We’re back! Well, 2/3 of us are. In the first ever duo episode, Duncan and James wade deep into CDR, degrowth meme analysis, more thoughts on nuclear, and corporate environmentalism. They talk about climate week, CDR, the narrow focus of mainstream environmentalism on carbon and where the tree huggers at, comparing the popular memes of population decline and “we used to build things”, the opportunity cost of raising kids, the opportunity cost of building beautiful things, embedded growth...

We’re back! And this time we peeled away from climate week events to record a late night ep with self-proclaimed Nuclear Bro, Mark Nelson. Grab a drink for this marathon of an episode and sink in as we wax poetic about one of our favorite religions, Nuclear Power. And we mean that in the best way. Tune in as we discuss Mark’s journey into nuclear and James’ journey away from it, early 10’s nuclear reddit, how the nuclear movement has evolved over time, how shutting down nuclear plants is as...

We’re back! And this time with a solo ep, for free! Going forward, we’re un-paywalling all eps and going NPR style: PLEASE think about donating $5 anyways. Here’s why: We are launching a policy team! The policy team will be focusing on enforcing the DERTF Bill of Rights. In order to do that, we need to raise money to pay a part-time or full-time policy lead. We’ll be doing this in two ways: through soliciting sponsorships to DERvos, our summit on Nov 9 (buy your ticket!). And hopefully,...

We’re back! This time with Nick Van Osdol of “Keep Cool”, who is… pretty damn cool himself. Nick has a refreshing perspective and lens on climate reporting: equal parts skeptical, optimistic, empathetic, and rational. If only more people could engage like he does. In this wide-ranging ep we talk nuclear fusion, how to think about climate risk, if we should mess around with geo-engineering, Maersk psyops, gene editing trees to be better at carbon sequestration, whether or not nature is...

We’re back! And this time we hosted OG DERTF Heads James McWalter (the better James) and Kyle Baranko from Paces at the David Energy HQ. They are working on one of the gnarliest problems in the entire clean energy space: permitting and interconnection. We go deeeep on the problem, so you don’t want to miss this. We are massive fans of them and what they’re building, and had so much fun recording this! Tune in if you want to hear us go down memory lane on early DERTF days, Kyle and James’...

We’re back! And this time with THEE GOD Julian Spector. It’s our longest episode ever because we just couldn’t help ourselves going in with a member of the OG GTM Mafia. It’s worth it. Julian just had some super rad reporting on how the South is building a vibrant clean energy manufacturing hub, and we sat down to discuss. We nerd out on this one for the real DERTF heads! So settle in on the Fourth of July and hear all about how AMERICA might be becoming a clean energy industrial powerhouse,...

We’re back! And this time with Alfred Johnson, Founder and CEO of Crux. Crux just raised a seed round led by Lowercarbon Capital and is building a marketplace to help climate companies unlock billions in IRA tax credits. If you want to understand the IRA, look no further! We nerd out on everything from the ins and outs of transferability, what the democratization of tax credits means, who stands to benefit, step ups, and how the IRA actually works to more macro musings on the intersection of...

We’re back! And this time with Matt Huber, an absolute legend and advocate for centralized public power. This was a different ep, but one of our favorite in awhile. In it, we talk about Marxist geography, how bizarre peak oil discourse was, the coming shift to electricity from oil, becoming un-DER-pilled, the possibilities of a centrally-planned decentralized grid, comparing (never before built) neolib renewable supergrids to (ole, proven and trusty) socialist nuclear heavy grids, the...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dertaskforcenews.substack.com We’re back with a solo ep! And yeah, this one is paid. The NYT wrote an article on decarb bros and we have some thoughts. Tune in to listen to us talk about our first ever eco rave in LA right after we serve up a taxonomy of bros and their varying ethics: the decarb bro, the nuke bro, the bernie bro, the tech bro, the renewable bro, the frat bro, the br…

We’re back! This time on a FULLY SOLAR POWERED POD with absolute legends Corey and Xtina of the Solar Punks Club. We threw the first proper Eco Rave—a solar + storage powered party—at their HQ in LA. Tune in to hear us chat about it the night before the event, and check out more from the day of here. We talked about how they got DER-pilled as non-energy people (big shouts to Saul Griffith!), putting together the largest fully solar powered camp at burning man, using culture as the tip of the...

We’re back! This time with John Berger, the CEO and Founder of Sunnova. Sunnova is not only one of the largest solar and storage installers in the country, they are also one of the most innovative in their offerings to customers. From VPPS in Texas to free batteries and micro utilities in CA, Sunnova is setting the tone for a distributed future. Tune in to hear how John views consumer choice and deregulation, incentives, the continued progression of the space, VPPs, the value of resilience,...

Colleen, Jimbo, and Duncan are back, this time joined by Noah Smith of Noahpinion. While fellow energy nerds might know Noah for his posts Don’t be a doomer, Why I’m so excited about solar and batteries, or Battery-powered appliances!, his reach goes well beyond our small corner of the world. Noah’s an economist and techno-optimist who engages in a wide variety of topics, from globalization, to NIMBYism, and wokeness. We had a great time with Noah and discussed all sorts of fun stuff. The...

We’re back! And this time we sit down with Troy Cross, a twitter chameleon of sorts. He’s an environmentalist, philosopher at Reed College, and avid bitcoiner. And depending on who you talk to, you’ll get a different answer as to what he’s all about. We just know him as an intelligent, interesting, super good dude who we love talking to! This is a different episode than what you all may be used to, but we had a blast recording. In it, we talk about why nuclear isn’t really happening, how if...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dertaskforcenews.substack.com We’re still figuring out this whole substack thing. We released this paid ep last week for paid subscribers, but didn’t send out an email or a preview to our unpaid subscribers. So, we’re resending to give the unpaids a snippet of this tasty ep. If you’re an unpaid subscriber, you should change that! Original post: “We’re back with a solo pod! We’ll be d…

The crew is back with another episode, this time sitting down with Arcady Sosinov, Founder and CEO of FreeWire. In this episode we talk about doing things that really, really don’t scale, gearheads in an EV world, utility vs O&G company cold war + the breakdown of 7 Powers in an abundant energy future, FreeWire’s core product innovation and the value of juicing utilization, finally a charging solution for non-suburbs, trojan horsing batteries into your local Wendy’s, the rise of...

We’re back! This time we sit down with Sam D’Amico, CEO and co-founder of Impulse Labs, an induction stove start-up based out of San Francisco. Listen on for nearly 2 hours of physics, macro, cooking, and much more: * (1:30-22:45 ) Getting DER-pilled (thermal events anyone?), nerding out about college extra-curriculars, Sam’s favorite DER and James’ public retraction, breaking out the old charcoal grill with the boys * (22:45-30:29) When are we finally getting fusion? * (30:30-45:45) How and...

We’re back with a solo ep to talk about Doomers and why you shouldn’t be one! Tune in to ring in your new year with a heavy dose of optimism and why 2023 is going to be insane heat. This time we talk Duncan getting saved by a Christian Scientist, the average person thinking casually that we’re screwed, why having kids is good, Jordan Peterson’s and Alex Epstein’s cringe intelktualism, categorizing doomers and degrowthers, Colleen and James’ climate journeys, how doomers and knee-jerk...

Welcome back to another episode of the pod! This week, we sat down with Neha Palmer, CEO and Co-founder of Terawatt Infrastructure. Check out the show notes below: * (0:00-13:00) Getting DER-pilled at PG&E, favorite DER, extra-curricular activities and protecting powDER, Neha’s ideal last job, and hottest energy takes * (13:00- 22:30) The Terrawatt Infrastructure pitch, EV charging for fleets and what’s special about Terrawatt’s model * (22:30- 32:00) Location, location, location and...

Welcome back to another episode of the pod! This episode is a special one — it features many of you! During the DERTFestivities, the crew busted out the recording equipment and captured some live takes from the community. Listen on to hear some major heat from the Task Force…. * The crew gives up on explaining franchise rights in minute 1 * Russell “Rusty” Wilcox (Thee God) on bigger and better onesies and hard dope, plus big Tim energy * Sophia Cowles (The Low-Talker) on the new boomers,...

Hello there DER Task Force — we are back after a post-DERTFest break with another episode of the pod. This time, the gang interviewed Emily McAteer, founder and CEO of Odyssey Energy Solutions. In this episode we cover… * (0:00) Getting to know Emily: DER-pills in ‘09, the dopest and nopest grids, Emily’s favorite DER, SunEdison in its heyday, hottest energy takes * (17:40) The “uneconomics” of minigrids, and what’s going on in emerging energy markets today * (26:38) The false binary of...

Hey there Task Force! This week, the crew sat down and with Henrik Langeland, CEO and co-founder of Enode and talked all things interoperability, walled gardens, and Henrik even breaks some exciting news on the podcast! Check out the show notes here: * (0:00) Welcome to the ThunDERdome, getting DER-pilled, learning more about Henrik, why interoperability is so important * (9:40) Enode — the origin story, the secret behind the name, the core business, James slips in an early Big Shout *...

Hey Task Force! Back this week with episode 23 of the DER Task Force podcast. This time, the crew was joined by Michael Huerta, CEO and co-founder of PearlX. This is another long one and we cover a LOT of ground: * (0:00) Welcome to the ThunDERdome, getting to know Michael * (7:11) Michael gets DER-pilled by his wife, being thankful for the Lehman bankruptcy, favorite DER (plus we owe Kiran an apology), and F**K the widget * (24:50) What’s PearlX? Bringing solar + storage to multi-family...

We are back with another episode of the DER Task Force podcast! This week, the crew sit down with the COO of Scale Microgrid Solutions and patron of the DER Task Force, the one and only Tim Hade. In this epic, 2+ hour episode episode, we talk about: * (1:15) Opening quote, DERTF’s #1 rule, Grandaddy Tim shares some love * (4:32) Tim’s DER-pilling and fave DER, some cute non-Scale hobbies, the value of compounding execution, HOTTEST energy take * (21:05) Lessons from 6 years in the Air Force...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit dertaskforcenews.substack.com We are back with another episode of the DER Task Force podcast! This is our first paid episode, so if you’re listening in your favorite podcast player that’s not Substack, follow these instructions to add your private RSS feed. No guests this week, just Colleen, Duncan and James diving into the latest spicy topic: ESG, what it means, how cultural and political movements have co-opted it, and much...

The Task Force podcast is back with another episode, just in time for some weekend listening. This was a fun one with Ari Matusiak, CEO of Rewiring America. In the episode, we talk about: * (0:00) Intro, opening quote, entering the ThunDERdome * (2:00) Getting DER pilled with Ari, electrifying classic cars * (8:25) Introducing Rewiring America * (15:11) Electrification and the key narratives that will usher it in * (29:15) Inflation + electrification — balancing near term challenges with...