Recorded live at the Energy Transition Centre in Calgary, David, Sara, and Ed took on one of the toughest questions in Canadian climate politics: what does energy transition actually look like for Alberta? 

They dug into emissions, economics, diversification, and the uncomfortable trade-offs that tend to get glossed over in public debate. 

It's a fun conversation with an extended Q&A from the live audience. 

Just a note, unfortunately we had some mic issues so apologies for any audio hiccups you might notice. 

🎙️ TIMESTAMPS
00:00:00 - Introduction & Welcome to Calgary
00:04:00 - Alberta's Hard Truths: Oil Dependence & Petro State Reality
00:10:00 - EV Growth & Peak Oil Demand by 2030
00:19:00 - China's Energy Bet: Lucky or Strategic?
00:22:00 - Alberta's Path Forward: What Should We Bet On?
00:25:00 - Can We Bend Emissions Without Breaking the Economy?
00:33:00 - Economic Diversification: Beyond Oil & Gas
00:42:00 - Oil Sands Resilience in a Disordered World
00:49:00 - Audience Q&A: Heavy Oil & Emissions Intensity
00:59:00 - Q&A: China and Climate Politics
01:11:00 - Q&A: Should Climate Be on Alberta's Election Agenda?
01:16:00 - Rapid Fire Q&A: TMX, Renewables vs Fossil Fuels, Carbon Tax
01:22:00 - Closing & Credits

Thanks as always to Avatar Innovations for being such gracious hosts.

🔗 LINKS

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Can we have guilt-free flying?

David, Sara, and Ed chat with Sebastian Eastham, associate professor of sustainable aviation at Imperial College London, about the climate impacts of aviation and what we can actually do about it.

The conversation covers immediate levers like contrail avoidance and operational changes that don't require waiting decades for new tech—plus the real potential (and limitations) of sustainable aviation fuels.

It's a lively and at times blunt conversation, with sharp audience questions and limited patience for climate cosplay. You'll get the cosplay bit once you listen...

🎙️ TIMESTAMPS
00:18 - Introduction
01:15 - Webinar Start
46:00 - Audience Q&A

🔗 LINKS
Full show notes
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About Our Guest

Seb Eastham is the Associate Professor for Sustainable Aviation at Imperial College London. An atmospheric scientist and aeronautical engineer, he seeks to understand what the true environmental impacts of aerospace activity are and what we can do about them. He develops and applies novel numerical models of the atmosphere, ranging from the scale of a single exhaust plume up to the global Earth system, to provide new understanding of those impacts and guide the development of new solutions to support a growing and sustainable aerospace sector. One of his current focus areas is to find robust strategies to reduce (or eliminate) the climate impacts of condensation trails, currently thought to be responsible for up to half of aviation's contributions to climate change.

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You asked — David, Sara, and Ed answered.

We're wrapping up the year with our annual Ask EvC Anything episode, touching on topics that pair well with New Year's bubbly: We talk about whether Canada’s climate targets are quietly slipping out of reach, the practicalities and prospects of direct air capture, what a net zero electricity grid in Alberta might actually look like by 2050, whether shiny new materials like metal organic frameworks are breakthrough solutions or just the latest carbon hype cycle, and why we call the show Energy vs Climate. 

References & Show Notes available on episode page.

About Your Co-Hosts:

David Keith is Professor and Founding Faculty Director, Climate Systems Engineering Initiative at the University of Chicago. He is the founder of Carbon Engineering and was formerly a professor at Harvard University and the University of Calgary. He splits his time between Canmore and Chicago.

Sara Hastings-Simon studies energy transitions at the intersection of policy, business, and technology. She’s a policy wonk, a physicist turned management consultant, and a professor at the University of Calgary where she teaches in the Energy Science program, and co-leads the Net Zero Electricity Research Initiative. She has a particular interest in the mid-transition.

Ed Whittingham isn’t a physicist but is a passionate environmental professional. He is the founder of Advance Carbon Removal, a coalition advancing demand side solutions for carbon removal in Canada. He is also the former CEO of the Pembina Institute, Canada’s widely respected energy/environment NGO. His op-eds have been published in newspapers and magazines across Canada and internationally.

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A look back at the biggest energy stories of 2025 and some crystal ball gazing about what to watch for in 2026.

David, Sara and Ed chat with Robbie Orvis, Senior Director of Modeling & Analysis at Energy Innovation, an American Think Tank. 

The show was set up to do two things: First, to sort out what genuinely shifted in 2025 and what didn't. Second, to build a 2026 energy and climate watch list that helps separate real transition signals from the noise and the hype.

It's a lively conversation with great audience questions - a sign that people are trying to make sense of a confusing year.

References & notes available on episode page.

About Our Guest:

Robbie Orvis is Senior Director, Modeling & Analysis at Energy Innovation. As a specialist in energy and climate policy, Robbie routinely works with federal and state policymakers in the U.S. as well as international policymakers to analyze legislation and regulation and to provide insights on how to achieve climate goals. He has helped develop and deploy Energy Policy Simulator models in more than a dozen countries, including Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, and to analyze decarbonization pathways in each region.

Robbie is the lead author of Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy and frequently provides insights to decision-makers on how to design policies to achieve deep decarbonization. His research is regularly cited in the nation’s top news outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Politico, Bloomberg, and the Los Angeles Times, and he is a regular contributor to Forbes.

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There are many takes on the big Carney-Smith energy agreement – we thought you could use one more.

The new Canada–Alberta MOU unveiled last Thursday is already generating more chatter than a pipeline hearing, and has set off a fresh round of debate about economy, emissions, and where the country is headed on energy. The hot takes have been flying. Naturally, we couldn’t resist adding our own, so we grabbed the mics the next day to sort through what it all means.

And because we weren’t the only ones buzzing after the news dropped, we’re also bringing you five on-the-ground reactions from attendees at EvC Calgary pop-up event the day the announcement landed. You’ll hear those right after ours — a kind of post-MOU tasting flight, if you will.

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For us, delivering content about energy and climate is a labour of love – we put our time towards Energy vs Climate because we feel strongly about the public service benefit of the project. 

But there are costs for our producer, website, Ed’s manicures, and more. (OK one of those isn’t true.) That's why this show relies on the support of generous donors, like our listeners.

Please consider making a one-time or monthly donation to our annual donation campaign. 

Your generosity directly pays for our production hard costs, and not Ed’s manicures. Further, as a project of the Academy for Sustainable Innovation (Charitable Business Registration Number 789760675R R0001), Energy vs Climate provides a charitable tax receipt for all donations over $10. 

Many thanks and be well,

David, Sara, and Ed

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David, Sara, and Ed chat with Dr. Jai Asundi, Executive Director of the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), an independent Indian think tank. 

Dr. Asundi has been leading CSTEP since 2009, connecting data, modeling, and policy to tackle India's energy and climate challenges. They dive into India's electricity grid, the EV revolution, oil and gas dependency, and where energy meets geopolitics.

About Our Guest

Dr Jai Asundi is the Executive Director at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) in Bangalore, India. In the past decade he has been working on variety of problems where science and technology play a dominant role. He is a senior member of the IEEE and holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh where he is currently Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy.

References available on episode page

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David, Sara, and Ed join Real Talk with Ryan Jespersen for a live on-air conversation.

Their decidedly non-spooky Halloween round-table discussion covered a lot of climate and energy ground, including the G7, critical minerals, carbon capture and storage, and oat milk cream liquor. (Well admittedly that last one is not a climate and energy topic, but if you listen you'll get the reference.)

It's live (or was live), it's real, it's Real Talk with the EvC gang!

01:04 - The G7 Energy and Environment Ministerial
10:07 - Industrial Policy and Canada's Energy Future
13:55 - Critical Minerals and Global Competition
17:03 - Canada's Emissions and International Responsibility
20:06 - The Future of Oil Demand
22:54 - The Role of Carbon Capture and Storage
32:06 - Challenges in Oil Sands Investment and Climate Skepticism
34:40 - Balancing Low Emissions and Affordable Energy
38:25 - Impact of Government Policies on Renewable Energy Investment
46:01 - Water Resource Management and Climate Responsibility
49:05 - Preparing for Natural Disasters and Climate Change

Ryan Jespersen hosts Real Talk, one of Canada's most-downloaded modern talk shows. He recently graced the cover of Edify Magazine as the "Prince of Podcasting." Ryan was named one of Alberta's 50 Most Influential People by Venture Magazine, and was on Avenue's inaugural list of Edmonton's Top 40 Under 40. You'll find him online at ryanjespersen.com, and on Twitter and Instagram (@ryanjespersen).

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Sara & Ed chat with Martin Olszynski about Alberta's mounting energy liability crisis.

They discuss the billions in future costs for decommissioning, remediation, and reclamation of oil and gas projects as well as the challenge in accurately quantifying government and public exposure to financial and environmental risk amid profound energy sector disruption. 

The question isn't whether these liabilities will materialize—it's who pays when they do. It's a lively and wide-ranging conversation that sparked a flood of audience questions.

Show Notes available on the episode page

About Our Guest:

Martin Olszynski is an Associate Professor and the current Chair in Energy, Resources, and Sustainability at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law. Martin's primary research interests are in environmental, natural resources, and water law and policy. He has appeared as a witness in regulatory hearings, committee hearings of both the House of Commons and the Senate, and as counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada. From 2020 to 2025, he was a member of the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada's advisory council on impact assessment.

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A fun, fast-paced, skeptics tour through some of the most talked-about emerging energy technologies.

From enhanced geothermal systems to thermal batteries, balcony solar, flying cars, and yes, even space-based solar power – David, Sara, and Ed dig into what’s real, what’s hype, and what might actually move the needle on decarbonization.

(00:00) - Cold open
(02:08) - Small modular nuclear reactors
(09:14) - E-bikes
(15:46) - Balcony solar
(22:13) - Fusion
(28:33) - Thermal batteries
(34:56) - Enhanced geothermal
(42:04) - Carbon capture and storage capacity
(43:19) - Space solar
(45:07) - Flying cars

A huge thanks to all the listeners who submitted suggestions for this episode!

Show Notes & References

About Your Co-Hosts
David Keith is Professor and Founding Faculty Director, Climate Systems Engineering Initiative at the University of Chicago. He is the founder of Carbon Engineering and was formerly a professor at Harvard University and the University of Calgary. He splits his time between Canmore and Chicago.

Sara Hastings-Simon studies energy transitions at the intersection of policy, business, and technology. She’s a policy wonk, a physicist turned management consultant, and a professor at the University of Calgary and Director of the Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Development.

Ed Whittingham is a clean energy policy/finance professional specializing in renewable electricity generation and transmission, carbon capture, carbon removal and low carbon transportation. He is a Public Policy Forum fellow and formerly the executive director of the Pembina Institute, a national clean energy think tank.

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