Épisodes

  • A clever new way to distribute storage on the grid
    Jul 3 2024

    A new startup called Base Power aims to bring more stability to the volatile Texas grid by selling customers oversized home batteries at minimal costs and then using the excess capacity to trade on the market. In this episode, co-founders Zach Dell and Justin Lopas discuss their innovative business model and its potential impact in Texas and beyond.



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    1 h et 13 min
  • Hey schools, go get your IRA tax credits!
    Jun 28 2024

    US public education infrastructure faces significant challenges due to years of deferred maintenance and the growing impacts of climate change. Luckily, the Inflation Reduction Act offers substantial, easily accessible financial assistance to schools in the form of direct-pay tax credits for climate-friendly upgrades. Many schools don’t even know about them. In this episode, Sara Ross and Jonathan Klein of UndauntedK12 discuss their efforts to spread the word.



    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
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    53 min
  • Heat pumps with thermal batteries
    Jun 26 2024

    In this episode: more heat pumps! Jane Melia, co-founder and CEO of Harvest, discusses the advantages of teaming a high-end eat pump with a large thermal battery, to coordinate the timing of electricity consumption. Shifting the heat pump load can help reduce both costs and emissions.



    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
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    57 min
  • New York's congestion pricing fiasco
    Jun 21 2024

    New York City was on the cusp of (finally) implementing a congestion pricing program when Governor Kathy Hochul announced earlier this month that it would be “indefinitely delayed.” In this episode, NY State Sen. Liz Krueger and Evergreen Action’s Justin Balik, both with deep history in New York’s congestion pricing drama, discuss Hochul’s mysterious and possibly illegal move, the apocalyptic budget implications, and what might happen next.



    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
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    1 h et 4 min
  • What's up with electric aviation?
    Jun 19 2024

    In this episode, CEO Kyle Clark of BETA Technologies walks us through the details of how to design, build, and operate electric planes — first for relatively short light-cargo flights, but eventually, he says, for all of aviation. I loved this conversation so much.



    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
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    58 min
  • Washington Governor Jay Inslee on his last big climate fight
    Jun 14 2024

    In this episode, recorded at a live event, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee discusses his multiple decades of climate advocacy, his political successes, and the upcoming threat to one of his crowning achievements.



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    1 h et 21 min
  • Are markets the right tool for decarbonizing electricity?
    Jun 12 2024

    In his book The Price Is Wrong, Brett Christophers argues that, contrary to recent economic triumphalism among renewables advocates, wind and solar are not profitable enough to attract the private capital necessary to scale as fast as they need to scale. In this episode, he and I dig deep (extremely deep) into the details.



    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
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    1 h et 36 min
  • Wrapping our heads around AI and climate
    Jun 7 2024

    In this episode, I have a lively conversation with Alp Kucukelbir, co-author of a recent “Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap,” about the strengths and limits of AI in relation to climate, where it all might be headed, and how concerned we should be about the energy use of data centers.



    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
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    1 h et 21 min