This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re going to keep talking about tech and climate innovation with a longtime technologist turned climate tech investor. Mike Schroepfer runs the investment fund Gigascale Capital, which has invested in some of the biggest names in climate tech: Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Mill, Form Energy, and a couple other names that will be appearing soon on this very show. Schrep, as he’s known, is also the former CTO of Facebook, so he’s someone with a long view of how tech evolves and gets adopted. Join us for a fascinating conversation about the inflection point we’re at with climate tech, how AI can in fact lead to cleaner energy, and how a better world is still within reach.

• Gigascale Capital
• Commonwealth Fusion Systems on EITP
• Mill founder Matt Rogers on EITP
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This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s the last official episode of our miniseries, Feeding the Matrix, all about AI, energy use, and data center design. To cap off this series, Molly spoke with JoAnn Garbin, a longtime technologist, sustainability advocate, and innovator, about her work reimagining data center design at Microsoft. It turns out, the company realized years ago that communities might start rejecting new data center construction if they were too resource-intensive, polluting, or just plain ugly. Hear about how that exercise led to net-positive data center concepts, where that project sits now, and all about JoAnn’s new book, The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft.

• Next-generation data centers at Microsoft
• News: Reducing energy use with chip-level cooling
• Book: The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft
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This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re continuing our series on AI and energy use, exploring how to expand data centers and computing without sacrificing sustainability goals or, you know, a livable planet. This week, we’re turning toward some innovations that could make that seemingly impossible goal a reality. Realta Fusion is a fusion energy company that spun out of the University of Wisconsin. It’s one of many startups working toward generating fusion energy—the clean, abundant energy that is the same reaction that powers the sun. But Realta is taking an interesting approach to deployment: it hopes to build fusion energy power plants right next to data centers or other facilities with intensive energy needs. Listen to Molly’s conversation with CEO Kieran Furlong.

• Realta Fusion
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This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s the second episode in our special series on AI and energy use. When it comes to making data centers more energy efficient, few have a larger burden than Amazon’s AWS — the world’s largest cloud provider by market share. Molly talks with Chris Walker, head of sustainability for AWS, about how the company’s customers are pushing it to be as energy efficient as possible, for reasons of economics and the environment. He touches on an Accenture study that says moving AI operations to the cloud can be four times more efficient than doing them on-site. And Walker says making data centers more efficient involves everything from water positivity to producing custom chips (sorry, Nvidia) to simply rearranging the furniture.

• From Amazon: AWS can help reduce the carbon footprint of AI workloads by up to 99%. Here’s how.
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This week on Everybody in the Pool, it’s the first episode in our special series on AI and energy use. We’re starting at the foundational layer of AI computing: the chips. Nvidia is the undisputed leader when it comes to providing the processors (and networking equipment and cards and servers and racks) and the software platform that lets companies use those chips to train AI models. But what’s the company’s responsibility when it comes to enabling more sustainable AI? We spoke with Nvidia’s head of sustainability about how the company is making its chip architecture 96% more efficient compared to just two years ago, how it’s pioneering digital twinning to model more energy-efficient data center construction (among other things) and how its their belief that companies are not pulling back on their sustainability goals in the age of AI. Fingers crossed!

• Nvidia blog: How AI and Accelerated Computing are Driving Energy Efficiency
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Welcome back to the third season of Everybody in the Pool! Well, almost. We’re busy preparing an exciting way to kick off the new year: with a four-part series on everybody’s favorite topic, AI and energy use. We’ve already been worried about data centers and their global electricity consumption, but training new AI models (and answering our inane questions and writing emails for us) are pushing that demand potentially exponentially higher. In this series, we’ll talk to executives from chip giant Nvidia and data center giant AWS (you know, Amazon), about their efforts to make computing more energy efficient, and then we’ll turn to innovation with a fusion energy company that hopes to build plants right next to data centers, and a former Microsoft exec who was in charge of designing regenerative data centers. Get ready — “Feeding the Matrix” drops next week!

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This week, we are leaning into a powerful tool in the fight against climate change: storytelling. Molly talks with Greg Jacobs, co-director of The Here Now Project, about the innovative documentary, which presents climate change through the eyes of ordinary people worldwide. The film aims to evoke a sense of urgency and community around climate action, By demonstrating a series of climate shocks over the course of a single year, from a historic deep freeze in Texas to plagues of locusts and sea snot. The climate crisis is a global problem that hits home no matter where you are.

• The Here Now Project: https://herenowproject.com/
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In this conversation, GL Genco, founder of Generation Conscious, talks about how his company has created vending machines for dehydrated laundry detergent sheets. The goal is to promote sustainability and reduce waste, yes, but also to change the way we think about how we shop for hygiene products overall. He shares his personal journey, the environmental impact of traditional packaging, and the importance of making eco-friendly products accessible to all, particularly in university settings. The discussion also covers the potential for future expansion into other hygiene products and the role of data in enhancing user engagement and operational efficiency.

• Generation Conscious: https://www.generationconscious.co/
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In this episode of Everybody in the Pool, host Molly Wood explores an overlooked climate solution hiding in plain sight: leaky air ducts and building envelopes. She speaks with Amit Gupta, CEO of Aeroseal, about an innovative technology that uses "pixie dust" physics to seal energy-wasting leaks in buildings. Learn how up to 40% of your heating and cooling could be escaping through poorly sealed ducts, and discover a solution that's good for both the planet and your wallet.

"Leaking air ducts is the single largest reason for energy wastage in US homes. Single largest reason, right? And nobody is fixing it." - Amit Gupta

The episode reveals how simple infrastructure fixes could make a significant impact on both home comfort and climate change, with insights into how this technology is being used in everything from residential homes to hospitals and commercial buildings.

• Aeroseal: https://aeroseal.com/
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This week on Everybody in the Pool, we are re-visiting a favorite episode from season 1, and maybe it’ll inspire you and your friends and family toward a fun holiday activity! Obviously, global warming and the climate crisis are intimidating topics. But this week’s guest has built an entire career out of play. Jenny Gottstein is a game-maker, previously of Go Games and IDEO, and a few years ago, she created a game called Beat! That! Heat!, a climate action game show. Molly and Jenny talk about how play can create an accessible conversation that celebrates climate action no matter where you start, offers an onramp to the conversation for people who are curious but embarrassed, and did I mention that making games for a living is an actual job?  

• Beat! That! Heat!
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