The Green Blueprint

Mateo Jaramillo is the co-founder and CEO of the long-duration storage company Form Energy. Mateo has spent the last two decades building battery storage companies, with home base being California. But he just moved from Silicon Valley to the Rust Belt, where Form is scaling production of its iron-air batteries at an old steel mill in West Virginia.The location sits at the intersection of major highways, rail lines, and waterways. And Form’s batteries sit at the intersection of the old energy economy and the new energy economy.“We are making a type of battery which is based on iron and air. It means that we're moving a lot of iron in and very heavy things out. And so you think about sort of the core infrastructure that's needed to do that – it maps very nicely over the steel infrastructure of the country.”America is working to build back its industrial capacity with clean energy. Armed with lessons from the past and a lot more government support, companies are planning $70 billion in new factories for electric cars, solar and wind components, and batteries – including very large batteries like the ones that Form is making. This week: we talked with Mateo Jaramillo about Form Energy's transition from an R&D and engineering company to a high-volume manufacturer. Is it a sign of what's to come for the US industrial base?This podcast is brought to you by KORE Power, an American manufacturer of battery cells for electric vehicles and stationary storage. Stay tuned to the end of the episode for a conversation with KORE CEO Lindsay Gorrill about how America can slash its dependence on imported critical minerals and batteries.Carbon Copy is supported by FischTank PR, a specialized climatetech PR firm dedicated to bringing meaningful results for companies in sectors spanning grid edge, solar, energy storage, battery, EVs, alternative fuels, VC and green building. FischTank helps clients stand out in an increasingly competitive and noisy space. Visit FischTank PR to learn more.The Carbon Copy is brought to you by Savant Power. Savant’s end-to-end power systems provide energy generation, inverter and battery storage, generator control, flexible load management for every circuit, and level two EV charging. Learn more about the only company that can deliver an integrated smart home and energy solution controlled via a single award-winning app at Savant.com.

Putin’s assault on Ukraine triggered an energy crisis that sent Europe’s economies into a tailspin and put the European energy transition to the test. But how did the European Union, a leader in climate action, become so dependent on Russian oil and gas to begin with? This week, we're posting the first episode in a new five-part series for The Big Switch. The show is a collaboration between Post Script Media and the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy.The series looks at the energy systems of Germany and Poland. Both have very different energy economies, but both became dependent on Russian energy for heating homes, firing power plants, and fueling businesses.In this episode, we look at the immediate impact of the Ukraine invasion and the historical influences behind the dependence – from Germany’s pursuit of natural gas to Poland’s centuries-long relationship with coal.Then we ask whether Europe's initial response to the crisis will accelerate or slow down the region's push toward green energy.You can subscribe to The Big Switch anywhere you get your podcasts.

Last week, we started the show with a simple question: what do we want from the artificial intelligence systems advancing so quickly? Inevitably, when we start grappling with that question, we have to talk about ethics and data quality.This week, we feature two conversations about the ethics and implementation of AI across the energy economy. We'll talk with Pamela Isom, an AI ethicist and former director of the DOE’s artificial intelligence and technology office, about the “happy path” of implementation that avoids racial, gender, and economic bias.Then we’ll feature a roundtable of experts about building AI systems on the grid. The participants include: David Groarke, managing partner at Indigo Advisory Group; Elizabeth Cook, the director of advanced grid systems at Duquesne Light Company; Titiaan Palazzi, head of power utilities at Snowflake; and Jess Melanson, the chief operating officer at Utilidata.For all these experts, the deployment of effective and fair AI systems is all about the quality of the data.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 brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial & industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

We are at the start of a commercial arms race in artificial intelligence that has thrilled some, and alarmed others. For many, it's both.There's no shortage of heady proclamations about where the technology is headed. Google CEO Sundar Pachai calls AI “more profound than fire or electricity.”We are in the middle of a period of exuberance in AI, which will inevitably lead to some kind of market correction. But the technology will be transformative. There are dozens of use cases for AI in energy already in operation today across the grid, mobility, and industry.The emergence of AI will have an enormous impact on creativity, corporate structures, and economic productivity – and on the engine that drives our economy, energy. Will we use it in the right way?This week, we feature two conversations from our recent Transition-AI conference in Boston. Priya Donti, the executive director of Climate Change AI, describes the best-case and worst-case scenarios for an AI-infused energy sector. And Savannah Goodman, a data and software climate solutions lead at Google, describes the role for machine learning in optimizing renewables and data centers.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 brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial & industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

As we evaluate the Biden team's approach to building back domestic manufacturing and climate-positive infrastructure, we keep coming back to the question: what makes the current push different from the Obama era one? You can’t answer the question without exploring the factors behind the demise of some companies of the cleantech 1.0 era – in particular, the story of A123 Systems.This week, we’re talking with Gabrielle Coppola, a Bloomberg auto journalist, about her new magazine feature about America’s tortured journey to build EV batteries.A123 Systems was supposed to represent the next generation of domestic manufacturing. Instead, it showed how America excels at inventing new energy technologies, but not building them.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 brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial & industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

Republicans dominate every part of government in Texas. It's been that way for two decades.It also happens to be a state with the most wind and utility-scale solar development in the country. Over their 20 years of dominance, Republicans in the state have mostly supported renewables, often in a very warm way. But lately, they've turned against them.In a very short period of time, America's fastest-growing renewables state became the most hostile. What happened?This week, we'll look at the history and political fads that are driving the Texas renewables backlash. We'll talk with the Houston Chronicle's Chris Tomlinson about much it could unravel the market.Are you a utility or climate tech startup looking to understand how artificial intelligence will shape your company? Come to our one-day event, Transition-AI: Boston on June 15. Our listeners get a 20% discount with the code PSPODS20.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 brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial & industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

We are at an inflection point for electric vehicles. The mass adoption phase is underway in many countries, including America. The US government is putting billions of dollars behind EV charging and battery production. And nearly every automaker is releasing or developing an EV model. But the race to electrify cars and trucks is about so much more than transportation. For an executive like Annette Clayton, CEO of Schneider Electric North America, it's about developing an economy-wide electrification strategy – with EVs as a catalyst. And it’s why Schneider is getting deeper into the electric car market.In this episode, produced in collaboration with Schneider Electric, Annette sits down with Stephen Lacey to talk about where the market is headed for EVs, technology trends in electrifying homes and industry, and how to tie them all together for the benefit of the grid.For more information on Schneider's efforts to electrify and digitize the economy, including the microgrid and resilience hubs that Annette mentioned, go to se.com.

This week, we’re running a bonus episode from our friends at Environmental Defense Fund and their podcast Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers. Transportation is the largest single source of carbon emissions in the U.S. People who can electrify vehicle fleets are in demand — especially in school districts, where diesel emissions are causing skyrocketing rates of childhood asthma.In this episode, host Yesh Pavlik Slenk talks with the ebullient Gilbert Blue Feather Rosas, who raised millions of dollars to bring electric buses to one of America’s biggest school districts. Make sure you check other Degrees episodes about how the green jobs transformation is shaping the future. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.Are you a utility or climatetech startup looking to understand how artificial intelligence will shape your company? Come to Post Script Media’s one-day event, Transition-AI: Boston, on June 15. Our listeners get a 20% discount with the code PSPODS20.

In the nine months since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law, $28 billion in new manufacturing investments have been unveiled. Credit Suisse expects the IRA to support $1.7 trillion in new US manufacturing in a decade.Shalini Ramanathan of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners is watching the space, excited about that industrial growth. She’s also eager to see a whole new category of customers – because this green industrial strategy needs new green electrons and molecules to run it. The wave of planned build-outs in US manufacturing is setting the stage for a new class of renewables designed to run those plants. And it could shift how and where projects get built.“This could really reshape our landscape,” explains Shalini. “We're all asking the question: now that we have low-cost, green power, what other sectors can we decarbonize?This week, a secondary impact of America's green manufacturing strategy: a coming boom in projects to meet that new industrial demand. We'll ask how renewables, batteries, and hydrogen could meet the moment. Are you a utility or climate tech startup looking to understand how artificial intelligence will shape your company? Come to our one-day event, Transition-AI: Boston on June 15. Our listeners get a 20% discount with the code PSPODS20.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 brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial & industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.

Are you a utility or climate tech startup looking to understand how artificial intelligence will shape your company? Come to our one-day event, Transition-AI: Boston on June 15. Our listeners get a 20% discount with the code PSPODS20.Our show this week was recorded live at the Nuclear Energy Assembly in Washington, DC. It comes in three parts. First, we're asking: how do we prepare the US nuclear industry for liftoff? We'll dig into a new government strategy to bridge the gap to commercialization in nuclear, and a range of other deep decarbonization tech.Then, what does a grid saturated with renewables, storage, and new nuclear look like? What are the ways these technologies can work together?And finally, we'll look at some investment trends across clean energy: where the capital is flowing, where it's not flowing, and does ESG backlash even matter?Jigar Shah, director of the DOE’s loan programs office, and Katherine Hamilton, chair of 38 North, join Stephen Lacey on stage for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of nuclear.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 brought to you by Sungrow. Now in more than 150 countries, Sungrow’s solutions include inverters for utility-scale, commercial & industrial solar, plus energy storage systems. Learn more at us.sungrowpower.com.