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Volts: Daily Summaries Delivered
by David Roberts
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.
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- 2 days ago14 min
Best of October 2026
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.volts.wtfVolts published eight conversations in October, which is a lot for anyone to listen to. We’ve rounded up the highlights into less than an hour. Enjoy!Chapters00:00 – Introduction01:52 – Leah Stokes on passing the IRA07:52 – Daniel Palken on the permitting bill13:26 – Matt Traldi on local clean energy fights19:38 – Kristian Jensen on Denmark’s utilities24:56 – Nick Chaset on consumer protection30:11 – Sam D’Amico on engineers and factories35:41 – Tom Matzzie on the clean energy super PAC41:19 – Ketan Joshi on data centers and climate
- 4 days ago1h 31m
The transformative potential of solid-state transformers
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribePower electronics have taken over almost everything in our lives, with the exception, oddly, of the power grid itself — it is still held together by tens of millions of analog, iron-and-copper transformers, the design of which has barely changed in a century. Solid-state transformers replace the dumb gray box with something that can monitor and steer power or convert it from AC to DC and vice versa. In this episode, Enphase co-founder Raghu Belur, who built his company by dividing big solar inverters into thousands of small ones, explains how he’s trying the same thing with transformers, why AI data centers and big solar and battery projects are the first markets, and what it would take to put a smarter transformer on every pole.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction03:02 – What a transformer does07:53 – What conventional transformers can’t do11:43 – What makes a transformer solid state15:27 – How much is software, how much is hardware19:40 – Why power electronics hasn’t reached the grid23:54 – Enphase’s distributed approach31:23 – Building transformers from 5-kilowatt modules34:58 – Copper, gallium nitride, and supply chains43:44 – Cybersecurity47:23 – Data centers and 800 volts DC59:29 – Solar and battery storage1:05:18 – The cost question1:07:02 – Neighborhood transformers and the utilities1:15:37 – Efficiency, lifespan, and heat1:22:24 – Handling grid faults1:25:27 – Standards, policy, and the next few years
- 1 weeks ago13 min
The (climate) case against (AI) data centers
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.volts.wtfVolts guests have argued that data centers can be good for the grid if they’re built right. Here I hear the case against, from Ketan Joshi, a former wind-industry analyst who now tracks Big Tech’s climate claims. He sees data centers as the wrong kind of demand growth: lumpy, concentrated, unwanted by neighbors, and largely met with gas. Underneath it all is the worry that the backlash against data centers will become a backlash against electrification itself.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction02:14 – How Ketan became a big tech critic06:01 – The case against data centers07:39 – What data centers add to emissions11:57 – Isn’t more electricity demand good?20:12 – Backlash and the NEXTDC power-pole protest24:21 – AI claims 1: will AI help the climate?27:53 – AI claims 2: machine learning vs. generative AI33:47 – AI claims 3: inflated climate wins36:51 – The gas rush: how much gets built?44:49 – Would easier renewables fix it?49:14 – Can data centers be flexible load?55:41 – Do we actually want AI data centers?59:39 – What should data centers do to plug in?1:05:31 – Fake crackdowns and the risk to renewables1:09:24 – What if AI is a bubble?
- 1 weeks ago1h 8m
The PAC taking out clean energy opponents
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeClean energy is the cheapest, fastest-growing source of power in the country, yet politically it barely registers. Republicans gutted its tax credits last year without fearing any consequences. The Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, a super PAC backed by clean energy investors, is trying to change that the old-fashioned way: by punishing the industry’s enemies. It went six for six in this year’s primaries; it’s now spending at least $15 million against seven Republican House candidates in the midterms. Its chair, Tom Matzzie, makes the case for fear as a political asset, explains why the industry has been so slow to throw elbows, and describes what it would take for clean energy to become a lion instead of a gazelle.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction02:55 - How the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition started06:23 - Why a super PAC, and the idea of mythic power09:50 - Punishing opponents to send a message to Congress12:55 - Proving impact, and the permitting bill17:13 - How ITC picks its general election races21:41 - Does knocking out extremists help Republicans?24:53 - Free riders and barriers to industry politics28:58 - Who funds ITC, and why the industry underinvests32:44 - Why clean power stays politically weak38:28 - Did the IRA’s red-state investments pay off?40:35 - Fear of Trump’s retaliation45:05 - Avoiding the Democratic PAC label49:30 - Presidential primaries and the ethanol playbook53:20 - Gas inside the clean power trade groups58:37 - Where ITC goes after November
- 2 weeks ago1h 6m
Building our piece of the electric stack
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeCollectively, the electric stack (batteries, motors, chips, power electronics) has gotten about 99% cheaper since 1990. It is quietly remaking every machine that turns electricity into motion, heat, or work. Problem is, China makes most of it. Sam D’Amico, co-author of “The Electric Slide” and founder of Impulse Labs, is betting the US can still claim a piece of that stack. He’s starting with a battery-powered induction cooktop. We talk about why domestic manufacturing matters, what America would actually have to build to compete, and how Silicon Valley’s founder world really thinks about climate change, geoengineering included.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction02:52 – From VR headsets to kitchen appliances07:07 – How a pizza oven inspired a battery stove10:07 – Peak demand, at home and on the grid13:25 – Which appliances could use a built-in battery16:46 – Electric stack 1: the four technologies20:28 – Electric stack 2: power electronics and motors25:21 – China bets on hardware, the US bets on AI30:08 – Why not just buy it all from China?33:51 – Why engineers need to be near the factory38:39 – How much does the US need to make at home?45:19 – US EV policy and letting Chinese cars in47:49 – Batteries in appliances vs. one home battery52:04 – Impulse’s plan: its tech in other brands’ stoves55:17 – What’s next after the stove57:14 – Has Silicon Valley stopped caring about climate?
- 2 weeks ago1h 2m
Can distributed energy work around American utilities?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeAmerican homes are filling up with batteries, EVs, and smart thermostats that could be coordinated to make the grid cheaper and more reliable — but almost none of them are. To understand why, it helps to watch what happens when the company best in the world at this tries to do it here. In Britain, Octopus Energy has built a giant virtual power plant out of its customers' devices. In the US, it has spent six years running into walls. Now it’s bought Uplight, which runs customer programs for 85 utilities. I talked with Nick Chaset, who runs both, about what's in the way and whether distributed energy can ever scale with US utilities … the way they are.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction02:02 – Octopus’s past year and the Uplight investment05:18 – What makes the UK market work for Octopus11:12 – Texas: fast growth, flattened volatility14:57 – Will flexibility put itself out of business?19:16 – Why Octopus stays out of Pennsylvania and New York22:17 – Does residential retail competition have a future?24:41 – Why utility programs trail Octopus on participation32:17 – The demand stack and what planners can count on39:11 – Kraken, Uplight and the overlap46:04 – Consumer protection and the aggregator model51:17 – Data centers and the social license to operate55:11 – Do we need dynamic pricing?58:30 – Five years out
- 3 weeks ago1h 3m
What’s up with Denmark?
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeDenmark gets a large share of its power from wind and other renewables and has cut its emissions roughly in half since 1990, but independent analysts doubt it will hit its 70 percent target for 2030. Kristian Jensen, CEO of Green Power Denmark and a former Danish minister of taxation, foreign affairs, and finance, argues the next stage is electrifying how Denmark uses energy: heat, transport, and industry. I talk with him about district heating and heat pumps, EVs and vehicle-to-grid, municipally owned grid companies and hourly power prices, biomass, carbon capture, power-to-X, solar’s “fields of iron” backlash, a grid oversubscribed with data center requests (an October 1 agreement has since put most data centers at the back of the queue), and whether the country’s political consensus will hold.Chapters00:00 – Introduction: Denmark and industrial symbiosis02:44 – Is the 70% target for 2030 out of reach?06:24 – Carbon capture and storage, and the peatlands lag09:57 – Why electrification has lagged: biomass and wood pellets14:45 – Few batteries, many interconnectors16:48 – Data centers and the grid-connection prioritization bill21:34 – Municipally owned grid companies24:32 – Smart meters, hourly prices, and thermal batteries28:40 – The solar backlash and local ownership35:04 – Agrivoltaics and biodiversity37:24 – District heating: heat pumps, geothermal, and finance43:24 – The EV transition and vehicle-to-grid47:45 – Road pricing and fiscal room50:07 – Power-to-X and eSAF54:21 – Can Denmark build enough clean power?57:12 – Will the political consensus hold?
- 3 weeks ago1h 7m
Checking back in with Greenlight America
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribeOn this episode, recorded live at Climate Week NYC, I talk with Matt Traldi. He’s the founder and CEO of Greenlight America, which finds the local meetings where clean energy’s fate is being decided and recruits supporters to attend. Traldi argues that siting and permitting approvals turn on who shows up, and that local partners, conservative groups included, outperform outside advocates. We discuss how to measure impact, recent wins and losses, blue-state resistance, data center backlash, and Greenlight’s growth.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction02:09 – What Greenlight does and why Matt started it04:41 – How Greenlight finds the decisions that matter07:27 – Growth, and the tax credit deadline sprint13:38 – Who shows up to local hearings19:39 – Winning in conservative communities22:35 – Bodies in the room, measuring impact, and win rates27:46 – Losses, wins, and “there is no bag”32:44 – Blue-state obstacles and organized opposition36:31 – When data center backlash spills over onto clean energy42:31 – Which projects Greenlight won’t back45:38 – Lessons from housing and growing an organization50:17 – Audience Q&A: disinformation and state permitting reform54:39 – Audience Q&A: developers and elections59:30 – Audience Q&A: funding local groups and designing community input
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About Volts
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.
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