Interchange Recharged
Wood Mackenzie
Clean tech, green finance and energy innovation are the three lanes on the road to a successful global energy transition. At the intersection of these lanes is a place where ideas on finance, technology and policy are shared and debated. That intersection is Interchange Recharged. Sylvia Leyva Martinez, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, invites visionaries, entrepreneurs, policy-makers and energy analysts to explore the newest developments in renewable technology, explain the ideas on global energy policy that could accelerate the energy transition, and identify new funding and financial models that could solve the biggest challenges we face on the way to net zero. Sylvia and her guests bring you data and forecasts on clean technology, climate science, and offer predictions on the build out of utility-scale projects and the future of green finance. What impacts do the annual UN Conference of the Parties have on decarbonisation goals and climate change? What will COP30 bring? What’s happening in global EV adoption and development? What’s the forecast for solar energy, one of the major success stories of renewable energy in the last ten years? What does the data tell us about the future of hydrogen, of nuclear, or of low-carbon power? These are examples of the insights and detailed analyses you can expect bi-weekly on Tuesdays at 7am ET. If you like The Energy Transition Show, Catalyst with Shayle Kann, The Big Switch from Columbia University, Open Circuit with Jigar Shah or The Green Blueprint, you’ll enjoy Interchange Recharged. Want to get involved with the show? Reach out to podcasts@woodmac.com to: Bring Sylvia and Interchange Recharged to your event Be a guest on the show Sponsor an episode Ask a question to Sylvia or one of our guests Check out another leading clean tech global podcast by Wood Mackenzie, Energy Gang, at woodmac.com/podcasts/the-energy-gang 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
May 1, 2020 • 34min
It’s Time to Build: The Climate Edition
Famed software pioneer and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen is out with a new piece, called “It’s time to build,” that is making the rounds among the thinkfluencer crowd. It’s part call-to-arms and part flogging over America’s inability to build.“Every step of the way, to everyone around us, we should be asking the question, what are you building? What are you building directly, or helping other people to build, or teaching other people to build, or taking care of people who are building?” writes Andreessen.Andreesen is a partner at the VC firm Andreessen-Horowitz. He is considered one of the more important people in software. He co-founded Netscape and wrote a manifesto in 2011 called “Why software is eating the world” that has been a guiding light for many venture investors and people starting companies.Now he has a new focus on building physical things.His new article sparked a surprising number of counter-reactions in the press, from think tanks, and from YouTubers. And it got us thinking about how to apply the thesis to the low-carbon economy.Read Shayle Kann’s climate-focused response to Andreessen’s call to action, which forms the basis of our discussion.Want to join the conversation? Form your own list of climate-focused stuff we should be building, and tweet it at @InterchangeShow.The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Apr 24, 2020 • 1h 24min
Live From the Utility Closet and Sunroom
This week, we bring you a joint episode of The Interchange and The Energy Gang recorded in front of a live audience from our quarantine quarters around the country. When we started making our podcasts seven years ago, it was clear that the energy transition would be a difficult one. Both shows were designed as a forum to grapple with tough issues in an accessible, candid way. The clean energy industry has faced its share of crises over the years — but nothing quite like the current pandemic and economic freeze.Supply chains are in limbo, funding opportunities for startups have vanished, and once-growing companies are at a standstill. Meanwhile, political leaders are trying to get money to struggling people and businesses, setting the stage for trillions more dollars in spending on infrastructure. How will it all pan out? We’re trying to figure it out, just like you. In this episode, we take listener questions about how to use the current crisis as an opportunity. We use some thought exercises as a way to break up the gloom, and do a mental health check-in with each other. Listeners submitted over 120 questions. We’ll be considering them on future shows. If you have any other show topic ideas, tag The Energy Gang and The Interchange on Twitter. (And please give us a rating and review on Apple podcasts!)The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Apr 20, 2020 • 22min
What Will the New Normal Look Like?
We have a live show coming up on Wednesday, April 22. It's free! Sign up here. And submit questions here. What will be the “new normal” in the energy economy when coronavirus starts to dissipate?The longer this goes on, the more dramatically it will alter how we make things, where we make them, what kind of companies grow or fail, and who suffers and who benefitsThis week, Shayle and Stephen speak with Amy Meyers Jaffe, a senior fellow and director of the energy and climate change program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Amy focuses on oil markets, geopolitics, and the emerging clean energy sectors.Amy recently penned a piece on whether we’re going to come out of this situation with a lasting impact on carbon emissions.We hopped on a call to discuss many of the themes she’s writing about, including behavioral changes, the stimulus, and the future of oil. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Apr 11, 2020 • 44min
Rewriting the Startup Survival Guide
This week: coronavirus is rewriting the cleantech startup survival guide.The implosion for early-stage companies has been swift. According to a New York Times analysis, 6,000 people at 50 startups have lost their jobs since the middle of March. Once fast-growing companies are losing their revenue overnight, laying off or furloughing up to 50 percent of their staff.Companies in travel, consumer goods, or fintech are the hardest hit by the current economic freeze. The full impact on climatetech and cleantech companies is still unknown. That will depend on the sector they’re targeting, whether they’re generating revenue, and how long this crisis lasts.Shayle Kann and Stephen Lacey talk with Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO of Greentown Labs, and Emily Kirsch, founder and CEO of Powerhouse about how startups can make it through the current economic calamity.Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Apr 2, 2020 • 1h 13min
Quarantine Wonkery
We were feeling a little stir crazy this week, so we hopped behind the microphone with Chris Nelder, host of The Energy Transition Show for some wonkery while in quarantine.In this episode we are exploring two simple questions: What was an unknown about the energy transition five years ago that we now know? And what is a question that has emerged in 2020 that is still unanswered?And as expected, those questions brought us to some complex answers.Thanks to Chris Nelder for a fun (socially distant) conversation.Want to connect with us while stuck at home? Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Mar 26, 2020 • 53min
Everything Is Different
This week, we're coming to you from our home isolation, partially frozen in time.We're wondering how long things will be this way. How we will work? How he will keep healthy? How we will run our companies? How will we move forward? It can feel like each day those answers are only further away. This week on The interchange, Shayle Kann and Stephen Lacey get real on how the pandemic has changed their daily lives and their thinking about covering the energy disruption in the months ahead. Will the current economic disruption lead to permanent changes that lower carbon emissions? How does this economic disaster change the field for startups and large companies in clean energy?Mentioned on the show:Kate Lister: Workplace Analytics and Telecommuting Twitter: Infectious disease expert Laurie GarrettNYT: Climate Change Has Lessons for Fighting Coronavirus, Somini SenguptaIEA: Put clean energy at the heart of stimulus plans to counter the coronavirus crisisGuardian: Financial Crises are Filtering Mechanisms for StartupsWant to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Mar 20, 2020 • 31min
Electricity Use During a Pandemic
This week: What does the load curve look like in a time of pandemic? We are in the middle of a sudden, jarring economic shift. Store fronts, arenas and office buildings are dark in many cities. Homes are becoming the center of our activity -- and for many of us, our work.That is causing sudden shifts in the way we consume energy. We’ve seen it play out in China, France and Italy.So what is happening to the daily shape of electricity load here in the U.S.? And what are the long-term consequences to power providers if this goes on for a long time?Shayle Kann and Stephen Lacey talk with someone who knows how to read a load curve: Nick Chaset. Nick is Chief Executive Officer at East Bay Community Energy and on the board of the California Community Choice Association. He’s worked as Chief of Staff to the head of the California Public Utilities Commission and was special advisor to Governor Jerry Brown on distributed energy resources. Nick will share some data about his CCA’s changing load curve. Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Mar 11, 2020 • 28min
The Energy Intensity of Your Meal Kit Delivery
This week: What can meal kits tell us about the energy intensity of the food system?When you get meal-kits delivered to your home -- are they a net benefit to the environment? Or are these time savers carbon-heavy?Since 2012, there’s been a surge in meal-kit delivery options. Online buying and delivery is now the norm. There’s a surge in interest in healthy eating. And we’re all insanely busy. And that’s making Meal-Kits like Home Chef, Blue Apron and HelloFresh a $5 billion business.But how guilty should you feel unboxing that pre-measured parsley, or berry sauce for that salmon? How does the carbon that got burned to make that packaging and drive that delivery van, compare to buying the ingredients yourself? Has anyone done the math? We found someone who can actually answer this question for us: Dr. Isabella Gee, an engineer at the Webber Energy Group at the University of Texas. She did her thesis on this exact question -- and she spends her time looking at the food system broadly. Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show.The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Mar 6, 2020 • 40min
A Founder's Tech-to-Climate Journey
This week: what one entrepreneur's story tells us about the migration of talent from tech to climate.Jason Jacobs is the founder of My Climate Journey, a podcast, newsletter, and slack room that brings together a high-level group of people who are dedicating their careers to addressing climate change.Co-host Shayle Kann talks with Jason about his own journey -- and about what his story tells us about the shift underway in the world of tech. The Interchange is sponsored by Viking Cold Solutions, a leader in thermal storage for refrigerated warehouses, grocery store freezers, and restaurants around the globe. Find out how thermal storage can benefit your facility.We’re also sponsored by NEXTracker. NEXTracker has more than 30 gigawatts of resilient and intelligent solar tracking systems across six continents. Optimize your solar power plant. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Feb 26, 2020 • 21min
The Key to Unlocking 100% Renewables [Special Content]
The 100% renewable energy future doesn’t start with a country, state or region. It starts with a city. One power plant in a city, in fact. In Glendale, California.Glendale is a city of 200,000 people just north of Los Angeles. And in 2014, the was in a tricky spot. The city’s natural gas plant was old. The City Council faced a decision that would impact the city for decades to come: revamp the 252-megawatt gas plant, or find local alternatives?After modeling many different types of local resources, the city found the perfect mix: 75 megawatts of utility-scale storage; 15 megawatts of solar, efficiency and demand response; and 93 megawatts of Wärtsilä engines for backup reliability. It saved the city millions of dollars.“And it's just a huge win...and really, an important model for the future of energy,” says David Millar a resource planning consultant at Ascend Analytics, who helped model Glendale’s energy system. In this episode, produced in collaboration with Wärtsilä, we look at the hidden hero of the 100% renewable future: power systems modeling.This is the second in a three-part series produced in collaboration with Wärtsilä. You can listen to part one here.As cities, states and countries make tough choices about cleaning up their power systems, they need to rely on sophisticated models. We’ll look at the experience of Glendale. And then turn to Joe Ferrari, the general manager for utility market development at Wärtsilä North America. Joe is an expert on how utilities are planning for the 100% renewable energy future.“The technology is there. It's just understanding how to put all the pieces together,” explains Ferrari.Wärtsilä creates smart, flexible power technologies to enable a cleaner grid and put the world on a path to 100% renewable energy. They’re helping clients worldwide meet their clean energy goals in an efficient and cost-effective way. Find out more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
