I’In this episode, I chat with Swedish tech entrepreneur Jonas Birgersson about his radical plan to apply the architecture of the internet—packet switching, buffering, and decentralized routing—to the electricity grid. We explore how his “EnergyNet” concept uses power electronics to create galvanically separated microgrids that stop cascading failures and allow neighbors to share power directly. It is a mind-bending look at how treating electrons like data could lead to unlimited energy for a low fixed fee.

Conventional geothermal energy is limited to specific hot spots, but “closed-loop” geothermal, by going deeper and confining water to sealed boreholes, promises to work almost anywhere; it amounts to building a giant radiator, deep underground. I’m joined by Jeanine Vany and Mark Fitzgerald of pioneering closed-loop startup Eavor to discuss their newly operational plant in Germany and the many advantages of a system that requires no fracking and consumes no water.

In this episode, I’m joined by Kate Slevin of the Regional Plan Association to discuss the triumphant first year of congestion pricing in Manhattan. We explore how the program defied its critics by boosting business and pedestrian traffic while reducing gridlock, without evident traffic spillover onto adjacent streets. We also cover the money that’s been raised for public transit and what the future holds for the congestion relief zone.