All Podcasts

The International Energy Agency now projects that North America will be energy self-sufficient by 2020, with the U.S. becoming the world's largest producer of both natural gas and oil. . In 2000, shale gas accounted for only 1% of all US natural gas production. Today, it accounts for almost a quarter, and by 2035, it will be over half....[read more]

The bankruptcy of solar manufacturer and stimulus-loan recipient, Solyndra, sparked a national media firestorm and political debate over the role of government in funding emerging clean energy technologies. The issue rose to prominence in the presidential campaign with Mitt Romney attacking Barack Obama on the stump and in televised...[read more]

While cleaner forms of energy continue to make strides, global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, with alarming changes in our climate such as a new, early low for Arctic sea ice this summer likely related. The fossil fuels that produce many of those emissions are likely to remain a major part of our energy mix for some time. Is it time to place more emphasis on solutions that directly address the CO2 they produce?[read more]

Energy Risk & the End of Coal? What does the closing of coal fired power plants mean for baseload power?The shale gas revolution has resulted in unprecedented low natural gas prices. Increasingly, power operators have been turning off their coal fired power plants in order to switch to the abundant natural gas. The risks of brownouts...[read more]

Power Outages and Our Vulnerable Grid:Can Distributed Energy Resources Deliver Grid Reliability? The massive power outages that shocked India at the beginning of August and the recent power disruptions that left 3 million people in the mid-Atlantic U.S. sweltering during a heat wave are just the latest in a pattern of outages caused by...[read more]

The Department of Defense and Energy Innovation:Can The Military Lead the Way to Smarter Energy? The U.S. military has deep resources, incentives to innovate, and a history of developing groundbreaking technologies that have spilled over into market-changing private sector applications. What can be learned from the Department of Defense...[read more]

Avoiding the Clean Tech Crash:Can Renewable Energy Achieve Subsidy Independence? Federal clean tech funding is poised to decline 75 percent by 2014 compared to 2009, according to a recent report from a diverse group of think tanks titled "Beyond Boom and Bust: Putting Clean Tech on a Path to Subsidy Independence". The coming expiration...[read more]

Energy Storage and Renewable Power:Is Storage a Solution to Renewable Intermittence and Grid Inefficiency? The intermittent nature of natural, carbon-free energy sources like the sun or wind has always been one of renewable power's major limitations, leaving us reliant on fossil fuels or nuclear power to supply the majority of so-called...[read more]

What technologies are at the cutting edge of energy innovation in 2012, and which ones show the most promise for helping us to establish a sustainable energy future and power our economy in the process? What are the respective roles of the public and private sectors in driving innovation in the space?Following on the heels of the...[read more]

While renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biofuels experience unprecedented levels of growth and attention, such projections seem to confirm that these fossil fuels will make up large parts of our energy mix for quite some time to come.With that in mind, it's important to ask: What significant innovations, if any, are...[read more]

Proponents of these technologies argue that they are capable of: Improving overall reliability on both sides of the grid/microgrid junctures Reducing operating costs Expediting introduction of these technologies into the distribution grid – the weakest part of the supply chain in the developed world. Offering cost effective and...[read more]

Can the growth of the wind industry substantially reduce our dependence on fossil fuels? And if so, how soon? What evolutions in technology, policy, and economics are necessary to drive that growth? What are the obstacles to a large increase in wind power?[read more]

Listen to The Energy Collective's panelists as they seek answers to questions raised after Fukushima and discuss nuclear power's role in our energy future[read more]

Featuring:Patty Durand is the Executive Director for the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative, a consumer focused non-profit aiming to promote the understanding and benefits of modernized electrical systems. Pattyhas previously conducted smart grid research at Georgia Institute of Technology, and served as the State Director for the...[read more]

While not yet commercially cost competitive, the core value of hydrogen fuel cells is that it, depending on how the hydrogen was generated, has zero emissions. At minimum, widespread hydrogen adoption may be an upgrade from and substitute for petroleum gasoline. Eliminating oil from consumers’ lives is a more pressing problem in the UK,...[read more]

Featuring: Jim Greenberger is the Executive Director of NAATBatt, a trade association of companies in the advanced battery industry working to grow the market for advanced batteries in the United States, primarily in automotive and grid-connected energy storage applications. Prior to leading NAATBatt, Mr. Greenberger practiced law in...[read more]

Recent civil unrest in North Africa and the Middle East has captured global attention, as many hope for more humane, democratic governments in that part of the world, while others express concern over what new leadership might mean for relations with the West. With large scale unrest in a region so closely associated with oil...[read more]

According to a 2010 International Energy Agency report, Chinese energy consumption has doubled over the past decade, and will soar 75 percent by 2035, accounting for more than a third of total global consumption growth. To date, the largest portion of this demand has been met by burning coal, raising serious concerns about CO2 emissions and the battle against climate change, but China has also begun to aggressively invest in alternative energy.[read more]

On November 30th, The Energy Collective presented a live webinar on natural gas with our moderator, Marc Gunther, David Hone from Shell, and Geoff Styles from GSW Strategy Group, LLC. The panel talked about how natural gas is discovered, gathered, and used. You can listen to the archive (or download it for later) and check out the slide deck below.[read more]

The question of who owns consumer data has been resoundingly answered, but many questions remain unresolved. Some of the most intriguing questions center on the types of companies that are most likely to find value in consumer energy data, and the types of products and services that can leverage this data. This webinar will...[read more]