Best Stephen Lacey Podcasts (2024)

1
The extraordinary resurgence of concentrated solar power 56:46

7d ago56:46

56:46

Complex, outdated, expensive: concentrating solar power used to be a clunky way of harnessing the sun. What’s changed to now make it viable? Concentrating Solar Power, or CSP, takes energy from the sun, converts it to heat, and uses it to drive a turbine to provide renewable electricity. It has more moving parts than photovoltaic (PV) solar – which…

1
How global trade can help build the clean energy economy 1:09:10

22d ago1:09:10

1:09:10

As the world struggles to co-operate on the energy transition, international trade rules can be a foundation for the new low-carbon economy. Ed Crooks is joined by regular guest Amy Myers-Jaffe, Director of New York University’s Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab, and new guest on The Energy Gang: Dan Esty, who is the Hillhouse Profess…

1
Our final episode: The top stories of 2024 so far 1:02:07

28d ago1:02:07

1:02:07

Some news: this will be our final installment of The Carbon Copy. But don’t go anywhere! Later this fall, the feed will be transformed into a new show that will profile the people architecting the clean energy economy. We promise it will be a valuable part of your media diet. For our last episode, we brought back some old friends: Jigar Shah, direc…

1
The Tales of Lacey Fletcher & Addie Hall 46:07

1M ago46:07

46:07

"Pikachu?! It's Tinky-Winky! And actually Tinky-Winky was the purple one and Po was the yellow one. You are all over the place!" argues Stephen as Christi discovers if there's one line she shouldn't cross t's Stephen's nerdiness (it's ok Christi, Po was actually the red one!). An in depth-analysis of Tinky-Winky's purse might not be the spookiest t…

1
Are low profits to blame for the energy transition lagging? 57:45

1M ago57:45

57:45

Author of ‘The Price Is Wrong’, Brett Christophers, joins the show to discuss the theories in his book. On a recent episode of the show, host Ed Crooks was joined by Melissa Lott and Joseph Majkut to discuss two books that were generating a lot of interest in energy circles. One of those, The Price Is Wrong, argues that inadequate profitability is …

1
The Third Wave 47:22

1M ago47:22

47:22

"I think people want to belong to something," Christi postulates as she picks up the pieces from last week's episode on cults to try and get to the heart of what makes groupthink tick. To better understand this phenomenon Christi has brought a true story for this week's episode that's sure to raise a few hairs every time you have to remind yourself…

1
How can we finance the energy transition? Discussions from the final day of the Reuters Global Energy Transition Conference 2024 1:08:25

2M ago1:08:25

1:08:25

In this third special episode of the Energy Gang from the Reuters Global Energy Transition 2024 conference in New York, we focus on the crucial theme of financing the energy transition. We discuss how various stakeholders are addressing the financial challenges and opportunities presented by the shift to renewable energy. Our first guest is Utopia …

1
Day Two: The Energy Gang at The Reuters Global Energy Transition Conference 2024 1:16:41

2M ago1:16:41

1:16:41

In this second special episode of Wood Mackenzie's The Energy Gang, recorded at the Reuters Global Energy Transition 2024 conference in New York, we speak with leaders at some of the key companies shaping the energy transition. We hear about how they are tackling the challenge of meeting rising demand for electricity while at the same time reducing…

1
The Energy Gang at the Reuters Global Energy Transition Conference - Day One 34:55

2M ago34:55

34:55

This is a special episode of Wood Mackenzie's The Energy Gang, recorded at the Reuters Global Energy Transition 2024 conference in New York. It has a great lineup of speakers from the worlds of business, finance, and government, giving us an opportunity to talk to some of the key people who are driving the energy transition. One of the panellists o…

1
Avoiding mistakes from the first smart meters 25:10

2M ago25:10

25:10

When millions of smart meters rolled out across the country at the turn of the last decade, many people hoped it would create the backbone of a digital grid. Today, you’ll find few who think meters lived up to expectations. One survey found only 3% of advanced meters supported by the 2009 stimulus bill brought customer savings. Mike Phillips, the C…

1
Crazy for Cults 54:05

2M ago54:05

54:05

"At one point if I was in that compound I'd be like, 'Look I get it. I'm your spiritual wife... but I gotta go.'" Stephen jokes, but it gets to the heart of the matter on what makes his chosen topic for this week episode, Cults, so fascinating. Why do people join and stay in cults? How do you convince 900+ people to take their lives for a stupid ca…

1
The Corpse Bride 41:25

2M ago41:25

41:25

"Florida, we need to have a talk." jokes Stephen as this week's story takes us to Key West where nothing ever wild happens! Just kidding, because even if nothing else weird ever happened in Key West this story would be enough to forever mark the city. It's certainly got both Christi and Stephen shaking in their boots as there's a level of macabre i…

1
Why ditching aluminum is key to securing the US solar supply chain 44:06

2M ago44:06

44:06

Solar is the fastest growing electricity-generating technology in history. That rapid scaling was a result of squeezing cost reductions out of every step of production. But there's one critical piece that hasn't changed much: frames. Aluminum frames now make up one-quarter of the cost of a PV module. And that metal mostly comes from China, a countr…

1
New Orleans Spirits 1:05:40

2M ago1:05:40

1:05:40

"She literally shoved someone's head into the mirror and it cracked and fell off the wall; then the bar had to replace it. You took me willingly to this bar? Oh yeah it's great!" If there's one thing Christi and Stephen can't seem to avoid it's haunted bars and houses around New Orleans. It wasn't enough that there were vampires, but now there's gh…

1
Can capitalism save the planet? 51:55

2M ago51:55

51:55

Two books that are essential reading for energy wonks give contrasting views on how to tackle climate change. The hot book in the energy world right now is Brett Christophers’ The Price Is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet. It’s a detailed look at the structural issues in electricity markets and the challenges of generating returns on ren…

1
AI-fueled geothermal and ‘the edge of the possible’ 40:04

2M ago40:04

40:04

A lot of climate tech investors are still trying to figure out how to invest in artificial intelligence. Will it become a unique investment category? Or just a natural enhancement of what many startups are already building? There’s an emerging class of startups with AI at the center of their business. Citrine Informatics is using generative AI to s…

1
NOLA Vampires 58:02

2M ago58:02

58:02

"When I did Christi's Couch, the most popular stories were always when I covered dark stuff," says Christi Lukasiak, though as a listener of Christi's Couch that may not come as too much of a surprise. You may know Christi as a Dance Moms OG, but she's also VERY into the dark and creepy side of things. What better way to explore those topics than w…

1
A macro view on the state of climate tech 32:00

2M ago32:00

32:00

We need to invest many trillions of dollars every year to build a climate-positive economy. We know what those technologies are – but they're all at very different levels of readiness. So what would it take to scale critical climate technologies? That was the simple-but-complicated question recently posed by a group of energy, industry, and high-te…

1
There’s no transition without transmission. How can we make it easier to build? 1:02:25

3M ago1:02:25

1:02:25

Regulators are trying to clear the path to the grid that clean energy needs. To go from an electricity system based on coal and gas to one based on solar and wind, the US needs a very different power grid. On some estimates, annual installations of new transmission capacity need to double. To help build the grid that a new clean electricity system …

1
Energy is now the ‘primary bottleneck’ for AI 56:22

3M ago56:22

56:22

Data centers are an impressive energy success story. Over the last 25 years, internet traffic has climbed more than 500x while data center electricity use has remained flat. The servers and energy infrastructure have gotten wildly more efficient, and the biggest tech companies have focused on powering those warehouse-scale computers with renewables…

1
Google’s demanding goals for decarbonization 1:04:07

3M ago1:04:07

1:04:07

AI is driving up demand for electricity. How can we meet that demand with clean energy? It has been a big theme on the Energy Gang this year: the massive additional demand for energy that could be created by data centers for artificial intelligence. It’s an emerging issue that threatens to cause new challenges for the world’s attempts to achieve ne…

1
Tesla’s extremely hardcore pivot 33:35

3M ago33:35

33:35

The origin of Tesla was rooted in two goals: electrify transportation to drive down emissions that are warming the planet; and do it by driving down the cost of EVs to make them accessible to the masses. Is Musk now walking away from both? “He's decided I'm not a car company. I’m an AI and robotics company. It's astonishing what's happening with Te…

1
Jigar Shah returns to the Energy Gang 51:29

3M ago51:29

51:29

The Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has a grandstand view of the energy transition. Where is it going next? Jigar Shah, one of the originators of the Energy Gang, now runs the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, playing a key role in advancing clean energy projects. By helping to bridge the gap between R&D and large-scale deplo…

1
The news quiz episode! 46:14

3M ago46:14

46:14

This week, we have something a little different: a news quiz. We recently took the stage with four investors at the Prelude Climate Summit — armed with a bell, a buzzer, and four different categories of questions. We tested two teams of venture investors on their knowledge of the most recent industry news. Shayle Kann and Cassie Bowe, partners at v…

1
Is there an energy transition? 57:06

4M ago57:06

57:06

Fossil fuels still dominate the world’s energy supplies. Do we need different terminology to talk about what’s happening? We talk about “the energy transition” all the time. But is that language misleading? 20 years ago fossil fuels were 85% of the world’s energy, today they’re just a few percentage points less. If there is a transition to low-carb…

1
Political Climate: Is the IRA under political threat? 42:53

4M ago42:53

42:53

This week, we have a drop-in episode from our new podcast at Latitude Media: Political Climate. Since the Inflation Reduction Act became law in August 2022, we’ve asked ourselves a big question: could the government and the private sector actually get this sprawling set of climate programs up and running? So far, many would answer “yes.” The IRA ha…

1
Rising electricity demand in Texas: the canary in the coalmine for the rest of the US? | Bonus Episode 1:02:41

4M ago1:02:41

1:02:41

Conversations from the Gulf Coast Power Association conference. This bonus episode of the Energy Gang was recorded live during the spring meeting of the Gulf Coast Power Association in Houston, Texas. Host Ed Crooks is joined by Beth Garza, President of the Gulf Coast Power Association, Frank O'Sullivan, Managing Director for Clean Energy at S2G Ve…

1
An influx of EVs. Surging peaks. Can AI help? 41:00

4M ago41:00

41:00

AI is suddenly in use everywhere – and it’s headed for the power sector. New research from Latitude Intelligence and Indigo Advisory Group shows a coming wave of AI integration, inside and outside of utilities. Distributed energy companies are increasingly integrating AI into their products, and many power companies are building teams to take advan…

1
2024 is a year of elections. What will they mean for clean energy? 54:48

4M ago54:48

54:48

As half the world heads to the polls, how important will the results be for efforts to cut emissions? Over half the world lives in a country that will be holding an election this year. The votes come at a time when resistance to the energy transition is building in many parts of the world, as concerns around energy security grow and some of the cha…

1
The rise of heat batteries 41:38

4M ago41:38

41:38

John O’Donnell co-founded and ran two solar thermal companies. He watched as the technology shifted from being the most promising utility-scale solar technology, to getting out-competed by photovoltaics everywhere. But he stayed passionate about heat. Today, he’s CEO of Rondo Energy, which makes a “heat battery” for industrial applications using br…

1
Episode 368: Marvel Two-in-One #77 - Only The Swamp Survives 53:00

4M ago53:00

53:00

Cancelled Comic Cavalcade Hello, and welcome to episode 367 of The Fantasticast. Each episode, Steve Lacey guides you through every issue, guest-appearance and cameo of The Fantastic Four. After an extended break, Steve is back to continue his journey through the latter issues of Marvel Two-in-One. What happens if a team-up books doesn't involve a …

1
Everyone is worrying about rising demand for electricity. Do Microsoft and Google have an answer? 1:03:42

4M ago1:03:42

1:03:42

Big power users are getting together to accelerate the development of advanced clean energy technologies. The hottest topic in energy right now is the expected surge in demand for electricity. Data centers for AI, new factories, and electric vehicles are driving power consumption higher in the US, after about 15 years of stagnation. Solar and wind …

1
Inside Apple’s failed car program 32:13

5M ago32:13

32:13

Mark Gurman has been covering Apple since 2009. His reporting career is full of scoops about new products or strategic decisions from inside the company. His latest scoop in February: Apple is finally shutting down its efforts to build an autonomous electric car. Apple first started exploring an electric car in 2014. At that point, cars had already…

1
The Latitude: Could government rules hinder green hydrogen? 23:00

5M ago23:00

23:00

The US green hydrogen industry is at a critical juncture. After months of input and debate, the government put out draft rules for tax credits at the end of last year – setting strict requirements for matching new, local renewables to hydrogen production. It was hailed by many as a really important step for ensuring that green hydrogen actually liv…

1
How will utilities meet surging power demand? 1:01:22

5M ago1:01:22

1:01:22

AI isn’t just threatening to take our jobs, it’s also draining our electricity. Data centres centers used to have power demand measured in the tens of megawatts. Now they are in the hundreds of megawatts, and the new ones that are being proposed have demand in the thousands of megawatts: gigawatts. At the Distributech conference in Feburary, Harry …

1
The achilles heel of AI in the power system: data 27:57

5M ago27:57

27:57

There are many forces that could hold back AI in the power system: computing infrastructure, power availability, regulation, and corporate inertia. The biggest one? Good data. Utilities and grid operators are awash in data. But getting access to it – or making sense of it – is very difficult. For a better understanding of how to change that, we tur…

1
The urgent need to simplify clean energy finance [partner content] 15:27

5M ago15:27

15:27

Early in her career, Amanda Li worked on many deals in solar and storage as part of a billion-dollar sustainable infrastructure fund. And she discovered a problem that often hinders deployment: the underwriting process is cumbersome and slow. “All of it was in spreadsheets, word documents, emails. When you look at a solar deal, there's a lot of doc…

1
Bonus interviews from Distributech 1:04:58

5M ago1:04:58

1:04:58

This bonus episode of Wood Mackenzie’s The Energy Gang is our third from the Distributech conference in Orlando. Distributech is the leading event for the electricity transmission and distribution industry in North America. It gave our host Ed Crooks a fantastic opportunity to talk to many of the leading figures from the industry, including those w…

1
New demand is straining the grid. Here’s how to tackle it. 29:59

5M ago29:59

29:59

When Brian Janous took charge of Microsoft’s clean energy strategy in 2011, the company’s data center demand was modest. He was measuring new demand in the tens of megawatts. Over the years, that grew to hundreds of megawatts of new demand as hyperscale computing expanded. And then everything changed in the spring of 2023, with the public launch of…

1
The right way to recycle batteries [partner content] 21:59

5M ago21:59

21:59

In the early 2000s, Steve Cotton ran a company serving the fast-growing data center industry with backup battery systems. And when those systems reached the end of their lives, the company monetized kilotons of lead-acid batteries by sending them to recycling facilities – industrial plants that break down and burn the components. “It's very dangero…

1
How can we develop new energy technologies and get them deployed at scale? 1:02:08

5M ago1:02:08

1:02:08

On this episode of Wood Mackenzie's The Energy Gang: what the history of innovation in solar power and batteries can teach us about the right ways to support clean energy breakthroughs. As the world moves towards a more sustainable energy future, government support is essential for research to develop new technologies, and for investment to deploy …

1
Bonus Episode: Evolving Power: The Impact of Electric Vehicles on Energy Utilities 20:09

6M ago20:09

20:09

When most people drive electric cars, what does that mean for the grid? This bonus episode of Wood Mackenzie’s The Energy Gang is our second from the Distributech conference in Orlando. Distributech is the leading event for the electricity transmission and distribution industry in North America. It gave our host Ed Crooks a fantastic opportunity to…

1
The Energy Gang at Distributech 2024 in Orlando 57:24

6M ago57:24

57:24

What AI means for the energy transition in the electricity industry Welcome to a special episode of Wood Mackenzie's The Energy Gang, recorded at the Distributech 2024 conference in Orlando. Distributech is the leading event in North America for the electricity transmission and distribution industry. It provides a fantastic opportunity to talk to t…

1
A view of the $1.8 trillion clean energy economy 47:52

6M ago47:52

47:52

Can a couple trillion dollars feel small? Global investments in the energy transition – from the buildout of factories and power projects to project finance and government debt – hit nearly $1.8 trillion last year. That’s almost as big as the GDP of South Korea. It’s nearly 20% more than the year before, and nearly eight times more than a decade ag…

1
2023 was a tough year for clean energy investment. Will 2024 be better? 1:00:45

6M ago1:00:45

1:00:45

There are no two ways around it: 2023 was a difficult year for low-carbon energy investment, and 2024 has so far carried on in very much the same vein. Rising interest rates, fears around future energy policy, cost inflation in some sectors, and perhaps a correction to some earlier over-exuberance, have meant that shares in clean energy companies h…

1
Virtual power plants: the ‘sandwich’ for the grid 36:59

6M ago36:59

36:59

If we want any chance of affordably and reliably building a grid powered 100% by zero-carbon resources, we need to triple the capacity of virtual power plants. That’s the conclusion of a report released last fall by the Department of Energy, which examined the different business models and integration approaches for tying solar, batteries, thermost…

1
Pricing and tech trends shaping the global battery storage market 33:33

6M ago33:33

33:33

The storage market is full of surprises. Last year, global storage installations were a third higher than expected, driven mostly by Chinese policy to attach batteries to renewables. Meanwhile, a ramp-up in manufacturing is causing oversupply – and a potential shakeout for smaller battery makers. By 2030, the world could see 1.8 terawatt-hours of s…

1
A pause in US gas export approvals: a big win for the climate? 54:05

6M ago54:05

54:05

The US is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), super-cooled to about -160 °C (or -260 °F) so it can be shipped in tankers. An investment boom means export capacity will soar over the next few years. But last month the Biden administration signaled it was putting the brakes on future growth, announcing a “pause” in new approv…

1
US power demand is set to boom. How will we meet it? 56:29

6M ago56:29

56:29

As President Biden’s green industrial policies reignite the US manufacturing base, AI computing workloads soar, and machines across the economy turn electric, the power grid is facing an historic increase in demand. After almost two decades of flat electricity consumption, suddenly America’s grid planners are doubling their forecasts for demand – r…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Stephen Lacey Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Quick Reference Guide