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Volts: Daily Summaries Delivered
by David Roberts
Volts is a podcast about leaving fossil fuels behind. I've been reporting on and explaining clean-energy topics for almost 20 years, and I love talking to politicians, analysts, innovators, and activists about the latest progress in the world's most important fight.
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- 2 weeks ago1h 8m
The PAC taking out clean energy opponents
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeClean energy is the cheapest, fastest-growing source of power in the country, yet politically it barely registers. Republicans gutted its tax credits last year without fearing any consequences. The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, a super PAC backed by clean energy investors, is trying to change that the old-fashioned way: by punishing the industry’s enemies. It went six for six in this year’s primaries; it’s now spending at least $15 million against seven Republican House candidates in the midterms. Its chair, Tom Matzzie, makes the case for fear as a political asset, explains why the industry has been so slow to throw elbows, and describes what it would take for clean energy to become a lion instead of a gazelle.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction02:55 - How the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition started06:23 - Why a super PAC, and the idea of mythic power09:50 - Punishing opponents to send a message to Congress12:55 - Proving impact, and the permitting bill17:13 - How ITC picks its general election races21:41 - Does knocking out extremists help Republicans?24:53 - Free riders and barriers to industry politics28:58 - Who funds ITC, and why the industry underinvests32:44 - Why clean power stays politically weak38:28 - Did the IRA’s red-state investments pay off?40:35 - Fear of Trump’s retaliation45:05 - Avoiding the Democratic PAC label49:30 - Presidential primaries and the ethanol playbook53:20 - Gas inside the clean power trade groups58:37 - Where ITC goes after November
- 2 weeks ago1h 6m
Building our piece of the electric stack
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeCollectively, the electric stack (batteries, motors, chips, power electronics) has gotten about 99% cheaper since 1990. It is quietly remaking every machine that turns electricity into motion, heat, or work. Problem is, China makes most of it. Sam D’Amico, co-author of “The Electric Slide” and founder of Impulse Labs, is betting the US can still claim a piece of that stack. He’s starting with a battery-powered induction cooktop. We talk about why domestic manufacturing matters, what America would actually have to build to compete, and how Silicon Valley’s founder world really thinks about climate change, geoengineering included.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction02:52 – From VR headsets to kitchen appliances07:07 – How a pizza oven inspired a battery stove10:07 – Peak demand, at home and on the grid13:25 – Which appliances could use a built-in battery16:46 – Electric stack 1: the four technologies20:28 – Electric stack 2: power electronics and motors25:21 – China bets on hardware, the US bets on AI30:08 – Why not just buy it all from China?33:51 – Why engineers need to be near the factory38:39 – How much does the US need to make at home?45:19 – US EV policy and letting Chinese cars in47:49 – Batteries in appliances vs. one home battery52:04 – Impulse’s plan: its tech in other brands’ stoves55:17 – What’s next after the stove57:14 – Has Silicon Valley stopped caring about climate?
- 3 weeks ago1h 2m
Can distributed energy work around American utilities?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeAmerican homes are filling up with batteries, EVs, and smart thermostats that could be coordinated to make the grid cheaper and more reliable — but almost none of them are. To understand why, it helps to watch what happens when the company best in the world at this tries to do it here. In Britain, Octopus Energy has built a giant virtual power plant out of its customers' devices. In the US, it has spent six years running into walls. Now it’s bought Uplight, which runs customer programs for 85 utilities. I talked with Nick Chaset, who runs both, about what's in the way and whether distributed energy can ever scale with US utilities … the way they are.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction02:02 – Octopus’s past year and the Uplight investment05:18 – What makes the UK market work for Octopus11:12 – Texas: fast growth, flattened volatility14:57 – Will flexibility put itself out of business?19:16 – Why Octopus stays out of Pennsylvania and New York22:17 – Does residential retail competition have a future?24:41 – Why utility programs trail Octopus on participation32:17 – The demand stack and what planners can count on39:11 – Kraken, Uplight and the overlap46:04 – Consumer protection and the aggregator model51:17 – Data centers and the social license to operate55:11 – Do we need dynamic pricing?58:30 – Five years out
- 3 weeks ago1h 3m
What’s up with Denmark?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeDenmark gets a large share of its power from wind and other renewables and has cut its emissions roughly in half since 1990, but independent analysts doubt it will hit its 70 percent target for 2030. Kristian Jensen, CEO of Green Power Denmark and a former Danish minister of taxation, foreign affairs, and finance, argues the next stage is electrifying how Denmark uses energy: heat, transport, and industry. I talk with him about district heating and heat pumps, EVs and vehicle-to-grid, municipally owned grid companies and hourly power prices, biomass, carbon capture, power-to-X, solar’s “fields of iron” backlash, a grid oversubscribed with data center requests (an October 1 agreement has since put most data centers at the back of the queue), and whether the country’s political consensus will hold.Chapters00:00 – Introduction: Denmark and industrial symbiosis02:44 – Is the 70% target for 2030 out of reach?06:24 – Carbon capture and storage, and the peatlands lag09:57 – Why electrification has lagged: biomass and wood pellets14:45 – Few batteries, many interconnectors16:48 – Data centers and the grid-connection prioritization bill21:34 – Municipally owned grid companies24:32 – Smart meters, hourly prices, and thermal batteries28:40 – The solar backlash and local ownership35:04 – Agrivoltaics and biodiversity37:24 – District heating: heat pumps, geothermal, and finance43:24 – The EV transition and vehicle-to-grid47:45 – Road pricing and fiscal room50:07 – Power-to-X and eSAF54:21 – Can Denmark build enough clean power?57:12 – Will the political consensus hold?
- 4 weeks ago1h 7m
Checking back in with Greenlight America
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeOn this episode, recorded live at Climate Week NYC, I talk with Matt Traldi. He’s the founder and CEO of Greenlight America, which finds the local meetings where clean energy’s fate is being decided and recruits supporters to attend. Traldi argues that siting and permitting approvals turn on who shows up, and that local partners, conservative groups included, outperform outside advocates. We discuss how to measure impact, recent wins and losses, blue-state resistance, data center backlash, and Greenlight’s growth.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction02:09 – What Greenlight does and why Matt started it04:41 – How Greenlight finds the decisions that matter07:27 – Growth, and the tax credit deadline sprint13:38 – Who shows up to local hearings19:39 – Winning in conservative communities22:35 – Bodies in the room, measuring impact, and win rates27:46 – Losses, wins, and “there is no bag”32:44 – Blue-state obstacles and organized opposition36:31 – When data center backlash spills over onto clean energy42:31 – Which projects Greenlight won’t back45:38 – Lessons from housing and growing an organization50:17 – Audience Q&A: disinformation and state permitting reform54:39 – Audience Q&A: developers and elections59:30 – Audience Q&A: funding local groups and designing community input
- Oct 9, 20262h 21m
What’s up with the new federal permitting reform bill?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeThe proposed bipartisan federal permitting bill is 417 pages filled with extremely consequential provisions that have left the climate community some mix of excited, infuriated, and confused. In an attempt to bring some clarity, I asked Daniel Palken of Arnold Ventures, a veteran of Senate permitting fights, to walk through what’s in it. We cover the blockbuster transmission reforms, the rule making data centers pay more than their share of grid costs, the wins for geothermal, and the fossil carve-outs. Then we get into NEPA reforms that render the act toothless, limits on state water permits, and the permit-certainty sections that have lawyers worried about “forever permits.” And finally: whether it restrains Trump, why Democrats shouldn’t wait for a better deal, what the modeling says about emissions impacts, and Daniel’s odds of passage. This is a long one, folks. Buckle up.Chapters:00:00 – Intro: the bipartisan permitting bill04:15 – Why permitting reform matters12:23 – Agency staffing and capacity16:59 – Past permitting attempts20:26 – Transmission 1: planning and federal backstop28:28 – Transmission 2: who pays and grid upgrades38:17 – Data centers 1: paying more for grid access43:20 – Distributed energy and geothermal49:06 – Oil, gas, and mining provisions57:06 – Data centers 2: will they go off-grid?1:00:19 – NEPA 1: courts can’t halt projects1:08:57 – NEPA 2: the main objections1:17:10 – State water permits1:23:35 – Endangered species1:27:37 – Permit certainty 1: limits on revoking permits1:36:43 – Permit certainty 2: lawsuits and damages1:48:12 – Politics 1: Trump’s wind blockades1:52:57 – Politics 2: why not wait for a better deal?1:58:33 – Politics 3: elections, courts, and modeling2:10:57 – Politics 4: next steps and odds of passage
- Oct 7, 20261h 4m
The grueling fight to pass the Inflation Reduction Act
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeOn September 14, I sat down with Leah Stokes in front of a live audience at Seattle’s Town Hall to talk about her new book, The Carbon Wave. It’s an insider account of how the Inflation Reduction Act got made, braided with the story of the high-risk twin pregnancy she went through while helping to make it. We get into why electrification is the heart of decarbonization, the enduring mystery of what’s going on in Joe Manchin’s head, what it means to trade your carbon footprint for a carbon wave, and how much of the IRA survives. It was followed by questions from the audience.Chapters:00:00 – Welcome and housekeeping03:05 – The twins, the NICU, and writing the book08:51 – Carbon footprint vs. carbon wave13:39 – Sam Ricketts and 100% clean electricity18:13 – Why electricity is the core of the solution23:28 – Utilities and the politics of change26:18 – Tech companies and data centers29:11 – Inside the Manchin negotiations33:57 – Why Manchin got to yes38:46 – Trump, setbacks, and where things stand42:55 – Clean energy politics and the global shift46:25 – Audience Q&A: the transmission gridlock48:59 – Institutions, speed, and structural reform53:27 – If Democrats win the House, what next55:43 – Permitting reform59:06 – State utilities, coal, and getting involved
- Oct 2, 202613 min
Best of September 2026
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.volts.wtfVolts published seven conversations in September, which is a lot for anyone to listen to. We’ve rounded up the highlights into less than an hour. Enjoy!
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About Volts
Volts is a podcast about leaving fossil fuels behind. I've been reporting on and explaining clean-energy topics for almost 20 years, and I love talking to politicians, analysts, innovators, and activists about the latest progress in the world's most important fight.
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