193. The Seven Deadly Sins of the Energy Transition
Redefining Energy1 Sep 2025

193. The Seven Deadly Sins of the Energy Transition

Three wise men met and discussed the Seven Sins of The Energy Transition. Laurent, Gerard and Michael dissect seven sectors that have captured attention, investments and public money and are at best dead ends, at worst disasters waiting to happen.
  1. Greed — “Subsidy Mining in a Lab Coat” (Carbon Capture & Direct Air Capture)
    A capital-intensive detour that soaks up public money while delivering trivial abatement at extreme cost, great PR for incumbents, weak climate math.
  2. Gluttony — “Three Kilowatt-Hours to Move One” (Hydrogen-for-Energy)
    An energy-wasting appetite: make H₂ with clean power, then throw most of that power away moving, compressing, liquefying, and reconverting it—useful only in narrow industrial niches.
  3. Sloth — “Always ‘On Time’ by 2040” (Small Modular Reactors)
    Perma-prototype promises that stay years late and dollars short while wind, solar, and storage deploy at scale now.
  4. Pride — “We Will Bottle the Sun” (Fusion Salvationism)
    Technological hubris as strategy: a captivating physics quest, but not a climate plan for the 2030s. Invest in science, don’t budget on miracles.
  5. Lust — “Drop-In Fantasies for Every Engine” (Biofuels-Everywhere)
    The seductive promise of pouring yesterday’s fuels into tomorrow’s problems; keep them for hard-to-electrify edges, not as a universal fix.
  6. Wrath — “Culture War at Sea” (America’s Offshore-Wind Own-Goals)
    Ideological backlash, litigation, and policy whiplash torch viable projects and local supply chains while the rest of the world builds.
  7. Envy — “Green Halo by Checkbox” (ESG Box-Ticking)
    Chasing ratings and labels instead of real-world decarbonization and cash-flow-relevant risk; better to separate E, S, and G and measure outcomes

Episoder(174)

105. Geothermal: Earth, Wind and Fire - Sept23

105. Geothermal: Earth, Wind and Fire - Sept23

Geothermal has been around for decades and always considered part of the Energy Transition. Unfortunately, its development has been limited to very specific geographical location (US West Coast, Icela...

1 Sep 202330min

104. Is Carbon the new Crypto? Aug23

104. Is Carbon the new Crypto? Aug23

After a decade in obscurity, carbon offsets have resurrected in recent years as more companies are targeting net zero. Volumes and prices have picked up in 2021-22 to create a 2bn USD market that some...

16 Aug 202329min

103. Battery chemistry: China against the World - Aug23

103. Battery chemistry: China against the World - Aug23

As the growth of the EV market and Energy Storage continues unabated, we wanted to know what the current State of Play in the Battery industry is.In 2023, China dominates the Li_Ion battery market and...

1 Aug 202331min

102. Post Energy crisis, the “need for speed” - Live from Brussels / Eurelectric with Leo Birnbaum (CEO E.ON) - Jul23

102. Post Energy crisis, the “need for speed” - Live from Brussels / Eurelectric with Leo Birnbaum (CEO E.ON) - Jul23

Live from Brussels, on the 20th of June 2023, we were invited to interview Leonard Birnbaum. Since he came last on the show (Ep50), the whole Energy Sector has been through hell with Russia invasion o...

15 Jul 202328min

101. Iron + Carbon = Innovations (Clean Power, LDES, Hydrogen, CCUS) - Jul23

101. Iron + Carbon = Innovations (Clean Power, LDES, Hydrogen, CCUS) - Jul23

Steel is essential for the equipment of the Energy Transition (Wind, EVs) but at the same time bears a very significant carbon footprint: 1.8tCO2/t steel. Pushed and/or incentivised by policies in the...

1 Jul 202329min

100. “2030: have we succeeded the Energy Transition?” with Katherine Hamilton and Jigar Shah - Jun23

100. “2030: have we succeeded the Energy Transition?” with Katherine Hamilton and Jigar Shah - Jun23

What a pleasure, what an honor to have the original Energy Gang on our show to celebrate our 100th Episode.The wit of Katherine Hamilton and the laugh of Jigar Shah were our inspiration 5 years ago wh...

15 Jun 202330min

99. Operating a Grid in transition - Jun23

99. Operating a Grid in transition - Jun23

The electricity network is the bloodline of the economy. It is a very complex system, built over decades, with layers of technologies and it has to be reliable 24/7. We hardly talked about this networ...

1 Jun 202327min

98. Optimising solar fleets: the “secret sauce” - May23

98. Optimising solar fleets: the “secret sauce” - May23

How to optimise a fleet of hundreds of solar parks? And the work needs to start once the asset has been energised...and continue for decades. Plus, as with an iceberg, most of the work is below the su...

15 Mai 202329min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
pengepodden-2
utbytte
finansredaksjonen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
pengesnakk
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
rss-sunn-okonomi
okonomiamatorene
lederpodden
rss-markedspuls-2
rss-fa-makro
boligbobla
lederskap-nhhs-podkast-om-ledelse
rss-impressions-2