In this episode, Rep. Mike Levin and I discuss the “Big Beautiful Bill” that raises energy bills, kills 830,000 jobs, and gifts China the next industrial revolution. We unpack the fossil-fuel cash behind the carnage, the paradox of red districts cutting their own subsidies, and the optimistic playbook — centered on transmission and real climate economics — for the next Democratic majority.

Washington state just passed one of the strongest transit-oriented development bills in the nation, and in this episode, I talk with Rep. Julia Reed and Alex Brennan from Futurewise about how they got it done. We discuss why building more housing near transit is so important, what this landmark legislation entails for density and affordability, and how it positions Washington as a leader in pro-housing reform.

On June 4, at a Canary Media event in Washington, DC, I sat down with Senator Martin Heinrich to dissect the GOP’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” — a sledgehammer aimed at the Inflation Reduction Act, public-lands protections, and US science. We talk about the handful of Republican votes that could still save key tax credits, why bipartisan permitting reform isn’t dead yet, and how the bill’s self-inflicted grid squeeze would jack up energy prices right when AI is poised to spike demand.

In this episode, I'm digging into the surprisingly overlooked world of electric motors with Ankit Somani of Conifer, a startup aiming to revolutionize these unsung workhorses of the energy system. We explore their ambitious approach to making motors lighter, more efficient, and cheaper to build, all while ditching problematic rare-earth magnets.

In this episode, I talk with Taylor Krause, who went from working on hydrogen policy at RMI to finding a quantum physicist husband and unexpected fame on Netflix's Love Is Blind. We unpack her surreal journey from clean-energy wonk to popular influencer and how she's navigating using her newfound influence.

In this episode, I chat with Johanna Wolfson, co-founder of Azolla Ventures, about their unique philanthropic-backed VC model tackling the tough problem of sustainable mining for the clean energy transition. We explore the promising tech Azolla is backing to reduce mining's impact, from using electrochemistry to refine copper without dirty smelting to advanced techniques for processing low-grade ores and even waste.

This week on "What the F is Happening" (periodic episodes in which we reluctantly discuss current events) we talk with Adrian Deveny, a former Senate aide who was in the trenches for the IRA's creation, about the House GOP's "Big Beautiful Bill." In its current form, it amounts to wholesale destruction of the last four years of climate policy. We ponder the bill's chances of becoming less catastrophic in the Senate amid the lack of meaningful pushback from the industries being kneecapped and the predictable folding of "moderate" Republican opposition.

In this episode, I talk with Catie Gould and Alan Durning of the Sightline Institute about the "dark matter" of urban land use: parking — specifically, the municipal parking mandates that help make housing more expensive and scarce. We discuss a landmark new parking reform bill in my home state of Washington, what it does and the coalition that made it possible, and point to other places where parking reform is coming soon.

This week, I chat with Dawn Weisz of MCE Clean Energy about the nitty-gritty of community choice aggregation, where local governments take control of their electricity procurement. We get into issues like navigating utility obstruction, the complexities of rising grid costs they don't control, and their push for smarter, more autonomous regulation.

In this episode, I sit down with Page Crahan, who leads Tapestry, an audacious effort to “make the grid visible.” We explore how disparate, scattered data sources can be stitched together by AI into a coherent realtime map of the grid, to slash operation and maintenance costs and speed up the grid interconnection process.