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🌊 Crazy Cheap Renewables

What if solar becomes the cheapest energy source on Earth?

We’re joined by Andy Lubershane, Partner at Energy Impact Partners and author of Steel For Fuel.

In this episode, we dive into the future of ultra-cheap solar, and unpack what it really takes to push renewables into a new cost paradigm that reshapes global energy systems.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why solar’s cost curve has been one of the biggest success stories of the energy transition

→ What “crazy cheap” actually means (hint: ~50% cheaper than today)

→ Why cost of capital is now solar’s biggest bottleneck

→ The real constraints: land, transmission, and grid infrastructure

→ Why efficiency gains (not cheaper panels) are the next big unlock

→ The rise of tandem cells and perovskites as a potential step change

→ Why installation and labor are now major cost drivers

→ The surprising reality: solar costs have recently increased in some markets

→ Why wind likely won’t reach the same scalability as solar

This is episode three of a five part series. Subscribe to receive every episode.

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🌊 Energy Security Is Climate Strategy

Why geopolitics may become the strongest accelerator of Europe’s energy transition.

We’re joined by James Gutman, strategist at The Carlyle Group and a longtime commodities and energy expert with experience spanning Ford, Goldman Sachs, and hedge funds.

In this episode, we dive into the collision between geopolitics, energy markets, and climate innovation, and unpack what it really takes for Europe to build an energy system that is not just cleaner, but more resilient.

This conversation starts with the current geopolitical moment, but quickly moves into Europe’s dependence on imported energy, the limits of the transition so far, and why security may now matter as much as sustainability in shaping the next wave of climate investment.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why disruption in global oil and gas trade changes the logic of the energy transition

→ Why Europe remains vulnerable even as renewables scale

→ The hard-to-replace fossil fuel use cases still shaping industry, aviation, and grid stability

→ Why China’s clean energy buildout is as much about security as climate

→ Why Europe may need to think less about first-best ideas, and more about scaling what works now

→ How energy resilience could become the biggest driver of climate tech deployment

My key takeaway: Energy security is no longer separate from climate strategy.

Read more from James: You can’t print molecules.A crude awakening.

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🌊 Fusion, and Other Fusion-Level Bets

Why the dream of limitless clean energy is still alive, and why the real question is cost, not physics.

We’re joined by Andy Lubershane, Partner at Energy Impact Partners and author of Steel For Fuel.

In this episode, we dive into nuclear fusion, the most ambitious energy technology on the table, and unpack what it really takes to turn a scientific breakthrough into a commercially viable power source.

In our conversation, we covered:

→ Why fusion has been “20 years away” for the last 60 to 80 years

→ The physics behind the challenge: hot enough, dense enough, for long enough

→ What Q = 1 really means — and why the headlines often get ahead of reality

→ Why Andy still believes some companies may hit real net energy gain soon

→ The difference between a scientific milestone and an investable commercial one

→ Why fusion could be the ultimate energy prize, if it ever becomes affordable

Andy breaks down the famous triple product at the heart of fusion: you need to create conditions that are extraordinarily hot, incredibly dense, and stable for long enough to generate more energy than you put in. That is easy to describe. It is brutally hard to do.

We also unpack the gap between lab success and market success. A fusion reaction can be scientifically impressive and still be economically irrelevant. That distinction matters. A lot.

And then there is the upside. If fusion works at scale, especially in a form that uses abundant fuel and avoids the safety, waste, and proliferation issues of fission, it starts to look like one of the biggest energy breakthroughs humanity could hope for.

This is episode two of a five part series. Subscribe to receive every episode.