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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.
Latest Episodes
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- 2 days ago14 min
How energy politics work inside DC
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.volts.wtfBack in 2011, I wrote that fossil fuel interests had a much better media game than clean energy. My example was Frank Maisano, a media relations guy for coal utilities and the natural gas industry. Thirty years on, he’s still at it — still writing his newsletter, still connecting reporters to sources, still better at it than anyone on the clean side (sigh). So I’m finally talking to him about it: clean energy trade groups nobody in Washington fears, Trump’s daft efforts to kill renewables, the PAC picking off dirty-energy Republicans, permitting and data center fights, and the climate denial shop he worked for in the ‘90s. Spoiler: he regrets nothing.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction03:46 – What a DC media strategist actually does09:50 – Republicans, Trump, and a narrow House majority15:29 – Why tax cuts beat energy in the OBBBA fight18:54 – Competing with China on AI without the electric stack21:15 – Paying $4 billion to hand back offshore wind leases28:07 – Red-state wind and the orders keeping coal plants open32:52 – Clean energy trade groups and the building trades38:41 – Gas as a bridge, and what longer term means44:55 – Whether a half-gas trade group can serve clean energy48:43 – A coherent clean vision against an incoherent coalition51:14 – Do the green groups still scare anyone55:18 – Permitting reform and the Whitehouse-Capito path59:46 – Data centers, animal spirits, and the midterms1:06:48 – The revenge PAC, and whether it is working1:12:31 – Congress, the courts, and what Democrats could do1:18:53 – COP, climate change, and the client he would turn down
- 4 days ago1h 14m
How to build a more flexible, quieter, less obnoxious data center
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/subscribeVerrus is building data centers designed to address every objection the public has raised: they use batteries instead of diesel generators, which makes them grid assets that help hold down power prices; they use closed-loop cooling, which uses a tiny fraction of the water; their equipment is quieter; and as a bonus, they squeeze more servers into the same grid connection. Yet both of Verrus’s proposed sites, in Michigan and Oregon, are mired in fierce local opposition. In this episode, CEO Nelson Abramson walks through the engineering — and the politics that the engineering hasn’t quite solved.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction02:43 – Three decades in data centers05:05 – What a Verrus data center looks like07:39 – The medium voltage power plane12:13 – UPS batteries vs. the big LFP battery17:27 – Priority aware capping and provisioned utility capacity22:31 – Why not buy the pieces off the shelf?25:42 – Duration: what happens when four hours runs out34:28 – Diesel backup and what customers ask for37:15 – How flexible is compute, really?42:37 – Noise, fans, and the sound studies48:42 – Water use and the 12 million gallon question52:19 – Industrial land and by-right zoning56:07 – Public opposition, recall petitions, and community benefits1:00:07 – Oregon, Salem, and the moratorium1:03:56 – Ride-through, NERC, and losing the moat1:07:11 – What V2 looks like
- 1 weeks ago2h 0m
Building a big, abundant, clean grid
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/subscribeJane Flegal has worked inside philanthropy at the Hewlett Foundation, industrial emissions policy at the Biden White House, and carbon-removal market development at Frontier; she's now a senior fellow at the Searchlight Institute, writing some of the smartest climate policy analysis around. We cover a lot of ground: industrial policy versus market approaches, what the IRA got right and wrong, philanthropy's proper role, data centers and the case for an infrastructure fund, and behind-the-meter gas, among other things. This is a long one, and spicy!Chapters:00:00 – Introduction03:11 – Flegal's thesis: building a clean grid fast enough to power growth06:29 – Why she rejects degrowth09:27 – The Roosevelt essay: climate as more than a market failure13:30 – Why clean energy underuses its political muscle15:24 – Industrial policy and the green spiral theory of change20:40 – Was IRA the right approach?22:12 – Lily Bermel's paper and the fight over what survived23:21 – What she would have done differently under IRA30:11 – Philanthropy, Silicon Valley, and what government is for33:29 – The epistemic crisis inside environmental NGOs39:09 – The abundance movement and what each faction misses44:16 – What establishment Democrats get wrong on climate46:06 – Why issue polling misleads50:34 – Republicans and the Cold War analogy52:47 – Data centers and the American Grid Infrastructure Fund59:13 – Affordability politics and who pays for the grid1:08:14 – Emissions, behind-the-meter gas, and flexible load1:13:57 – The clean firm debate: storage plus transmission?1:20:14 – Capacity markets, ERCOT, and the case for planning1:24:32 – Utility incentives, public power, and affordability fixes1:35:55 – Permitting reform and the land footprint asymmetry1:41:05 – NEPA reform and the political window1:48:21 – Where fresh policy thinking comes from
- 1 weeks ago1h 4m
Is there way more conventional geothermal than we thought?
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/subscribeZanskar argues that the US is badly underestimating its conventional geothermal resources — that there are far more undiscovered hydrothermal systems, and that each one can produce far more power, than people think. They think AI can help find those resources, and they have drilled three sites to back it up, including a “blind” discovery in Nevada with no surface signs and no prior exploratory wells. If they're right, terawatts of firm, carbon-free power are reachable with off-the-shelf drilling technology. Co-founders Carl Hoiland and Joel Edwards make the case.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction03:29 – Heat, permeability, and how resources have been found04:49 – Why conventional geothermal stalled, and why the estimate is stale09:22 – Applying AI to old exploration data11:10 – The data Zanskar works with13:09 – Models, field testing, and the feedback loop15:02 – How much more resource is really out there20:22 – Lightning Dock: reviving a written-off field22:14 – What has changed in drilling technology28:37 – Pumpernickel and the permeability question31:08 – Natural permeability vs. enhanced geothermal34:21 – Big Blind, the first blind discovery in 30 years37:09 – Improving the models to keep getting better40:51 – Financing exploration: the development capital facility44:38 – The NV Energy PPA and data center demand47:42 – The skeptical case and geographic limits54:20 – Policy dependence and public lands58:11 – What's next for Zanskar
- 2 weeks ago12 min
Best of August 2026
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.volts.wtfVolts published eight conversations in August — with two Idaho state legislators, a grid cybersecurity expert, the architect of Uruguay's energy transition, an EV charging exec, and more — which is a lot for anyone to listen to. We've rounded up the highlights into a single hour. Enjoy!Chapters:00:00 – Introduction and how the best-of series works01:59 – Saleem Chapman on why every market design fails ratepayers the same way07:51 – Patrick Miller on Chinese inverters and commodity boards12:22 – Ben Toews and Megan Egbert on how Idaho's housing bills happened18:34 – Seth Cutler on why an IONNA site is technically a bakery22:52 – Ramón Méndez Galain on getting every Uruguayan party to sign one plan28:00 – Quinn Nakayama on why a utility would adopt something that saves money34:16 – Varun Sivaram on workload tiers and who pays when flexing goes wrong38:44 – Todd Tucker on the Defense Production Act precedent44:20 – Closing note and what to send in
- 2 weeks ago1h 11m
How to respond to disinformation about clean energy, at scale
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/subscribeDisinformation about clean energy is showing up everywhere — online after every blackout, at county commission meetings about siting new projects, in regulatory dockets stuffed with fake comments. GoodPower, which combines a C3 education arm with a C4 advocacy arm, is trying to fight back with a network of thousands of content creators, rapid-response campaigns around storms and grid failures, and an AI tool that detects manufactured public comments. I talk with CEO Leah Qusba about what they've tried, what they've measured, and what actually works.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction03:06 – What the disinformation claims, and who spreads it05:57 – From Action for the Climate Emergency to GoodPower08:38 – Building a creator network in non-political verticals14:17 – Competing with talk radio and Fox News18:26 – Winter Storm Fern and the rapid response system23:26 – Measuring whether a deployment actually worked27:24 – Pre-bunking and the 80-county experiment33:18 – Getting people off the couch and into the room38:10 – AI agents and where human judgment sits42:05 – Keeping the C3 and the C4 distinct47:13 – Battery fires, Moss Landing, and talking to fire chiefs50:54 – TrueVoice and manufactured public comment56:13 – Whether AI will overwhelm the comment process58:11 – The best messages that actually land1:04:22 – Super PACs, budgets, and what comes next
- 3 weeks ago1h 8m
Could we use Trump's tricks to make good green policy?
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/subscribeEven as he has torn down climate policy, Donald Trump has normalized the use of more powerful & aggressive tools of economic statecraft, like equity stakes in private companies, new federal authorities, and sovereign wealth funds. The Roosevelt Institute recently issued a collection of 17 essays exploring how a future administration could use the tools Trump has assembled for decarbonization. I talk with Todd Tucker, editor of and contributor to the volume, about these new industrial planning tools.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction02:32 – Did Biden's green policy prove durable?09:39 – The Defense Production Act and the Sable pipeline14:59 – Whether to leave the DPA on the table15:35 – Executive orders and the durability problem19:01 – Whether the Supreme Court treats Democrats differently22:03 – Executive power and a disempowered Congress25:05 – Senate malapportionment and filibuster reform29:43 – Court reform and the major questions doctrine34:13 – Manufacturing vs. deployment42:52 – Permitting, abundance, and theory of power49:20 – Public ownership and the U.S. Steel golden share55:22 – What state capitalism could look like for green ends59:56 – Shelley Welton on utilities as planning tools1:02:42 – Speed vs. deliberation before 2029
- 3 weeks ago53 min
Making data centers flexible so they can serve the grid rather than stress it out
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/subscribeTypically, AI data centers are large, inflexible loads that the grid has to build around, which is one reason utilities take so long to connect them. Emerald AI has designed a “digital brain” that can ramp down, move, or delay computing jobs in a data center on demand, making a data center a flexible asset to the grid. I talk with CEO Varun Sivaram about how the software works, what flexibility costs the compute, why it beats just installing batteries, whether utilities can enforce it, and what it would mean for clean energy.Chapters:00:00 – Introduction03:05 – Temporal, spatial, and resource flexibility06:26 – What Emerald Conductor touches on site08:35 – Who decides which workloads can flex10:55 – Who is liable when a job slows down13:45 – Who actually signs the contract14:49 – Larger and faster grid connections18:02 – Enforcing the flexibility promise19:05 – What broke in the demos, from bad nodes to slow telemetry26:41 – What flexing costs the compute jobs29:21 – Why not just use batteries, and the demand merit order35:44 – Training, inference, and substation-scale data centers40:23 – PJM, ERCOT, and legal enforceability44:50 – Renewables, gas, and consumer bills
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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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