Over on the Heatmap podcast, Jesse Jenkins was getting really negative about rooftop solar. From a pure efficiency standpoint, his arguments are hard to argue with -- but is there an "insurance policy" angle to consider, where we just aren't able as a society to built out all the centralized large-scale infrastructure we need, and it's DER stuff on the edge that ends up saving the day? Because it sure seems like we're bad at building centralized large-scale infrastructure.
I think Sammy Roth's writing on this has been helpful (for example, see here: https://web.archive.org/web/20240203105214/https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2023-06-29/can-rooftop-solar-alone-solve-climate-change-heres-the-answer-boiling-point). It will never make sense to do *only* utility-scale or rooftop - if only because we will probably start with building the easiest large-scale infrastructure and it'll only get more difficult to find space that no one is upset about. It's similar to the discussion around clean firm power - we certainly could build a grid that uses only renewables and batteries, but adding in a little bit of geothermal or long-duration storage reduces the cost of generating the last few hardest-to-decarbonize MWs. Plus you get all of the benefits of not building transmission, increasing reliability, putting our eggs in different baskets, etc. If that's the case, we should prioritize reducing the costs of rooftop solar by stripping out all of the unnecessary soft costs - no need for a long permitting or interconnection process for solar panels to go where there is already a structure in the ground!
I'm a yuge fan of big, yuge, beautiful solar. A few days ago I took a detour on a roadtrip to gawk at the 700 MW,10 sq. mi. Gemini Solar Project north of Vegas. Miles of parallel panels shading tortoise chow bushes.
There is some NREL software for bldg depts which gets hyped now, but that doesn't address overly-conservative codes and the utility approval process.
But I get annoyed, and perhaps Jesse Jenkins was also, by the supposedly climate activist crowd who insist we only need rooftop solar, efficiency, and better habits (mass transit, composting) or something. And they disappear when there is the hint that industrial wind or solar needs "space that no one is upset about." Somebody is always upset. Sometimes based on reality, sometimes based on FF-assisted nonsense.
I was really disappointed by that episode. I thought it was dismissive to think of it as a zero-sum game. The people choosing to spend money on utility scale solar farms are NOT the same as the people choosing to spend money on rooftop solar (except for government tax credits which go to both). We can and should push both as hard as we can because it isn't as much about how much solar we build but how fast we build it. And if we figure out storage, we can "overbuild" on one or the other and shift that energy to other times or locations.
It's been a few weeks, but I thought I could shoot some holes in his argument. I think if we electrify everything and it all ends up owned by Investor Owned Utilities, that will be a sort of failure. The democratization potential of solar would be lost. IMO, the performance of IOUs isn't good enough to just "hand them the keys". I doubt the guys installing rooftop in CA magically got grid-scale installation jobs overnight, and gave a big boost to deployment. It works in theory, not necessarily in practice.
One of the regular features of podcasts is how existing incentives lead to the unhelpful behavior of utilities. Can you find a guest who can lay out realistic and achievable incentives to encourage utilities to act in a way that promotes emissions reductions?
David was one of the Vox OGs, with the likes of Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias and Sarah Kliff. With a few years' distance, what influence doed he think that generation of Vox writers had on journalism more broadly? Any thoughts on the site today/ post Vox work of the other OGs?
What does David think is a fair rate of compensation for rooftop solar? Especially in already-high-solar-penetration regions? Do you think cost shifting arguments hold water?
I'd also like to know how that fair rate changes in a cold winter-peaking region. As far as I can tell, there's really no argument that distributed solar has any value beyond avoided cost of energy in Alaska, since it's definitionally not operating during peak conditions. So, no capacity value at all. Especially as heat becomes electrified, I imagine this will be similar anywhere where heating load is greater than air conditioning.
I'm not sure whether the intent is to submit questions about item (5) in this thread, but there wasn't an obvious other thread for it.
Regarding battery chemistries, and energy storage more broadly, I think the trillion dollar question is: what works for storing energy without huge losses on a time-scale of MONTHS, rather than hours or days. My suspicion, based on _very_ minimal knowledge about the chemistry, is that the flow batteries seem most promising for this, since you can store your ion solutions well-separated in tanks. In theory it seems like if the tanks are big enough and the walls of the tanks are extremely non-reactive, this seems promising for long-term energy storage. Question is whether you really can scale up the storage enough to pack away three months of summer generation, for discharge over three months in the winter? How ludicrously big do the tanks have to be, for that to make sense?
I would love to hear about iron flow batteries like the ones made by ESS, versus ones like Tesla Megapack. Both are being rolled out by Utilities, and I’d like to understand the economics of each and how they compare.
With the recent revolt at SBTi against its possible acceptance of carbon offsets in corporate carbon accounting, perhaps Dave should do a deep dive into the arcane topic of voluntary corporate carbon accounting, including such topics as "carbon offsets", "procuring CFE through buying RECs", "offsetting corporate scope 2 emissions through RECs", "the qualitative difference, if any, between RECs and T-RECs". The current logic adopted by standard-setting bodies (including GHG Protocol, EPA , SBTi, etc.) is so convoluted that the public is simply confused. A timely podcast to help raise public awareness and elevate the quality of public discourse will be invaluable.
I was wondering what your thoughts are on white hydrogen. I don't know much about it but it seems like it could either be a boon or a boondoggle or a bit of both.
Is there anything here, or rather, if there is something here does it represent a broad failure to right-size vehicles rather than a win for distributed energy and grid enhancing technologies?
For reference, I recently listened to Shayle Kann and the GM V2X guy from last August and they were talking about taking advantage of that big, about to be released, Silverado battery for grid services and I kept coming back to the demand profile for the car and how it lines up with the grid peak demands: you need your battery fully charged before you leave the house in the morning, right during the morning demand peak and your battery will be at its lowest charge when you return home at night right during the evening demand peak. The only way the Vehicle's battery is useful is if you have spare capacity. And that spare capacity, when carried around all day as part of your car, is deployed in the most expensive and least permanent manner possible in a V2X configuration.
With a 25kWh battery I could decrease my home's peak power draw by one third and double the delivered power annually from the grid. That peak shaving and shifting is gold, allowing the distribution grid to do more with what is already in place. So there is definitely something possible in this space. But if you are carrying a 225kWh battery around in your car 365 days a year so you can participate in a energy/charge deferment once a week... we've really lost the plot haven't we? The rocketship problem is a hard constraint because carrying around your fuel as you move from place to place is super expensive and eventually dominates everything about your vehicle. If we've got spare capacity in our EVs we've got too much battery, which means we're spending more power to go the same distance, causing more wear, putting pedestrians at more risk, spending more money for less impact, and on and on.
We collectively seem determined to make V2G a thing, PNNL has been pushing on that rock for at least 20 years, but it really looks like the wrong configuration of the right parts of the solution to a real problem in our world.
In the recent Ep with Michael Liebreich, he said something to the effect of "EVs and heat pumps are the natural complementary technologies to wind and solar, in that their use can be time-shifted by a few hours or days to accommodate mismatches in supply and demand." (quote is pulled from his "superheroes" post). However, I hear *all the time* from heat pump and efficiency advocates that cycling your heat pump temperature (e.g., pre-cooling) undermines heat pump performance and can negatively impact comfort more than cycling an AC. Is this true? Is cycling worth the sacrifice in COP because of the peak-shaving benefits? It is worth cycling in the summer, but not winter? Obviously if you have dual-fuel in winter that would assist with avoiding winter peaks and could enable heat pump cycling/interruption. But what if you have an all-electric system?
In “Managing a Distributed Grid”, it was brought up that one outcome in leveraging DERs is it can reduce the need to add/upgrade transformers. However, how can utilities make money off this use case? Isn't the work associated with DERs a utility operational expense as opposed to the capital expense associated with a transformer?
I find the potential of DERs fascinating and often think, “How do utilities view them?”. In “Managing a Distributed Grid”, I assume utilities live and breathe via the mantra reliable, safe, and affordable. Given this, is an obstacle to DER inclusion by utilities because utilities see DER as unreliable? And if that is the case, how can utilities mitigate that risk?
As a climate scientist turned climate educator & activist, I've watched the fossil fuel industry block climate action for decades, from local to international. The idea that passing peak oil demand could lead to a "death spiral" for the industry – and far sooner than most people imagine – is the most hopeful/exciting idea I've run across in years. I desperately want it to be true. Is it?
Sorry if I've asked this before but why isn't anyone interested in Aptera? Super light, super aerodynamic, able to charge up to 40 miles with built-in solar, and the launch edition will get 400 miles on a charge. Sure it hasn't gone into production yet but they built the molds in Italy for the carbon-fiber shell and have started pressing the parts. This vehicle could be a game changer but it's ignored by the press and investors.
How has your EV ownership experience gone so far compared to your initial expectations? Especially with decreased efficiency in cold weather and the current state of EV charging infrastructure in the US.
Also how far do you think we are from Level 2 EV charging infrastructure being reliable or ubiquitous enough for EV ownership to be convenient/accessible for non-homeowners? [i.e. apartment renters, or just anyone who doesn't have their own garage to regularly charge an EV at home]
The DOE is accepting applications for the next round of Clean Energy Innovator Fellows. I'm a currently serving fellow and it's a great program for folks trying to get their foot in the door especially for those interested in public service (a lot of Fellows hosted at PUCs, tribal entities, state energy offices, etc)
Hello everyone! As we've heard on the Volts podcast, one of the biggest levers for reducing carbon emissions is industrial heat. Skyven Technologies (www.skyven.co) focuses on innovative industrial heat pump technology and uses an energy-as-a-service model to enable manufacturing sites to decarbonize without upfront cost. The company just got selected for a large DOE award (check out the Mar 27 Volts episode) and will be expanding the team significantly this year. Job openings include roles in engineering, project management, finance and HR and can be found here:
RE: industrial heat pumps: probably the wrong place to ask, but I have been dying to know if this can be a solution for district heating systems? I know heat pumps have been a district heat source in Scandinavia for decades, but is it possible in the US? Or is it way too expensive here? Is industry the only use for large-scale heat pumps here?
I'm a digital marketing professional looking for a communications/marketing position related to climate solutions. If you're aware of any such opportunities, please let me know. Thank you!
I hope this is fitting, but I am running for State Legislature in South Dakota. One of my goals is to boost solar energy production in our state. We should be a national leader, but thanks to our extremist Governor and Legislature, we're not where we should be (and, of course, turned down a bunch of money from the federal government to support production). My district is winnable, and I would be very grateful if the Volts community could support me. You can find out more about me at aaronfor11.com, and if you are so moved, chip in a few bucks here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/aaron-for-11-1. Thanks!
I just bought my first EV, a 2019 Nissan LEAF. It’s one of the best decisions I ever made. I bought the car to slightly quiet the voice in my head that tells me the planet is dying and I am not doing nearly enough to save it. Coming from a budget Scion hatchback, the LEAF is an amazing (and to my eyes futuristic) vehicle. I wasn’t thinking about this when I purchased it, but EVs are extremely fun to drive. They’re also extremely conducive to the “hypermiling” I used to do in my old ICE vehicle.
I don’t have solar at home and have no plans to add it anytime soon (I rent), but given that I work from home and mostly use the LEAF as a putter around town vehicle, I’m very interested in exploring some sort of portable solar charging option for it. Has anyone done this? If I could restore 10-15 miles of range via solar power every day, that would be perfect for my needs. Unfortunately, all of the portable solar power packages I am seeing for purchase online are prohibitively expensive ($3,000 - $4,500).
I have been doing this listing of mostly academic events first weekly in the Boston area, now monthly around the world with online events for over a decade. It's free and also a listserv.
I'm looking for others who may be doing something similar in other countries, for other interests. World class information is available, mostly for free, to anyone who wants it.
Tonight at 5p PT/8p ET, Climate Changemakers is hosting Representative Mike Levin for an Hour of Action event on transmission reform. Of course, Volts listeners know transmission reform is crucial for making this whole energy transition thing work, but I don't think many of us know what we can do about it (short of quitting our jobs and running for Congress). Well, the answer is there's a lot we can do about it! Join us this evening to learn AND take action, all in 60 minutes.
My monthly Forests and Friends meetup in Bellevue Wa is this Thursday (4-18, 4:30-7pm at Cascadia Pizza Co). We get together to talk Forests, Startups, Climate, Tech, etc. and this week we'll have a few new folks to talk about methane satellites and biochar markets. Should be another good time had by all.
I'm a researcher with Sightline Institute and I'm looking for some help. Sightline worked with legislators in 2023 to get a budget proviso passed to support transition planning for Washington's petroleum refineries. Here's a link to an article by Sightline on the proviso and some key considerations: https://www.sightline.org/2023/05/31/washingtons-refinery-communities-just-got-a-transition-boost/
In response, the Department of Commerce in Washington State will be conducting a study to analyze the economic impact of oil refining in Washington state and how decarbonization policies are likely to affect Washington's refineries, refinery workers, and refinery communities. This study is kicking off soon and we've heard from DoC that the likely scenarios that the analysts will examine are premised on the refineries retooling to produce alternative fuels like biofuels, renewable diesel and hydrogen. While these alternative fuel manufacturing scenarios are certainly plausible, they may fall short when scored for carbon footprint, high-wage job creation or sustained tax revenues for refinery communities. I'm reaching out to this community looking for other ideas (out-of-the box ideas welcome!) that might offer different outcomes along these three dimensions (carbon emissions, job creation, tax revenue) that Sightline could offer up for consideration in some of the scenario modeling that will be done under this study.
Do you know any anthropologists or other ethnographic or qualitative social science researchers with jobs in energy?
Or have experience with the social and cultural challenges and opportunities in decarbonization work?
I'm researching potential consulting or business career pathways for anthropologists in advancing decarbonization and would love to talk with you if you have relevant experience or insights!
Hi fellow Volts community members! For the past month or so I've been working on developing Heat Pump Review https://heatpump.review
Heat Pump Review is one-part newsletter and (coming soon) podcast, and one part data resource for the heat pump community, with an emphasis on residential HVAC and water heaters. The key contribution I've made on the data side is to compile all of the Energy Star data around heat pump HVAC systems and water heaters and 1) compile which companies actually manufacture each make/model and 2) roll up all of the makes/models so that you can see if the one you are buying or considering is a sub-brand of another brand.
Eventually I'd like to get deeper into performance data (e.g., air handler vs condenser) and the real holy grail will be acquiring price data, which is presently guarded by the industry.
Anyway, would love you all's eyes on the site as I develop it and feel free to send me any feature requests as you have them.
Hey, all, this looks like a great effort! Nice to have the eyes of an outsider (not gov't, NGO or existing US HVAC biz) on our flailings (failings?) in this regard.
I work in industrial combustion, currently the largest segment of the industrial heating market. I believe combustion is likely to be a part of the industrial heating picture well into the future, but I also believe the market share of combustion will begin diminishing, perhaps rapidly, during my lifetime and what's left of my career. I came to Volts and resources like it to try and get some sense of what's coming, so I can get smart enough to make moves that will allow us to help our customers transition early and successfully. If anyone has suggestions for further research on scalable thermal processing solutions for industry, or companies in this vein who are looking for pilot projects, please send them my way!
Rondo Energy seems focused on a very good method to substitute "excess" VRE for steam and higher temp industrial heat, using resistance heating of magnesite or similar bricks. David has an episode. More recently on Carbon Copy.
Of course that excess VRE needs to actually be made available to the users (cheaply, as it's at a COP of 1.0)! As with some grid-enhancing tech, another American startup finding markets in the EU, even though some US regions do have the excess power. Their tech is going into a recently-announced DOE process heat demo.
Lots of industrial HP action in the EU, constantly pushing for a few more deg C on the high end, usually with ammonia cycle HPs.
Hey Volts! I am the Communications Coordinator at Campus Climate Action Corps, an AmeriCorps service program focused on climate action through college-community collaborations and I recently spearheaded and launched the ongoing ‘Environment for Everyone Campaign’ that is focused on addressing the urgent need for immediate climate action by providing accessible information, resources, and opportunities for people of all demographics to take advantage of!
I would absolutely love it if you took a look at our content so far and shared it with your audiences to spread the word about our campaign and the CCAC program! See the Environment for Everyone Overview Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2hZT24W7Lw. You can also see overviews of our Earth Week Tips emails that kicked off the campaign last week by scrolling to the bottom of our CCAC homepage (https://compact.org/current-programs/americorps/campus-climate-action-corps).
Hello fellow Voltsies! I'm building analytics software to help DER developers with interconnection. It's called GigaFlow. No website yet, but you can check out my personal LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-shiells-272bab13/
I'm looking for collaborators (cofounders?) with data science and/or energy engineering expertise. Reach out to me via email - sshiells@giga-flow.com. Thanks! :)
I’m thinking about effective, accessible ways to educate new folks on climate policy. Volts is a great start, but I wonder about hands-on approaches having to do with art or other mediums that make people feel engaged in these discussions. If anyone has any ideas or is thinking similarly, please let me know!
Hey Elise! So glad I found this comment - this is 100% our lane at Climate Changemakers: climatechangemakers.org/. Our "medium" is action events where folks who are eager to learn what they can do to influence climate policy (or just make a greater impact on the climate crisis more generally) can learn by doing.
Historically we have not done much art as a community, but I know art is a great way to make abstract concepts more tangible (see: Nicole Kelner for ex) so I'd love to connect!
We're actually hosting a special Hour of Action on transmission reform tonight at 5p PT/8p ET with Congressmember Mike Levin. It would be great to see you there! lu.ma/transmission.
Would you you find a list of Volts episodes in a google sheet helpful for sorting and filtering the information in the podcast? Do you need to see it first? What information would you extract from the podcast to filter on?
Hi Robert, an FYI that we're developing something like this right now. Basically we've tagged every episode by subject matter so that they're easily filterable.
How about an interview with Maryland GA Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo?
The US state of Maryland will require utilities to allow electric vehicles (EVs) with bidirectional chargers to connect to the distribution grid after new legislation was passed last week. The state legislature, the Maryland General Assembly, passed HB 1256, aka the Distributed Renewable Integration and Vehicle Electrification (DRIVE) Act, on 2 April. It was sponsored by Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo.
In addition to its “first-of-a-kind” treatment of bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, the act also enables the creation of distributed energy resource (DER) virtual power plants that pool the capabilities of home solar PV, batteries, smart thermostats, and other equipment.
The legislation also expands utility time-of-use tariffs to allow drivers to charge their EVs at off-peak rates. The utility rules will apply to investor-owned utilities (IOUs), which are distinct from municipal utilities or cooperatives.
Just wanted to be sure that Dave and the Seattle Volts community knows that Bill McKibbon is coming to Seattle on July 2. Information at ThirdAct.org/washington.
I just learned some interesting things about the history of railroad electrification in the Rocky mountain region of Montana. The Miwaukie Road got started with electric powered trains in the nineteen teens and was fully electric in the nineteen twenties. 650 miles of electrified main line through the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades.
This is a "sharing climate work" post. I've followed David since Vox days, and have always been inspired by the depth of his analysis of energy matters, and renewables in particular. I'm writing to share news of the past six years of my own climate-related work, in the form of the book, Food Planet Future: The Art of Turning Food and Climate Perils Into Possibilities (Papadakis, UK, 2024). While working on this book, I became fascinated with the "second leg" of climate change (the first being excess fossil fuel burning): the climate impacts of land use. Agricultural practices in particular, and their impact on soil health, water cycles, heat dynamics, and more. Would love to see this get more attention. I've combined journalism with art, using a scanning electron microscope and photomontage, to elicit awe, wonder, and curiosity about multiple successful strategies in regenerative agricultural and other practices. I invite readers to visit my website (foodplanetfuture.com) if they're interested in a unique approach to these subjects. Paul Hawken writes: “Robert Dash’s extraordinary images are doorways to both knowledge and imagination. Great art gives us new eyes and minds. We see the world differently and are transformed in turn. What you see here are the light catchers, the photon transformers, the source of life for every living being. Seeing through Robert’s lens is to appreciate the mystery and grandeur of the living world in a way that is unforgettable.”
I'm asking for help in passing along word of this book. It's essential that positive examples of workable strategies receive attention. I do so in this book, without sugarcoating the challenges.
Influit really seem like they have an interesting technology for batteries, and I never hear anything about them. Also, it would be interesting to hear more about the large scale changes that would enable deep electrification. I'm thinking of things like widespread triple phase adoption for homes, or HVDC grids between States and nations..
Climate Event: The Unitarian Universalist Church of Roanoke https://uuroanoke.org/ will hold it's monthly Climate & Clean Energy Rally on April 28th between 12:15 & 1:15 on the corner of Grandin Rd. & Brandon Ave. We've been doing this monthly since 2015 (with a few weather & pandemic interruptions). It's open to all who care about the climate crisis.
Absolutely loved the episode on industrial decarbonization, a huge and mostly B2B piece of the puzzle. I'm in chemicals and was just so excited to see it covered (and correctly called out) here! Seeing the comparison to other industries also made me feel better about how difficult it has been to move this behemoth towards any change... I'd be interested in what has *really* moved the needle in other B2B cases that don't get much direct interfacing with the public. Is it just $ savings or stricter regulatory at the end of the day?
--- MAILBAG QUESTIONS ---
Over on the Heatmap podcast, Jesse Jenkins was getting really negative about rooftop solar. From a pure efficiency standpoint, his arguments are hard to argue with -- but is there an "insurance policy" angle to consider, where we just aren't able as a society to built out all the centralized large-scale infrastructure we need, and it's DER stuff on the edge that ends up saving the day? Because it sure seems like we're bad at building centralized large-scale infrastructure.
I think Sammy Roth's writing on this has been helpful (for example, see here: https://web.archive.org/web/20240203105214/https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2023-06-29/can-rooftop-solar-alone-solve-climate-change-heres-the-answer-boiling-point). It will never make sense to do *only* utility-scale or rooftop - if only because we will probably start with building the easiest large-scale infrastructure and it'll only get more difficult to find space that no one is upset about. It's similar to the discussion around clean firm power - we certainly could build a grid that uses only renewables and batteries, but adding in a little bit of geothermal or long-duration storage reduces the cost of generating the last few hardest-to-decarbonize MWs. Plus you get all of the benefits of not building transmission, increasing reliability, putting our eggs in different baskets, etc. If that's the case, we should prioritize reducing the costs of rooftop solar by stripping out all of the unnecessary soft costs - no need for a long permitting or interconnection process for solar panels to go where there is already a structure in the ground!
I'm a yuge fan of big, yuge, beautiful solar. A few days ago I took a detour on a roadtrip to gawk at the 700 MW,10 sq. mi. Gemini Solar Project north of Vegas. Miles of parallel panels shading tortoise chow bushes.
However, the USA or renewable-friendly states should also be following Australia's examples where they standardized 5-10 years ago on a bunch of reforms which reduced rooftop solar costs dramatically. https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/how-to-halve-the-cost-of-residential-solar-in-the-us
There is some NREL software for bldg depts which gets hyped now, but that doesn't address overly-conservative codes and the utility approval process.
But I get annoyed, and perhaps Jesse Jenkins was also, by the supposedly climate activist crowd who insist we only need rooftop solar, efficiency, and better habits (mass transit, composting) or something. And they disappear when there is the hint that industrial wind or solar needs "space that no one is upset about." Somebody is always upset. Sometimes based on reality, sometimes based on FF-assisted nonsense.
I was really disappointed by that episode. I thought it was dismissive to think of it as a zero-sum game. The people choosing to spend money on utility scale solar farms are NOT the same as the people choosing to spend money on rooftop solar (except for government tax credits which go to both). We can and should push both as hard as we can because it isn't as much about how much solar we build but how fast we build it. And if we figure out storage, we can "overbuild" on one or the other and shift that energy to other times or locations.
It's worth listening to the follow-up with Jesse on the DER Task Force pod:
https://www.dertaskforce.com/p/50-jesse-ira-jenkins-is-on-the-pod
I believe you're referring to this:
https://heatmap.news/podcast/shift-key-episode-five-rooftop-solar
It's been a few weeks, but I thought I could shoot some holes in his argument. I think if we electrify everything and it all ends up owned by Investor Owned Utilities, that will be a sort of failure. The democratization potential of solar would be lost. IMO, the performance of IOUs isn't good enough to just "hand them the keys". I doubt the guys installing rooftop in CA magically got grid-scale installation jobs overnight, and gave a big boost to deployment. It works in theory, not necessarily in practice.
One of the regular features of podcasts is how existing incentives lead to the unhelpful behavior of utilities. Can you find a guest who can lay out realistic and achievable incentives to encourage utilities to act in a way that promotes emissions reductions?
David was one of the Vox OGs, with the likes of Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias and Sarah Kliff. With a few years' distance, what influence doed he think that generation of Vox writers had on journalism more broadly? Any thoughts on the site today/ post Vox work of the other OGs?
What does David think is a fair rate of compensation for rooftop solar? Especially in already-high-solar-penetration regions? Do you think cost shifting arguments hold water?
I'd also like to know how that fair rate changes in a cold winter-peaking region. As far as I can tell, there's really no argument that distributed solar has any value beyond avoided cost of energy in Alaska, since it's definitionally not operating during peak conditions. So, no capacity value at all. Especially as heat becomes electrified, I imagine this will be similar anywhere where heating load is greater than air conditioning.
I'm not sure whether the intent is to submit questions about item (5) in this thread, but there wasn't an obvious other thread for it.
Regarding battery chemistries, and energy storage more broadly, I think the trillion dollar question is: what works for storing energy without huge losses on a time-scale of MONTHS, rather than hours or days. My suspicion, based on _very_ minimal knowledge about the chemistry, is that the flow batteries seem most promising for this, since you can store your ion solutions well-separated in tanks. In theory it seems like if the tanks are big enough and the walls of the tanks are extremely non-reactive, this seems promising for long-term energy storage. Question is whether you really can scale up the storage enough to pack away three months of summer generation, for discharge over three months in the winter? How ludicrously big do the tanks have to be, for that to make sense?
I would love to hear about iron flow batteries like the ones made by ESS, versus ones like Tesla Megapack. Both are being rolled out by Utilities, and I’d like to understand the economics of each and how they compare.
With the recent revolt at SBTi against its possible acceptance of carbon offsets in corporate carbon accounting, perhaps Dave should do a deep dive into the arcane topic of voluntary corporate carbon accounting, including such topics as "carbon offsets", "procuring CFE through buying RECs", "offsetting corporate scope 2 emissions through RECs", "the qualitative difference, if any, between RECs and T-RECs". The current logic adopted by standard-setting bodies (including GHG Protocol, EPA , SBTi, etc.) is so convoluted that the public is simply confused. A timely podcast to help raise public awareness and elevate the quality of public discourse will be invaluable.
Three topics I hear about and seem potentially significant but I’d love some reporting/insight: a) biochar, b) mass timber, c) solid state batteries.
Hi Dave,
I was wondering what your thoughts are on white hydrogen. I don't know much about it but it seems like it could either be a boon or a boondoggle or a bit of both.
Question about V2X.
Is there anything here, or rather, if there is something here does it represent a broad failure to right-size vehicles rather than a win for distributed energy and grid enhancing technologies?
For reference, I recently listened to Shayle Kann and the GM V2X guy from last August and they were talking about taking advantage of that big, about to be released, Silverado battery for grid services and I kept coming back to the demand profile for the car and how it lines up with the grid peak demands: you need your battery fully charged before you leave the house in the morning, right during the morning demand peak and your battery will be at its lowest charge when you return home at night right during the evening demand peak. The only way the Vehicle's battery is useful is if you have spare capacity. And that spare capacity, when carried around all day as part of your car, is deployed in the most expensive and least permanent manner possible in a V2X configuration.
With a 25kWh battery I could decrease my home's peak power draw by one third and double the delivered power annually from the grid. That peak shaving and shifting is gold, allowing the distribution grid to do more with what is already in place. So there is definitely something possible in this space. But if you are carrying a 225kWh battery around in your car 365 days a year so you can participate in a energy/charge deferment once a week... we've really lost the plot haven't we? The rocketship problem is a hard constraint because carrying around your fuel as you move from place to place is super expensive and eventually dominates everything about your vehicle. If we've got spare capacity in our EVs we've got too much battery, which means we're spending more power to go the same distance, causing more wear, putting pedestrians at more risk, spending more money for less impact, and on and on.
We collectively seem determined to make V2G a thing, PNNL has been pushing on that rock for at least 20 years, but it really looks like the wrong configuration of the right parts of the solution to a real problem in our world.
In the recent Ep with Michael Liebreich, he said something to the effect of "EVs and heat pumps are the natural complementary technologies to wind and solar, in that their use can be time-shifted by a few hours or days to accommodate mismatches in supply and demand." (quote is pulled from his "superheroes" post). However, I hear *all the time* from heat pump and efficiency advocates that cycling your heat pump temperature (e.g., pre-cooling) undermines heat pump performance and can negatively impact comfort more than cycling an AC. Is this true? Is cycling worth the sacrifice in COP because of the peak-shaving benefits? It is worth cycling in the summer, but not winter? Obviously if you have dual-fuel in winter that would assist with avoiding winter peaks and could enable heat pump cycling/interruption. But what if you have an all-electric system?
In “Managing a Distributed Grid”, it was brought up that one outcome in leveraging DERs is it can reduce the need to add/upgrade transformers. However, how can utilities make money off this use case? Isn't the work associated with DERs a utility operational expense as opposed to the capital expense associated with a transformer?
I find the potential of DERs fascinating and often think, “How do utilities view them?”. In “Managing a Distributed Grid”, I assume utilities live and breathe via the mantra reliable, safe, and affordable. Given this, is an obstacle to DER inclusion by utilities because utilities see DER as unreliable? And if that is the case, how can utilities mitigate that risk?
I would love to hear Dr Volts speak about this piece from RMI:
https://rmi.org/insight/peaks-why-they-matter/#:~:text=Peaks%20matter%20because%20they%20separate,that%20of%20decline%20and%20risk.
As a climate scientist turned climate educator & activist, I've watched the fossil fuel industry block climate action for decades, from local to international. The idea that passing peak oil demand could lead to a "death spiral" for the industry – and far sooner than most people imagine – is the most hopeful/exciting idea I've run across in years. I desperately want it to be true. Is it?
Sorry if I've asked this before but why isn't anyone interested in Aptera? Super light, super aerodynamic, able to charge up to 40 miles with built-in solar, and the launch edition will get 400 miles on a charge. Sure it hasn't gone into production yet but they built the molds in Italy for the carbon-fiber shell and have started pressing the parts. This vehicle could be a game changer but it's ignored by the press and investors.
Greetings David,
How has your EV ownership experience gone so far compared to your initial expectations? Especially with decreased efficiency in cold weather and the current state of EV charging infrastructure in the US.
Also how far do you think we are from Level 2 EV charging infrastructure being reliable or ubiquitous enough for EV ownership to be convenient/accessible for non-homeowners? [i.e. apartment renters, or just anyone who doesn't have their own garage to regularly charge an EV at home]
--- CLIMATE JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES ---
Clark County, NV (Las Vegas) is hiring a Sustainability and Climate Program Manager. Great opportunity for someone who wants to make a mark in a high profile location. https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3868924732/?refId=waPuLAgfYpNfT1x1GZqyGw%3D%3D
The DOE is accepting applications for the next round of Clean Energy Innovator Fellows. I'm a currently serving fellow and it's a great program for folks trying to get their foot in the door especially for those interested in public service (a lot of Fellows hosted at PUCs, tribal entities, state energy offices, etc)
Hello everyone! As we've heard on the Volts podcast, one of the biggest levers for reducing carbon emissions is industrial heat. Skyven Technologies (www.skyven.co) focuses on innovative industrial heat pump technology and uses an energy-as-a-service model to enable manufacturing sites to decarbonize without upfront cost. The company just got selected for a large DOE award (check out the Mar 27 Volts episode) and will be expanding the team significantly this year. Job openings include roles in engineering, project management, finance and HR and can be found here:
https://skyven.co/careers/
RE: industrial heat pumps: probably the wrong place to ask, but I have been dying to know if this can be a solution for district heating systems? I know heat pumps have been a district heat source in Scandinavia for decades, but is it possible in the US? Or is it way too expensive here? Is industry the only use for large-scale heat pumps here?
An upcoming pod is extremely relevant to this question Mary Ann!
amazing! Looking forward to it!
Hi All,
I'm a digital marketing professional looking for a communications/marketing position related to climate solutions. If you're aware of any such opportunities, please let me know. Thank you!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/asa-henderson-bb6511b5/
--- EVERYTHING ELSE ---
I hope this is fitting, but I am running for State Legislature in South Dakota. One of my goals is to boost solar energy production in our state. We should be a national leader, but thanks to our extremist Governor and Legislature, we're not where we should be (and, of course, turned down a bunch of money from the federal government to support production). My district is winnable, and I would be very grateful if the Volts community could support me. You can find out more about me at aaronfor11.com, and if you are so moved, chip in a few bucks here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/aaron-for-11-1. Thanks!
This is pretty cool, I don't think I've heard a podcast on solar steam: https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2024/04/26/solar-steam-starts-up-in-the-san-diego-region
I just bought my first EV, a 2019 Nissan LEAF. It’s one of the best decisions I ever made. I bought the car to slightly quiet the voice in my head that tells me the planet is dying and I am not doing nearly enough to save it. Coming from a budget Scion hatchback, the LEAF is an amazing (and to my eyes futuristic) vehicle. I wasn’t thinking about this when I purchased it, but EVs are extremely fun to drive. They’re also extremely conducive to the “hypermiling” I used to do in my old ICE vehicle.
I don’t have solar at home and have no plans to add it anytime soon (I rent), but given that I work from home and mostly use the LEAF as a putter around town vehicle, I’m very interested in exploring some sort of portable solar charging option for it. Has anyone done this? If I could restore 10-15 miles of range via solar power every day, that would be perfect for my needs. Unfortunately, all of the portable solar power packages I am seeing for purchase online are prohibitively expensive ($3,000 - $4,500).
--- CLIMATE EVENTS & MEETUPS ---
The April edition of Energy (and Other) Events Monthly is available at http://hubevents.blogspot.com
I have been doing this listing of mostly academic events first weekly in the Boston area, now monthly around the world with online events for over a decade. It's free and also a listserv.
I'm looking for others who may be doing something similar in other countries, for other interests. World class information is available, mostly for free, to anyone who wants it.
Tonight at 5p PT/8p ET, Climate Changemakers is hosting Representative Mike Levin for an Hour of Action event on transmission reform. Of course, Volts listeners know transmission reform is crucial for making this whole energy transition thing work, but I don't think many of us know what we can do about it (short of quitting our jobs and running for Congress). Well, the answer is there's a lot we can do about it! Join us this evening to learn AND take action, all in 60 minutes.
We've also put together a step-by-step action plan that you can access here any time: https://www.climatechangemakers.org/campaign-electric-grid
My monthly Forests and Friends meetup in Bellevue Wa is this Thursday (4-18, 4:30-7pm at Cascadia Pizza Co). We get together to talk Forests, Startups, Climate, Tech, etc. and this week we'll have a few new folks to talk about methane satellites and biochar markets. Should be another good time had by all.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7184278557668335618/
--- SHARE WORK, ASK FOR HELP, FIND COLLABORATORS ---
Hi Everyone!
I'm a researcher with Sightline Institute and I'm looking for some help. Sightline worked with legislators in 2023 to get a budget proviso passed to support transition planning for Washington's petroleum refineries. Here's a link to an article by Sightline on the proviso and some key considerations: https://www.sightline.org/2023/05/31/washingtons-refinery-communities-just-got-a-transition-boost/
In response, the Department of Commerce in Washington State will be conducting a study to analyze the economic impact of oil refining in Washington state and how decarbonization policies are likely to affect Washington's refineries, refinery workers, and refinery communities. This study is kicking off soon and we've heard from DoC that the likely scenarios that the analysts will examine are premised on the refineries retooling to produce alternative fuels like biofuels, renewable diesel and hydrogen. While these alternative fuel manufacturing scenarios are certainly plausible, they may fall short when scored for carbon footprint, high-wage job creation or sustained tax revenues for refinery communities. I'm reaching out to this community looking for other ideas (out-of-the box ideas welcome!) that might offer different outcomes along these three dimensions (carbon emissions, job creation, tax revenue) that Sightline could offer up for consideration in some of the scenario modeling that will be done under this study.
The proviso can be found here: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2023-24/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Passed%20Legislature/5187-S.PL.pdf?q=20240215135058 [starting at line 11 on Page 100 through line 12 on Page 102]
Please post ideas here or send me an email at laura@sightline.org
Thanks and I look forward to hearing your ideas!
-Laura Feinstein
Hello Volts community folks!
Do you know any anthropologists or other ethnographic or qualitative social science researchers with jobs in energy?
Or have experience with the social and cultural challenges and opportunities in decarbonization work?
I'm researching potential consulting or business career pathways for anthropologists in advancing decarbonization and would love to talk with you if you have relevant experience or insights!
barry.lyons@wayne.edu
Hi fellow Volts community members! For the past month or so I've been working on developing Heat Pump Review https://heatpump.review
Heat Pump Review is one-part newsletter and (coming soon) podcast, and one part data resource for the heat pump community, with an emphasis on residential HVAC and water heaters. The key contribution I've made on the data side is to compile all of the Energy Star data around heat pump HVAC systems and water heaters and 1) compile which companies actually manufacture each make/model and 2) roll up all of the makes/models so that you can see if the one you are buying or considering is a sub-brand of another brand.
Eventually I'd like to get deeper into performance data (e.g., air handler vs condenser) and the real holy grail will be acquiring price data, which is presently guarded by the industry.
Anyway, would love you all's eyes on the site as I develop it and feel free to send me any feature requests as you have them.
Hey, all, this looks like a great effort! Nice to have the eyes of an outsider (not gov't, NGO or existing US HVAC biz) on our flailings (failings?) in this regard.
I work in industrial combustion, currently the largest segment of the industrial heating market. I believe combustion is likely to be a part of the industrial heating picture well into the future, but I also believe the market share of combustion will begin diminishing, perhaps rapidly, during my lifetime and what's left of my career. I came to Volts and resources like it to try and get some sense of what's coming, so I can get smart enough to make moves that will allow us to help our customers transition early and successfully. If anyone has suggestions for further research on scalable thermal processing solutions for industry, or companies in this vein who are looking for pilot projects, please send them my way!
Rondo Energy seems focused on a very good method to substitute "excess" VRE for steam and higher temp industrial heat, using resistance heating of magnesite or similar bricks. David has an episode. More recently on Carbon Copy.
Of course that excess VRE needs to actually be made available to the users (cheaply, as it's at a COP of 1.0)! As with some grid-enhancing tech, another American startup finding markets in the EU, even though some US regions do have the excess power. Their tech is going into a recently-announced DOE process heat demo.
Lots of industrial HP action in the EU, constantly pushing for a few more deg C on the high end, usually with ammonia cycle HPs.
Hey Volts! I am the Communications Coordinator at Campus Climate Action Corps, an AmeriCorps service program focused on climate action through college-community collaborations and I recently spearheaded and launched the ongoing ‘Environment for Everyone Campaign’ that is focused on addressing the urgent need for immediate climate action by providing accessible information, resources, and opportunities for people of all demographics to take advantage of!
I would absolutely love it if you took a look at our content so far and shared it with your audiences to spread the word about our campaign and the CCAC program! See the Environment for Everyone Overview Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2hZT24W7Lw. You can also see overviews of our Earth Week Tips emails that kicked off the campaign last week by scrolling to the bottom of our CCAC homepage (https://compact.org/current-programs/americorps/campus-climate-action-corps).
Otherwise, please feel free to subscribe to our mailing list to get more information about our program activities and opportunities for involvement and get direct access to our resources as soon as they are available! Subscribe at this link: https://compact.us16.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2088d003eefae249ce9644b33&id=466de684da
Hello fellow Voltsies! I'm building analytics software to help DER developers with interconnection. It's called GigaFlow. No website yet, but you can check out my personal LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-shiells-272bab13/
I'm looking for collaborators (cofounders?) with data science and/or energy engineering expertise. Reach out to me via email - sshiells@giga-flow.com. Thanks! :)
I’m thinking about effective, accessible ways to educate new folks on climate policy. Volts is a great start, but I wonder about hands-on approaches having to do with art or other mediums that make people feel engaged in these discussions. If anyone has any ideas or is thinking similarly, please let me know!
Hey Elise! So glad I found this comment - this is 100% our lane at Climate Changemakers: climatechangemakers.org/. Our "medium" is action events where folks who are eager to learn what they can do to influence climate policy (or just make a greater impact on the climate crisis more generally) can learn by doing.
Historically we have not done much art as a community, but I know art is a great way to make abstract concepts more tangible (see: Nicole Kelner for ex) so I'd love to connect!
We're actually hosting a special Hour of Action on transmission reform tonight at 5p PT/8p ET with Congressmember Mike Levin. It would be great to see you there! lu.ma/transmission.
Would you you find a list of Volts episodes in a google sheet helpful for sorting and filtering the information in the podcast? Do you need to see it first? What information would you extract from the podcast to filter on?
Podcast counts by year:
2024 24
2023 79
2022 74
2021 59
2020 2
Podcast counts by month:
1 27
2 23
3 19
4 27
5 19
6 19
7 14
8 19
9 22
10 14
11 18
12 17
Hi Robert, an FYI that we're developing something like this right now. Basically we've tagged every episode by subject matter so that they're easily filterable.
Let me know if you are going to post a google sheet of the episodes.
--Robert Sterbal
robert@sterbal.com
412-977-3526
Mosaics by Robert: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1783957901820381/ (for a fun distraction)
Everything Else:
How about an interview with Maryland GA Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo?
The US state of Maryland will require utilities to allow electric vehicles (EVs) with bidirectional chargers to connect to the distribution grid after new legislation was passed last week. The state legislature, the Maryland General Assembly, passed HB 1256, aka the Distributed Renewable Integration and Vehicle Electrification (DRIVE) Act, on 2 April. It was sponsored by Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo.
In addition to its “first-of-a-kind” treatment of bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, the act also enables the creation of distributed energy resource (DER) virtual power plants that pool the capabilities of home solar PV, batteries, smart thermostats, and other equipment.
The legislation also expands utility time-of-use tariffs to allow drivers to charge their EVs at off-peak rates. The utility rules will apply to investor-owned utilities (IOUs), which are distinct from municipal utilities or cooperatives.
Just wanted to be sure that Dave and the Seattle Volts community knows that Bill McKibbon is coming to Seattle on July 2. Information at ThirdAct.org/washington.
I just learned some interesting things about the history of railroad electrification in the Rocky mountain region of Montana. The Miwaukie Road got started with electric powered trains in the nineteen teens and was fully electric in the nineteen twenties. 650 miles of electrified main line through the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades.
This is a "sharing climate work" post. I've followed David since Vox days, and have always been inspired by the depth of his analysis of energy matters, and renewables in particular. I'm writing to share news of the past six years of my own climate-related work, in the form of the book, Food Planet Future: The Art of Turning Food and Climate Perils Into Possibilities (Papadakis, UK, 2024). While working on this book, I became fascinated with the "second leg" of climate change (the first being excess fossil fuel burning): the climate impacts of land use. Agricultural practices in particular, and their impact on soil health, water cycles, heat dynamics, and more. Would love to see this get more attention. I've combined journalism with art, using a scanning electron microscope and photomontage, to elicit awe, wonder, and curiosity about multiple successful strategies in regenerative agricultural and other practices. I invite readers to visit my website (foodplanetfuture.com) if they're interested in a unique approach to these subjects. Paul Hawken writes: “Robert Dash’s extraordinary images are doorways to both knowledge and imagination. Great art gives us new eyes and minds. We see the world differently and are transformed in turn. What you see here are the light catchers, the photon transformers, the source of life for every living being. Seeing through Robert’s lens is to appreciate the mystery and grandeur of the living world in a way that is unforgettable.”
I'm asking for help in passing along word of this book. It's essential that positive examples of workable strategies receive attention. I do so in this book, without sugarcoating the challenges.
agree with other commenters on RR coordination. there wont be any help coming from railroad industry on renewables or power transmission.
Influit really seem like they have an interesting technology for batteries, and I never hear anything about them. Also, it would be interesting to hear more about the large scale changes that would enable deep electrification. I'm thinking of things like widespread triple phase adoption for homes, or HVDC grids between States and nations..
Climate Event: The Unitarian Universalist Church of Roanoke https://uuroanoke.org/ will hold it's monthly Climate & Clean Energy Rally on April 28th between 12:15 & 1:15 on the corner of Grandin Rd. & Brandon Ave. We've been doing this monthly since 2015 (with a few weather & pandemic interruptions). It's open to all who care about the climate crisis.
Absolutely loved the episode on industrial decarbonization, a huge and mostly B2B piece of the puzzle. I'm in chemicals and was just so excited to see it covered (and correctly called out) here! Seeing the comparison to other industries also made me feel better about how difficult it has been to move this behemoth towards any change... I'd be interested in what has *really* moved the needle in other B2B cases that don't get much direct interfacing with the public. Is it just $ savings or stricter regulatory at the end of the day?
Have expertise in Western grid and interest in working with National Audubon Society fo rapid deployment of a clean energy grid apply here: https://audubon.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Audubon/job/Remote-40/Senior-Manager--Transmission-Initiative--West-_JR7?q=Transmission
I blog weekly about climate change and sometimes refer to Volts, as in the conclusion of this post:
https://lindamarywagner.com/are-carbon-offsets-legitimate/
I'm not scientist, but a former journalist and now a "Green Grandma" and memoir author calling for climate action. Thanks for your podcast!