Listen to the Energy Changemakers podcast to learn from energy innovators and leaders who are remaking the electric grid into a more decentralized and democratic system. Find us on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. Subscribe to our free newsletter for notifications of new podcasts.
This Week’s Featured Podcast
Elisa Wood sits down with Tim Hade, co-founder of Scale Microgrid, to discuss why the distributed energy industry is poised for massive transformation now—despite, or perhaps because of, federal policy turbulence. Tim unpacks his move to Santa Barbara (which, by the way, he calls “home to the worst grid in the continental U.S.”) and how that community could become a national model for DER-powered resilience.
They explore why community organizing is becoming just as crucial as engineering, how local governments are key players in energy infrastructure, and what role utilities can play in funding distributed solutions. From virtual power plants to the Distributed Capacity Procurement model, this conversation is a masterclass in building pragmatic, bottom-up energy systems in a time of urgent change.
If you’re worried about the future of distributed energy, this episode will give you a reason to hope—and a blueprint for action.
Listen to DERs and the Abundance Agenda: What Comes After Federal Funding Falls Short
More Conversations about Distributed Energy and Microgrids
Microgrids have always been hard to define succinctly because they are not really just one thing. They can morph to serve a variety of energy needs. Veteran energy journalists Elisa Wood, Lisa Cohn and Peter Asmus describe how they’ve evolved.
Listen to Microgrids Aren’t What They Used To Be
Data center guru Rich Miller interviews energy journalist Elisa Wood on the Data Center Richness podcast. They discuss how data centers’ thirst for electric power could shape the future of the power grid and what it means for onsite energy.
Listen to Data Centers, AI and the Future of Power
Keep Listening!
Solar on Wheels – How a Family-Run Startup is Transforming Driveways into Clean Power Stations
Across America, sunny driveways are abundant yet surprisingly overlooked as potential power generators. Now, a Florida-based startup, Gismo Power, is pioneering a remarkable innovation: a portable, plug-in solar EV charger called the MEGA – or Mobile Electricity Generating Appliance.
In this episode of the Energy Changemakers Podcast, host Elisa Wood talks with Antonia Ginsberg-Klemmt, CEO and mechanical engineer, and her parents and business partners, electrical engineer Achim Ginsberg-Klemmt and operations specialist Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt. Together, this activist entrepreneurial family is challenging both conventional wisdom and outdated regulations to create a new category of solar technology designed specifically for renters, small businesses, and anyone seeking greater energy independence.
Off Grid and Urban: An Apartment Building that Signals the Future
In an interview with Elisa Wood, veteran energy innovator Steve Pullins, CEO of ResSET, unveils his latest venture, a highly unusual sustainable apartment building in Ann Arbor, Michigan, set to be entirely off-grid. While foregoing a grid connection isn’t typical, especially for a city building, Pullins maintains it’s time to think of the electric grid as just one of several energy options, not the default.
Called South Town, the project strives to reduce housing costs using several novel strategies, including providing a shared electric vehicle fleet for building occupants. Pullins also designed the energy system based on the kilowatts actually used by appliances — not the generic nameplate ratings — which led to significant energy savings.
Pullins hopes to see the model replicated, a necessity, he says, given that the world’s building footprint will double over the next 40 years, threatening climate goals without radical change in commercial construction.
Are We Expecting Too Much from Virtual Power Plants?
In this episode of the Energy Changemakers podcast, host Elisa Wood talks to three big thinkers in the electric power industry: Lorenzo Kristov, Kay Aikin, and Mark Paterson, who explain what it will take to create a democratized electric grid. Our guests also take on common grid fictions, such as the belief that virtual power plants provide an “easy button” to manage distributed energy. They offer a vision for a decentralized grid and describe programs in Colorado, Maine, and Australia paving the way.
Also check out Data Centers, AI and the Future of Power, a conversation between Elisa Wood and data center guru Rich Miller on the podcast Data Center Richness.
