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🌊 Fusion, and Other Fusion-Level Bets

Why the dream of limitless clean energy is still alive, and why the real question is cost, not physics.

We’re joined by Andy Lubershane, Partner at Energy Impact Partners and author of Steel For Fuel.

In this episode, we dive into nuclear fusion, the most ambitious energy technology on the table, and unpack what it really takes to turn a scientific breakthrough into a commercially viable power source.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why fusion has been “20 years away” for the last 60 to 80 years

→ The physics behind the challenge: hot enough, dense enough, for long enough

→ What Q = 1 really means — and why the headlines often get ahead of reality

→ Why Andy still believes some companies may hit real net energy gain soon

→ The difference between a scientific milestone and an investable commercial one

→ Why fusion could be the ultimate energy prize, if it ever becomes affordable

Andy breaks down the famous triple product at the heart of fusion: you need to create conditions that are extraordinarily hot, incredibly dense, and stable for long enough to generate more energy than you put in. That is easy to describe. It is brutally hard to do.

We also unpack the gap between lab success and market success. A fusion reaction can be scientifically impressive and still be economically irrelevant. That distinction matters. A lot.

And then there is the upside. If fusion works at scale, especially in a form that uses abundant fuel and avoids the safety, waste, and proliferation issues of fission, it starts to look like one of the biggest energy breakthroughs humanity could hope for.

This is episode two of a five part series. Subscribe to receive every episode.

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🌊 The Case for a Nuclear Renaissance

Why fission might be the most under appreciated climate bet of our time.

We’re joined by Andy Lubershane, Partner at Energy Impact Partners and author of Steel For Fuel.

In this first of five episode, we dive into nuclear fission as a “fusion-level bet”, and unpack what it really takes to build a scalable, secure, and low-emissions energy system beyond hydrocarbons.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why hydrocarbons are still so hard to replace (and what they do exceptionally well)

→ The reality of nuclear safety, and why perception diverges from data

→ Cost, timelines, and why nuclear failed to scale in the West

→ China’s nuclear buildout, and what it teaches us

→ The rise of SMRs and Gen IV reactors, hype vs. reality

→ Why investing in nuclear is a “winner-takes-most” game

→ A different way to invest: betting on project development, not reactor design

→ Andy’s scorecard: cost, safety, emissions, speed, scalability

This is episode one of a five part series. Subscribe to receive every episode.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

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🌊 The Methane Blind Spot

Why one of the most powerful climate levers stayed invisible, and what it takes to build around it.

We’re joined by Abhi Desai, Solo GP at Desai Ventures (an Indian family office), an early-stage investor focused on deep tech solutions across methane detection, satellites, and climate infrastructure.

In this episode, we dive into methane, the overlooked climate lever, and unpack what it really takes to build and invest in technologies that measure the invisible.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why methane is 80x more potent than CO₂ (short term), yet historically ignored

→ The real challenge: you can’t fix what you can’t measure

→ Satellites vs drones vs sensors, the stack of methane detection technologies

→ Why “naming and shaming” isn’t enough, and what actionable data actually looks like

→ The business case: lost gas = lost revenue (sometimes)

→ Where carbon credits fit, and why they’re still evolving

→ The core rule of climate VC: impact scales with revenue, not philanthropy

→ How to diligence deep tech when you don’t fully understand the science

→ Why collaborative due diligence might unlock more climate capital

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

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🌊 The Invisible Problem Inside Every Factory

Why advanced manufacturing is still wildly inefficient — and how real-time sensing could unlock the next wave of climate tech.

We’re joined by Jared O’Leary, Co-founder of SirenOpt, a deep-tech company building real-time sensing systems for advanced manufacturing.

In this episode, we dive into why even the world’s most advanced factories operate with massive hidden inefficiencies, and what it really takes to move toward autonomous, self-optimizing manufacturing for climate technologies like batteries and beyond.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why manufacturing is inherently probabilistic, and why every product exists on a distribution of quality

→ The hidden cost of variability in battery factories, including massive scrap rates and conservative processes

→ Why “98% yield” doesn’t actually mean what people think

→ How missing data inside the manufacturing line creates huge blind spots

→ Why real-time sensing is the missing layer for Industry 4.0 factories

→ How cold plasma sensing works, and why it enables non-destructive measurement at millisecond speed

→ Why better manufacturing could unlock next-generation batteries like solid-state

Without the ability to manufacture advanced materials reliably, even the best lab breakthroughs never scale.

📬 Reach out to Jared O’Leary: [email protected]

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🌊 Obsession, Timing & the 50x Decision

What it really takes to back, and double down on, a climate breakout.

We’re joined by Otto Birnbaum, Founding Partner at Revent, an early-stage fund backing companies at the intersection of climate, demographic, and technological change. Revent was an early investor in tem, which recently raised a $75M round.

In this conversation, we unpack what happens inside a fund when a breakout company emerges, and how to think about follow-on strategy, ownership, timing, and conviction.

This episode is a masterclass in early-stage venture mechanics.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ How to spot exceptional founders (obsession, clarity of vision, and relentless execution)

→ Why Revent avoids the word “impact” (and what they focus on instead)

→ The original investment thesis behind tem

→ What a $200M+ valuation means for a $60M fund

→ How much ownership early-stage funds really need

→ When to double down, and when to de-risk at 50x

→ Why timing might matter more than anything else

→ Why 2026 belongs to AI, but climate infrastructure is far from dead

→ “Looking left” when everyone looks right

Otto breaks down fund math transparently:

10% ownership at a $300M valuation = ~$30M position

For a $60M fund, that’s half the fund returned, at least on paper

True breakout? When it returns the whole fund.

We also explore:

Why SPVs matter when you hit concentration limits

How to construct angel-heavy cap tables with “superpowers”

Why growth rate alone isn’t enough, margin and revenue stickiness matter

And the brutal truth: timing can kill or make a company.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

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🌊 Removing CO₂ at 420 ppm

Is direct air capture a distraction, or a necessity for net zero?

We’re joined by Thor Gutierrez, Founder & CEO of Sirona Technologies, former Tesla engineer now building one of Europe’s most ambitious direct air capture (DAC) companies.

Direct air capture fascinates as much as it divides.Some see it as essential for net zero.Others call it an expensive distraction.

In this episode, we unpack what it really takes to scale DAC, economically, technically, and politically, and why starting now might be non-negotiable.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why we’ll need to remove ~10 gigatons per year

→ Why DAC should likely represent only ~1–2% of climate capital

→ Who’s actually buying carbon removal credits

→ Why voluntary markets are the “bootloader” for compliance markets

→ The Tesla playbook: speed of iteration > scale too early

→ Why modular, containerized plants outperform mega-projects

→ The real cost today: ~$800–900 per ton, and the roadmap to $250 by 2030

→ Why buyers demand a visible cost curve before signing contracts

→ Solid sorbents vs liquid solvents, and why modularity wins

→ Energy reality: DAC only works with abundant clean power

→ Why Kenya, the Middle East, and Norway make geographic sense

→ The 90% removal efficiency debate, and what the LCA actually shows

Thor makes a clear argument:

If you don’t believe in regulation, you don’t believe in solving climate.

Voluntary markets fund learning.

Compliance markets unlock scale.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

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🌊 No Green Premium, The 2026 Climate VC Playbook

Why price parity, resilience, and market-rate returns are the only strategy that works now.

In 2022, climate was hot. Capital was cheap. ESG was mainstream.

Today? The pendulum has swung.

In this episode, with Fabian Heilemann, General Partner at AENU, we dive into what has fundamentally changed in climate investing, and what founders and GPs must do now if they want to build real businesses that survive political cycles and LP scrutiny.

Fabian doesn’t mince words:

“If you ask for green premium, go home.”

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why the voluntary carbon market thesis stalled, and what AENU got wrong

→ Why climate funds must now prove market-rate returns (30%+ IRR)

→ The shift from “climate tech” to energy security, efficiency & resilience

→ Why adaptation and systemic resilience may be the next wave

→ Europe’s structural crisis between the US and China

→ The rise of “Green Infra 2.0”, hardware-led electrification plays

→ The real exit pathways for energy companies (hint: mostly trade sales)

→ What LPs actually think, and why tourist capital is gone

→ Fabian’s founder survival framework: routines, meditation, and long-term legacy

Fabian’s thesis for 2026 is clear:

If your product cannot compete on price parity and feature parity, it will not scale. Climate benefit must be interlocked with commercial ROI, not sold as moral persuasion.

Because the market right now rewards:

Energy resilience

Industrial efficiency

Adaptation

Clear customer economics

Not virtue signaling.

And yet, the physics of the climate crisis hasn’t changed.Only the narrative has.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

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Listen now:Apple // Spotify // YouTube

🌊 The Inflection Point Nobody Noticed

Why electrification, materials innovation, and better unit economics are reshaping climate VC.

We’re joined by Sarah Sclarsic, General Partner & Co-Founder at Voyager Ventures, a transatlantic VC firm backing foundational innovations across energy, materials, and machines.

Sarah has spent decades building companies in climate, crafting federal policy, and investing across cycles, from Cleantech 1.0 to today’s electrified, AI-accelerated industrial wave. In this episode, we dive into what LPs really think about climate right now, and why the fundamentals have never been stronger, even when headlines suggest otherwise.

Because while sentiment swings, physics doesn’t.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ The LP perception gap, why institutional investors see long-term fundamentals while headlines focus on short-term noise

→ The quiet inflection point, electricity is now the dominant global energy form (~34%)

→ Why falling battery costs (90%+ in a decade) change everything

→ What emerging managers must prove to LPs beyond “the thesis”

→ Why deeptech no longer can hold a green premium

→ The electro-tech stack advantage (and why fossil-based models are structurally weaker)

→ How to evaluate hardware startups in 2026

→ Why teams, not tech, build billion-dollar companies

→ The compounding gains of electrification + AI + advanced manufacturing

→ Rebuilding 1,000-year-old industrial processes with modern tools

Sarah’s core lens is simple:

If it can’t win on price and performance, without subsidies, it won’t dominate a global market.

Voyager backs companies that:

Replace fossil-based processes with inherently superior systems

Benefit from declining input costs (electrification, automation, AI)

Have durable innovation engines, not one-off breakthroughs

We also explore two fascinating examples:

A company reinventing alloy production using high-powered energy waves

A rare-earth refining startup using nature-derived proteins instead of fossil heat

The pattern?

Massive industries built on outdated industrial assumptions are being reimagined from first principles.

If you’re building or investing in climate, this episode is a masterclass in thinking long-term while executing fast.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

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🌊 Mining Without Mines

How plants could unlock the next wave of critical metals.

We’re joined by Fabien, Co-Founder & CEO of Genomines, a company rethinking how the world sources nickel, not by digging deeper, but by growing smarter.

In this episode, we dive into a radical idea at the heart of the energy transition: what if we could produce critical metals using plants instead of mines?

Fabien walks us through hyper-accumulator plants, the brutal economics of mining, and why biology might be the most under-appreciated extraction technology of our time.

This is a conversation about cost curves, patience, and why sustainability only scales if it wins on unit economics.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why electrifying everything doesn’t work if metals stay carbon-intensive

→ How hyper-accumulator plants pull nickel straight from soil

→ The brutal reality of mining economics — and why most deposits aren’t viable

→ Why nickel isn’t rare, just inaccessible

→ Raising deep-tech capital when everyone thinks you’re crazy

→ Why winning on cost matters more than winning the climate argument

→ Transitioning from an R&D lab to an operating company

→ How cheap nickel could reshape batteries, EVs, and geopolitics

If you’re building in deep-tech or mining innovation, Fabien is someone worth listening to.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com

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🌊 Building a Sovereign Copper Supply

We’re joined by Katie Marsh, Co-Founder & CEO of Recupere Metals, a next-gen industrial company rethinking how copper is produced for electrification.

Fresh off a €5M seed round closed in just 30 days, Katie shares how Recupere is turning scrap copper into high-performance electrical wires, without smelting, without green premiums, and without compromising on quality.

In this episode, we dive into the coming copper supply crisis, and unpack what it really takes to build a climate-critical industrial company that can scale fast, compete on cost, and integrate directly into global supply chains.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ How to run a fast, disciplined fundraising process in a brutal market

→ Why copper supply, not batteries, may be the real bottleneck to electrification

→ The technical breakthrough that makes scrap copper competitive

→ Why smelting is the hidden carbon and cost villain in metals

→ How software and data create Recupere’s defensibility

→ What Europe gets wrong about sovereignty, supply chains, and resilience

→ The real risks founders face when moving from lab to first commercial plant

Katie also explains why price parity matters more than climate narratives, how OEMs think about supply-chain de-risking, and why the best climate businesses don’t rely on green premiums to win.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newwavenewsletter.substack.com