This June, as we look back on our first 20 episodes, we wanted to revisit two of our favorite topics so far - "Renewables and Alternative Energy Sources" and "Extreme Weather and Other Pitfalls of the Current Power Grid."

Please enjoy, and we'll be back with all new episodes in July.

In this first episode, we learned about renewables and alternative energy sources. In the Battery Blarney segment, industry experts George Pedersen and Allan Byrne dive into talking about different topics from solar farms, a combination of other sources, alternatives and much more.

In the second segment, we are joined by Jack Andreasen, who is the Manager of Industrial Decarbonization Policy at Breakthrough

Energy. He touches on topics regarding building decarbonization, increase in transmission deployment, transmission lines and more.

Episode Highlights

02:49 If you look at some reports, renewables are going to take over a whole generation of the power grid, which is not possible at the moment.

05:13 I think the thing that most people don't understand is that when you generate electricity, when you cause that electro reaction, the way you start moving atoms around charging atoms, so you get charged ions to create your power, you can’t get rid of it, it's got to be used.

08:14 The environmentalist wants all this solar power and wind power. What's that actually doing to the environment?

13:57 In most places in the world, if you have a combination of both wind and solar, you get a much more consistent power source. You combine the two together.

20:23 I think it's going to be a mixture of everything, we're going to have renewable energy, whether we like it or not.

23:06 Education is something as you're realizing, something very dear to my heart at the present moment, but it’s hard work because people come in with preconceived ideas now and somehow, for some reason, scientific facts are no longer the driving force behind anything.

35:18 We don't have to build huge networks or distribution to try and support it because one of the things that people should realize is that the network power in those transmission lines that we crisscross the countryside, are also very vulnerable to attack.

39:58 The problem is that we live in a world today where we want a simple answer that will cover everything and that's not the way the world is, it's never been the way the world is.

47:23 One of the advantages of gases is that it’s easier to transport than anything else.

58:34 We work with Congress, we work with the private sector, we work with other NGOs and think tanks to develop strategies and policy recommendations around ways we think we could decarbonize those various industries.

01:02:55 One thing that could really unlock the potential across the country is an increase in transmission deployment.

01:05:27 Transmission has been, and will continue to be a huge obstacle in renewable energy deployment going forward.

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