The Wharton Current

Nov 12 2024 45 ep. 34 mins 6
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The Future of Clean Energy Under Trump — Dr. Jen Wilcox, Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary @ the Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

Nov 12 2024 39 mins  
What’s next for clean energy under a Trump administration? In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Jen Wilcox. Now a Penn professor, Dr. Wilcox led the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management under the Biden Administration. Named one of the Time 100 in Climate in 2023, she had a front row seat as Biden’s pro-clean energy policies spurred growth in

Revitalizing Europe's Legacy Wind Assets -- Lars Meyer, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of NeXtWind

Nov 04 2024 50 mins  
What if aging wind parks could produce 5x more green energy? Lars Meyer, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of NeXtWind, is focused on making that vision a reality. In 2023, NeXtWind raised $750M to "repower" aging wind farms across Germany, upgrading inefficient turbines and increasing power output by 4-5x. In this episode, Lars joined host Ian Miller to discuss: - Enabling Net Zero: How L

Financing the Future of Climate Tech - Matt Cohen, Principal @ Clean Energy Ventures

Oct 26 2024 36 mins  
Over the past decade, climate tech venture capital has expanded rapidly. Total funding increased by 12.5x and new venture firms like Clean Energy Ventures emerged, filling critical gaps in the capital stack and helping founders reimagine a more sustainable future. Our guest, Matt Cohen, Principal at Clean Energy Ventures, has dedicated his career to helping climate tech entreprene

Changing the Way We Charge EVs -- Apoorv Bhargava, CEO of WeaveGrid

Jun 20 2024 44 mins  
Rising electric vehicle demand is creating new challenges for both EV owners and utilities. Concentrated charging times are driving up electricity prices, making it more expensive to charge EVs. This "peaky" electricity demand is pushing utilities to rely on fossil fuel plants, impacting the energy transition. Apoorv Bhargava, CEO of WeaveGrid, is focused on addressing these pro

Reimagining Data Centers for the Age of AI -- Nelson Abramson, CEO @ Verrus

May 29 2024 29 mins  
You hear it every day -- artificial intelligence is the future. But artificial intelligence data centers require an extraordinary amount of electricity. How are utilities going to meet this growing demand all while transitioning to a greener energy mix? Nelson Abramson, CEO of Verrus, is revolutionizing the data center industry by developing a more sustainable and energy efficie

Bringing Accounting Rigor to Sustainability Reporting -- Elizabeth Seeger, Board Member @ ISSB

Oct 02 2023 41 mins  
For investors, taking sustainability seriously requires high-quality company-level data. That, in turn, requires standards that ensure companies across industries and economies are providing this kind of investor-useful data. We need accounting standards for sustainability reporting, just like what we have for financial reporting. Our guest this week is from the international body

What Do We Need for Net-Zero Steel? Christina Chang, Partner @ Lowercarbon Capital

Aug 23 2023 40 mins  
What technologies can get us to net-zero steel? Dr. Christina Chang knows this space as well as anyone in venture capital. She's a PhD chemist and inventor in fields from solar PV to advanced manufacturing, a former steel startup CEO, and now a partner at Lowercarbon Capital. Join us to learn: -- Which technologies can help cut steel emissions -- and why near-commercial options li

Stabilizing the Low-Carbon Grid -- Frederico Rauter, Chief Revenue Officer @ Reactive Technologies

Jul 18 2023 42 mins  
Adding renewables and batteries to our power grid cuts emissions and can lower costs. But it also makes grid stability a more complex affair. That's in part because these systems tend to have less "inertia" -- a byproduct of turbine rotation that helps insulate grids against fluctuations in supply and demand. The old models and heuristics for inertia management no longer apply, and

The Standard-Setter for Corporate Climate Ambition -- Luiz Amaral, CEO @ SBTi

Jun 12 2023 34 mins  
Rising climate risk has corporates around the world announcing targets to cut their emissions. But how can investors know whether a company’s targets are ambitious enough to support our world’s climate goals -- to help mitigate global climate risk? Ned Downie & Adriel Barrett-Johnson talk in this episode with Luiz Amaral, the CEO of the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi)

Leshika Samarasinghe - Twine Ventures Founder

May 03 2023 23 mins  
Join host Ellie McDonald on this episode of The Wharton Current as she welcomes Leshika Samarasinghe, founder and solo GP of Twine Ventures! Twine Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests in purpose-driven startups focused on healthcare, fintech, and climate technology. With a Harvard Business School degree and early experience at Google and ARPA-E, Leshika sha