Open Circuit

Mar 21 2025 7 ep. 51 mins 153

Open Circuit Podcast artwork

The energy transition, decoded. Every week, three industry veterans explore the tech breakthroughs, market shakeups, and policy shifts that are driving the biggest industrial transformation in history.

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Five years later: the pandemic's energy legacy

Mar 21 2025 53 mins

Five years ago, as lockdowns swept the globe, we witnessed an energy shock that destroyed oil demand, upended electricity demand patterns, and dropped global emissions by staggering levels overnight. In this episode of Open Circuit, we revisit predictions made during those early uncertain days and examine three major paradoxes that emerged. First, how staying home rewired our p

Does residential solar have a bad product?

Mar 14 2025 49 mins

The residential solar industry is facing its most challenging period in years. High interest rates, sweeping policy change, and stubbornly high customer acquisition costs are all causing a contraction after years of rapid growth. In this episode of Open Circuit, we examine this market transition. We’ll look at how the industry may emerge from the current downturn — through cos

Is Wall Street in climate retreat?

Mar 07 2025 68 mins

Major U.S. financial institutions are backing away from climate commitments – all six largest American banks have exited the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, BlackRock has quit comparable initiatives, and the Federal Reserve has withdrawn from climate risk assessment networks. Is this merely rebranding for the Trump era, or a fundamental shift in how finance approaches sustainable inve

Musk takes a chainsaw to 'energy dominance'

Feb 28 2025 65 mins

Elon Musk built Tesla with help from government loans and carbon credits. Today, he's swinging a chainsaw at the very agencies that launched his empire — while directly undermining President Trump's "energy dominance" agenda. In this episode of Open Circuit, we examine the impact of the Department of Government Efficiency's indiscriminate cuts. When these cuts hit nuclear securit

The data center boom: ‘All the cheap power is gone’

Feb 21 2025 62 mins

The tech industry is pouring $1.3 trillion into data centers globally over the next five years. While efficiency breakthroughs like the launch of DeepSeek's R1 reasoning model might reduce computing needs, the sheer scale of AI deployment means we're still facing historic demand growth. Data center electricity consumption doubled under Biden — and it's projected to triple by 2030

Trump's energy paradox

Feb 14 2025 53 mins

The Trump administration wants energy abundance. But it just declared war on the fastest and cheapest ways to achieve it. That's the central paradox emerging from the administration's first weeks in office, where a flood of executive orders, permit freezes, and funding delays are creating precisely the kind of uncertainty that could thwart its own energy goals. In our first episode

The energy transition, decoded

Feb 05 2025 7 mins

The greatest industrial transformation in history is well underway — but it's going to be messy, contentious, and certainly not linear. In the midst of a volatile political and economic era, Jigar Shah, Katherine Hamilton, and Stephen Lacey are reuniting to launch Open Circuit, a show that decodes the technology, business, and policy trends shaping clean energy and climate techno