This Is What It’s Like to Run a Power Grid
So far on Shift Key Summer School we’ve covered how electricity gets made and how it gets sold. But none of that matters without the grid, which is how that electricity gets to you, the consumer. Who ...
20 Aug 20251h 7min
How Electricity Markets Work
Most electricity used in America today is sold on a wholesale power market. These markets are one of the most important institutions structuring the modern U.S. energy economy, but they’re also not ve...
13 Aug 20251h 6min
Trump’s Move to Kill the Clean Air Act’s Climate Authority, Forever
The Trump administration has formally declared that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are not dangerous pollutants. If the president gets his way, then the Environmental Protection Agency may ...
6 Aug 20251h 9min
Why We’re Worried About Electricity Prices
In the next few years, the United States is going to see the fastest growth in electricity demand since the 1970s. And that’s only the beginning of the challenges that our power grid will face. When y...
30 Juli 20251h 6min
How Sun and Wind Become Electricity
The two fastest-growing sources of electricity generation in the world represent a radical break with the energy technologies that came before them. That’s not just because their fuels are the wind an...
23 Juli 202559min
Climate Policy in America: Where We Go From Here
It’s official. On July 4, President Trump signed the Republican reconciliation bill into law, gutting many of the country’s most significant clean energy tax credits. The future of the American solar,...
16 Juli 20251h 10min
How Does a Power Plant Work?
Just two types of machines have produced the overwhelming majority of electricity generated since 1890. This week, we look at the history of those devices, how they work — and how they have contribute...
9 Juli 202553min
What Is a Watt?
What is the difference between energy and power? How does the power grid work? And what’s the difference between a megawatt and a megawatt-hour? On this week’s episode, we answer those questions and m...
2 Juli 202538min
