Nuclear power is  different from other energy sources. When we talk about new nuclear projects, it can still bring up strong and sometimes emotional reactions for people -- more so than with other sources of energy, and those opinions are much more divided across the political spectrum than any other technology.

How did public perception change as nuclear moved from a technology of war to the energy solution of the future? And when it comes to energy technologies, or really any technology, how safe is safe enough?

Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and produced by Jennifer Pemberton. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

Iceland is widely regarded as a global leader in clean energy. Not only is their energy sustainable, it’s cheap, too. They have some of the most affordable heat and power in the world. But it was literally one of the poorest countries in Europe two generations ago. So, how did Iceland get here? What would they say are the most important choices and investments they made along the way? They share their secret recipe with us on this episode of Closing the Gap.

Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and produced by Jennifer Pemberton. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

Iceland is a powerhouse when it comes to harnessing the heat and the energy that’s pouring up through the tectonic crack that runs diagonally across the island. Icelanders originally got the idea for geothermal district heating from turn-of-the-century Idaho. But since then, the small nation managed to gather best practices from places like Boise, and then improve on them. And now they have the most concentrated know-how of geothermal energy in the world, and they market and export that expertise globally. Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and produced by Jennifer Pemberton. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

We can start exploring the current energy transition by first stepping back in time to look at the last big one – the one that gave millions of people around the world widespread access to electric power. Rural electrification remains an ongoing process today, particularly in rural and remote areas of the developing world. Getting electricity monumentally changed people’s lives. We'll go back to experience that transformation through the words and voices of those that were part of that struggle in rural Alaska.

Closing the Gap is hosted by Gwen Holdmann and produced by Jennifer Pemberton. Music is from Blue Dot Sessions.

I'm Gwen Holdmann, an energy researcher in Alaska. This podcast is where I share stories from the people I've met and the places I've visited around the world that are at the leading edge of the global energy transition: Geothermal beaches in Iceland, hydrogen-fueled tiki torches in Hawaii, solar-powered villages above the Arctic Circle, and power plants that are capturing their own greenhouse gas emissions and turning them into stone underground.