The Green Blueprint

Five years ago, venture investors, tech companies and automakers were pouring tens of billions of dollars into driverless cars. Tesla, General Motors, Lyft, Uber, and Google's Waymo were promising large fleets of robotaxis with fully autonomous vehicles by the turn of the decade. In 2017, Ford took a big swing. The company invested $1 billion in Argo AI, a startup developing level-four driverless systems. Later, VW entered the partnership. The automakers promised to make a fully autonomous car by 2021. But in October of last year, VW pulled out of the partnership. Ford said it would shut down the driverless car program, taking a $2.7 billion loss. So how did we get to a point where a promising startup valued at $7 billion is being written off by automakers? And what does it say about the viability of fully-autonomous cars?Journalist Ed Neidermeyer says Ford's shutdown of Argo AI was due to inflated expectations – which exposed a mismatch in business models.“I think it's very easy to look at this and say, ‘shutting down Argo AI was an admission that this technology doesn't work…or was a scam. And you look out on social media and people are taking that lesson away – and I think that's the wrong lesson.”This week, we speak with Ed about the real lessons behind the setbacks for autonomous cars: the mismatch between our fantasies and the reality of the technology.Full transcript hereThe Carbon Copy is supported by FischTank PR, a public relations, strategic messaging, and social media agency dedicated to elevating the work of climate and clean energy companies. Learn more about FischTank’s approach to cleantech and their services: fischtankpr.com.The Carbon Copy is supported by Scale Microgrids, the distributed energy company dedicated to transforming the way modern energy infrastructure is designed, constructed, and financed. Distributed generation can be complex. Scale makes it easy. Learn more: scalemicrogrids.com.

America enters 2023 faced with two opposing realities: greenhouse gas emissions are going up, but the opportunity to slash those emissions has never been better.Heat-trapping gasses in the U.S. rose again last year, according to the Rhodium Group. Even though renewables outpaced coal on the grid, emissions climbed in the buildings, heavy industry, and transportation sectors.Passage of the Inflation Reduction Act could reverse that trend over the next decade. The law, which was the result of years of political pressure and behind-the-scenes dealmaking, devotes nearly $370 billion to domestic clean energy deployment. It could cut emissions by 40% by 2030.But now the real work begins.On this week’s episode of The Carbon Copy, Jigar Shah and Katherine Hamilton join host Stephen Lacey to talk about the new era for climate solutions deployment in America. The three former co-hosts reunite for some real-talk about the stakes ahead for implementing the IRA.The Carbon Copy is supported by FischTank PR, a public relations, strategic messaging, and social media agency dedicated to elevating the work of climate and clean energy companies. Learn more about FischTank’s approach to cleantech and their services: fischtankpr.com.The Carbon Copy is supported by Scale Microgrids, the distributed energy company dedicated to transforming the way modern energy infrastructure is designed, constructed, and financed. Distributed generation can be complex. Scale makes it easy. Learn more: scalemicrogrids.com.

To decarbonize our economy, we need to electrify everything. That means installing millions of heat pumps, EV chargers, electric water heaters, and rooftop solar panels. But there’s one big problem: finding the electricians to make it happen. Electricians across the country are flooded with demand – and just as demand is skyrocketing, the field is also continuing to age out. This week, in a special collaboration with Grist, guest contributor Emily Pontecorvo tries to answer the question – where are all the electricians? And can we train enough to meet our climate goals? Read her story here.A lightly edited full transcript is available hereThe Carbon Copy is supported by FischTank PR, a public relations, strategic messaging, and social media agency dedicated to elevating the work of climate and clean energy companies. Learn more about FischTank’s approach to cleantech and their services: fischtankpr.com.The Carbon Copy is supported by Scale Microgrids, the distributed energy company dedicated to transforming the way modern energy infrastructure is designed, constructed, and financed. Distributed generation can be complex. Scale makes it easy. Learn more: scalemicrogrids.com.

This week, Stephen provides some end-of-year updates on the new focus of The Carbon Copy.We’ll be taking a pause until mid-January while we prepare to relaunch the show. In 2023, we’ll be focusing much more tightly on the business, tech, and policy forces that are shaping climate solutions. You asked, we listened!Thanks for listening. We’ll catch you in January.

This is the final week of our listener survey. Fill it out for a chance to win a $100 Patagonia gift card.And don’t forget to donate to Canary Media to support in-depth journalism on the energy transition!In the last year, venture investments in carbon removal have doubled. Top tech companies are buying credits or taking equity stakes in cutting-edge projects to pull carbon out of the air and oceans. And it’s not just propellerheads who are talking to themselves about the technology – a new wave of young talent is taking notice.Was 2023 the breakout year for engineered carbon removal?“We were all holed up in Covid lockdown. And we get out and suddenly everybody’s like ‘talk to me about carbon,’ says Julio Friedmann, the chief scientist at Carbon Direct. This week: the state of carbon removal. There is no way we can hit net-zero emissions without stripping lots of carbon out of the air. We’ll hear from Julio Friedmann about the scientific urgency, tech advancements, and barriers to scale. And we’ll hear from Microsoft’s Rafael Broze about how the company is investing in the carbon-removal space. For a lightly edited transcript of this episode, click here.

We want your feedback! Fill out our listener survey for a chance to win a $100 Patagonia gift card.Join us on November 30 for a live, virtual episode of Climavores. Come ask a question about food, nutrition, and eating for the climate.The age of the electric vehicle is coming, and it’s going to transform more than just the auto industry. EVs are also set to remake the fueling industry. But who will own the electric charging future?That is the question that journalist David Ferris, reporter for POLITICO’s E&E news, started asking himself a couple years ago. When he started to look into it, he found a simmering tension that is turning into an all-out clash between two pillars of the American energy economy: the electric utility and the gas station.For over a century, gas stations have been a prominent feature of our car-centric landscape. Meanwhile, the provision of electricity has long been the domain of utilities. The EV is bringing these two titans of the energy industry into conflict for the first time, and the battle over who will sell those electrons is already starting to get nasty. You can read Ferris’ story on the contested future of EV charging here.

We want your feedback! Fill out our listener survey for a chance to win a $100 Patagonia gift card.Join us on November 30 for a live, virtual episode of Climavores. Come ask a question about food, nutrition, and eating for the climate.There’s no doubt that corporations are thinking differently about climate risk and action. But are they making real progress?This week, we have two conversations on the murkiness of corporate sustainability. We’ll talk with Siduja Rangarajan, a senior investigative data reporter, about the creative accounting that is inflating the emissions reductions of large companies. She and journalist Ben Elgin recently dug through 6,000 climate reports – and found that the world’s biggest companies may be failing to account for 24 million cars worth of emissions.We’ll also hear from Joel Makower, co-founder of GreenBiz Group and co-host of the GreenBiz 350 podcast. He’s been covering corporate sustainability for nearly three decades. We talk about what is actually making an impact in corporate sustainability – and what is still holding it back.

As the cost of living with hurricanes grows, coastal cities across the country are starting to ask the trillion dollar question: what can we build to protect ourselves, and how much are we willing to pay?This week, producer Alexandria Herr takes us to Texas, where the largest civil engineering project in U.S. history may soon put those questions to the test. The Houston area is a sitting duck for a hurricane that scientists say could cause an environmental and economic catastrophe. But the $31 billion “Ike Dike,” approved this summer by the House and Senate, would help protect the region. Will it be enough to prevent disaster? Guests: Kiah Collier, you can read the Peabody award winning reporting on the potential impacts of a hurricane on the Houston area for Propublica and the Texas Tribune here. Dr. Bill Merrell is a professor emeritus at Texas A&M University at Galveston.  Dr. Jim Blackburn is a professor in the practice of environmental law at Rice and co-director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education & Evacuation from Disasters Center.

New York has a puzzle that it needs to solve – fast. In less than a decade, the state is aiming to radically increase renewable electricity generation, all while helping New Yorkers electrify their homes and businesses. The state's ambitious policy plan for 70% renewables by 2050 will succeed or fail based on how it can develop the supporting infrastructure, like transmission, ports, and batteries.So how will the nuts and bolts of New York's energy transition play out? This week, we have a panel from our recent live event with Canary Media addressing exactly that question, featuring leading reporters covering decarbonization and energy markets in New York: Canary Media journalist Maria Gallucci; The City journalist Samantha Maldonado; and Politico journalist Marie French.This episode is brought to you by Rise Light & Power, the owner of Ravenswood Generating, New York City’s largest power plant. By repurposing existing infrastructure and replacing fossil fuel generation in the heart of New York City, Renewable Ravenswood makes it easier and more cost effective to meet New York’s ambitious climate goals. Learn more. We’re also brought to you by, Sealed. Sealed uses air sealing and insulation to keep the outside out. They can also upgrade your heating system. If you don't save energy with Sealed, they don't get paid. Learn more.

Michael Grunwald is an energy and climate journalist who lives in south Florida. He loves Florida. But he also loves to poke fun at Florida's poor planning. In 2017, he wrote a piece for POLITICO about Cape Coral -- the boomtown built on swampland that is uniquely vulnerable to hurricanes.Cape Coral is a city of 200,000 people in Southwest Florida. It's basically a wetland, nestled next to Fort Myers – one of the fastest growing areas in the country.Construction of Cape Coral started in the late 1950s. It was the vision of two brothers who got wealthy peddling baldness tonic from wool grease. They knew how to sell anything, including a city built on water.And then, in late September, Hurricane Ian rolled in. The near-category 5 hurricane knocked out the city's water supply, electricity, and left most houses underwater. Mike wrote an update to that piece, reminding readers about the “fantasy” propping up Southwest Florida.This week, We talk with Mike Grunwald about Florida's unwillingness to plan for climate change – and what a nearby solar-powered city that weathered Hurricane Ian tells us about what's possible.