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)

73. High energy prices vs. the Energy transition - may22

73. High energy prices vs. the Energy transition - may22

Over the past few months, energy prices have gone through the roof, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put energy security on the front burner. We can legitimately ask ourselves: Are high energy pri...

1 Mai 202227min

72. A Ukrainian Utility at War. A story of resistance, resilience, and hope - apr22

72. A Ukrainian Utility at War. A story of resistance, resilience, and hope - apr22

How to survive a war when you are a Utility in Ukraine? Thanks to Eurelectric which organised the introduction, we have the honour of welcoming a hero of the Energy world: Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK...

15 Apr 202218min

71. Ventures and breakthroughs to decarbonise Heat - apr22

71. Ventures and breakthroughs to decarbonise Heat - apr22

Decarbonising Heat is a significant challenge on the road to Net-Zero, Climate Resilience and Energy Security. It is also a very complex problem as there are several categories of heat that require di...

1 Apr 202225min

70. Why digital management of Batteries matters? - mar22

70. Why digital management of Batteries matters? - mar22

The deployment of Li-Ion batteries has exploded in recent years and is expected to enjoy a 30% annual growth until 2030. But those very critical pieces of hardware need a brain to fully function, and...

16 Mar 202228min

69. Escape from Russia: Rewiring Europe - mar22

69. Escape from Russia: Rewiring Europe - mar22

The war in Ukraine is a total gamechanger. Beyond the personal drama and misery inflicted on millions of human beings, it triggers a tremor in the world of Energy of a magnitude not seen since the Oil...

1 Mar 202223min

68. Green Hydrogen: miracle or mirage? - feb22

68. Green Hydrogen: miracle or mirage? - feb22

As we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the seminal book by Jeremy Rifkin “The Hydrogen Economy” and the astronomical amount of non-sense it contained, we wanted to have a real look at the prosp...

15 Feb 202229min

67. From PowerPoint to Gigafactory - feb22

67. From PowerPoint to Gigafactory - feb22

Gigafactory: a term first coined by Elon Musk in 2013 when announcing the Tesla+Panasonic giant battery plant in Nevada. There are currently more than 260 Gigafactories planned around the world, but l...

1 Feb 202230min

66. “The missing hours”: in search of 24/7 carbon free power - jan22

66. “The missing hours”: in search of 24/7 carbon free power - jan22

Delivering 24/7 carbon free power is the holy grail for infrastructure funds. Such progress requires a new approach to investing. New technologies need to be harnessed: Hybridization, storage, and dat...

16 Jan 202227min

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