By Michael LaBelle
The podcast currently has 77 episodes available.
This week we speak with Sarah Mills, a Senior Project Manager, at the Graham Sustainability Institute, and Lecturer at the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan.
Research Professor of Climate and Society at the Finnish Environment Institute. She holds a long research record focused on energy efficiency, decarbonization, and innovation. One of her current projects is focused on national defense and the low-carbon energy transition. This is our starting point to understand the changes Finland is experiencing in its shift away from Russia and how energy security is reframed.
As you'll hear towards the end of the interview, Paula introduces the concept of landscape shocks. How multiple crisis impact and shape the roll-out of the energy transition. How regimes emerge (51:00) and shift over time. The landscape was viewed as external, but how do these big events (like pandemics) influence the energy transition?
Essentially, in our conversation, we work backward looking at the small changes that are building up and fostering and driving the energy transition. From Finland's shifting relationship with Russia to the role that energy efficiency can play in national security.
The undertone of our conversation is how we conceptualize the energy transition. For example, energy security is moving away from stockpiles of natural resources to thinking about the impact of renewable energy production and the role this will play in the future. Therefore, demand response becomes important not only for grid management but for security.
Further informing the landscape events, are issues of energy justice and security. How global justice is tied to resource flows from the global south, and the role this plays in the energy transition and impact on energy security. Perceiving this through different scales. If the north becomes more secure with renewable technologies with resources from the global south, what happens to those countries selling their resources for our security?
You'll find our conversation wide-ranging, but academically engaging. Paula has published widely on a range of energy topics and she's well-versed in Finnish, British, and EU energy policy topics. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
A final note, this interview was done for my 2022 role as an Open Society University Network, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. Funding was generously provided to produce the podcasts for the episodes recorded in 2022. And now it is 2023 but I still have a few more in my back pocket.
David Schwartz is a theatre director, lecturer and activist. He holds a PhD, wrote and produced plays focused on the impact of energy prices and the shuttering of coal mines in Romania.
This week we have a special guest with David Schwartz. How does the theater fit within the energy transition? As policymakers are discovering society matters. Unfortunately, this is more true in some countries than others. David's focus on Romania deals with economic transitions experienced through the people. His productions highlight the plight of people unable to afford the bare essentials to exist in modern society.
From my experience when I think about the policy making and promises that come from national politicians and even at the EU level, I often think about what is the real impact on the ground for people on the economic margins. David has created plays reflecting these personal and local struggles.
On one hand, David comes across as a radical instigator of performative art. But as you'll hear in part of our conversation, he takes the real experiences of people and presents it through theatrical performances. And what is more true than the real experiences of people or a fictional representation drawn from real experiences?
I think as an academic I often get caught up in the policy or technology aspects of the energy transition, and I don't know or don't see those that suffer in energy poverty.
When we hear about big policies and money to assist vulnerable groups, like that in the EU's Social Climate Fund, which is planned to contain €87 billion, I have my serious doubts about how this money will be distributed. From my conversation with David, you'll also get an impression he likewise holds limited faith in governments to assist citizens.
When I said you'll hear part of our conversation, I have to admit I had a bit of technical difficulty. So I wasn't able to record some of the most essential parts of our conversation. So I both David an apology and you, as a listener for this failure.
But I can certainly attest to David's in-depth knowledge and research skills at collecting and understanding how people experience and suffer from energy bills. The fact that he brings this to the stage demonstrates his skills in capturing social phenomena that we often only read about, and is hard to experience. My profound respects go out to David those working with him to raise this issues in a more engaging format that is usually emotionally detached from reality.
Before we begin, I want to thank Roxana Bucata for putting me in touch with David and all her work in organizing the interviews I did in Romania in November 2022.
A final note, this interview was done for my 2022 role as an Open Society University Network, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Theory meets reality in Finland's energy security and climate change policies. In this episode with Emma Hakala, Senior Research Fellow, at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, and member of the BIOS Research Unit. We gain a greater understanding of what a cascade of crises around climate change looks like and the advantage of gaining foresight on these events before their impact is felt. We also learn about the quick shift in Finland's position on NATO membership and the changed relationship with Russia. This episode addresses the changing climate and geopolitical realities of Finnish efforts to go zero carbon while shifting away from Russia.
Welcome to the My Energy 2050 podcast where we speak to the people building a clean energy system by 2050. I'm your host Michael LaBelle.
A second title for this episode is the Cascading Challenges and Solutions for Finland. As you'll learn in the first half of this episode Finland is looking for ways to address climate change and become more adaptable. However, what was once thought of a solution with its forest acting as both fuel and a carbon sink, is now emerging as an inverted solution, with its forested carbon sink burned which is actually adding to its carbon emissions. How Finland addresses climate change requires a strong awareness of interlinked feedback.
The second part of the episode brings in an International Relations perspective. Emma tells us about the impact that Russia's war in Ukraine has had on Russian-Finnish relations. This includes Finland's application for NATO membership and a new security relationship through NATO and closer ties with the United States.
The importance of this episode lies in understanding the shift Finland has experienced since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the explicit NATO alignment it now holds. Ambiguity is out the door. A new security line is emerging and we should be aware of how this new security pact changes relations with Russia. In addition, what were once important joint projects with Russia are almost all frozen. We can claim this as a win for EU sanctions, but it is important to be aware that some issues like water and other environmental issues still require a regional approach. Security may dominate current relations but we need to maintain the awareness that future cooperation will need to occur on environmental issues - when the time is right.
My take on this interview with Emma is that by learning about Finland's energy and security challenges we can appreciate the importance of regional cooperation. Even in a Nordic country like Finland with a small population and a vast land mass, meeting climate change goals is still a real challenge. What is unique about our conversation is the integration of the new security order with Russia and the concept of cascading crises and events. These are set to compound even more in our changing environment and security situation. We should not underestimate the challenges and unpredictability the war between Russia and Ukraine holds for the NATO alliance. Gaining some insight into Russia's neighbors and their actions can assist how we as researchers and analysts assess the longer-term impact of the war.
In episode 69 I spoke with Emma's BIOS Research Unit colleague Tere Vaden. I suggest checking out that episode on energy and philosophy to understand more about the Finnish perspective and how climate change is changing both policies and practices in Finland and humanity's relationship with energy. It is already proving to be a top podcast episode.
For those not in the know, - We are launching the Repowering Leadership in European Energy and Food Summer School 2023. This is done with the Central European University, Summer University program, and with the Open Society University Network. You can find a link to the call for applications in the show notes. The application deadline is February 14th, 2023.
We have an amazing line-up of instructors, Margarita Balmaceda, author of Russian Energy Chains and a past podcast guest. Alberto Potoschnig, the former director of ACER and at the Florence School of Regulation. We have Tim Benton and Leslie Vinjamuri from Chatham House along with EU energy law scholars, Kim Talus and Sirja-Leena Penttinen of the University of Eastern Finland and Tulane Law School. We also have instructors on energy communities, agriculture, and leadership. Check out summeruniversity.ceu.edu for a full list, or see in the show notes.
A final note, this interview was done for my 2022 role as an Open Society University Network, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. Funding was generously provided to produce the podcasts for the episodes recorded in 2022. I have a nice backlog of episodes to still get out, so these will be released over the next few weeks.
And now for this week's episode.
References:
Hakala, Emma, and Vadim Kononenko. “Re-Securitizing Climate: From ‘climate Security’ to ‘Ecology of Peace.’” Finnish Institute of International Affairs, September 2022. https://www.fiia.fi/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/bp348_re-securitizing-climate_emma-hakala-vadim-kononenko.pdf.
What does it take to build the energy transition? Usually, the question is phrased like this, the energy transition is about deploying the right technology. But with this framing we lose sight of the more important element in the energy transition. It is people that build the communities to support the new technologies, behaviors and educate. These are the people creating the energy transition.
Welcome to the My Energy 2050 podcast where we speak to the people building a clean energy system by 2050. I'm your host Michael LaBelle.
This week we speak with Vjeran Pirsic, a resident, businessman, and local campaigner on the island of Krk in Croatia. As you will hear, Vjeran is not a usual guest for this podcast, but then I don't know who is. So we can say that Vjeran joins the eclectic mix of interviewees who have really interesting stories and backgrounds around their involvement in the energy transition.
The overall, story for today is how the island of Krk is building a sustainable ecosystem and embracing the concept of an energy community. Moving from environmental actions in the area of recycling waste to building a self-sustaining island. As you'll hear, Vjeran paints us a colorful and vivid picture of what growing up in Krk and Yugoslavia under Tito was like. How Pink Floyd, Rubik's Cube, and visions of passive houses in 1980 set the stage for environmental campaigners to block the Soviet then Russia plan of building an oil pipeline from Russia to the Adriatic.
The interview is essentially divided into two parts, the first is about Vjeran's background, upbringing and early environmental activism. In the second half we discuss energy democracy and energy communities.
Before listening it will be helpful for you if I paint a picture of my meeting. I meet Vjeran in his home on Krk on a rainy cold December day. The island was relatively disserted - in my opinion, although Vjeran corrected me on this. Just a few local workmen in one of the few open cafes. As you'll hear, Vjeran has many thoughts on the state of the world and why and how he has led a life of activism.
For me, both Vjeran's personality and his stories provide a greater context to the people making the energy transition happen. I interviewed him at the end of traveling throughout Europe and speaking with other people like Vjeran, people who are building with their own hands the buildings and infrastructure necessary for a zero-carbon world. And their experiences are very important to listen to. Certainly, the Croatian government would probably object to some of his statements, but as social scientist learns, the positionality and the opinion of a wide range of people do matter.
I've come away even more from these interviews - some have been published and others will be published, with a slightly pessimistic outlook. Much is made of the current high energy prices driving change, but from talking to people on the ground, it still seems the entrenched interests of dominant companies and political elites want to maintain a strongly centralized energy system with little investment into demand reduction, smart systems, and distributed generation. The concept of energy communities runs counter to how governments want to set up their energy system.
As Vjeran points out, giving him the power to produce his own electricity would make him a free man. And this is not what the politicians and companies want. I'll let you listen now and judge for yourself the views expressed by Vjeran and whether his experience is unique or a common occurrence.
For our housekeeping notes, I have these announcements:
- We are launching the Repowering Leadership in European Energy and Food Summer School. This is done with the Central European University, Summer University program and with the Open Society University Network. You can find a link to the call for applications in the show notes. The application deadline is February 14th. And I'll just say, if you like this episode, you should definitely apply. Because we'll be talking about energy communities, the politics and geopolitics of the energy transition along with food security issues.
A final note, this interview was done for my current role as an Open Society University Network, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. Funding was generously provided to produce the podcasts until the end of 2022.
What went wrong with Germany? Europe's leader in renewable energy is now building LNG terminals to make up for lost Russian gas. Germany had no LNG terminals before Russia's war in Ukraine, now it's making deals in the Middle East and building LNG terminals. This activity exposes how much Russian gas was used to make the miracle of the Energiewende, Germany's roll-out of renewables in the energy transition, away from coal and nuclear.
In this conversation with Pieter de Pous, E3G Senior Policy Advisor, on the Fossil Transition Team, we have a broad discussion on the background to Germany's energy transition and the switch away from Russian gas. We also delve into the world of EU politics and the Fit for 55 package.
I've titled this episode as the 'Big Conversation on Germany's Energy Crisis' for a reason. Pieter was kind enough to sit down and share his knowledge on how well Germany and the EU are weathering the high gas and electricity prices, and the impact this has on the energy transition. Our conversation covers a wide field of energy issues. I was really impressed by Pieter's knowledge of both the policy-making process and the balancing act that politicians straddle. He also is very knowledgeable about the workings in Brussels.
I've done minimal editing - as I usually do - but this episode unfolds in a gentle conversation style where a lot of topics are discussed in ways that are both clearly connected and in other ways are a bit more random. By the end, I'm convinced you'll have a greater understanding of the politics behind Germany's energy transition and a new perspective on energy security that the German government holds.
As Pieter describes, maybe Poland and its cautious stand against Russian energy interests was justified. Certainly, Germany and the EU is now adopting the Polish energy security position. And we have a lot more to say on this point.
This interview was recorded in October 2022. But I think it has aged well over the past few weeks and still provides a clear context to the challenges Europe faces to move away from Russian fossil fuels.
Before moving on, we have big news this week - We are launching the Repowering Leadership in European Energy and Food Summer School. This is done with the Central European University, Summer University program and with the Open Society University Network. You can find a link to the call for applications in the show notes.
A final note, this interview was done for my current role as an Open Society University Network, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. Funding was generously provided to produce the podcasts until the end of 2022. And the funding was provided to travel to interview a range of experts on how the current energy crisis is impacting different countries around Europe.
The intent of the My Energy 2050 podcast is to spread the knowledge about how the energy system can assist our transition towards a greener future. The content of each episode is great for teaching, research and identifying how you can assist this energy transition.
Full AI Transcript is here
The Big Conversation on Germany’s Energy Crisis.
0:03
What is EEG and how does it work?
4:11
Within the EU, is phasing out gas perceived to be happening quite quickly?
7:09
If your approach is replacing LNG with LNG, that’s not going to happen.
12:46
How long does it take to get to 100% renewable energy?
19:03
Germany’s dependency on Russian gas.
24:13
What’s the biggest problem in eastern Germany?
29:59
How the Just Transition Fund will impact regions that are transitioning away from coal.
32:44
What’s a plausible scenario for East Germany?
37:56
Hydrogen ready? What is it?
43:30
What’s the plan for the energy efficiency and renewables directive?
49:46
Energy prices are going to remain high.
55:05
How do you see energy solidarity developing in the future?
59:39
The energy transition requires a ground-up approach. To move from a fossil fuel dominated energy system to one based on renewables and sustainable energy production requires community involvement. This week we talk with Alin Tanase, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Romania.
You may ask why Romania? If the energy transition is going to happen - and be a success, it has face the reality of a country like Romania. From the EU perspective, Romania is receiving funds from the EU's Just Transition Mechanism. From the US side, it appears a good country to foster new small scale nuclear power reactors. And for Europe's gas security, there are offshore deposits in the Black Sea that still can be tapped. In addition, it has Europe's largest onshore wind farm with even more renewable energy potential still to be harvested. It short, it is a microcosm of energy complexity that other countries face. Nonetheless, the energy transition is stagnating.
So on one hand, Romania has a lot going for it, on the other, it has huge government and social challenges that make the energy transition falter. At the end of this episode you'll gain a greater understanding of the challenges the country faces and an in-depth understanding of one person who is working hard to move Romania forward in the energy transition. As you'll hear from Alin, fossil fuels are in his family and dominated the city where he grew up. He's experienced first-hand the pollution of gas and oil and why the future is not fossil fuels. This episode is exciting to listen to learn about Alin, from both his own personal story and to learn about the struggles in Romania's energy transition.
Before moving on, we have big news this week - We are launching the Repowering Leadership in European Energy and Food Summer School. This is done with the Central European University, Summer University program and with the Open Society University Network. You can find a link to the call for applications in the show notes.
A final note, this interview was done for my current role as an Open Society University Network, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. The funding was generously provided to produce the podcasts until the end of 2022. And the funding was provided to travel to interview a range of experts on how the current energy crisis is impacting different countries around Europe.
The intent of the My Energy 2050 podcast is to spread the knowledge about how the energy system can assist our transition towards a greener future. The content of each episode is great for teaching, research and identifying how you can assist this energy transition.
Waking up to Estonia's Energy Challenge — Ingrid Nielsen, Episode 70
Welcome to the My Energy 2050 podcast where we speak to the people building a clean energy system by 2050. I'm your host Michael LaBelle. This week we speak with Ingrid Nielsen, a Renewable Energy Advocacy Expert for the Estonian Fund for Nature (ELF).
It says about the importance of energy when an organization with a deep biological foundation and a mission to protect nature also addresses the role of renewable energy. This week’s conversation with Ingrid straddles these fields of environmental protection and the deployment of new energy technologies.
There was a reason I traveled to Estonia. And this was to gain a greater understanding about how this Baltic country is shifting away from the heritage of the Soviet Union. Each country as we are exploring in recent episodes of this podcast had different relationships and ties with the Soviet Union. How each of these relationships was navigated was based on a variety of factors, but probably the most important was the domestic resources of the country itself. In the case of Estonia, it was the deposits of oil shale.
As Ingrid explains, oil shale is the poor cousin of coal. Sounds bad doesn't it? Listen to our discussion of why and how Estonia became complacent on driving a more sustainable energy transition over the past decade - or more.
To understand Estonia's challenges and transitions in energy, Ingrid points out the importance of political will but also the price of energy. This is emerging as a common theme, the cheapness of energy. Bountiful and cheap energy stalled necessary changes. Now Estonia is attempting to move forward with a pressing need to utilize the sustainable natural resources it possesses.
I probably don't mention enough all the great people that provide assistance to organizing the interviews and topics. And this week, we can thank one of our former Central European University students, Johanna Maarja Tiik for her assistance with lining up this interview with Ingrid.
A final note, this interview was done for my current role as an Open Society University Network, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. The funding was generously provided to produce the podcasts until the end of 2022.
The intent of the My Energy 2050 podcast is to spread the knowledge about how the energy system can assist our transition towards a greener future. The content of each episode is great for teaching, research and identifying how you can assist this energy transition.
Transcript: Ingrid Nielsen
What is Elf? What is an advocacy expert? What has changed through the years?
2:52
Why is journalism such a good fit for you?
11:39
What are the power dynamics that you see in the energy system?
17:05
What is shale oil? What is the environmental damage of that?
25:22
What is the impact on the community moving away from shale oil?
29:36
No government policy yet about what to do with the landscape in these former coal mining regions.
36:35
What should be the objective of national energy policy? Should it be self sufficiency or greater interconnection?
45:22
What’s happening to the energy community?
50:55
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a member of the European Union?
59:32
This week we speak with Tere Vadén, a philosopher in the Bios research unit in Helsinki.
Both society and nature are moving past the age of cheap fossil fuels. When coal, oil, and gas could be taken out of the ground and burned for the high calorific content to power our world. Now we have to contend with putting all that CO2 back into the atmosphere and the growing power of nature which threatens our climate.
In this interview, Tere, provides us with a perspective through philosophy and humanities to understand the deeper meaning of what it actually means to release so much CO2 from fossil fuels. Humanity released the CO2 by assuming we had power over nature, but the sad fact is, nature has the power over us. And now we are just beginning to pay the price. As we see now, a great humbling is now occurring based on our hubristic use of natural resources.
One of the key words for this episode is ‘hubris’ so pay attention.
The pace of this episode speaks to Tere's in-depth thinking about the interlinkages between societies, governments, and nature. If you enjoy a more business or market perspective on the energy system, then this episode delivers on these points; we start off our discussion from understanding current affairs in climate negotiations and the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine - from a Finnish perspective.
Later, we delve into a more philosophical discussion about how energy is not just the outcome of processing raw material, but rather a source of power and control - over both society and nature. That is, we discuss common understandings of how power can be seen through government actions, but we also get into how nature holds power over humanity - and this is one of the key lessons society has forgotten.
It was us that put so much CO2 into the atmosphere, and it is now us that have to deal with nature’s changing ways.
Each episode of the My Energy 2050 podcast is unique and different. This episode is a great representation of that. One of the main joys of doing this podcast is to find new people to talk with about energy. And here is a great example of meeting Terre in Helsinki and gaining a greater understanding of both Finland's approach and perspective on energy,
The meeting also brought about a deeper discussion about how philosophy can inform our understanding of energy. More specifically, how we use and perceive energy in our modern society and the greater awareness of the downsides.
As you'll hear, there are so many new ways we need to explore to expand our thinking on conceptualizing the energy transition. In fact, it is hard to see how we can have an energy transition if we don't have new conceptual framings to understand what we have done, what we are doing now, and what we need to get done in the future, all to get off fossil fuels.
A final note, this interview was done for my current role as an Open Society University Network, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. The funding was generously provided to produce the podcasts until the end of 2022. And the funding was provided to travel to interview a range of experts on how the current energy crisis is impacting different countries around Europe.
The intent of the My Energy 2050 podcast is to spread the knowledge about how the energy system can assist our transition towards a greener future. The content of each episode is great for teaching, research and identifying how you can assist this energy transition.
Check out the free book:
Energy and Experience: An Essay in Nafthology By Antti Salminen & Tere Vadén
This week we speak with Ioana Ciuta, Energy Coordinator at CEE Bankwatch Network.
We'll be speaking about the Southeast of Europe, in general, historical terms we can use the word Balkans or update it more specifically and use the term Western Balkans for many of the former Yugoslav republics. But in a more specific energy sense, we need to broaden the perspective and include Romania, Bulgaria and of course include Albania.
In this episode, we discuss the role of the Energy Community Treaty keeping these - and some other - countries cooperating with the involvement of the EU and neighboring countries.
As Ioana tells us at the start there was and still is great interest in building coal-fired power plants in the region. But not by private companies, but by governments and utilizing loans from China and other international institutions. As Ioana highlights, the scarcity of financing options says a lot about the changes over the years, that coal is financially unviable for private companies.
But what does it say about governments, like China, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina who see coal as a viable energy source? Bankwatch is working hard to prevent financing to build new facilities to ensure a reduction of emissions and prompt investments into alternative energy technologies. If money from banks is not going to coal, then it can go elsewhere - hopefully into clean energy technologies.
At the beginning of the episode, Ioana describes how she became involved in environmental issues, first with nuclear power than fighting for coal phase-out. This episode provides context to understand the support for fossil fuels in the region and the reluctant uptake of cleaner generation sources, such as renewables. As we discuss there is a difference between EU and national goals and how they are implemented within the region.
The importance of the Balkans lies in the necessity to bring them along in Europe's energy transition. As I learned from a recent trip to Romania, the rising energy prices are set to derail many household budgets in the region. As Ioana points out, even firewood is increasing in price. Relying on old technologies and resources does not provide households or industries a way forward in this economically deprived region. The lowest cost generation source is not coal. There's a tremendous need to change ways of thinking and gain acceptance and assistance for new practices and technologies in the energy transition.
This episode and some future episodes looking at Romania and Croatia will provide deeper context to the regions' challenges in the energy transition. The necessity for innovative thinking and deployment of proven solutions to delivering a socially affordable energy system - within the energy transition.
A final note, this interview was done for my current role as an Open Society University Network, Senior Fellow at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. The funding was generously provided to produce the podcasts until the end of 2022. And the funding was provided to travel to interview a range of experts on how the current energy crisis is impacting different countries around Europe.
The podcast currently has 77 episodes available.