Peter Godart of Found Energy on Aluminum Fuel, NASA, and Engineering Impact at Scale

Jan 11, 2024

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Peter Godart could have been a jazz musician, but instead pursued his other passion: engineering.

After garnering a few degrees at MIT and working on space tech at NASA, Peter set his sights on yet another passion: saving the climate. In 2022, he launched Found Energy, a startup decarbonizing transport with aluminum.

As Peter says, “When you work for NASA and one of your daily tasks is, you know, let's figure out how to catch a one meter sphere orbiting Mars at Mach 2… These problems that we have on Earth feel not that difficult by comparison… We could totally do this.”

Join us to hear how Peter brought space-sized innovation back down to Earth.

Episode timestamps:

00:00 - 00:52 Peter Godart on solving problems for NASA in space and on the Earth.
00:53 - 03:02 Conor Gaughan introduces Peter Godart of Found Energy.
03:03 - 06:41 Growing up, interest in music, and engineering at MIT.
06:42 - 15:10 Robotics, internships, NASA, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
15:11 - 22:20 The origin of Found Energy and using aluminum for energy storage.
22:21 - 25:26 Use cases, decarbonizing difficult industries, and hydrogen hubs.
25:27 - 31:30 Balancing roles, how engineering influences management, and lessons learned.
31:31 - 37:42 Sustainability, what’s at stake, the clean energy transition, and policy.
37:43 - 43:21 Humanitarian programs, motivations, and exciting new innovations.
43:22 - 45:40 How to learn more about Found Energy.
45:41 - 46:23 Closing credits.

If you liked this episode, listen to Seonghoon Woo of Amogy on Materials Science, Decarbonized Transport, and Alternative Fuels and Jay Bellows of KORE Power on Renewable Energy, Storage, and Basketball Wisdom.