Watt It Takes
78 episodes - English - Latest episode: 28 days ago - ★★★★★ - 96 ratingsWatt It Takes tells the stories of founders that are making our zero-carbon future a reality — their upbringings, their risks, their failures, and their breakthroughs that are transforming our world. Hosted by Powerhouse Founder and CEO and Powerhouse Ventures Managing Partner Emily Kirsch. New episodes are released every month.
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Episodes
Odyssey Energy Solutions Co-Founder and CEO Emily McAteer
April 03, 2024 13:00 - 51 minutes - 46.8 MBAccording to the World Economic Forum, if we want to reach a carbon-neutral future, the world will depend on emerging markets to build energy systems that rely on clean energy instead of fossil fuels. However, only one fifth of global clean energy investments are being channeled into emerging markets. Financing the development of distributed renewable energy projects has been slow and challenging for interested investors and project developers. In order to facilitate the growth of distribu...
WattBuy Co-Founder and CEO Naman Trivedi
February 15, 2024 15:24 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBResidential energy use accounts for about 20% of greenhouse emissions in the U.S., making it one of the most important sectors to decarbonize. As the world electrifies and consumers become more climate-conscious, energy will become one of the next consumer engagement frontiers. The WattBuy platform connects clean energy providers with residential customers, helps consumers save money on their energy bills, and helps companies engage customers with insights and provide enhanced offerings an...
SustainCERT Co-Founder and CEO Marion Verles
January 30, 2024 13:17 - 59 minutes - 54.2 MBSome experts are calling 2024 the “make or break year” for the voluntary and compliance carbon markets, which were rocked by a shaky 2023. To usher in a new era of effective and impactful carbon markets, the verification process needs a major tech update, and a serious credibility boost. Marion Verles founded SustainCERT to be the first fully digital carbon project verification platform and Scope 3 emissions verification solution. The team at SustainCERT is employing a novel approach to ve...
Ebb Carbon Co-Founder and CEO Ben Tarbell
December 13, 2023 13:39 - 1 hour - 64.6 MBOn November 17th, 2023 the average global temperature was temporarily 2 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrialization, an event with ominous climate implications. To slow global climate change, we need to find ways to supercharge natural carbon removal processes like ocean alkalization, and do it in a way that is good for the planet. That’s exactly what this month’s Watt It Takes Guest, Ben Tarbell, Co-Founder and CEO of Ebb Carbon, is doing. The team at Ebb is approaching carbon remo...
Charm Industrial Co-Founder and CEO Peter Reinhardt
November 28, 2023 13:06 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBAccording to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we need to return Earth’s atmosphere to 280 parts per million of CO2 for the health of human existence and that of the planet. To achieve that goal, industry experts believe we’ll need to be removing 10-20 billion tons of carbon per year by 2050. Removing carbon is exactly what this month’s Watt It Takes guest, Peter Reinhardt, Co-Founder and CEO of Charm Industrial, is doing. The team at Charm has developed a novel process for ...
Commonwealth Fusion Systems Co-Founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard
October 31, 2023 02:31 - 1 hour - 56.7 MBAccording to researchers around the world, fusion could be a nearly waste-free, carbon-free, and all-geography answer to creating enough dispatchable power to get us through the energy transition. To achieve this, all components of a fusion power plant need to be built so that when fusion energy becomes a reality, we have the industry, infrastructure, and processes in place to distribute the power, and it has to be cost competitive. This is exactly what Bob Mumgaard, Co-Founder and CEO of Co...
Petra Co-Founder and CEO Kim Abrams
August 31, 2023 18:27 - 1 hour - 55.4 MBClimate change-fuelled natural disasters and vulnerable transmission infrastructure have defined some of the worst natural disasters of the past decade, including the 2020 wildfires in California. It’s clearer than ever that in high-risk areas, above-ground transmission lines need to be dug underground to protect communities from fires and to ensure their access to electricity in the face of increasing natural disasters. And that’s exactly why this month’s Watt It Takes guest, Kim Abrams, fo...
Lunar Energy Founder and CEO Kunal Girotra
July 27, 2023 16:40 - 1 hour - 61.6 MBFrom induction cooktops and heat pumps to the rooftop solar needed to power it all and the batteries to store excess energy for use during blackouts, we’ve had incredible success building the tools we need to decarbonize our homes. But to the regular consumer, the universe of electrified solutions can be overwhelming. What we need is a home battery system and an integrated ecosystem of all electric products to make it easier than ever for homes to switch from gas to electricity, alongside so...
Lilac Solutions Founder and CEO Dave Snydacker
June 30, 2023 16:25 - 55 minutes - 50.4 MBIf the world is going to make the switch from fossil fuels to clean energy, we’re going to need lots of energy storage, and a lot of lithium. The global transition to clean energy is expected to trigger a 40-fold increase in the demand for lithium by 2040. Lithium is in high demand, but current methods for lithium extraction make it difficult and expensive to source. Conventional extraction methods take up lots of land, use lots of water and energy, and often have devastating environmental...
Nithio Co-Founder and CEO Kate Steel
May 31, 2023 17:48 - 54 minutes - 49.7 MBAs we speak, there are 600 million people in Africa who lack access to even basic electricity. That’s driven in part by low levels of domestic and foreign investment into electricity infrastructure across the continent: over the last decade, just 3% of capital invested into energy infrastructure worldwide went to Africa. To enable universal energy access in Africa, we’ll need innovative climate financing solutions that get the right kind of capital to the right kind of projects at the righ...
Sublime Systems CEO and Co-Founder Leah Ellis
April 25, 2023 15:25 - 59 minutes - 54.3 MBConcrete is the second most-used material in the world, right behind water. It’s everywhere – in our bridges, our buildings, our homes, our roads. It’s the literal foundation for much of our lives. And cement is a key ingredient in that foundation. It acts as the glue that binds together the water and aggregate to make concrete. Globally, we produced more than four billion tons of cement in 2021, and demand is expected to grow. But for each ton of cement produced, a ton of carbon is emitte...
Leap CEO and Co-Founder Thomas Folker
April 12, 2023 15:15 - 1 hour - 61.3 MBThe U.S. is on track to deploy 550 gigawatts of new renewables on the grid by 2030. That's a massive amount of solar, wind, and other renewables powering buildings, EVs, appliances, and industrial processes in our increasingly electrified world. Last year electric vehicles (EVs) hit a massive milestone by making up 5% of all new car sales in the U.S. And Bloomberg estimated that more than half of new car sales could be EVs by 2030. That future looks bright, but to keep the headlights on an...
Vibrant Planet CEO and Co-Founder Allison Wolff
March 16, 2023 09:00 - 58 minutes - 53.7 MBForests make up a third of all land on Earth, and they're one of our major defenses against a warming world. 45% of the carbon stored in land exists in forests. Today, our forests are struggling to adapt to human activity and a rapidly changing climate. Deforestation and wildfires continue to ravage habitats like the Amazon. In the U.S.destructive wildfires have increasingly ravaged the West. To protect these valuable ecosystems and carbon sinks, we need to radically change the way we rest...
Via Separations CEO and Co-Founder Shreya Dave
February 14, 2023 17:25 - 56 minutes - 51.9 MBIndustrial processes are one of the hardest sectors of the economy to decarbonize. Fossil fuels have been the go-to way of powering the facilities that make paper, plastics, food, beverages, and chemicals. Slashing greenhouse gas emissions from industry means changing the way companies produce their raw materials. The problem: sometimes the hardest sectors to decarbonize are the ones that may not believe in climate change at all, and thus don’t feel the need to change their practices. An...
Electric Hydrogen CEO Raffi Garabedian
December 28, 2022 11:07 - 1 hour - 65 MBLarge swaths of the global economy are very hard to decarbonize with renewables and batteries alone. Steel, cement, aviation – these industries are run on the high heat and explosive force of burning fossil fuels. Together, these activities make up the industrial basement of society; the often overlooked and essential sectors of the economy that can only be made possible, in part, by burning liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. Cleaning up these sectors requires an energy-dense alternative th...
Raptor Maps CEO and Co-Founder Nikhil Vadhavkar
December 20, 2022 13:00 - 1 hour - 79.9 MBOver the last decade, solar growth has exploded. Just last year, the U.S. added a record 13 gigawatts of utility-scale solar to the grid. And despite supply chain disruptions and inflation, the average solar panel cost still dropped by 11%. New solar plants are now cheaper to build than new gas or coal-fired power plants. But according to the Department of Energy, for the country to achieve a zero-carbon grid by 2050, we'll need 1,600 gigawatts of solar compared to the 13 we added last yea...
Nth Cycle CEO and Co-Founder Megan O'Connor
December 06, 2022 13:00 - 1 hour - 62.3 MBTo deploy enough solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and lithium-ion batteries needed to decarbonize the grid, we'll need more of the critical minerals that make these technologies possible. Growing demand for clean technology means an even bigger need for lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, and other minerals. Right now the world is on track to double its overall mineral requirements for clean technology by 2040. Yet our domestic mining capacity for these materials is a...
Sealed CEO and Co-Founder Lauren Salz
November 01, 2022 13:00 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBThe energy we use in our homes remains one of the largest sources of emissions in the country. About 20 percent of our energy-related GHG emissions comes from the fossil fuels used to power gas furnaces, stoves, water heaters, and AC units. With the U.S. predicted to add more than 62 million new homes by 2050, getting fossil fuels out of our houses, apartments and condos is crucial. And we have the tools to do it. Weatherization, insulation, and heat pumps can drastically reduce emissions...
Terabase Energy CEO and Co-Founder Matt Campbell
September 07, 2022 17:12 - 55 minutes - 50.4 MBEarlier this year, solar reached a historic milestone: 1 terawatt of capacity around the world. One trillion watts is a huge achievement. But solar still only makes up 3 percent of the world's electricity. To deploy dozens of terrawatts in the coming years, we'll need to do something about the bottlenecks holding back the planning, design, and construction of the massive solar farms that will make up a renewable-powered grid. Enabling dozens of terawatts of solar development is exactly wh...
SPAN CEO Arch Rao
August 11, 2022 17:00 - 1 hour - 60 MBOur homes account for 20 percent of America’s greenhouse gas emissions. The fastest way to cut those emissions is to electrify the systems that heat, cool, and power our homes with heat pumps, solar, batteries, and EVs. These technologies are the pillars of residential electrification. But, as more and more homeowners seek to electrify, they’re discovering that a key piece of antiquated technology in their homes is holding them back from their all-electric dream: their electrical panel. T...
Antora Energy CEO Andrew Ponec
June 29, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour - 61.6 MBHeavy industries like manufacturing, food processing, mining, and construction require a staggering amount of energy, often in the form of heat. But until recently, there hasn’t been a good way to generate that amount of heat using electricity. As a result, we burn fossil fuels to make these essential materials and products. About a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from these industrial processes. Learning how to generate these high temperatures without burning fossil ...
TeraWatt Infrastructure CEO Neha Palmer
June 01, 2022 10:00 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBTens of millions of delivery vans and semi trucks move around the clock to keep supply chains humming. These medium- and heavy-duty vehicles make up more than 25 percent of transportation emissions in the US — even though they only make up 10 percent of all vehicles on the road. We need to electrify medium and heavy-duty vehicles to meet our climate goals. But, how do we build and operate the charging infrastructure to power them? That charging network is exactly what our guest, TeraWatt...
Our Friends from The Big Switch
May 10, 2022 18:15 - 23 minutes - 42.5 MBNormally, we’d be bringing you an episode featuring an entrepreneur who’s making our climate-positive future a reality. But behind every founder with a big idea are scientists, engineers and policymakers working hard to turn those big ideas into reality. And right now, a lot of them are tackling one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis – carbon So today, we have something new for you. As a bonus, we’re bringing you an episode of one of our favorite podcasts, The Big Switch. I...
Watershed Co-Founder Taylor Francis
May 04, 2022 10:00 - 50 minutes - 91.9 MBWith 93 Fortune 500 companies committing to net-zero targets, and with the SEC preparing to require public companies to disclose climate risks, corporations are beginning to think deeply about how to track and manage their emissions. That’s why Watershed Co-Founder and CEO Taylor Francis and his team built a platform to simplify the process — and help companies to decarbonize faster. From his co-founder’s guest bedroom, Taylor and his friends used their tech experience and climate passion...
Mainspring Energy CEO & Founder Shannon Miller
April 05, 2022 10:00 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBWe’re running a contest! Through April 19, each review on Apple podcasts or share on social media (using #WattItTakes) will enter you to win a limited-edition Watt It Takes crewneck — and enable more people to hear inspiring stories about entrepreneurs making our climate-positive future a reality. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions quickly, we need to electrify large swaths of the economy. But that requires a steady supply of renewable power. And that's where things get tricky. Historicall...
Monolith Co-Founder & CEO Rob Hanson
March 02, 2022 10:00 - 52 minutes - 47.7 MBWe’re running a contest! Through March 15th, each review on Apple podcasts or share on social media (using #WattItTakes) will enter you to win a limited-edition Watt It Takes crewneck — and enable more people to hear inspiring stories about entrepreneurs making our climate-positive future a reality. Heavy industry is one of the hardest parts of the economy to decarbonize. Making steel, cement, and chemicals takes a lot of heat, a lot of electricity, and a lot of expensive equipment. Take h...
ChargerHelp! Co-Founder Kameale Terry
February 09, 2022 15:12 - 46 minutes - 42.7 MBThere are 46,000 public EV charging stations across the United States. But with 32% of charging stations down at any given time, maintaining them is a big challenge for the industry. Minimizing charger downtime isn’t easy – differences in manufacturers, network providers, and utilities can mean wide variation in hardware or software between stations. That complexity can make fixing technical problems a challenge. And that's exactly what our guest, ChargerHelp! Co-founder and CEO Kameale Te...
Trailer: Watt It Takes Is Back for a New Season
January 20, 2022 10:26 - 2 minutes - 2.11 MBWatt It Takes is a monthly podcast that tells the stories of founders and entrepreneurs who are building the carbon-free future -- their upbringings, their risks, their failures, and their breakthroughs that are transforming our world. Stay tuned to our new season in 2022. Subscribe to Watt It Takes today everywhere you get podcasts. Follow Powerhouse for more details on upcoming episodes.
Remix Co-Founder Tiffany Chu
December 21, 2021 11:00 - 55 minutes - 50.4 MBElectrifying cars and trucks is an essential part of decarbonizing mobility. But there's another vital piece in the race to zero-emissions transportation: public transit. Transit tech is emerging as one of the most exciting areas in the climate space. It's made up of companies using technology to get people out of their cars and onto shared vehicles like vans, buses, and trains. And the need has never been greater. When the pandemic threw public transportation systems around the world int...
Fervo Energy Co-Founder & CEO Tim Latimer
December 07, 2021 11:41 - 1 hour - 55.8 MBStarting in the 1960s, the United States became a world leader in building large-scale geothermal power plants. That changed in the mid-2000s with the fracking boom. Drillers turned their attention to oil and gas. And as wind, solar and batteries got cheaper, bankers and developers put their money into those resources. Today, geothermal development around the world has flatlined. But a small legion of clean energy entrepreneurs is working quietly in the background on innovations that coul...
Alex Blumberg, Host of ‘How to Save a Planet’
November 22, 2021 10:29 - 42 minutes - 39.3 MBThere are a lot of nuances to the way people perceive our warming planet. But media coverage of the issue is often catastrophic, scientifically dense, or framed exclusively around politics. So how do we talk about climate in a way that resonates across diverse groups of people? That's what our guest, Alex Blumberg, kept asking himself. Alex is an acclaimed audio journalist. He’s the co-founder of Gimlet Media and host of the Spotify climate solutions podcast How to Save a Planet. Alex ha...
Aurora Solar Co-Founder Samuel Adeyemo
October 26, 2021 10:00 - 46 minutes - 42.9 MBThe United States recently surpassed 100 gigawatts of installed solar capacity, enough to power nearly 20 million homes. But to decarbonize the power grid by 2035 and meet growing demand, the Department of Energy estimates that we'll need 1,000 gigawatts of solar capacity, providing 40% of the nation's electricity in just 15 years. That means, on average, we'll need to install solar at quadruple the rate we did in 2020. We can't achieve that growth without creative new ways to install s...
Arcadia Founder & CEO Kiran Bhatraju
September 28, 2021 11:12 - 50 minutes - 45.9 MBNinety percent of Americans want to see more renewable energy on the grid. But two-thirds of them can't directly access wind and solar — because they don't own their rooftop, can't afford the upfront cost, or can't get it from their monopoly utility. That’s where our guest, Arcadia Founder & CEO Kiran Bhatraju, comes in. “We started Arcadia to give everyone access to clean energy. It was as simple as that,” says Bhatraju. “This is a very closed, balkanized industry. And so the core idea wa...
Tesla Co-Founder & Founding CEO Martin Eberhard
August 31, 2021 10:00 - 54 minutes - 50.2 MBWhen it comes to climate tech companies, there's only one name that's known around the world: Tesla. Tesla has arguably been the defining climate tech success story of the 21st century, driving demand for electric vehicles and becoming one of the world's most valuable companies. When people think of the person behind Tesla, they think of Elon Musk. But Musk wasn't there from the very beginning — he was an early investor in the company, and didn't become CEO until five years after its found...
Malta CEO Ramya Swaminathan
August 10, 2021 10:00 - 48 minutes - 44.1 MBThere's a race going on to build the next generation of energy storage technologies using gravity, chemicals, or heat to store clean electricity for long periods of time. And that's where our guest, Ramya Swaminathan, comes in. Ramya is the CEO of a company called Malta. Malta is building an electro-chemical battery that converts renewable electricity into heat. It's like a giant version of the heat pump in your air conditioner, using commercially-available, off-the-shelf parts. Malta's h...
Powerhouse Founder & CEO Emily Kirsch
July 14, 2021 10:00 - 54 minutes - 50.1 MBOver the past four years, we’ve interviewed 40 incredible founders and CEOs on Watt It Takes. Our guests have inspired emerging and established leaders across the industry. And each one of these conversations has helped Emily on her own founder journey. With that in mind, in this episode of Watt It Takes, we’re turning the mic around to tell Emily’s story and the story of Powerhouse. Today, Powerhouse is an innovation firm and venture fund — working with the world’s leading companies to h...
‘Clean Energy Yoda’ Andy Karsner
June 15, 2021 09:20 - 38 minutes - 35.1 MBAndy Karsner is a highly influential entrepreneur, investor, diplomat, and strategist working to transform the world’s energy systems. In June, he was voted onto ExxonMobil’s board by activist shareholders as a way to hold the oil giant accountable on climate change. Back in the 90s, Andy was developing large gas and diesel power plants. But then he found the wind business. Andy started a company called Enercorp, which developed some of the earliest large-scale wind farms around the world....
SHYFT Co-Founder Ugwem Eneyo
May 18, 2021 13:40 - 51 minutes - 47.3 MBAfrica is becoming a dynamic market for clean, distributed energy. All across the continent, solar, batteries, generators, and microgrids are giving people energy cheaply — and providing greater reliability in a region where many central grids remain unreliable. But that dynamism can come at a cost. Systems are often complex. They lack standards. And it’s often difficult for buildings and businesses to manage and integrate them in concert with an incomplete grid. And that's where our gues...
OhmConnect Co-Founder Matt Duesterberg
April 20, 2021 09:12 - 39 minutes - 35.8 MBPower plants are massive, complicated pieces of machinery. Gears. Pipes. Boilers. Generators. Instruments. But a new kind of model is taking shape: one that combines smartphones, software, and smart devices in homes. It’s called a virtual power plant. And it’s what our guest, Matt Duesterberg, is working to build every day. Matt is the co-founder of a company called Ohmconnect. It was founded in 2014 to make it easy for individuals to help clean up the grid. In December 2020, OhmConnect ...
Sunrun Co-Founder Lynn Jurich
April 06, 2021 13:27 - 51 minutes - 46.9 MBIn this episode: Emily’s conversation with Lynn Jurich, the co-founder and CEO of Sunrun. Sunrun was a pioneer in the early days of residential solar. Today, it’s the biggest installer of home solar systems in America -- and one of the industry’s biggest success stories. Sunrun also partners with utilities on using batteries and rooftop systems to create virtual power plants. Lynn talks about how she convinced homeowners and banks to invest millions during the great recession in a new kind...
Trailer: Introducing Watt It Takes
April 06, 2021 09:26 - 3 minutes - 3.3 MBOver the years, we’ve profiled top leaders in climate tech, on stage and in-studio. And now we're spinning the series into a standalone show. Watt It Takes will introduce you to the entrepreneurs who are making our zero-carbon future a reality. We’re launching new episodes throughout 2021, featuring the founders, innovators, and companies you need to know. You can also listen to our entire back catalogue on the feed. Subscribe to Watt It Takes today. You can find the podcast everywhere. ...
Green Jobs Pioneer Van Jones
April 06, 2021 09:26 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBIn this episode: Emily’s conversation with CNN host and green-jobs pioneer Van Jones. Van may be best known for “The Van Jones Show” and “The Redemption Project,” which both air on CNN. He is also the author of three best-selling books, including “The Green Collar Economy.” But long before his high-profile career, Van was a powerful voice for bringing clean energy jobs to black and brown communities. He helped spearhead the Green Jobs Act of 2007, the first time the country deliberately tr...
BlocPower Founder Donnel Baird
April 06, 2021 09:26 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBIn this episode: Emily’s conversation with Donnel Baird, the founder and CEO of BlocPower. BlocPower is a Brooklyn, New York startup electrifying and weatherizing buildings in underserved communities — slashing pollution and saving money. This includes housing units, churches, community centers. BlocPower was founded in 2012. It has raised venture capital from Kapor Capital and Andreesen Horowitz. But that process was not easy for a company with a mostly Black leadership team. As a black ...
Nest Co-Founder Matt Rogers
April 06, 2021 09:26 - 1 hour - 59.1 MBIn this episode: Emily’s conversation with Matt Rogers, the co-founder of Nest. Nest is best known for its elegant learning thermostat, the first major breakout hit in the smart home space. Google later acquired the company for $3.2 billion. Matt is a former Apple engineer who applied design principles from the iPod and the iPad to smart thermostats — jolting an industry badly in need of change. This conversation was recorded live at Powerhouse’s headquarters in 2019. We’re brought to ...
Solstice CEO Steph Speirs
April 06, 2021 09:26 - 51 minutes - 46.9 MBIn this episode: Emily’s conversation with Steph Speirs, the CEO of Solstice. Solstice is a community-solar company with a mission to bring clean electricity to underserved communities. Steph Speirs grew up as one of three kids, a first generation immigrant, in Hawaii. She knows what poverty can feel like, or how a poor credit score can sink a human being. Steph wanted to use her seat at the table to make room for others. Solstice’s motto is “Solar for every American.” This conversation ...
Powerhouse Founder Emily Kirsch
April 06, 2021 09:26 - 53 minutes - 48.9 MBIn this episode, Shayle Kann interviews our Watt It Takes host, Emily Kirsch. Emily is the founder and CEO of Powerhouse and Managing Partner of Powerhouse Ventures. In this episode, she shares her entrepreneurial story. Emily began her career as an organizer at the Ella Baker Center, working with green jobs pioneer Van Jones. Then, in the early days of cleantech in Oakland, Emily searched for a hub for clean energy innovation in the San Francisco Bay Area, but didn’t find it. So, along w...
Executive Producer Stephen Lacey
April 06, 2021 09:25 - 1 hour - 70.8 MBIn this episode: Emily’s conversation with Stephen Lacey, the founder of Post Script Audio. Stephen has been the creative force behind many of the top podcasts about climate change and clean energy. And, he also happens to be our executive producer. He’s been making podcasts about the energy transition since 2006. This was the dawn of on-demand audio and the modern clean energy industry—and he had a front-row seat to both. The conversation was recorded in front of a live, remote audience i...
EVgo CEO Cathy Zoi
April 06, 2021 09:25 - 48 minutes - 44.5 MBIn this episode: Emily’s conversation with Cathy Zoi, the CEO of EVgo — one of the country’s largest electric vehicle charging networks. Cathy has seen it all. She’s studied and worked in oil, gas and clean energy since the Reagan Era. Now at the helm of EVgo, she’s convinced the future of mobility is coming fast. Cathy was on the team that developed the original Energy Star rating when she worked at the Environmental Protection Agency. She was chief of staff in the White House Office on ...
Bloomberg New Energy Finance Founder Michael Liebreich
April 06, 2021 09:25 - 56 minutes - 52.1 MBIn this episode: Emily’s conversation with Michael Liebreich, the founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Michael had been many things, from entry-level analyst to Olympic skier to a crestfallen dot-com entrepreneur. And then in the mid-2000s, he found his home in the clean energy economy. Unemployed, he used a team of interns to begin compiling data on clean energy investment. And that turned into a 140-employee business that Bloomberg LP purchased in 2009. This conversation was record...
Opower Co-Founder Dan Yates
April 06, 2021 09:25 - 52 minutes - 48.2 MBIn this episode: Emily’s conversation with Dan Yates, the co-founder and former CEO of Opower. Opower was based on a simple premise: send paper mailers to utility customers comparing their electricity use to their neighbors. And if people saw they were doing poorly, they’d make changes. It worked. Over time, Opower inked deals with the world’s biggest power companies and started processing vast amounts of smart meter data -- making it arguably the biggest energy efficiency success story i...