Energy Empire

Is Venture Capital the Wrong Tool for Clean Energy?

In the first half of this year, 86% of U.S. venture money went to AI. Climate venture funds have raised less than $1 billion, down from more than $10 billion in 2021. Th

A Third of Australian Homes Have Solar. Why Is the U.S. So Far Behind? | Energy on the Ballot

About one in three homes and businesses in Australia have solar on the roof. The state governments there made it simple, with incentives, certified installers, and quick

The Utility CEO Who Wants to Cut Your Bill | Recorded Live at Future Currence

Demand on ComEd’s grid barely moved from 2009 to 2022. Now the utility expects about 10 gigawatts of data centers to connect by around 2030, against an all-time peak of 2

Semafor’s Tim McDonnell on Covering Russia’s Energy War From Kyiv

Ukraine has learned how to keep a power grid running while someone is trying to destroy it. Every country that imports oil now needs the same lessons. Last winter Russia

Gov. Spanberger on Making Data Centers Pay Their Fair Share | Energy on the Ballot

Northern Virginia is the biggest data center market in the world, and pushback is growing. So are power bills. A typical Dominion bill is now about $180 a month, $20 mor

Voltus Just Raised $225 Million to Pay You to Use Less Electricity

When a warehouse turns its freezers down for two hours, it looks to the grid like a power plant switching on. Voltus pays thousands of businesses to do exactly that, ever

Senator Whitehouse on Why Democrats Need a Climate Villain | Energy on the Ballot

"Little Red Riding Hood is kind of a dumb story without the wolf." That's how Senator Sheldon Whitehouse thinks Democrats have been telling the climate story. His wolf i

NVIDIA on Whether AI Can Fix Its Own Power Problem | Recorded Live at Climate Week NYC

AI data centers are straining the grid. NVIDIA and Phaidra say part of the fix is more AI: software that runs the cooling, data centers that ease off when demand peaks, a

The Permitting Bill Is Out. Senator Heinrich Walks Us Through It.

Four senators introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act on September 30. One of them recorded this episode with Jigar the day before. The bill puts d

Energy on the Ballot: Who Do You Blame for Your Electric Bill?

Electricity bills are rising across America, and for the first time in years, they're a campaign issue. Candidates on the left and the right are promising to cut your pow

Balcony Solar Costs $285. Why Is It Still So Hard to Get?

In Germany you pick up a solar panel at IKEA or the grocery store and plug it in at home. Here you order online, the cheapest kits can take four months to arrive, and in

Power Prices Have Barely Moved in 10 Years. So Why Is Your Bill Going Up?

In most of America, the cost of generating electricity has barely moved since 2015. But, over the same 10 years, residential rates are up 37% (EIA). Lee Taylor has spent

Will Sustainable Aviation Fuel Ever Take Off?

The jet fuel that could replace kerosene is made from used cooking oil. It costs two to six times more, and there isn't enough of it. This week's guest is Lauren Riley,

1 in 50 American Sheep Now Works in the Energy Industry

Sheep are replacing lawnmowers on solar farms across America. They're quieter, cleaner, and in many cases cheaper. More than 113,000 of them now graze over 500 US solar

Why Are AI Companies So Obsessed With Gas?

Amazon is building a 7.65 gigawatt gas plant in the West Texas desert. Microsoft just signed a 20-year gas deal with Chevron, 30 miles away, and Meta, OpenAI, and xAI are

Who Is Jigar Shah? (Part 3): Taking Over the Office He Called "Irredeemable"

On a podcast in 2020, Jigar called the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office "irredeemable" and said it could never be trusted again. A few weeks later, the Biden t

Ask Jigar: Is a $20,000 used EV the cheapest home battery you can buy?

A used EV costs $200 a kilowatt hour. A Powerwall costs $900. In this episode: Unsubsidized rooftop solar at $2,100 a kilowatt, and why Australia does it for half that

Five Months Into the Iran War, China Is Saving Its Oil for the Next One

Five months into the Iran war, the largest supply shock in oil market history has been managed into a strange calm. Exxon just made $14.5 billion in a quarter, gas is ove

Introducing Grid 2.0, the Open Protocol for the American Grid (Bonus episode)

This is a special bonus episode where Jigar sits down with Chris Shelton to launch Grid 2.0. If this gets adopted, it changes how every new data center and battery in Ame

AI Is Breaking the Grid. A Flywheel Could Fix It.

AI data centers make power demand jump in milliseconds. The grid can't keep up, and ratepayers get the bill. Nate Walkingshaw, founder and CEO of Torus, has a fix alread