The Clean Energy Show

The Socket Full of Sunshine Act could help Americans plug solar panels directly into household outlets, making clean energy more accessible. We look at Lula's climate victory in Brazil and what it means for protecting the Amazon rainforest.

Plus, a group-buying program offers discounts on innovative induction cooktops with built-in batteries that can keep cooking during power outages. We also discuss BC Hydro's changing solar net-metering rules and a listener's tip about a Neil Young rock opera coming to Regina to raise money for youth climate justice.

In the Lightning Round:

• Researchers explore storing nuclear energy as heat to make reactors more flexible and profitable.

• Fifteen young Canadians take the federal government to court over climate change.

• China's wind power growth, solar-powered windows, and solar overtaking coal in installed generating capacity.

• Europe's deadly heatwave and the role of climate change.

• Canada's refinery numbers and the rapid growth of battery storage.

Solar panels are bringing abandoned cranberry bogs back to life, California faces a sobering new climate forecast, and Minnesota offers a model for community solar that could help households save on electricity bills. Plus, electric steelmaking, airport shuttle buses going fully electric, and a lightning round packed with global clean energy news.

• Support The Clean Energy Show on Patreon for exciting perks including a monthly bonus podcast, early access to our content, behind the scenes looks, access to our members-only Discord community and thank-yous in the credits of videos and shoutouts on our podcast! Starting at just $1 per month! E-transfer donations can be sent to [email protected] for automatic deposit.

Cranberry Bogs Get a Solar Makeover

Two Massachusetts cranberry bogs are producing berries again, thanks to solar panels that help pay the bills. These unusual agrivoltaics projects combine cranberry farming, solar power, and battery storage, with elevated panels designed to let sunlight reach the crops and farm machinery pass underneath.

California's Climate Future Looks Increasingly Challenging

A new California climate assessment warns of longer summers, worsening wildfire risks, shrinking Sierra Nevada snowpack, and growing water shortages. Agriculture faces major challenges, while coastal erosion and rising seas threaten beaches and billions of dollars in property.

Read the New York Times report

Minnesota's Community Solar Model

Minnesota has built one of America's largest community solar markets, with more than 800 megawatts of capacity. Subscribers can receive electricity-bill credits without installing panels on their own homes, offering a way for renters and homeowners alike to benefit from solar. James also shares his experience joining Wascana Solar Co-op in Saskatchewan.

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Copyright 2026 Sneeze Media.

California is cutting power to prevent wildfires while offering businesses up to $100,000 per EV fast-charging port. Meanwhile, heat pumps are proving surprisingly resilient without US federal tax credits, and Pakistan's oil crisis is accelerating the shift to electric vehicles.

• Support The Clean Energy Show on Patreon for exciting perks including a monthly bonus podcast, early access to our content, behind the scenes looks, access to our members-only Discord community and thank-yous in the credits of videos and shoutouts on our podcast! Starting at just $1 per month!

  E-transfer donations can be sent to [email protected] for automatic deposit.

• California's EV Charger Incentives: A new program offers up to $100,000 per high-speed charging port, with larger subsidies for faster chargers.

• California Power Shutoffs: PG&E is cutting electricity to thousands of customers as dry weather and strong winds increase wildfire risks.

• Heat Pumps Hold Their Ground: US heat pump sales remain strong despite the end of federal tax credits. In Canada, a new federal program will offer rebates for homeowners replacing broken or aging heating systems.

• Pakistan's EV Shift: Rising gasoline and diesel prices are making electric vehicles increasingly attractive. Buyers could recover the additional upfront cost of an EV in as little as 18 months.

• High-Speed Rail: Brian discovers a YouTube channel covering high-speed rail developments across North America.

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Join the Clean Club on our Patreon Page to receive perks for supporting the podcast and our planet!

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Copyright 2026 Sneeze Media.

France's increasingly strange electricity market, where zero and negative electricity prices have already occurred for 800 hours in 2026. We talk about what's driving the price swings and why battery storage operators can make money buying electricity when it's cheap and selling it when prices rise.

See Brian's interview about Hydrogen on our Partreon Page.

Support The Clean Energy Show on Patreon for exciting perks including a monthly bonus podcast, early access to our content, behind the scenes looks, access to our members-only Discord community and thank-yous in the credits of videos and shoutouts on our podcast! Starting at just $1 per month!

E-transfer donations can be sent to [email protected] for automatic deposit.

Link to CanadaLand Podcast: https://www.canadaland.com/podcast/200-how-bells-52-billion-dollar-data-centre-got-rammed-through/

The U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to hear a major climate lawsuit brought by Boulder, Colorado, against Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy. The case could determine whether fossil fuel companies can be held financially responsible for climate-related damages—and potentially affect dozens of similar lawsuits across the United States.

We also look at FedEx's $300-million order for 2,000 electric delivery trucks. The company estimates that switching those trucks from diesel to electricity could save about $800 million in fuel costs over their operating lives, while avoiding roughly 1.7 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

Plus: extreme heat and air pollution exposed nearly 40% of the world's population to dangerous ground-level ozone in 2026, a listener's painful experience with a VW Jetta loaner, and a lightning round featuring nuclear power, perovskite solar, Caribbean solar installations, Russian oil refineries, EV sales, a giant solar carport at Six Flags, and drone delivery.

And yes, we discuss the possibility of storing France's excess electricity in baguettes. The technology remains in the experimental stage.

China's electric vehicle revolution is moving beyond passenger cars and into heavy-duty trucks, with electric and battery-swapping trucks now approaching half of new sales in some recent months. We look at what that means for diesel demand and global oil markets.

We also discuss Volvo's autonomous heavy-duty trucks, which have now moved three million tonnes of material without a human driver, and James takes a decidedly non-electric test drive in a Volkswagen Jetta.

Japan is turning abandoned golf courses into solar farms as developers look for land that is flat, affordable, close to the grid and less controversial than clearing forests for new solar projects.

• Support The Clean Energy Show on Patreon for exciting perks including a monthly bonus podcast, early access to our content, behind the scenes looks, access to our members-only Discord community and thank-yous in the credits of videos and shoutouts on our podcast! Starting at just $1 per month!

Plus, Germany has committed to phasing out fossil fuels by 2045, with major targets for renewable electricity, solar and wind.

And in the Lightning Round: New York considers new e-bike restrictions, solar generation surpasses nuclear globally, EVs are dramatically cheaper to drive than gasoline cars in the UK, California faces potential winter flooding losses, Waymo reports much safer robotaxi driving, India's coal use flatlines as renewables grow, and a major US grid is struggling with energy emergencies while California and Texas benefit from growing solar and battery storage.

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Copyright 2026 Sneeze Media.

Why the UN says carbon removal will be needed as the world blows past the 1.5°C target, and why removing carbon from the atmosphere could become an enormous undertaking.

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We also explain solar soiling — the surprisingly important problem of dust, pollen, pollution, bird droppings and other material accumulating on solar panels and reducing their output. We look at how rain, cleaning, coatings, sensors and even robots can help.

Plus, contrails. A small percentage of flights are responsible for a large share of contrail-related warming, raising the possibility that simply changing the routes or timing of some flights could reduce their climate impact.

We also open the mailbag and hear from listeners about home solar and plug-in hybrid vehicles, including one PHEV owner who has gone months without filling the gas tank.

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Join the Clean Club on our Patreon Page to receive perks for supporting the podcast and our planet!

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Copyright 2026 Sneeze Media.

The world's tallest wind turbine is nearing completion in Germany. Standing 300 metres tall before its blades are attached, the finished turbine will reach about 360 metres — roughly the height of a 100-storey building. The goal is to generate more electricity in areas where conventional turbines are less productive.

• Support The Clean Energy Show on Patreon for perks including a monthly bonus podcast, early access to our content, behind the scenes looks, and shoutouts on our podcast! Starting at just $1 per month!

We look at why people deliberately start wildfires after France arrests more than 500 suspected arsonists during a record-breaking fire season. The reasons range from revenge and money to impulsiveness, psychological disorders and even firefighters seeking recognition.

Volkswagen is cutting 50,000 jobs and closing four plants as the automaker struggles with excess capacity, falling profits in China and the rapid transition to electric vehicles.

And BYD has demonstrated some seriously impressive cold-weather charging. A Denza Z9GT battery sitting at -30°C for 24 hours went from 20% to 97% in just 12 minutes. For those of us who live somewhere that regularly feels like a walk-in freezer, that's worth paying attention to.

Plus, the Lightning Round: a 1,600-kilometre EV prototype, Canada's projected warming, Idaho reconsidering its renewable-energy ban, solar and batteries cutting electricity prices in Texas, Romania's solar-storage push, Ukraine's damaged power system, rapidly growing global battery demand, and the UN warning that the world is set to blow past the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target.

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Copyright 2026 Sneeze Media.

Powering reverse osmosis seawater desalination to meet additional UK water demand would require roughly 4 TWh of electricity—adding just over 2% to annual power demand. Declining oil revenues could spark economic instability, reduced public services, and conflict in oil-dependent nations like Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, and Iraq if diversification isn't planned early.

• Extreme summer heat is grounding emergency medical helicopters in locations like Phoenix, where ambient temperatures exceed operating limits.

• New Jersey passed legislation legalizing plug-in balcony solar systems up to 1,200 watts, preventing landlords and HOAs from placing blanket bans on renters and owners.

• Over 10,800 US K-12 schools (1 in 7) now use solar power, reaching a combined capacity of 2.4 GW—enough to power over 450,000 homes.

• Xpeng commissioned its humanoid robot production line with over 80% automated core processes, targeting mass production readiness by year-end.

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Copyright 2026 Sneeze Media.

An encore of episode 275, featuring stories about the forces fighting offshore wind in the United States, the health benefits of cycling, Saskatchewan's decision to keep burning coal until 2050, and a listener taking the province to court over its climate policies. We also look at expiring U.S. clean-energy tax credits, the falling cost of solar, EV charging across Europe, and plenty of clean-energy developments in the Lightning Round.

Highlights: • Offshore wind faces a growing wave of lawsuits in the U.S., with fossil-fuel interests and climate-denial groups linked to some of the opposition. • New research finds cycling is associated with lower risks of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. • Saskatchewan plans to continue coal power until 2050, prompting legal action from climate advocates. • U.S. homeowners face expiring clean-energy tax credits, including EV incentives. • A thought experiment looks at what it would cost to power the electrified world with solar. • A European listener explains how charging apps can help EV drivers find the cheapest way to charge. • A listener takes us on an EV road trip through northern Canada with charging available along major highways. • The Lightning Round delivers a rapid-fire look at surging solar and wind generation, batteries, EV adoption, China's clean-energy growth, air pollution, land use, and more.

The Lightning Round: Green power surges in the UK, solar reaches new heights in Greece and the Netherlands, California batteries meet a huge share of evening demand, China's battery storage passes 100 GW, EV adoption takes off in Turkey, and a 740,000-kilometre EV proves that even the Canadian North is becoming electric.

This is a replay from a year ago — a chance to revisit an episode that shows just how quickly the clean-energy story was already changing.

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Copyright 2026 Sneeze Media.

Saskatchewan could save billions by moving away from coal, France debates air conditioning as deadly heat waves intensify, London homes are cracking as drought dries out the city's clay soil, and China builds a wind turbine designed to generate power in places with barely any wind. Plus, cruise ships, solar schools, air ambulances, the surprisingly long history of electric cars, and a packed Lightning Round.

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Support The Clean Energy Show

Join the Clean Club on our Patreon Page to receive perks for supporting the podcast and our planet!

Our PayPal Donate Page offers one-time or regular donations.

Store

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Copyright 2026 Sneeze Media.