The Keep Cool Podcast

Discover the future of ecosystem regeneration and biodiversity work as Nick sits down with Colin Averill, CEO and Founder of Funga, to discuss their groundbreaking approach to reforestation. 

By harnessing and unlocking fungal biodiversity insights, Colin's team introduces diverse fungal and bacterial communities to the reforestation process, helping to revitalize degraded soil microbiomes by establishing extensive mycelium networks that fuel plant growth. With a background in forest carbon cycle science, Colin's team is responsible for designing projects spanning thousands of acres that utilize rigorous scientific precision to achieve ecological restoration. 

Join Nick as he and Colin explore Funga's journey to amplify forest health, build a massive database of fungal biodiversity, and combat climate change through nature-inspired biotechnology.

Learn More About Funga: 

Website: https://www.funga.earth

Follow Colin: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinaverill/

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

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Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol

In this week’s pod, Nick chats with Sam Wevers, the Head of Software Product for Lunar Energy, as they dive into the heart of Lunar Energy's mission to revolutionize global home energy.

Sam unveils how Lunar's state-of-the-art home electrification system seamlessly melds solar technology with home batteries, transcending analytics to offer customers deep insight into their home's energy rhythms and the larger ecosystem of energy they fit into.

From there, Nick and Sam zoom out to discuss how electrification scales and the role that data can play in harmonizing endless clean energy around the globe.

Learn more about Lunar Energy: 

Website: https://www.lunarenergy.com

Follow Sam: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samwevers/

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

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Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol

It may sound like something straight out of science fiction, but hyperspectral satellites have been around for decades, measuring the spectral profile of things like methane gas and other things that are otherwise out of view from the human eye.

In this week’s podcast, Nick chats with Dan Katz, CEO and co-founder of Orbital Sidekick, about how the company is turning hyperspectral satellites into a commercially viable technology that helps solve some of the planet’s most pressing operational, environmental, and safety issues in real-time. 

Dan also discloses how hyperspectral technology benefits companies seeking carbon credit opportunities, the difficulties in delivering climate tech that scales, and why spreading yourself too thin too soon can spell death for any early-stage startup.

Learn More About Orbital Sidekick: 

Website: https://www.orbitalsidekick.com/careers

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orbital-sidekick/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OrbitalSidekick

Follow Dan: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katzdaniel34/

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

Thank you so much!

Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol

Meet the man trying to make electric vehicle charging stations more accessible, affordable, and reliable than ever before. 

Quincy Lee is a former mechanical engineer at SpaceX turned fast-charging renegade. He understands the importance of the EV revolution to make a positive environmental impact, and the key challenges facing the EV industry today. 

His mission? To accelerate the decarbonization and electrification of the transportation industry by designing EV fast charging stations that are reliable, can be deployed quickly, and don’t put undue pressure on the electricity distribution grid.

In this episode, Nick and Quincy talk about how Quincy’s company, Electric Era, is deploying a full-stack EV charging solution that leverages energy storage as a wedge between the distribution grid and EV charging. Nick and Quincy also discuss how the software layer on top of the hardware is a key leverage point, as is thinking about the entire customer experience and all components of operating a charging station. 

Follow Electric Era:

Website: https://electriceratechnologies.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElectricEraTech

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/electric-era/

Follow Quincy: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quincy-lee/

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

Thank you so much!

Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol

On this week’s pod, Nick sits down with Agilitas Energy’s CEO and President, Barrett Bilotta to chat about the state of grid-connected battery energy storage in the U.S. 

What are the challenges facing energy storage development, and how do energy storage developers and operators manage to balance the needs and concerns of countless stakeholders, ranging from regulators to utilities? 

Barrett also explains the advantages of operating the assets they build themselves, the limitations of lithium-ion technology, and how Agilitas Energy aims to capture and deploy as many clean kilowatt hours in the future as possible.

Plus, stay tuned to hear about Agilitas Energy’s concrete future targets and why Barrett predicts a resurgence of hydroelectric power in the U.S.

Learn more about Agilitas Energy:

Website: https://www.agilitasenergy.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/agilitas-energy-inc/

Follow Barrett: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrett-bilotta-8257034/

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

Thank you so much!

Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol

On this week’s pod, Nick’s sitting down with Ample co-founder and president John de la Souza to chat about the future of modular battery-swapping technology for EVs.  

By swapping rather than charging an electric vehicle’s battery, Ample can deliver a 100% charge in 5 minutes or less — and with considerable other benefits for the grid. 

Is this a push that will help accelerate EV adoption and address common driver pain points? Or is it too much of a burden to develop the infrastructure?

How will Ample make its solution more adaptable to OEMs? John and Nick dive into the nitty-gritty details of what implementation looks like and whether it’s a cost-efficient, sensible solution.

Find Out More About Ample: 

https://ample.com

Follow John:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndesouza1/

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

Thank you so much!

Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol

Meet the company trying to make use of wasted food: Divert. 

Determined to create a zero-waste future, Divert’s CEO Ryan Begin sits down to chat with Nick about how the company utilizes advanced technology to turn wasted food that would turn into methane in a landfill into renewable energy instead.

How do they have the confidence that their solution is truly a climate-positive solution for waste? How much work goes into preparing wasted food (e.g., removing microplastics)? And are there positive signs to indicate this technology will take off in the US as it has in other countries across Europe?  

Tune in to find out!

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

Thank you so much!

Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol

What does a model-and influencer-turned-activist have to do with nuclear energy, and why should we care?

As it turns out, quite a lot, and she has plenty of data, insight, and wisdom to impart when it comes to advocating for nuclear energy as a climate solution. 

Isabelle Boemeke, founder of the Isodope brand, drops in to chat with Nick about the common misconceptions surrounding nuclear energy and why it’s one of the safest and most effective sources of clean energy— generating more power than solar and wind combined globally. 

Then, they dive into the reasons why support for nuclear power is the highest it’s ever been (but still not high enough), how other countries are implementing nuclear technology into their power sectors, and where the future of nuclear tech is headed.

Follow Isodope (and subscribe to her newsletter!): 

Website/Newsletter: https://isodope.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/i_sodope/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/i_sodope_

Follow Isabelle: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isabelleboemeke/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/isabelleboemeke

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

Thank you so much!

Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol

Has anyone ever told you to be more mindful of your waste? 

Meet the man who believes that waste isn’t just waste— and why he feels that humans have a lot to learn from mother nature. 

Michael Place, CTO of Chapul Farms, stops by the studio to talk about how regenerative insect agriculture is redefining how we think of waste disposal. After witnessing a hoard of black soldier fly larvae making quick haste of his compost pile one morning, Michael realized the insect's immense potential to solve waste byproduct disposal problems.

Now, insect agriculture is a multi-million-dollar industry capable of producing alternative protein sources for animals and humans across the world by upcycling waste by-products from the ethanol industry into bio-fertilizer soil products (FRASS). 

Michael discusses the versatility of insects as food, the promising future of insect agriculture, and the challenges it faces to widespread scalability. 

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

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Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol

How does a theoretical physicist studying black holes and the nature of spacetime find his way to the field of artificial intelligence and battery manufacturing?

In this week’s episode, Nick sits down with Chemix cofounder Jason Koeller, an AI researcher working to revolutionize the battery industry. After realizing that energy storage was in desperate need of better technical solutions, Jason sought to build an AI-driven platform to optimize the battery manufacturing industry by collecting large amounts of data and automating complex research and development processes.  

Tune in to discover Jason's journey and learn how Chemix is leading the way in working with battery manufacturers to address industry gaps and achieve sustainable, high-volume manufacturing capabilities.

Follow Chemix:

Website: https://www.chemix.ai

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chemix-inc/

Follow Jason: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-koeller/

If you love listening to The Keep Cool Show, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/keepcool

Thank you so much!

Stay up-to-date on all things Keep Cool: https://workweek.com/discover-newsletters/keep-cool/ or follow Nick Van Osdol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nickvanosdol