The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: Could we use Trump's tricks to make good green policy?

   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe Even as he has torn down climate policy, Donald Trump has normalized the use of more powerful & aggressive tools of economic statecraft, like equity stakes in private companies, new federal authorities, and sovereign wealth funds. The Roosevelt Institute recently issued a collection of 17 essays exploring how a future administration could use the tools Trump has assembled for decarbonization. I talk with Todd Tucker, editor of and contributor to the volume, about these new industrial planning tools. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 02:32 – Did Biden's green policy prove durable? 09:39 – The Defense Production Act and the Sable pipeline 14:59 – Whether to leave the DPA on the table 15:35 – Executive orders and the durability problem 19:01 – Whether the Supreme Court treats Democrats differently 22:03 – Executive power and a disempowered Congress 25:05 – Senate malapportionment and filibuster reform 29:43 – Court reform and the major questions doctrine 34:13 – Manufacturing vs. deployment 42:52 – Permitting, abundance, and theory of power 49:20 – Public ownership and the U.S. Steel golden share 55:22 – What state capitalism could look like for green ends 59:56 – Shelley Welton on utilities as planning tools 1:02:42 – Speed vs. deliberation before 2029

   August 28, 2026·1h 9min
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   Number 2: Making data centers flexible so they can serve the grid rather than stress it out

   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe Typically, AI data centers are large, inflexible loads that the grid has to build around, which is one reason utilities take so long to connect them. Emerald AI has designed a “digital brain” that can ramp down, move, or delay computing jobs in a data center on demand, making a data center a flexible asset to the grid. I talk with CEO Varun Sivaram about how the software works, what flexibility costs the compute, why it beats just installing batteries, whether utilities can enforce it, and what it would mean for clean energy. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 03:05 – Temporal, spatial, and resource flexibility 06:26 – What Emerald Conductor touches on site 08:35 – Who decides which workloads can flex 10:55 – Who is liable when a job slows down 13:45 – Who actually signs the contract 14:49 – Larger and faster grid connections 18:02 – Enforcing the flexibility promise 19:05 – What broke in the demos, from bad nodes to slow telemetry 26:41 – What flexing costs the compute jobs 29:21 – Why not just use batteries, and the demand merit order 35:44 – Training, inference, and substation-scale data centers 40:23 – PJM, ERCOT, and legal enforceability 44:50 – Renewables, gas, and consumer bills

   August 26, 2026·54min
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   Number 3: How to respond to disinformation about clean energy, at scale

   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe Disinformation about clean energy is showing up everywhere — online after every blackout, at county commission meetings about siting new projects, in regulatory dockets stuffed with fake comments. GoodPower, which combines a C3 education arm with a C4 advocacy arm, is trying to fight back with a network of thousands of content creators, rapid-response campaigns around storms and grid failures, and an AI tool that detects manufactured public comments. I talk with CEO Leah Qusba about what they've tried, what they've measured, and what actually works. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 03:06 – What the disinformation claims, and who spreads it 05:57 – From Action for the Climate Emergency to GoodPower 08:38 – Building a creator network in non-political verticals 14:17 – Competing with talk radio and Fox News 18:26 – Winter Storm Fern and the rapid response system 23:26 – Measuring whether a deployment actually worked 27:24 – Pre-bunking and the 80-county experiment 33:18 – Getting people off the couch and into the room 38:10 – AI agents and where human judgment sits 42:05 – Keeping the C3 and the C4 distinct 47:13 – Battery fires, Moss Landing, and talking to fire chiefs 50:54 – TrueVoice and manufactured public comment 56:13 – Whether AI will overwhelm the comment process 58:11 – The best messages that actually land 1:04:22 – Super PACs, budgets, and what comes next

   September 02, 2026·1h 12min
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   Number 4: Why can't utilities innovate?

   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe When it comes to innovative new grid technologies, every utility wants to be the third in line to try them. None of them want to be the first to take risks and iron out new processes. That's one reason grid-enhancing technologies, better software, and smarter internal procedures stay stuck in pilot purgatory, even as the industry faces the biggest buildout since rural electrification. PG&E's Quinn Nakayama and Microsoft's Hanna Grene discuss what's actually blocking utility innovation — and Quinn offers a novel proposal for paying someone to go first. Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction 03:44 – Why grid-enhancing technologies stall in the US 07:54 – Selling grid software into utilities: what goes wrong 11:08 – From a pipes-and-wires company to a technology company 12:38 – Pilot program hell and the last 30 percent 15:04 – Innovation as a bolt-on, and the three muscles 17:47 – The digital spine, data quality, and smart meters 23:56 – Org chart versus work chart 25:09 – Strategy, structure, people, process, technology 29:24 – Build, buy, and the ecosystem skill set 36:15 – Data leakage, shadow AI, and paying twice 41:12 – Why utility product cycles run five to seven years 46:27 – Human in the loop, and EPRI's SAFERai.power 49:06 – Advanced market commitments and the kingmaker problem 53:22 – EPIC, and whether software counts as infrastructure 01:00:05 – The CapEx incentive problem and final advice 1:04:34 – Digital Infrastructure as Capital Spend 1:06:53 – Final Advice

   August 21, 2026·1h 12min
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   Number 5: Best of August 2026

   This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.volts.wtf Volts published eight conversations in August — with two Idaho state legislators, a grid cybersecurity expert, the architect of Uruguay's energy transition, an EV charging exec, and more — which is a lot for anyone to listen to. We've rounded up the highlights into a single hour. Enjoy! Chapters: 00:00 – Introduction and how the best-of series works 01:59 – Saleem Chapman on why every market design fails ratepayers the same way 07:51 – Patrick Miller on Chinese inverters and commodity boards 12:22 – Ben Toews and Megan Egbert on how Idaho's housing bills happened 18:34 – Seth Cutler on why an IONNA site is technically a bakery 22:52 – Ramón Méndez Galain on getting every Uruguayan party to sign one plan 28:00 – Quinn Nakayama on why a utility would adopt something that saves money 34:16 – Varun Sivaram on workload tiers and who pays when flexing goes wrong 38:44 – Todd Tucker on the Defense Production Act precedent 44:20 – Closing note and what to send in

   September 04, 2026·13min
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