Subsidies support energy infrastructure and development to benefit consumers. And we pay for them. In tax credits for producers and investors. Direct payments and mandates for low carbon technology. Accelerated expense schedules for oil and gas. And R&D funding. We explore with Jonathan Lesser, President of Continental Economics, and Ryan Kellogg, Professor at the University of Chicago.

Large-scale batteries on our power grid could balance the intermittency of wind and solar, along with the normal irregularities of the grid. And they’re becoming ever more affordable. I’ll discuss the potential benefits and challenges with John Zahurancik, President of the Americas for Fluence, a battery storage company, and Paul Denholm, a Senior Energy Analyst at National Renewable Energy Lab.

Energy is so intertwined with the functioning of society that it’s a basic need. Yet not all Americans have equal access to safe, reliable, affordable energy. We’ll discuss energy justice initiatives that aim to spread the benefits of energy to more Americans, with Margo Weisz, Executive Director of Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, and Monisha Shah from the EPA’s Solar For All program.

Using water to generate power has been a staple in our electricity system for a century. We look at conventional reservoir dams and pumped hydro storage; the state of hydropower in the US, Canada and internationally; and challenges that hydro faces. With expert guests Malcolm Woolf from the US National Hydropower Association, and Debbie Gray of the International Hydropower Association.

In part 1, we explored compliance and voluntary markets. Now we look at brokers and traders, market forces that help set prices, the emissions reduction potential of low vs. high price credits, and the importance of better regulation and verification. Expert guests again are Kaya Axelsson, Head of Policy and Partnerships at University of Oxford Net Zero, and Jamie Keech of Vida Carbon.

Carbon markets were created to try to reduce CO2 emissions. There’s a compliance market, in which governments set emission limits and companies comply, often by trading credits. And a voluntary market, where companies and consumers voluntarily buy credits. We’ll explore both with Jamie Keech, Executive Chairman of Vida Carbon, and Kaya Axelsson from University of Oxford Net Zero.