Interchange Recharged3 Jul 2018

'Energy Independence' in Trump's America

The politics of energy independence are both deeply bipartisan and deeply partisan.

Every president since Richard Nixon has declared a goal of eliminating America’s dependence on foreign sources of energy. But each President approaches independence from a very different political lens. Jimmy Carter was the first to make renewable energy a centerpiece. Ronald Reagan dismantled that strategy and instead focused on lifting price controls on oil and gas.

Later, George W. Bush focused on domestic oil production, but also put in place some foundational policies to support domestic renewables. Barack Obama, of course, put renewables front and center.

Today, we have Donald Trump, who has made coal-powered "energy dominance" the centerpiece of his energy policy. What does that mean exactly?

And after nearly 50 years of talk about energy independence, how are we doing?

Joining us this week is Sarah Ladislaw, a senior vice president and director of energy and national security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She'll help us America's energy import-export balance in a historic, geopolitical context.

This podcast is supported by Wunder Capital, the easiest way to invest in large-scale solar energy projects across the U.S. With Wunder, you can help finance renewable energy projects while earning up to 7.5 percent annually. Get started here to diversify your portfolio and support American solar projects.

This podcast is brought to you by Shoals, the gold standard for solar and storage balance-of-systems solutions. Learn more about how Shoals can make your project operate at the highest level.

Episoder(358)

Re-release: Flexibility as a service: Can Octopus's acquisition of Uplight finally make US residential VPPs work?

Millions of enrolled devices, 60 utilities, and the participation rate gap that's been embarrassing the US market for a decade. US residential virtual power plants have been a promising idea that's co...

3 Nov 45min

Re-release: Fuel cells are powering AI data center demand: they’ve moved from interesting clean tech to major player

We're looking back at some of our most popular episodes of the year. Here is one from January this year.US data centre announcements are averaging 435MW a month, and there’s around 175GW of large-load...

20 Okt 43min

Re-release: Building the plane while it’s flying: data centers, utilities, and the new rules of power

After more than a decade of flat demand, the US power sector is now facing explosive growth, arriving faster than grids, generation, and transmission can be built. In this episode, Interim host of Int...

6 Okt 44min

When hydro is no longer enough: Colombia’s race to diversify before the next El Niño

Colombia’s power system was built around a powerful advantage: abundant hydropower backed by domestic gas, delivering electricity that was relatively cheap, relatively clean, and largely local. But th...

22 Sep 42min

The fastest path to more power: How advanced conductors could unlock grid capacity without new transmission

The pressure on the power system is no longer theoretical. AI, data centers, electrification, and new industrial load are arriving faster than utilities can build generation and transmission through c...

15 Sep 46min

Speed to power: Why data-center load growth is creating a new opening for C&I solar, storage, and microgrids

After a decade of flat demand, power markets are being forced to absorb a very different problem: rapid load growth arriving faster than transmission, large-scale generation, and utility interconnecti...

8 Sep 49min

Thorium’s nuclear pitch: Can molten salt reactors cut cost, use waste, and scale faster than conventional designs?

Electricity demand is rising, capital is tightening, and nuclear is back in the conversation as utilities, governments, and large power users look for firm low-carbon supply. But the central question ...

25 Aug 39min

The inverter security turn: How Europe and the US are redrawing solar procurement around Chinese hardware

Solar demand remains strong, storage is scaling fast, and inverter technology is becoming more central to how modern power systems actually function. But the conversation around inverters is no longer...

11 Aug 38min