Ep 14 | Are We Ready for the Energy Transition?

In our final episode (!!) of Season One of Energy Transition Talk, we look back at how far we’ve come, and look forward to where we hope to go from here.

We start by chatting with Dr. Scott Tinker, a geology professor at UT Austin and the State Geologist of Texas. He is also a documentary filmmaker, host of the energy and climate talk show Energy Switch, and host of the radio program Earth Date. We chat about how he got into filmmaking and the importance of media in informing and inspiring the public about energy; the global challenges we face regarding the energy transition and how we can carve a “Radical Middle” path forward; and what inspires him about the future of the energy transition.

We then bring back 3 guests who we’ve had on previous episodes: Dr. Don Paul, engineering professor at USC and Executive Director of the USC Energy Institute (see Episode 3); Dr. Iraj Ershaghi, Director of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) and petroleum engineering professor at USC (see Episode 1), and Michael Edwards, an energy consultant and visionary leader in social change, digital transformation, and the energy transition (see Episode 6). We ask each of them to comment on various aspects of the question: are we ready for the energy transition?

Finally, we end by summarizing Season One of the podcast and reflecting on our key takeaways from all the conversations we’ve had with our amazing guests!

02:16 Interview with Dr. Tinker

28:20 Panel with Dr. Ershaghi and Dr. Paul

52:40 Interview with Michael Edwards

01:11:10 Reflection and Concluding Remarks

Thank you so much for coming along on this journey with us! We hope you enjoyed listening to these conversations and learned a thing or two about the energy transition that you can share with a friend. And we hope that you will continue to stay involved in the energy transition, whatever that looks like for you, because the energy transition is up to you and me.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast so you can automatically get access to our new episodes – you can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we would appreciate it so much if you could leave a rating and review, and let us know what you thought about this episode, as well as any suggestions you have for future seasons of the podcast. Special thanks to all of our amazing guests and as always, to Abhi, our technical guru. This podcast is sponsored by the USC Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition.

For more of Dr. Tinker’s work, check out these resources!

• Switch Energy Alliance: nonprofit whose vision is to inspire an energy-educated future through film

• Switch International Energy Case Competition (SIECC)

• Documentary films: Switch and Switch On

• PBS, Energy Switch: The Energy and Climate talk show

• Earth Date: Public service radio program

• TEDx talk: The Dual Challenge: Energy and Environment (May 9, 2022)

• Fortune: Reducing energy options doesn’t work. Just ask Europe—and the U.S. states where gas prices are rising (Oct. 18, 2022)

• Scientific American: Carbon Pricing Is Not a Fix for Climate Change (Aug. 16, 2019)

• Forbes: Why “Keep It In The Ground” Is Not Necessarily Green (Aug. 10, 2017)

• Talk: An Honest & Sensible Conversation about Global Energy (Nov. 8, 2023)

Additional reading:

• World Resources Institute, Unpacking COP28: Key Outcomes from the Dubai Climate Talks, and What Comes Next, Dec. 17, 2023.

• Reuters, New COP28 draft deal stops short of fossil fuel 'phase out’, Dec. 12, 2023

• WSJ, China Files WTO Complaint Against U.S. Over Electric-Vehicle Subsidies, Mar. 26, 2024

• NYTimes, U.S. and China on Climate: How the World’s Two Largest Polluters Stack Up, July 19, 2023

• Bloomberg, How China Beat Everyone to Be World Leader in Electric Vehicles, July 17, 2023

Disclaimer: The views, information, or opinions expressed during the Energy Transition Talk series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET) or the producers of this podcast.