Xizhou Zhou, Head of Power and Renewables at Wood Mackenzie, shares data-driven insights on impending transformer shortages. Melissa Lott, a former Columbia professor, discusses energy transition hurdles. Travis Edmonds from Hitachi Energy highlights supply chain challenges and increasing transformer demand. They explore the implications for clean energy projects, the differences in standards across regions, and the need for robust partnerships. Personal tales about EV infrastructure and the impact of seasonal energy trends add depth to their conversation.

Bidenomics’ is the new buzzword that the US administration is using to brand its industrial strategy. What does it mean for energy in the US, and around the world?Last week, President Joe Biden spoke in South Carolina about his economic vision: a strategy that he is calling “Bidenomics”, with the energy transition is right at the heart of it. By “turning the climate crisis into an opportunity”, the White House says, the US can create good-paying jobs in clean energy while also bringing down consumers’ energy costs. When the president and his administration talk about their energy policies, the focus is generally on jobs, investment, and the international race to lead in the technologies of the future, not the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The Inflation Reduction Act was the legislative core of this plan, with its array of incentives for low-carbon-energy, and for US-produced equipment in particular. As we approach a year since it was passed, there is plenty of evidence that it is contributing to upturn in US manufacturing. Spending on new factories has been tracking at a rate of about $190 billion a year, triple the average rate of the 2010s. But are there dangers in the administration’s drive to create new domestic industries in low-carbon technologies?To discuss that question and more, host Ed Crooks is joined by regulars Melissa Lott and Amy Myers-Jaffe. Melissa is Director of Research at Columbia University’s Centre on Global Energy Policy, and Amy is Director of the Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab at New York University.One of the biggest issues in terms of international tensions around renewable energy manufacturing is China, which is currently the dominant producer for products and components such as batteries and solar panels. At the same time as it is trying to wrest global leadership from China in some of those key sectors, the US is also arguing that the two countries need to work together to tackle the threat of climate change. Melissa was in China last week – as was US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen – and shares her insights on the implications of two countries’ energy strategies.One new development is that China is restricting exports of gallium and germanium, which are used in semiconductors, fibre-optic cables, and some electrical equipment. Amy discusses what these restrictions might mean for energy producers. And the gang discuss the question: what does this new trade flare-up teach us about how much countries need to work together to make the progress we need in developing clean energy? If our world’s greatest challenges, including climate change, can only be solved through co-operation, does competition between countries risk pushing us off course?Join the discussion on Twitter – we’re @theenergygang, or visit woodmac.com/podcasts for more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Melissa Lott and Michael Webber discuss the big themes at COP28, including phasing out vs phasing down fossil fuels and the pledge to triple renewable energy generation. They also explore the importance of diversity in climate solutions, the connection between climate change and health, gender representation at COP events, and the role of AI in the energy sector.

On the last Energy Gang we looked at the impact of record temperatures on the energy sector. This week, we discuss another impact of climate change: its effect on human psychology. We discuss how the way we talk about global warming affects how we respond to it.A recent study in the journal Global Environmental Change argued that scientists and media organizations need to rethink the way they talk about climate change. The study’s authors called on the media to emphasise potential solutions to rising temperatures, rather than focusing solely on the dire consequences. This shift towards solutions-oriented thinking could help prevent a pervasive sense of fatalism: the idea that humans can do nothing useful to mitigate climate change. Doomerism, as it is sometimes known, seems to be creeping more and more into the conversation. Is it an inevitable consequence of the way we talk about climate change? One point that researchers have found is that using the term “climate emergency” reduced the perceived credibility of news reports, and the likelihood that people would take action, compared to using “climate change.” News about climate impacts leads to increased fear and decreased hope, relative to the impact of news about climate action. Are the media inadvertently encouraging people to believe that our civilization is fated to end in disaster, and we are all going to burn if we live long enough, so we might as well just live for the moment and enjoy the ride any way we can?To discuss the impact of climate doomerism on our mental health, and more, host Ed Crooks is joined by Dr Melissa Lott, Director of the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Melissa argues that the evidence shows there are in fact workable solutions to climate change, and that “everything we do to try to reduce emissions to any degree, already protects health.” So doomerism is not based on reality.Also on this episode is Amy Harder, who is the Executive Editor of Cipher, a news outlet supported by Breakthrough Energy, the climate investing and policy organization backed by Bill Gates. She has some new polling data on public attitudes to climate change, published by Pew Research.Looking for solutions led us to one answer to emissions that has made the news in recent weeks: carbon utilization. Amy’s outlet Cipher recently published a story looking at the debate in the US over tax breaks for carbon capture, and what happens to the carbon dioxide after it is captured. Amy explores with Ed and Melissa what this means for energy and the potential for carbon utilization as a whole.As always, please subscribe so you don’t miss an episode.You can find the report from Pew Research on US attitudes to climate change here: https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/08/09/why-some-americans-do-not-see-urgency-on-climate-change/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Melissa Lott, an energy scholar, leads a deep dive into battery supply chains, discussing critical minerals like lithium and China's dominance in the industry. The potential trillion-dollar worth of the supply chain by 2030 and the power it bestows are explored. The episode questions whether critical minerals will mimic oil in significance.