All Podcasts

Microgrids: Game Changing Solutions: An Audio Archive

The Smart Grid enables new business and operations models for the electricity supply chain. Microgrids offer great promise to embed new technologies in the distribution grid ranging from generation, energy storage, and intelligent consumption solutions.

Audio Archive: Growing Wind Power

What a great webinar this was! The conversation covered a range of topics, from the workforce needed to grow the wind industry, to hotspots of projected growth, to an onshore-offshore debate, to the perils of permitting. This was a great starting point for TEC as we seek to incorporate more coverage of this interesting power source.

Audio Archive: Fukushima and Nuclear Power

 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. The panel covered topics as wide ranging as the carbon cost of countries' choice to abandon nuclear, what we know about future of nuclear policy internationally, and what to do about nuclear waste. If you missed this webinar live, make sure to listen to it here! Certainly one of the best webcasts TEC has held yet.

Audio Archive: Smarter Grid, Better Demand Response

Most traditional systems for distributing electricity are severely limited by a mismatch between available power and fluctuating consumer demand for power. Often, this results in wasted energy during light load times, and insufficient power during peak times—in the worst cases, leading to brownouts and blackouts. The Energy Collective partnered with several experts in the field and asked the question, what will motivate consumers to adopt smart grid technology and how is the data used? Listen below...

Is Hydrogen A Bridge to Increased Renewables?

At the Hanover Fair in Germany, I sat down with Dr. Jon Moore of Intelligent Energy, a UK firm that specialized in hydrogen fuel cells. I came to this conversation with a wind/solar/renewable policy background, and limited knowledge of hydrogen technology, except for being aware of criticism it receives from competing renewable energy advocates. Dr. Moore debunked many of these criticisms in the interview you can listen to below.

Audio Archive: The eMobility Challenge

Electric vehicles offer a major opportunity for more energy-efficient transportation, as well as reduced dependency on carbon-producing fuels. However, the cars themselves are only half the solution. We must create a new charging infrastructure to get those cars the power they need. In this webcast, The Energy Collective explored the challenge and opportunity of widespread EV adoption. Our expert panelists discussed the various charging network options and their impact on the electric grid.

Audio Archive: Supply, Demand, and Revolution

Originally aired March 9th, 2011

Audio Archive: Energy in China

A big thanks to our moderator, Marc Gunther, and our panel, including Jesse Jenkins and Commissioner Carolyn Bartholomew. We had a great conversation with a lot of audience participation (see the questions below). You can listen to the webinar below or download for later!

Audio Archive: Natural Gas - Friend or Foe to Energy Sustainability?

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.

Audio Archive: Beyond the Meter - The Next Smartgrid

The modernization of electrical grids presents an opportunity to improve the efficient use of energy through analytics of energy consumption data. Uses of this data can go well beyond efficiency and flexible pricing programs. Energy consumption data is a potential goldmine of knowledge about consumers. And this means that utilities, energy service providers, consumers, policy and regulatory representatives and vendors have interests in access, use, and storage of this data.  This webinar, hosted by The Energy Collective, answered some of these questions and many others. Listen or download below!

Audio Archive: Is There Hope for Solar?

Originally aired July 14th, 2010

Audio Archive: Gulf Oil Spill and What it Means for US Energy

A month after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and into the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the full environmental costs of the disaster remain unclear. However, some of the event's implications for the oil industry, the political environment, and the future of energy in the United States are already beginning to take shape.

With the help of a panel of industry and policy experts, The Energy Collective explored the circumstances that led to the Gulf oil disaster, and dig into its potential ramifications, for offshore drilling and much more

Audio Archive: Climate Legislation in the US Senate: Will Obama Get a Bill?

Originally aired May 5th, 2010 featuring Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Energy Collective featured floggers Marc Gunther and Jesse Jenkins

Audio Archive: A Conversation with Stewart Brand and Marc Gunther

On February 18th, 2010, The Energy Collective was pleased to host Stewart Brand, author of Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto. Stewart Brand is a long-time environmentalist Stewart Brand who created the 1960s and 1970s classic Whole Earth Catalog, believes that big cities, nuclear power and biotechnology are all green. The conversation ranged from geoengineering to genetically modified crops to the viability of energy solutions like nuclear, "clean coal," and solar power.

Audio Archive: COP 15 and Prospects for International Climate Agreements

On Tuesday, January 26, lead Energy Collective blogger Marc Gunther moderated an exclusive webinar discussion with Professor Robert Stavins of Harvard University, Aimee Christensen of Christensen Global Stategies, and Dirk Forrister of NatSource LLC.  The panelists shared valuable insights about what to expect next for international and domestic climate policy and responded to a diverse set of questions about the future of clean energy, carbon markets, and international climate negotiations.

Audio Archive: Rethinking the Electric Grid

Original broadcast: October 29th, 2009

Buy American: Bad for America

A long list of global companies warned the Obama administration in a letter [PDF] that a "Buy American" provision in the $787-billion economic stimulus package would make it harder to get the money out the door to create jobs. Turns out they were right. The Buy American regulations are complicating life for business, slowing down construction-ready projects and sparking trade tensions with, of all places, Canada.

Audio Archive: Climate Legislation in the U.S. Senate

Original broadcast: September 30th, 2009

Why a coal guy is turning green

Of all the companies in the U.S., Duke Energy is the 3rd largest emitter of CO2. Of all the companies in the world, Duke is the 12th biggest emitter. And yet…Jim Rogers, Duke’s longtime president, CEO and chairman, is pushing as hard as anyone in corporate America to get a climate-change bill passed by Congress.

SunRun: A new deal for solar

A California company called SunRun is changing the solar game. A well-funded renewable energy startup - yes, even in these tough times, this small company has raised capital - SunRun offers homeowners a simpler, cheaper and less risky way to go solar.