What does financial market turmoil mean for low-carbon energy?
Investors have gone sour on clean energy. In a troubled time for stock markets in general, where is the capital for energy flowing now?Host Ed Crooks is joined by Shanu Mathew, Senior VP and Portfolio Manager at Lazard Asset Management, and Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of the Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab at NYU. Shanu returns to the show to break down how institutional investors, under pressure to deliver returns, are shifting strategies on energy. Amy shares insights on cleantech venture capital trends, and the factors that support investment in low-carbon solutions. With support for renewables under threat, and cutting-edge technologies facing mounting challenges, is the transition to low-carbon energy slowing down or recalibrating? Meanwhile, Big Oil companies are changing course on their decarbonisation strategies and approaches to addressing climate change. BP and Shell are pulling back from power and renewables and emphasising oil and gas investments instead, after pressure from investors. Are they adapting to market realities, or are they abandoning clean energy too soon? And what will their strategic shift mean for the rest of the industry and for the climate? Amy discusses the close ties between oil prices and capital flows into cleantech.Finally, there’s no end to the debate around AI’s evolving role in energy infrastructure. Electricity demand growth remains a dominant trend. The hyperscale data centre users, such as major tech firms, have emerged as key players in power demand. But trust issues persist between them and energy providers. The sector has a history of overestimating demand growth, leading to overbuilding. Are we in danger of going through that cycle all over again?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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1:13:44
Flexible, fast-responding and reliable – the growth of energy storage seems unstoppable. What could possibly go wrong?
Charge when it’s cheap, when energy is abundant, and discharge when the energy is needed. The role of energy storage will be critical to the transition to low-carbon technologies. It’s an exciting time in the industry, with spectacular growth in battery storage markets in the US and around the world, and it’s predicted to continue. “We’re in the hockey stick growth phase,” says Swetha Sundaram, VP of solar and BESS (battery energy storage systems) at RWE, and a co-author of ‘The BESS Book’. She joins Ed Crooks on the show to look at where that growth is coming from. The systems being built today mostly use lithium-ion technologies to store energy for a few hours. But there are huge opportunities for long-duration energy storage (LDES), too. The LDES Council, an industry group, estimates that the build-out of up to 8 TW of potential power supply from long-duration storage by 2040 represents a $4 trillion investment opportunity. Julia Souder is CEO of the LDES council, and she’s also on the show to talk about the next generation of storage. Julia, Swetha and Ed are also joined by Energy Gang regular Melissa Lott, a Partner General Manager at Microsoft. She’s a PhD energy systems engineer, and she explains the different roles short and long-duration energy storage will have in the energy transition and the power grid of the future.Follow the show wherever you’re listening, and reach out to us with feedback – we’re @energygangshow.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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57:00
What do President Trump’s tariffs mean for energy? | The view from Washington and Canada
In 2018, President Donald Trump said “I’m a tariff man”, declaring they were the way to make America rich again. Six years on and just weeks into his second term, he is putting that philosophy into practice. President Trump has announced a barrage of new and increased tariffs on imports into the US, including a 10% levy on all goods from China. He has threatened 25% tariffs on imports from Canda and Mexico, although those were put on hold for a month. And he has announced a strategy of reciprocal tariffs, promising to match other countries’ barriers to imports from the US with equivalent levies on their exports. It is a time of turbulence. What does it mean for the energy transition? To analyse what all these actual and threatened tariffs mean for energy security, the economy and the climate, host Ed Crooks – Vice-Chair for the Americas at Wood Mackenzie - is joined by three policy experts from the US and Canada. Samantha Gross is the director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. Joseph Majkut is director of the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. And Andrew Leach is an energy and environmental economist at the University of Alberta. Together they discuss the Trump administration’s strategy, and where it might lead. How do the tariff plans align with President Trump’s goals for boosting energy production and driving down prices for consumers? What happens to complex international supply chains as tariffs rise? And where does this leave the global effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions? Samantha Gross says the situation is ‘”rotten for the climate”. Does she have a point?Let us know what you think. We’re on X, at @theenergygang. Make sure you’re following the show so you don’t miss an episode – we’ll be back in two weeks, Tuesday morning at 7am eastern time.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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1:00:12
What does DeepSeek AI mean for energy?
It’s a historic moment in energy, with a leap forward in AI technology coming as the Trump administration sets a new direction for the US. The Energy Gang break down what it all means. When they make The Energy Transition – The Movie, the week of 27th January 2025 will be a pivotal scene. The Chinese AI company DeepSeek sent shockwaves through stock markets, as it revealed its model that apparently is capable of better performance than its competitors at a fraction of the cost. Host Ed Crooks talks through the implications for energy with regulars Amy Myers Jaffe of New York University and Melissa Lott of Microsoft. Together they discuss the market reactions to the launch of DeepSeek, shifting forecasts for AI demand, and the implications for the industry and for government.President Donald Trump has come into office putting emphasis on the importance of energy supplies for AI as a matter of national security. His administration wants more “baseload” power. But there is a debate on what that word means for a modern electricity system, and whether it even has any relevance. Do modern solutions for grid stability make talk of baseload power obsolete in 2025?Finally the gang review the flurry of executive orders signed by President Trump. Climate change is off the agenda as a priority for the US administration. What does that mean for energy, in the US and around the world?Follow The Energy Gang wherever you get your podcasts and go to woodmac.com/podcasts for more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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1:03:25
Does clean hydrogen have a future? Finding a role for hydrogen in a low-carbon energy economy
Hydrogen has been called the Swiss Army knife of energy, because it has so many potential applications, from home heating to heavy industry. But so far, deployment around the world has been slow. And in recent months there has been a series of setbacks for plans to use clean hydrogen to decarbonise energy systems. So what’s the problem?Is it unsuitable infrastructure, policy uncertainty, or fundamental challenges of physics and economics? Does hydrogen really have a role to play in the low-carbon energy system of the future? And if it does, what does the industry need to get there?To find out, host Ed Crooks is joined by Dr Melissa Lott, Partner General Manager in Energy Technologies at Microsoft, and Austin Knight, Vice President for hydrogen at Chevron New Energies. Hydrogen is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but it could help us tackle some of the toughest challenges in decarbonisation. It may be expensive, but in some sectors it looks like a more cost-effective solution for achieving net zero than any other option.For some proposed applications, it looks pretty clear that hydrogen is going to be a non-starter. But Austin says there are some sectors where it still has a viable future. Chevron is investing in hydrogen fuel suppliers and fuelling stations for heavy trucks across California, for example. As Melissa says, the infrastructure just isn’t there yet to make hydrogen a viable option today. But is it a case of “if” hydrogen becomes a commercial reality, or “when”? Find out here.We want to hear your thoughts and comments, so get in touch.We’re on X, at @theenergygangOr on BlueSky @woodmackenzie.bsky.socialSubscribe to the show so you don’t miss episodes, out every second Tuesday at 7am ET.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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