Energy Gang
Wood Mackenzie
Covering breaking news in clean tech, going deep on global energy policy, and debating the levers that need to move to accelerate the energy transition. Energy Gang is the podcast covering clean energy technology, renewable energy, and the environment. The world of clean energy moves fast, and you need a reliable source to stay on top of the news that matters. You’ll find it on Wood Mackenzie’s Energy Gang.How will changes to the US government affect decarbonisation and energy security? When will hydrogen, nuclear and carbon capture deploy at scale? Where’s the money for the energy transition green finance coming from and how much more is needed? What’s the outlook for EVs? What are the energy predictions for solar energy? What's the latest on climate change?Get answers to questions like these, bi-weekly on Tuesdays at 7am ET. Plus, get special live episodes recorded at the biggest climate and energy events throughout the year, like COP30 and Climate Week NYC. Don’t worry if you can’t make it in person, Energy Gang brings you all the updates on energy policy, energy finance and energy innovation you need to hear.Energy Gang is presented by Wood Mackenzie and hosted by Ed Crooks, Vice-Chairman of Energy at Wood Mackenzie and a former Financial Times and BBC News journalist. Regular guests are Amy Myers-Jaffe (Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab), and Dr Melissa Lott (Partner at Microsoft) – plus a roster of industry leaders and policy influencers, like Jigar Shah (Industry figurehead and former director of the Loan Programs Office in the US Department of Energy), Caroline Golin (Head of North America, Global Energy Market Development and Policy at Google) and Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt (Former Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources).If you like The Energy Transition Show, Catalyst with Shayle Kann, The Big Switch from Columbia University, Open Circuit with Stephen Lacey or The Green Blueprint, you’ll enjoy Energy Gang.Want to get involved with the show? Reach out to podcasts@woodmac.com to:Bring Energy Gang to your eventBe a guest on the showSponsor an episodeAsk a question to Ed Crooks or one of our guestsCheck out another leading clean tech global podcast by Wood Mackenzie, Interchange Recharged: https://www.woodmac.com/podcasts/the-interchange-recharged/Wood Mackenzie is the leading global data and analytics solutions provider for renewables, energy and natural resources. Learn more about Wood Mackenzie on the official website: https://www.woodmac.com/
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 19, 2018 • 48min
Electric Airplanes Are the Future of Aviation
The next sector ripe for electrification: aviation.Electric airplanes could completely make over the regional airline sector -- fundamentally changing the way we move around the country and creating new economic opportunities.On this week's Energy Gang, we'll talk with Ashish Kumar, the CEO of Zunum Aero, about the company's electric propulsion system and hybrid-electric airplane model. We'll discuss design challenges, battery requirements, immediate market opportunities, and the long-term economic consequences of electrified aviation.Then, a look at the latest global figures on renewables investment. China had another explosive year in 2017, while America had an anemic one. We'll tease out the latest global numbers that broke over the last week.The Energy Gang is brought to you by CPower Energy Management. Find out more about CPower's demand-side energy management solutions.Recommended reading:Zunum Aero technology and designGTM: Zunum Aero, an Electric Airplane Startup Backed by Boeing and JetBlue Ventures, UnstealthsGTM: Global Renewable Energy Prices Will Be Competitive With Fossil Fuels by 2020GTM: China More Than Doubles America’s 2017 Investments in Clean Energy, in a ‘Runaway’ YearSubscribe to The Energy Gang podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jan 11, 2018 • 53min
Trump's Washington: Year One
Nearly one year after President Trump was sworn into office, we’re re-examining the state of energy politics in Washington.Our post-election episodes were some of our most popular shows of last year. This week, we’re returning to the subject now that we’ve got experience, and not just speculation.Amy Harder, an energy and climate reporter with Axios, joins us to talk about a wide range of topics: Rick Perry's NOPR rejection, deregulation, solar tariffs, ANWR drilling, carbon taxes, an infrastructure bill, and the future of climate negotiations.The podcast is also brought to you by CPower Energy Management. Find out more about CPower's demand-side energy management solutions. Recommended reading:GTM: FERC Rejects Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s Coal and Nuclear Energy Market Bailout PlanAxios: Eight Climate and Energy Issues to Watch in 2018Politico: White House Preparing for Trade CrackdownSubscribe to The Energy Gang podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jan 5, 2018 • 59min
The Dismantling of EPA
What's it like inside the Environmental Protection Agency as the Trump Administration dismantles it from the top down?This week, ProPublica’s Talia Buford joins us on The Energy Gang to talk about how Scott Pruitt’s aggressive regulatory rollback agenda is changing the agency’s relationship to science, to industry, and to the staffers who've worked there for decades. An abandoned rule on effluent from power plants tells us a lot about Pruitt's approach to disassembling the EPA.Then, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled his latest energy vision, which features big targets for offshore wind and energy storage. Is New York suddenly the country’s hottest storage market?And finally, we’ll wrap up with a glance at two once-mighty companies in solar that are re-emerging after tough times: BP Solar and SunEdison. The podcast is also brought to you by CPower Energy Management. Find out more about CPower's demand-side energy management solutions. Recommended reading:ProPublica: What It’s Like Inside the Trump Administration’s Regulatory Rollback at the EPAGTM: Andrew Cuomo Throws Political Weight Behind Offshore Wind and Energy StorageGTM: SunEdison Emerges From Bankruptcy a Shadow of Its Former SelfGTM: BP Jumps Back Into Solar With a $200 Million Investment in Europe’s Biggest Project DeveloperSubscribe to The Energy Gang podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jan 3, 2018 • 57min
Watt It Takes: The Origin Story of Greentech Media
We spend most of our time talking about other companies. For our first podcast of the year, we're turning the tables and reflecting on GTM.In this edition of Watt It Takes, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch interviews GTM Co-Founder Scott Clavenna about the origins of our company, the challenges of being a startup in the cleantech world, and our recent acquisition by Wood Mackenzie. Watt It Takes is a live interview series produced by Powerhouse in partnership with GTM. The conversation was recorded live in Oakland, California.As we prepare for the onslaught of news in 2018, this interview will give you more insight into how we operate as a company.The podcast is also brought to you by CPower Energy Management. Find out more about CPower's demand-side energy management solutions. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dec 22, 2017 • 1h 2min
How Utilities Blew $40 Billion on Failed Power Plants
Good journalism is more important than ever. In our last episode of the year, we're choosing our favorite energy reporting of 2017.We'll start off with a conversation about a damning investigative piece on how U.S. utilities put ratepayers on the hook for $40 billion in failed coal and nuke projects.Tony Bartelme, a special projects reporter at the Post and Courier, joins us to talk about his bombshell story, "Power Failure: How Utilities Across the U.S. Changed the Rules to Make Big Bets With Your Money."He and his team talked with 50 sources in industry and government. They uncovered a systematic effort to obfuscate problems with risky coal and nuke projects -- and pay executives handsomely while doing so.In the second half of the show, we'll discuss some of our other favorite stories about microgrids, coal country, electric cars, fuel cells, politics, and the global energy transition.This podcast is sponsored by Mission Solar Energy, a solar module manufacturer based in San Antonio, Texas. You can find out more about Mission’s American-made, high-power modules at missionsolar.com.Here's a list of our favorite stories that we discussed on the show:Vox: Meet the Microgrid, the Technology Poised to Transform ElectricityNY Times: Where Wind Farms Meet Coal Country, There's Enduring Faith in TrumpMedium: The Last Auto MechanicQuartz: Amazon’s Hydrogen-Powered Forklifts Are Its Latest Attempt to Beat WalmartGTM: Global Oil Majors Are Poised for a Resurgence in Solar and WindGTM: In Storage vs. Peaker Study, CAISO’s Outdated Cost Estimates Produce Higher Price Tag for StorageGTM: The Rising Tide of Evidence Against Blaming Wind and Solar for Grid InstabilityGTM: First Solar Proves That PV Plants Can Rival Frequency Response Services From Natural Gas PeakersGTM: What Superstorm Sandy Taught Consolidated Edison, 5 Years OnTwitter: Suggestions from the energy community on the top storiesSubscribe to The Energy Gang podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dec 14, 2017 • 1h 20min
Energy Storage Has Arrived
Energy storage has arrived. This year brought numerous record-breaking battery projects, dozens of acquisitions and partnerships, and over a dozen utility integrated resource plans that factor storage. Within a decade, the U.S. storage market could be 25 times bigger than it is today -- swamping natural gas peaker plants, and enabling a vast array of new grid applications.In this week's episode, we open up our vault of data and describe the state of storage in America: which sectors are dominating, how utilities are thinking about the technology, where the economics stand, and what to look for in 2018.Plus, we'll have a conversation with Green Mountain Power CEO Mary Powell about how customer-sited battery storage fits into the utility's broad culture and tech shift.This podcast is sponsored by Mission Solar Energy, a solar module manufacturer based in San Antonio, Texas. Find out more about Mission’s American-made, high-power modules.Recommended reading:· GTM Research: U.S. Energy Storage Monitor, Q4 2017· GTM: The 10 Stories That Defined Energy Storage in 2017· GTM Squared: Watch the Live Broadcast From US Energy Storage Summit 2017Make sure to subscribe to The Energy Gang on Apple podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you get your audio.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dec 8, 2017 • 53min
The Hidden History of Quebec's Hydropower
Southern New England is hungry for more clean energy, and states like Connecticut and Massachusetts are turning to Hydro-Quebec for its excess hydropower.There's one sticking point: they need a new transmission line to get all that power from Northern Quebec. And citizens in the states that could host new transmission projects -- New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine -- are resisting construction plans.A lot of attention has focused on controversial transmission projects like Northern Pass. But what about the source of the electrons feeding the line? In this week's podcast, we talk with Sam Evans-Brown, a journalist who's been exploring the history of Canadian hydro. It's a decades-long story filled with conflict, controversy, racism, and billions of dollars at stake.Sam is host of the Outside/In podcast. He and his colleague Hannah McCarthy just published a 4-part audio series, called Powerline, about the hydropower working its way down to the Northeastern U.S. We'll talk about the stories they uncovered.Then, Cape Wind is dead. We’ll have a eulogy.And finally, we'll discuss that tax bill again. It’s messier than anyone thought possible.This podcast is sponsored by Mission Solar Energy, a solar module manufacturer based in San Antonio, Texas. You can find out more about Mission’s American-made, high-power modules at missionsolar.com.Are you coming to GTM's Storage Summit on December 12-13? Podcast listeners get 20 percent off their registration with the promo code PODCASTS.Recommended reading and listening:Outside/In: The 4-part Powerline seriesGTM: Cape Wind’s Demise Comes Amidst a Resurgence for US Offshore WindGTM: Senate Doubles Down on Tax Provisions That Would Harm Renewable EnergySubscribe to The Energy Gang podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dec 1, 2017 • 1h 1min
Startup Stories of 2017: Blockchain, Batteries and Acquisitions
We've reached a new stage in cleantech. Years after the VC bubble popped, startups are pursuing new approaches to scaling, finding customers, partnering, and raising money.Those new approaches to scaling early-stage cleantech were crystallized this year. And we're going to talk about them.This week, we recorded live at Greentown Labs, the largest cleantech incubator in the country. We discussed a wide range of trends: the emergence of blockchain, a diversifying class of corporate investors, the blitz of mergers and acquisitions, low-cost ways of scaling new technologies, how to ask for money, and where startups can engage in policy.Plus, we ran through the top headlines of the week: Tesla's 100-megawatt battery, the heinous Congressional tax bill, and the Bonn climate talks. This podcast is sponsored by Mission Solar Energy, a solar module manufacturer based in San Antonio, Texas. You can find out more about Mission’s American-made, high-power modules at missionsolar.com.Are you coming to GTM's Storage Summit on December 12-13? Podcast listeners get 20 percent off their registration with the promo code PODCASTS.Recommended reading:Can LO3 Energy Cut Through the Hype on Blockchain?A Battery-Material Startup Applies Lessons From the Venture Capital BustEuropean Utility Giants Are on a Grid Edge Shopping Spree in 2017Subscribe to The Energy Gang podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nov 22, 2017 • 59min
Watt It Takes: Dan Shugar, the King Midas of Solar
Dan Shugar lives, breathes and bleeds solar. "If you cut my wrist, pure silicon comes out," he exclaimed in an interview with Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch, as part of the Watt It Takes interview series. This week, Shugar steps behind the microphone to talk about turning his passion for PV into deals and acquisitions worth over $1 billion.Shugar has a storied career. Some call him the "King Midas" of solar, because he's turned so many ventures into gold. He's the former president of Powerlight, the pioneering developer acquired by SunPower in 2006. He's now CEO of the tracker company NEXTracker, which was sold to Flextronics for $330 million last year. In this edition of Watt It Takes, Shugar describes the moment he realized solar's potential while working for PG&E; how Powerlight was founded and funded; the risks he took when getting into solar; his passion for the environment; and why everyone is underestimating the growth of PV.This conversation was recorded live in Oakland, California at Powerhouse. In the next episode, GTM Co-Founder Scott Clavenna takes the stage.This podcast is brought to you by Mission Solar. Find out more about Mission's high-quality, American-made solar modules. Listen to earlier episodes of Watt It Takes:SunPower Founder Dick Swanson’s Guide to Launching a Cleantech StartupLessons From the Fall of SungevityLike our shows? Make sure to give The Interchange and The Energy Gang a rating and review on Apple podcasts. And make sure to subscribe to both shows on Apple podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or anywhere you get your podcasts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Nov 17, 2017 • 49min
Tax Reform and Tesla's Semi-Truck
The House passed its tax reform bill yesterday that includes cuts to renewable energy tax credits. The package is already having a chilling effect as developers stall projects because of a potential change to the tax code.What will happen when the Senate and House try to reconcile their two bills? We'll try to anticipate the political chess match before the pieces move.Then, we'll take a look at Tesla's newest shiny object: the electric semi-truck. Is this a convenient distraction for Musk as Tesla's financial health worsens? Or yet another master plan step that most of us will never understand until much later?(Note: we recorded these segments on Thursday afternoon. For more on the House tax bill, read this overview; for a rundown of the new semi-truck, read Julia Pyper's reporting.)We end the show why talking about IEA's latest worries about nuclear shut-downs in Europe. While global emissions rise, renewables may have a hard time filling in the gap.This podcast is sponsored by Mission Solar Energy, a solar module manufacturer based in San Antonio, Texas. You can find out more about Mission’s American-made, high-power modules at missionsolar.com.Are you coming to GTM's Storage Summit on December 12-13? Podcast listeners get 20 percent off their registration with the promo code PODCASTS.Recommended reading:GTM: Why Tesla’s Electric Semi Truck Is the Toughest Thing Musk Has Attempted YetWashington Post: The House Just Passed Its Big Tax Bill. Here’s What Is in It.Recharge: Wind and PV Build-Out Too Slow to Replace Aging Nuclear, Says IEASubscribe to The Energy Gang podcast via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever you find your audio content.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
