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.
Featured Podcasts
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 Together, this activist entrepreneurial family is challenging both conventional wisdom and outdated regulations to create a new category of solar technology designed specifically for renters, small businesses, and anyone seeking greater energy independence.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.
