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Volts is a podcast about leaving fossil fuels behind. I've been reporting on and explaining clean-energy topics for almost 20 years, and I love talking to politicians, analysts, innovators, and activists about the latest progress in the world's most important fight. (Volts is entirely subscriber-supported. Sign up!)

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Site URL: www.volts.wtf/podcast

Feed URL: api.substack.com/feed/podcast/193024.rss

Posts: 10

Followers: 2

Ann Arbor's experiment with a new kind of utility

Published: July 23, 2025 16:02

Ann Arbor voted to create a parallel, municipal electric utility that offers only distributed renewables, and Missy Stults is the woman making it real. We explore the nuts and bolts: buying existing solar for seed revenue, building microgrids in a city…

What's going on with electric boats?

Published: July 18, 2025 16:02

In this episode, Arc CEO Mitch Lee explains why the jump from gas-powered boats to electric boats is even bigger, in terms of quality and user experience, than the jump from gas-powered cars to EVs. EBs are strikingly quieter, have greater torque, and…

Solar+storage is so much farther along than you think

Published: July 16, 2025 16:02

I chat with Kostantsa Rangelova and Dave Jones, authors of a new Ember report, who find that solar-plus-storage costs have declined so much that it can now provide baseload-level power in sunny cities for less than the cost of new nuclear or even new gas.…

Trump's big bill: How bad is it and what comes next?

Published: July 11, 2025 16:03

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.volts.wtfIn this "What the F is Happening" episode, I'm joined by Jane Flegal and Jesse Jenkins to perform a wake for the Inflation Reduction Act after the passage of the GOP's "Big…

A closer look at Montana's housing "miracle"

Published: July 9, 2025 16:02

In this episode, I talk with Montana state senators Forrest Mandeville (R) and Ellie Boldman (D) about the bipartisan housing reforms their state has passed over the last two legislative sessions — reforms so sweeping YIMBYs have dubbed them the "Montana…

PG&E tries to prove that a big utility can innovate

Published: July 4, 2025 16:02

PG&E, California's notoriously troubled utility, is trying to prove it can innovate, so I invited Quinn Nakayama, head of its new GRiD program, to explain how. We discuss its strategy of publicly outlining its problems to attract partners and its shift…

Can data centers be good grid citizens?

Published: July 2, 2025 16:12

The frantic buildout of AI data centers is threatening to overwhelm electric grids, but what if they could be part of the solution? I chat with Jeff Bladen of Verrus, a company designing data centers to be "good grid citizens" from the ground up. We…

Reducing the climate impacts of food and farming

Published: June 27, 2025 16:02

In this episode, I chat with fellow energy nerd-turned-ag-reporter Michael Grunwald about agriculture’s climate impact. We explore the folly of biofuels, the promise of meat alternatives, and the central importance of increasing yields. While we can…

The fight to build faster in California

Published: June 25, 2025 16:02

In this episode, I'm joined by two of California's leading housing champions, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks and Senator Scott Wiener, to discuss their bills to reform the state's notorious environmental review law, CEQA. We explore how a well-intentioned…

Rep. Mike Levin reflects on the Republican budget bill

Published: June 20, 2025 16:02

In this episode, Rep. Mike Levin and I discuss the “Big Beautiful Bill” that raises energy bills, kills 830,000 jobs, and gifts China the next industrial revolution. We unpack the fossil-fuel cash behind the carnage, the paradox of red districts cutting…