chance. We hope you enjoy this rich, one-hour discussion on the top clean energy trends, developments, challenges, and opportunities ahead of us. 

Other podcasters included in this roundtable (you can find them wherever you listen to podcasts): 

Mike Casey – Scaling Clean Podcast 

Emily Chasan – The Energy Gang 

Nico Johnson – SunCast Podcast

Tim Montague – Clean Power Hour

Bill Nussey – The Freeing Energy Podcast

Joshua Porter – The Solar Coaster Podcast

Episode recorded: July 21, 2022 

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at [email protected] or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

As CEO of GridPoint, Mark Danzenbaker believes that energy efficiency can be harnessed to make the power grid more sustainable and resilient.  GridPoint does this by installing energy optimization hardware in mid-sized commercial buildings that are often overlooked by efficiency programs. GridPoint works with corporations that have many sites across the country and provides real time data on savings and energy consumption for a client’s portfolio of buildings.  As their reach has expanded, the network of buildings GridPoint serves has become an important way to partner with utilities to manage energy demand during heat waves and other periods of high energy use. In this episode, Hilary Langer talks with Mark about how GridPoint engages clients both in front of and behind the meter to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable grid. 

Links:

GridPoint

Mark Danzenbaker LinkedIn

Canary Media: “Goldman Sacs and Shell bet $75M that chain stores can boost grid resiliency”

Episode recorded: July 6, 2022

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

With the meteoric rise in net-zero commitments and “green” capital raises by corporations and financial institutions, investors and consumers are wondering if these statements are credible. Do “green” labels actually accelerate the flow of capital to companies and projects seeking to improve our climate future? 

In this episode, Chad Reed sits down with Desiree Fixler (former chief sustainability officer at DWS), Tim Mohin (chief sustainability officer at Persefoni), and Erik Becker (senior vice president of corporate development at Arcadia) at the GreenFin22 Conference in New York City to discuss why “green” financial products and labels are ineffective and why actually counting carbon levels the playing field for investors and consumers alike. 

Links:

GreenFin: The Premier ESG Event Aligning Sustainability and Capital Markets

Article: Deutsche Bank, DWS Raided Over Allegations of Greenwashing (Bloomberg, May 31, 2022)

Article: The ESG Mirage (Bloomberg, December 10, 2021)

Article: The Secret Diary of a ‘Sustainable Investor’ – Part 4 (Epilogue) (Tariq Fancy, June 2022)

Article: Supreme Court Strips Federal Government of Crucial Tool to Control Pollution (The New York Times, June 30, 2022)

Article: Re: File No. S7-10-22: The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors (Jeffrey W. Eckel, June 17, 2022)


Episode recorded: June 28, 2022

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

Climate change solutions typically center on carbon, and addressing carbon is essential for a safer climate future. But we sometimes forget that carbon isn’t the only culprit.  Fluorinated gases such as old HVAC refrigerants can have more than 10,000 times the climate-changing potential of carbon.  The climate research nonprofit Project Drawdown determined that refrigerant management is one of the most impactful ways to mitigate climate change.  As CEO of Tradewater, Tim Brown is racing to aggregate potent gases from around the world and destroy them before they leak into the atmosphere and wreak havoc on our climate. 

In this episode, host Hilary Langer speaks with Tim Brown, CEO and Founder of Tradewater – a Chicago-based company that finds and destroys the world’s most potent climate-changing gases. Tim shares how his eBay purchase of a common refrigerant inspired him to build a company that produces some of the highest quality carbon offsets. He explains how the Tradewater team leverages partnerships to scale their impact, why they expanded internationally, and how they plan to accelerate their work before potent GHGs are released into the atmosphere. 

Links:

Tradewater Website

Tradewater on Twitter

Tradewater on LinkedIn

Tim Brown on LinkedIn

Project Drawdown: Overview of Refrigerant Management

One overlooked way to fight climate change? Dispose of old CFCs. (National Geographic)

Episode recorded: May 5, 2022 

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at [email protected]or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

Sheldon Kimber has built from scratch multiple successful enterprises over his two decades in the energy industry. Now the CEO and Co-Founder of Intersect Power, a developer and owner of some of the world’s largest clean energy resources, Sheldon is working to bring innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to customers across North America. 

Earlier this year, Sheldon published an article entitled, “The Nexus of Deep Decarbonization,” in which he discusses the five inevitable industries that have the potential for exponential growth as we work to decarbonize the global economy by leveraging increasingly affordable and available clean energy. These five industries include; Green Hydrogen and E-Fuels, Direct Air Capture, Electrification of Industrial Thermal Loads, Mass Electric Vehicle Charging, and Desalination and Water Transportation.

In this episode, Chad Reed and Jeff Eckel dive deep into Sheldon’s unique background and discuss the five inevitable industries, and the related decarbonization policy challenges and opportunities given the current macroenvironment. To get the most out of this episode, we encourage you to read Sheldon’s aforementioned article, available in the show notes.

Links:

Sheldon Kimber Twitter

Article: The Nexus of Deep Decarbonization (Sheldon Kimber, February 11, 2022)

Article: Proposed US tax credit 'would instantly make green and blue hydrogen competitive with grey' (ReCharge News, February 9, 2022)

Episode recorded: May 11, 2022

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

Joe Britton is the Executive Director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association (ZETA), a federal coalition focused on advocating for 100% electric vehicle (EV) sales by 2030. ZETA is committed to enacting policies that drive EV adoption, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, securing American global EV manufacturing dominance, dramatically improve public health, and significantly reducing carbon pollution. In this episode, Gil Jenkins speaks with Joe about his experience working on climate policy on Capitol Hill, how the politics around the environment and energy have changed, and what that might mean for passing a massive clean energy incentives package that deals with emissions. Joe also talks about the future of transportation (hint: it’s electric), the top policy priorities at ZETA, the key consumer selling points for EVs and charging, and how to overcome common misperceptions in the marketplace.

Links:

• ZETA Website
• ZETA Twitter
• Joe Britton Twitter
• House Oversight Hearing USPS Electrification Written Testimony, It’s Electric: Developing the Postal Service Fleet of the Future, Joe Britton, April 5, 2022

Note: Joe Britton (via Pioneer Public Affairs) is a registered climate policy lobbyist for Hannon Armstrong.

Episode recorded May 3, 2022

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at [email protected]or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

In this episode, host Gil Jenkins speaks with Tim Hade, Co-Founder & COO of Scale Microgrid Solutions – a New Jersey-based company that designs, builds, finances, and operates distributed energy assets that are cheaper, cleaner, and more resilient. 

Tim talks about his journey since founding the company in 2015, how customer demand for resilient energy solutions is evolving, the intersection of EV fleets and microgrids, the merits of cogeneration technology, his perspective on energy security as a U.S. Air Force veteran, the prospects for federal climate legislation, and much more.

Links:

Website

Tim Hade on LinkedIn

Tim Hade on Twitter

Scale Microgrid Solutions on Twitter

Scale Microgrid Solutions on LinkedIn

Episode recorded: April 8, 022 

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at [email protected]or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].

The impacts of climate change are front and center. Rising temperatures, volatile weather events, and poor air quality affect our physical and mental health in dangerous new ways. From increasing the risk of infectious disease to amplifying emotional stress and anxiety—even the healthiest among us are at risk. Bonnie Schneider has tracked environmentally linked physiological impacts throughout her career as a Peabody Award-winning TV journalist, meteorologist, and founder of Weather & Wellness©—a platform that explores the connection between weather, climate change, and health.

In this episode, host Gil Jenkins speaks with Bonnie about her most recent book, Taking the Heat, How Climate Change Is Affecting Your Mind, Body, and Spirit and What You Can Do About It. In Taking the Heat, Bonnie provides crucial and practice advice from a broad range of science experts and medical professionals.
 

Links:

Bonnie Schneider Website

Weather and Wellness® Website

Bonnie Schneider LinkedIn

Bonnie Schneider Twitter

Taking the Heat: How Climate Change Is Affecting Your Mind, Body, and Spirit and What You Can Do About It

Article: I'm A Meteorologist & This Is How Climate Change Is Affecting Your Health, By Bonnie Schneider, Mind Body Green, April 4, 2022)

Article: ‘OK Doomer’ and the Climate Advocates Who Say It’s Not Too Late, The New York Times, March 22, 2022)

Episode recorded: April 7, 2022

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, and Hilary at [email protected] or tweet them to @ClimatePosiPod.

Email your feedback to Chad, Gil, Hilary, and Guy at [email protected].