We rely on our energy systems to allow us to do work, travel, process information, and support all sorts of economic activity. MIT Professor Jessika Trancik helps us zoom out for a big picture view of how energy systems are shaped and where there is opportunity to innovate.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts

MIT professor and entrepreneur Ariel Furst is used to people underestimating what biology can do. But she is proving that DNA and microbes can help us decarbonize energy: DNA can be harnessed to transform carbon into useful products and in her words, “microbes are the coolest,”—they can be engineered for use in all kinds of recycling. Furst shares how sometimes the simple (and even microscopic) solutions can have big results.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts

As an economist, Namrata Kala has considered how incentivization can alter human behavior and help policies succeed. She leverages this expertise to help us examine how the world's most populous country, India, is thinking about clean energy and the implications of electrification on its energy demand. She also explores how economics, as well as U.S. policy shifts, might affect their trajectory.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts

As a clean energy source, hydrogen has shown to have a lot of potential. But when generated using fossil fuels, hydrogen production can have a large environmental impact—even if the energy source itself doesn’t generate emissions. So, what if we can get readily available hydrogen from the ground instead? Brad Hager, a professor of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences at MIT, explores the potential of geologic hydrogen, looks at some of the possible pitfalls, and asks what it might take to get more companies invested in it.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts

We talk a lot about decarbonizing cars, planes, and electricity, but about the hidden processes that are used to produce the steel in our buildings or the chemicals fertilizing our food? Yogi Surendranath, a chemist and chemical engineer at MIT, explores the surprisingly carbon-intensive processes behind so much of the things making up our world and considers ways to remove fossil fuels from the equation to make a real dent in deep decarbonization.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts

2023 Nobel Prize winner Moungi Bawendi, a professor of chemistry at MIT, has thought a lot about how to reimagine clean energy technologies. His early work with quantum dots led to more energy-efficient lighting, televisions, and solar cells. Bawendi helps explain the energy of light and shares how we can transform that light into electricity with energy-efficiency in mind.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts

For years, the running joke was that fusion energy is always 30 years away, but today we are actually closer than ever. Dennis Whyte, a leader in fusion research, shares how MIT’s fusion program has started the move from the lab to market, and explains how unlocking commercial fusion could be a gamechanger for our energy system.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts

Nuclear power has been the topic of controversy over the years, despite its current contribution of nearly 20% of the electricity generated in the United States. Jacopo Buongiorno, a nuclear scientist at MIT, argues that you can't get to a robust clean energy portfolio without nuclear and we have learned a lot more about making nuclear power safer. He provides a run-down of the benefits and risks associated with nuclear and the role it plays in achieving a clean energy mix.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts

The Earth’s biological systems cannot keep up with the sheer scale of carbon that is being dumped into the atmosphere from human industrial systems, transportation, and more. So how can we remove it? Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative, lays out some of the cutting-edge ways to take carbon out of our world and helps us understand the challenges these technologies face.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts

All of our cars, planes, buildings, batteries are made of stuff—stuff that, when mined and manufactured, is responsible for over a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. MIT materials scientist Elsa Olivetti explains the environmental impact of materials and why it is critical that we make thoughtful choices at every stage of their lifecycle—from design to manufacturing to recycling—that further decarbonization to protect our planet and prevent unintended consequences.

What if it works? is a production of the MIT Energy Initiative. This episode was hosted by Rob Stoner and Kara Miller.

Transcript and show notes at energy.mit.edu/podcasts