The Green Blueprint

Bitcoin mining today uses a half percent of the world's electricity. Every year, as more shipping containers and warehouses full of high-powered computers are deployed to unlock more bitcoin, energy use grows by double digits.As bitcoin mining operations scramble to find new power sources, they’re often turning to aging coal or fossil gas plants that offer cheap electricity.This week, we’ll take you to Seneca Lake, upstate New York, where a group of unlikely activists is fighting back against a “zombie” power plant that is now fueling a Bitcoin mine. What’s happening in Seneca Lake is not a one-off story. Across the nation, the companies that own dying, dirty power plants see cryptocurrency as a chance to extend their lives. Bitcoin mining is locking in fossil fuels – so what can we do about it?Guests: Brian Kahn is the climate editor at Protocol. You can read his piece about the Greenidge power plant here.We want to hear from you! Take our quick survey for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card. This will help us bring you more relevant content.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Nextracker. Nextracker’s technology platform has delivered more than 50 gigawatts of zero-emission solar power plants across the globe. Nextracker is developing a data-driven framework to become the most sustainable solar tracker company in the world – with a focus on a truly transparent supply chain. Visit nextracker.com/sustainability to learn more.The Carbon Copy is supported by Scale Microgrid Solutions, your comprehensive source for all distributed energy financing. Distributed generation can be complex. Scale makes financing it easy. Visit scalecapitalsolutions.com to learn more.

In 1973, when Arab countries cut off petroleum exports to the US, the price of oil quadrupled. People couldn't get access to gasoline. The economy shrunk. The Arab oil embargo was framed almost entirely as a supply problem. But a few years later, a 28-year-old physicist named Amory Lovins published an article in Foreign Affairs magazine that completely shifted how we framed the issue. Nearly a half century later, we revisit Amory’s writing in the face of another global energy security crisis. Fossil fuel prices have spiked to record highs as a result of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. Countries are now racing to stop buying Russian oil & gas as quickly as possible.This week: Amory Lovins explains the profound changes taking place in the global energy system – and how Russia's war will accelerate them.Guests: Amory Lovins, co-founder and chairman emeritus at RMI. Read his latest piece on how Russia’s war could accelerate the clean energy transition.We want to hear from you! Take our quick survey for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card. This will help us bring you more relevant content.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Nextracker. Nextracker’s technology platform has delivered more than 50 gigawatts of zero-emission solar power plants across the globe. Nextracker is developing a data-driven framework to become the most sustainable solar tracker company in the world – with a focus on a truly transparent supply chain. Visit nextracker.com/sustainability to learn more.The Carbon Copy is supported by Scale Microgrid Solutions, your comprehensive source for all distributed energy financing. Distributed generation can be complex. Scale makes financing it easy. Visit scalecapitalsolutions.com to learn more.

Support strong climate journalism! Donate to Canary Media to celebrate its one-year anniversary.Public companies have a legal obligation to report a wide range of information on financial performance and competitive risks. One risk they are not required to mention in corporate America: climate risk.But that changed last week when America’s top financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, released a new proposal requiring companies to disclose their financial vulnerabilities to climate change. This move toward greater corporate climate accountability in the U.S. builds on years of momentum. It’s the culmination of voluntary task forces, initiatives and mandatory disclosure regulations passed in other countries. This week: How a historic proposal mandating climate transparency could change corporate America – and how it will face political and legal backlash.Guests: Kathleen Brophy, U.S. climate finance senior strategist with The Sunrise Project. We want to hear from you! Take our quick survey for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card. This will help us bring you more relevant content.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Nextracker. Nextracker’s technology platform has delivered more than 50 gigawatts of zero-emission solar power plants across the globe. Nextracker is developing a data-driven framework to become the most sustainable solar tracker company in the world – with a focus on a truly transparent supply chain. Visit nextracker.com/sustainability to learn more.

We want to hear from you! Take our quick survey for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card. This will help us bring you more relevant content.In January, fire tore through a major affordable housing development in the Bronx, killing 19 people. Officials were quick to blame the Twin Parks North West fire on a space heater and broken fire door. But the root cause of the fire runs much deeper. America has an energy insecurity crisis. A third of U.S. households have trouble paying their energy bills, with energy costs falling most heavily on communities of color. Black households, in particular, spend 43 percent more on energy than white households; Hispanic households spend 20 percent more. These inequities stem from a long history of racist housing policies and disinvestment in public housing. When people struggle to make ends meet, they resort to stopgap measures to get by. For residents of affordable housing developments like Twin Parks North West, that often means turning to space heaters to keep warm in the winter. This week: The deadly consequences of America’s energy divide, and how we can solve it. Guests: Dr. Diana Hernández is an associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University. You can read her op-ed on the fire’s root causes here. The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.The Carbon Copy is also supported by Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

This is a branded episode, produced in collaboration with Intersect Power.Sheldon Kimber has spent the last 20 years developing energy projects. He’s overseen the build-out of billions of dollars worth of large-scale solar plants.Getting those solar projects in the ground wasn't easy. Abrupt national policy shifts, international trade wars, and local regulatory hurdles made every megawatt a fight.The stunning price drops in wind and solar weren't inevitable. But they were predictable – partly because people like Sheldon were building renewable power plants at a consistent pace. Today, all that cheap renewable power is opening up opportunities in other areas of the economy. And as CEO of Intersect Power, Sheldon is building a portfolio of massive solar and battery projects that can enable predictable cost drops for other low-carbon solutions.In this episode, produced in collaboration with Intersect Power, Stephen Lacey talks with Sheldon Kimber about his vision for the inevitable industries that will arise from low-cost clean electricity.Read Sheldon’s article on the “nexus of deep decarbonization.”Intersect Power is a clean energy company bringing innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to customers in retail and wholesale energy markets. Learn more about Intersect's projects and business model.

Climate researchers are increasingly using the term “maladaptation” to describe adaptation measures that bring unforeseen negative consequences to local communities.From building levees that inadvertently increased flood risk in Bangladesh to a hydroelectric dam that cut off land access in Vietnam, examples of maladaptation are popping up all over the world. In the U.S., Miami has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in stormwater pumps and elevated roads to combat flooding from rising seas. And it will need to invest billions more to save the city from chronic flooding. But the UN report says those early investments might have caused unintended impacts. This week: the story of how Miami’s flood investments might be leading to maladaptation – and what other cities around the world can learn from it. Guests: Alex Harris, climate change reporter for the Miami Herald; and Lisa Schipper, IPPC report author, and an environmental social science research fellow at the University of Oxford.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.The Carbon Copy is also supported by Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

President Biden entered the White House promising to use climate solutions as his main tool for raising wages, revitalizing infrastructure, and tackling inequality.But almost overnight, that framing changed from transforming the American economy to protecting consumers.Gasoline prices are at their highest levels in US history because of supply disruptions caused by Russia's attack on Ukraine. And Biden’s latest decision to ban Russian oil reflects the shifting mood in Washington.A geopolitical crisis is transforming the domestic conversation around energy in Washington. Security is the new lens. How will it impact Biden's narrow chance to do something ambitious on climate change?Guest: Maxine Joselow, a Washington Post journalist who anchors the Climate 202 Newsletter.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.The Carbon Copy is also supported by Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

The civilian and military death toll from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is growing daily. More than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine for neighboring countries in the fastest refugee migration since WWII.  But the effects of this war aren’t just humanitarian; they’re economic. That’s because so much of it is tied up in global energy flows. Russia is one of the biggest fossil fuel producers in the world. Europe depends on Russia for 40% of its gas for heating and one quarter of its oil. And since Russia is such a major exporter of oil and gas, its military actions are putting new pressures on a global supply chain already hurt by tight energy supplies driven by COVID-19 disruptions. Europe, along with the rest of the world, is being forced to consider what a future without Russia’s fossil fuels could look like.This week: a conversation with two experts watching the energy market’s impacts around the world. Guests: Pierre Noël, Global Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and Amy Myers Jaffe, Research Professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and Managing Director of the Climate Policy Lab.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.The Carbon Copy is also supported by Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Six out of seven car commercials during this year’s Superbowl touted electric vehicles (EVs). That’s up from zero EV ads just four years ago. Ford, Chevy, GMC and Toyota are all betting big on electric, and they’re hoping electric models of their most popular light-duty trucks will entice a whole new class of drivers.It’s led many car manufacturers and analysts to call 2022 “The Year of the Electric Truck.”The question remains: will this big push toward electric overcome infrastructure shortcomings, battery range concerns and a deeply-ingrained diesel car culture, especially in rural areas? This week: a conversation with a driver and a dealer about how the electric truck revolution might play out. Guests: Christopher Preston, Professor of Environmental Philosophy at the University Of Montana; and Whitney Olson, Vice President of Bison Ford in Great Falls, Montana.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.The Carbon Copy is also supported by Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Climate change is impacting people’s lives across the globe – from mass migrations to resource conflicts. For the US military, it’s become one of the nation’s top security risks. After years of risk assessments, the military is now talking about how it intends to address those risks.It all culminated in the military’s most ambitious plan to date: A new, comprehensive climate agenda that envisions microgrids on all Army bases, all-electric tactical vehicles, and a net-zero military by 2050. This week: What does the Army's new net-zero plan reveal about how climate will influence America's national security strategy?Guest: Erin Sikorsky, Director, The Center for Climate and Security.The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.The Carbon Copy is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.The Carbon Copy is also supported by Climate Positive, a podcast from Hannon Armstrong, the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investing in climate solutions. Climate Positive podcast features candid conversations with the leaders, innovators, and changemakers driving our climate positive future. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.