What does it actually take to pull carbon out of the air — and turn it into a scalable business? In this episode, we sit down with Shashank Samala, CEO & Founder of Heirloom Carbon, to unpack the reality of building one of the world’s most ambitious direct air capture companies. We dive into commercializing DAC at scale, raising climate infrastructure capital, navigating policy and 45Q, and partnering with buyers like Microsoft, Stripe, and Frontier to bring first-of-a-kind projects to life.

We sat down with Colby Hastings, Senior Director of Residential Energy at Tesla, to unpack how battery storage and distributed energy resources are reshaping the grid. Drawing on nearly a decade at Tesla, Colby walks us through the evolution of Tesla Energy—from the early days of Powerwall and grid-scale storage to today’s Megapack deployments and large-scale virtual power plants.

In this episode, Aroon shares insights on why data center flexibility is critical to protecting energy affordability, grid reliability and the broader economy amidst the AI boom.

We were thrilled to speak with Brandon Corts, Senior Director of Product at Newlab — a venture platform accelerating the commercialization of critical technologies.

Between early-stage VC funding and late-stage infrastructure capital, hard technology companies face a “valley of death” where many fail.

This challenge is not new but it is intensifying. According to Sightline Climate, in 2024, there was a 10% drop in Series B deals, and it took over two years on average for companies to advance from Series A to Series B, up from 20 months in 2023.

In the latest episode of the Wharton Current, Ian Miller and Lilly Chadwick sat down with Brandon to discuss Newlab’s venture platform and the creative pathways hard tech companies can follow to successfully overcome the valley of death.

Small Scale, Big Impact: Nuclear Microreactors -- James Walker, CEO of Nano Nuclear Energy by The Wharton Current

Energy Geopolitics in Transition — Dr. Benjamin Schmitt, Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Kleinman Center for Energy Policy by The Wharton Current

Geothermal energy may be the biggest dark horse in the clean energy transition. And it's bipartisan.

At Deploy24, Former U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm gave a strong endorsement of geothermal, calling it her "personal favorite" power source. Recently confirmed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said he is “optimistic about advancing geothermal technology deployment."

Sage Geosystems is helping turn that vision into a reality. By adapting advanced drilling techniques from oil and gas, Sage is unlocking hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal -- a breakthrough that could dramatically expand geothermal's reach well beyond traditional hotspots.

In the latest episode of The Wharton Current, Ian Miller and Siddharth Challani sat down with Jason Peart, General Manager of Strategy & Development at Sage Geosystems, to discuss:

- Scaling Geothermal Beyond Current Limits: Geothermal has always been constrained to a few specific regions -- until now. Learn how HDR technology could capture geothermal potential across the U.S. and increase its power capacity by orders of magnitude by 2050.

- Serving Critical Customer Needs: Sage is working with major utilities, the Department of Defense and top tech leaders to make geothermal a go-to solution for clean baseload and long-duration energy storage. Explore how Sage's customers are integrating HDR geothermal into their energy strategies.

- Building an Impactful Career in Energy: Hear how Jason's focus on community, adaptability, and lifelong learning has shaped his dynamic career and opened doors in the fast-evolving energy sector.

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What’s next for clean energy under a Trump administration?

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Jen Wilcox. Now a Penn professor, Dr. Wilcox led the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management under the Biden Administration. Named one of the Time 100 in Climate in 2023, she had a front row seat as Biden’s pro-clean energy policies spurred growth in the industry, and she provides unique insight on what lies ahead under Trump.

In the episode, Dr. Wilcox joined hosts Ian Miller and Lilly Chadwick to discuss:

- Clean Energy Winners and Losers: Which technologies will have the most and the fewest roadblocks under Trump, and how Elon Musk may affect the outcome

- Agencies and Policies at Risk: How the conservative majority in the Supreme Court and the Senate will facilitate Trump’s ability to advance his agenda, and which environmental agencies and policies are most at risk

- Reasons for Optimism: Despite foreseeable challenges, why to feel hopeful about the future of clean energy over the next four years

If you have any feedback, please reach out to [email protected]

What if aging wind parks could produce 5x more green energy?

Lars Meyer, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of NeXtWind, is focused on making that vision a reality. In 2023, NeXtWind raised $750M to "repower" aging wind farms across Germany, upgrading inefficient turbines and increasing power output by 4-5x.

In this episode, Lars joined host Ian Miller to discuss:

- Enabling Net Zero: How Lars and his co-founders identified critical gaps in Europe's energy transition and designed NeXtWind's business model to rapidly scale renewable capacity

- Adapting to New Frontiers: How NeXtWind is preparing to evolve as markets rely more heavily on variable renewable electricity

- Lars' Life Lessons: How conviction, courage and even a fortuitous soccer match can make all the difference in an entrepreneur's career

https://www.nextwind.de/

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Over the past decade, climate tech venture capital has expanded rapidly. Total funding increased by 12.5x and new venture firms like Clean Energy Ventures emerged, filling critical gaps in the capital stack and helping founders reimagine a more sustainable future.

Our guest, Matt Cohen, Principal at Clean Energy Ventures, has dedicated his career to helping climate tech entrepreneurs scale their businesses. He and his colleagues are focused on maximizing impact, investing only in companies that can mitigate 2.5 gigatons of CO2 by 2050.

In this episode, Matt returned to Penn, his alma mater, and joined host Ian Miller to discuss Clean Energy Venture’s mission and share his insight on:

- Finding your unique strengths as a climate tech investor or operator

- Identifying pockets of opportunity across climate technology verticals

- Communicating a compelling vision and generating investor excitement as a founder

Any feedback? Please reach out