We’re back! And this time we hosted OG DERTF Heads James McWalter (the better James) and Kyle Baranko from Paces at the David Energy HQ. They are working on one of the gnarliest problems in the entire clean energy space: permitting and interconnection. We go deeeep on the problem, so you don’t want to miss this. We are massive fans of them and what they’re building, and had so much fun recording this!Tune in if you want to hear us go down memory lane on early DERTF days, Kyle and James’ favorite DERs and how they got DER-pilled, private wires, homesteading, solar grazing, why the permitting and interconnection problem even exists, hosting capacity maps, how Paces can help, the journey to founding climate cos, what it’s like being in YC and if more climate founders should do it, the Fractal Grid, creating the clearing price for virtual wires, Sheldon Kimber, utility scale DERs, and so much more! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

We’re back! And this time with THEE GOD Julian Spector. It’s our longest episode ever because we just couldn’t help ourselves going in with a member of the OG GTM Mafia. It’s worth it. Julian just had some super rad reporting on how the South is building a vibrant clean energy manufacturing hub, and we sat down to discuss. We nerd out on this one for the real DERTF heads!So settle in on the Fourth of July and hear all about how AMERICA might be becoming a clean energy industrial powerhouse, Julian’s trip through the south eastern US chronicling the new hub of American clean energy manufacturing, us getting nostalgic about the GTM days, how Canary differs (and is also rad), discuss the difference between munis and public power, Duncan’s crazy idea for the future of distribution infrastructure, defining clean energy abundance, the evolution of da discourse, empathetic DJs, and so much more! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

We’re back! And this time with Alfred Johnson, Founder and CEO of Crux. Crux just raised a seed round led by Lowercarbon Capital and is building a marketplace to help climate companies unlock billions in IRA tax credits. If you want to understand the IRA, look no further!We nerd out on everything from the ins and outs of transferability, what the democratization of tax credits means, who stands to benefit, step ups, and how the IRA actually works to more macro musings on the intersection of gov’t, tech, and finance, what the IRA really accomplishes, what the downsides could be, what keeps us up at night, and so much more! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

We’re back! And this time with Matt Huber, an absolute legend and advocate for centralized public power. This was a different ep, but one of our favorite in awhile.In it, we talk about Marxist geography, how bizarre peak oil discourse was, the coming shift to electricity from oil, becoming un-DER-pilled, the possibilities of a centrally-planned decentralized grid, comparing (never before built) neolib renewable supergrids to (ole, proven and trusty) socialist nuclear heavy grids, the inability of tech-y “libertarians” to make cogent arguments around nuclear, SMRs vs big old school nukes, bodega batteries, putting the hard sell on Matt to re-derpill him, all before a huge shift in gears to discuss the future of the global petro-industrial complex, labor and industrialization in the US, utilities vs public power, and so much more! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.dertaskforce.comWe’re back with a solo ep! And yeah, this one is paid. The NYT wrote an article on decarb bros and we have some thoughts. Tune in to listen to us talk about our first ever eco rave in LA right after we serve up a taxonomy of bros and their varying ethics: the decarb bro, the nuke bro, the bernie bro, the tech bro, the renewable bro, the frat bro, the br…

We’re back! This time on a FULLY SOLAR POWERED POD with absolute legends Corey and Xtina of the Solar Punks Club. We threw the first proper Eco Rave—a solar + storage powered party—at their HQ in LA. Tune in to hear us chat about it the night before the event, and check out more from the day of here.We talked about how they got DER-pilled as non-energy people (big shouts to Saul Griffith!), putting together the largest fully solar powered camp at burning man, using culture as the tip of the spear to DER pill more youths and drive electrification, decarbonizing the entertainment sector, how many millions are spent on diesel to run festivals, how festivals and entertainment have become more about excess than abundance, what abundance mindset really means, the neuroticism of extraction based cultures, solar punk vs cyber punk, creating art with purpose, what punk is in 2023, being optimistic about optimism, and so much more! It’s ultimately just a long discussion on why we think eco raves are so important. Xtina and Corey are GOATed beyond belief, and we plan to do a lot more of these. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

We’re back! This time with John Berger, the CEO and Founder of Sunnova. Sunnova is not only one of the largest solar and storage installers in the country, they are also one of the most innovative in their offerings to customers. From VPPS in Texas to free batteries and micro utilities in CA, Sunnova is setting the tone for a distributed future. Tune in to hear how John views consumer choice and deregulation, incentives, the continued progression of the space, VPPs, the value of resilience, private wires, the evolution of the utility model, what customers want from DERs, and so much more!This is a fun one that we’ve wanted to do for some time, and not even a power outage in the middle of a conversation about utilities’ obligation to serve could stop us. Were we angering the utility gods, or was it some sort of divine intervention to illuminate the importance of DERs? Spooky stuff, but we must remain undeterred in our quest to DER-pill more youths. Tune in and decide for yourselves! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

Colleen, Jimbo, and Duncan are back, this time joined by Noah Smith of Noahpinion. While fellow energy nerds might know Noah for his posts Don’t be a doomer, Why I’m so excited about solar and batteries, or Battery-powered appliances!, his reach goes well beyond our small corner of the world. Noah’s an economist and techno-optimist who engages in a wide variety of topics, from globalization, to NIMBYism, and wokeness. We had a great time with Noah and discussed all sorts of fun stuff. The conversation also delivered gems such as “the demand for culture war is highly inelastic”, “doomerism is a function of the clout-matrix”, and “ESG was a zero-interest rate phenomenon”.We hope you enjoy the episode!Timestamps:* (4:20) Discussing the merits of domesticated rabbits and the morality of eating them.* (9:59) What type of sci-fi Noah would write, and why it would be solarpunk, and another mention of our eco-rave obsession.* (12:52) Noah’s hottest energy take, why are so many libertarians nuclear-stans, is distributed solar inherently expensive? * (22:14) Renewable energy narratives and counternarratives* (28:13) Is there a path to nuclear at scale?* (33:24) Noah’s take on who blew up Nord Stream.* (37:20) Energy costs’ role in the great stagnation starting in 1973, how that drove energy efficiency, industrial off-shoring and focus on low-energy economic activities, expensive energy → going nimby and inequality.* (52:56) Noah’s interest in battery-integrated devices, Sam D'Amico = Kaylee from Firefly, Noah gets DER-pilled.* (68:00) Gas stove debates, “the demand for culture war is highly inelastic”, when are bans appropriate, DM Colleen with gas stoves studies, Gell-Mann Amnesia* (80:23) “Doomerism is a function of the clout-matrix.”* (91:32) Noah’s the Energy Czar of America for 1 day.* (93:55) Dope or Nope, “ESG is a zero-interest rate phenomenon”, Noah’s coming to our eco-rave.* (98:25) Bunny mischief, big shouts, qualified shouts, medium shouts, housing is for rabbits. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

We’re back! And this time we sit down with Troy Cross, a twitter chameleon of sorts. He’s an environmentalist, philosopher at Reed College, and avid bitcoiner. And depending on who you talk to, you’ll get a different answer as to what he’s all about. We just know him as an intelligent, interesting, super good dude who we love talking to! This is a different episode than what you all may be used to, but we had a blast recording.In it, we talk about why nuclear isn’t really happening, how if it’s ultimately statist, why so called anti-centralization/anti-statist bitcoiners are for it, if bitcoiners just want to be the landed aristocracy, bitcoin citadels, a long riff on the pros and cons of both bitcoin and our current monetary system, how to square narratives around ESG, bitcoin, and climate, how Shell is both at Davos and the Bitcoin Miami conference, how to navigate the culture war when it comes to climate, who these narratives ultimately serve, how DERs and bitcoin share similar philosophical underpinnings, how bitcoin and DERs are a check against our struggling institutions, and so much more!!!Strap in, this is a fun one. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dertaskforce.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.dertaskforce.comWe’re still figuring out this whole substack thing. We released this paid ep last week for paid subscribers, but didn’t send out an email or a preview to our unpaid subscribers. So, we’re resending to give the unpaids a snippet of this tasty ep. If you’re an unpaid subscriber, you should change that! Original post:“We’re back with a solo pod! We’ll be d…