Insider's Guide to Energy

Jay Bhatty, CEO of NatGasHub.com joins us today to discuss natural gas in the North American market and why it's here to stay. With high current demand in North America and abroad, natural gas is consistent and plentiful with an integral role in energy transformation. Join us as we discuss the demand, infrastructure and technology considerations as natural gas shepherds us into the future.  

This week Chrs is joined by Brian Wilkie of National Grid joins us to discuss grid infrastructure on highways in the United States for electric vehicles and truck fleets. What does the solution look like for the electrification of highways for personal vehicles and truck fleets?  Following the completion of a joint study by National Grid and Hitachi Energy (https://www.nationalgridus.com/media/pdfs/microsites/ev-fleet-program/understandinggridimpactsofelectricfleets.pdf), Brian discusses the study and next steps. 

Today we celebrate our 100th Episode by speaking with Lara Cottingham of Greentown Labs.  Described as “climatetech pioneers” working to design a more sustainable world, Greentown Labs has incubators in Boston and Houston.  With many IGTE guest connections to Greentown Labs, we discuss what Greentown is all about, their connection to academia, trends in funding and the latest ideas.   

This week, Chris is joined by Arina Khotimsky, Co-President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Energy & Climate Club and a Senior at MIT. She attended the COP27 Conference in Egypt at the beginning of November 2022. In this episode, Arina discusses her perspective as a student and first-time attendee.  We will delve into some hot topics, speakers and her perspective on this yearly United Nations Climate Change Conference. 

Today Chris and Johan are joined by James Van Nostrand, Director at the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development, Professor of Law at West Virginia University and author of The Coal Trap: How West Virginia Was Left Behind in the Clean Energy Revolution. Professor Van Nostrand discusses the political and environmental landscape in West Virginia, a state holding on to their coal mining past and present, even as the world is moving on to renewable energies.  

This week, Chris is joined by Joe Catarella, Partner at North America Energy & Resources at Baringa.  With more than 18 years experience in the energy sector in the US and abroad, Joe discusses the range of considerations within the energy transformation process. Where does the US stand in the transformation process and what can they learn from other nation’s approaches?   

This week, Chris and Johan were joined by Seth Frader-Thompson, founder and president of EnergyHub. We talked about how decarbonizing the US power system by 2035 will require massive load flexibility - on the order of 500 GW. To get there, we need distributed energy resources in nearly every living room and garage to be part of virtual power plants. The key? Building customer-centric flexibility programs that deliver grid reliability, reduce costs for customers, and enable the clean energy transition. 

This week Chris is joined by Dr. Christian Schaffner, Executive Director of the Energy Science Center (ESC) of ETH Zurich in Switzerland.  Dr. Schaffner discusses the ESC’s inter-disciplinary work facilitating the collaboration of the education, research and industry sectors in bringing cutting edge solutions to energy related issues. 

This week Chris Sass is joined by Sarah Barber to discuss wind energy. Topic range from how researchers are using data to help drive the industry. Attracting students to wind energy and open projects they can participate in immediately.

This week Chris and Johan are joined by Colin Gounden CEO of VIA. VIA’s main mission is to help clean energy companies and government agencies unlock the value of their data by bringing AI everywhere, and in this episode, they go in detail on blockchains, the important things about data and how to even get your own company started.